Ngawang C. Drakmargyapon
Phayul Special Correspondent
United Nations, 29 May – The UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has asked China to provide “detailed sex-disaggregated information on women from ethnic minorities, particularly the Uyghur and Tibetan people”, according to a document of the Committee of 1 February 2006.
In August this year, this UN expert-body will review China’s combined fifth and sixth report, at its thirty-sixth session at the UN headquarters in New York. China’s 83-page report does not provide adequate information on the situation of Tibetan women. The report said that there was no available data on Tibet when it came to question of “percentage of rural population with access to tap water, and regional rankings by percentage of rural population with latrine access as of end of 2000”.
In 1999, when CEDAW reviewed China’s third and fourth reports, the Committee expressed concern that Women’s Law in China does not contain a definition of discrimination against women and that this Law does not provide for effective remedies in cases of violation of the Law.
On China’s family planning policy, CEDAW said it was concerned about various aspects of the implementation of the policy. “Notwithstanding the Government’s clear rejection of coercive measures, there are consistent reports of abuse and violence by local family planning officials. These include forced sterilisations and abortions, arbitrary detention and house demolitions, particularly in rural areas and among ethnic minorities, CEDAW said in its report to the UN General Assembly.
At the meeting in 1999, the Committee repeated its request made in 1984 to China that it provide breakdown information “by provinces and autonomous regions and also include information on ethnic minorities particularly the Uyghur and Tibetan peoples.”
In December 1998, a joint report, “Violence and Discrimination against Tibetan Women” was presented to CEDAW by three NGOs, Tibet Justice Center, Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children and Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy. The report concluded “that there is a systematic and widespread pattern of grave human rights violations as a result of discrimination against Tibetan girls and women in Chinese-occupied Tibet.”
The NGOs called upon the Committee to urge China to halt all practices that violate the rights of Tibetan women and girls and to undertake a more constructive relationship with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOS) seeking to monitor and protect the human rights of Tibetan women and girls.
During CEDAW’s last review of China, one of the experts asked about the exact situation of specific regions in the country, such as Tibet. The expert wanted to know whether most policies applicable in the rest of China were also applicable in those areas.
In response, the Chinese delegation told CEDAW that “great importance in Tibet was attached to the medical and health care of women and children, including planned immunization and the coverage of young children of well-organized health care plans; Tibetan women were free to conduct normal religious activities under the protection of the Constitution and laws of the country; and that family planning regulations in Tibet were linked to full respect for the Tibetan cultural tradition, ethnic values, religion and customs.”
The Chinese delegation also said that “regarding China’s prison system and its treatment of prisoners, the country’s legislation had a series of provisions for the special protection of women prisoners. Those provisions were also applicable to all ethnic minority areas.”
A report posted on World Tibet Network on 9 February, 1999, said that the Committee expert from South Africa had asked China to provide information on its political prisoners in Tibet. She further complained that China had not provided the information on Tibet the Committee had asked for in its last review session of China. She also asked China to explain its population policies in areas such as Tibet where “population is not a threat”. She added that China should address the issues which are also discussed by other UN bodies (referring to Tibet) and that progress would not be achieved by simply ignoring the “flash points”.
At the August meeting in New York, Tibetan organisations plan to again brief the members of CEDAW about the plight of Tibetan women in Tibet. Human rights issues which confront Tibetan women, like coercive birth control practices, high level of illiteracy, the alarming trend of prostitution and the physical abuses suffered in prison, are likely to be raised.
“China’s political stature and economy has grown greatly since the Beijing Women’s Conference in 1995, yet the situation of Tibetan women has changed little in the past 10 years. This is a problem of policy and not economics. China must show a willingness to actively tackle the situation of Tibetan women as part of its commitment to the Millennium Development Goals to promote gender equality and empower women,” says Ms. Tsering Jampa, the Executive Director of Amsterdam-based International Campaign for Tibet Europe.
In August 2004, UNICEF Executive Director Ms. Carol Bellamy visited Tibet to get a close look at the issues faced at village level in Tibet through numerous discussions with parents, health workers and teachers. “There has been much progress for women and children here, but there is still much work to do to catch up with the rest of China,” said Ms. Bellamy. “We need to strengthen preventive health and do a better job of packaging interventions like education, sanitation and hygiene,” she added. Although there has been significant progress in primary health care in the last decade, Tibet still has the highest maternal and child mortality rates in China. In the last decade, child and maternal death rates in Tibet have dropped by around half, reflecting enormous gains. Still, child mortality stands at 53 per thousand live births and maternal mortality is over 400 per 100,000 live births, up to eight times higher than the national rate.”
Although China never invited the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women of the now dissolved UN Commission on Human Rights, the expert in a 2003 reported that: “Women in Tibet continue to undergo hardship and are also subjected to gender-specific crimes, including reproductive rights violations such as forced sterilization, forced abortion, coercive birth control policies and the monitoring of menstrual cycles. There have been many reports of Tibetan women prisoners facing brutality and torture in custody.”
According to a UN Press Release of 1 February 1999, one expert of CEDAW said: “The Chinese Government, in these very difficult times of economic transition, might extend a similar invitation to the Special Rapporteur to highlight its seriousness about that question. The Special Rapporteur might also visit the autonomous regions, including Tibet.”
Last May, UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) said it was “deeply concerned about reports of forced abortions and forced sterilisations imposed on women, including those belonging to ethnic minority groups, by local officials in the context of the one-child policy, and of the high maternal mortality rate as a result of unsafe abortions.” The Committee which had reviewed China’s first report requested China to provide information in its next periodic report in this regard, including information on women
belonging to ethnic minority groups.
CEDAW is composed of 23 independent experts, including Ms. Zou Xiaoqiao of China. The experts are elected to a term of 4 years by the meetings of the States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
CEDAW is one of the monitoring bodies of UN Treaty Bodies system. The Committee reviews compliance by States who are a party to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. China ratified the Convention on 4 November 1980. As of 2 March 2006, 182 countries – over ninety percent of the members of the United Nations – are party to the Convention
Ngawang C. Drakmargyapon can be reached at drakgya@yahoo.com
