Tactics and tools for the protection
of Human Rights Defenders

The 10th annual EU-NGO Forum on Human Rights took place in Paris on 10 and 11 December 2008. This forum takes place every year in the country holding the presidency of the European Union (EU) in the second semester and is a special meeting place and forum for dialogue between the representatives of the Member States, the EU institutions and civil society.

Approximately 100 representatives of NGOs, half of these from non-EU Member States, around 10 representatives of EU Member States and representatives from international organisations, the United Nations and the European institutions met in Paris for this year’s forum.

The principal subject decided on for the forum this year was discrimination against women, in accordance with the human rights priorities defined by the French EU Presidency.

At the opening of the forum, Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner called the EU and the participants to action and reiterated that, ‘The annual forum which brings us together today is not an occasion for rhetoric. Together we need to evaluate the progress realised so far and fuel our interaction and cooperation with real substance.’

Debates and conclusions of the forum

Debates at the forum on the subject of discrimination and violence against women were organised in three workshops.

1 - The first workshop concerned the implementation of future European Union Guidelines on violence against women and combating all forms of discrimination against them, a priority of the French Presidency of the EU. ‘This is not simply a new text, to be added to all the others – it is a precise and complete vade mecum for all the measures to be implemented’, explained Ms Rama Yade. Ms Ferrero-Waldner went on to remind participants that ‘civil society is actively involved in the implementation of [EU] guidelines, often through projects supported by our European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights’.

The recommendations of this workshop are specifically operational and intended to guide the implementation of the guidelines. They call upon the EU to develop a more structured policy for promoting the rights of women and equality which goes beyond the simple integration of these issues into existing priorities (mainstreaming). The Member States and the European Commission are also called upon to ensure that their embassies and delegations appropriate these guidelines as far as possible.

2 - The second workshop involved an assessment of the situation and of the role and action taken by women human rights defenders. The aim of this workshop was to produce operational recommendations and even prepare a tool that would enable EU Heads of Mission in third countries to implement the guidelines on human rights defenders in a non-discriminatory way.

The recommendations of this workshop take into account the reports and knowledge acquired since the adoption of the guidelines and the workshop held at the Eighth EU-NGO Forum in Helsinki (2006) on this issue.

The workshop was also able to identify the aspects which require further improvement in the implementation of the guidelines, including:

• The lack of systematic contacts between diplomatic representatives and women human rights defenders;
• Insufficient consideration of the ‘gender’ perspective within human rights activities;
• Difficult access to financing for women human rights defenders;
• The lack of training and awareness-raising on the ‘gender’ approach, in particular for diplomats, EU representatives and human rights NGOs;
• Ad hoc support should be systematised: the implementation of guidelines in particular remains too dependent on the individual commitment of diplomats and certain Member States.

3 - The third workshop, called ‘Best Practices on fighting discrimination in the Law’, involved the collection of best practices and tackled issues such as the reform of the family code and property law and the implementation of economic, social and cultural laws.

The NGOs had the opportunity to share their strategies for legal defence, with presentations from NGOs from Morocco, Mexico, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and China.

In Burundi, the Women Lawyers Association ran a campaign which targeted the reform of inheritance tax, marriage settlements and gifts. The plans and proposals for laws were drafted and validated by local consultations, while information campaigns were relayed through the media. A text was finally presented to the Council of Ministers, but any further progress has been prevented due to a lack of political will on behalf of the leaders, who are reluctant to tackle a subject which is deemed sensitive and potentially unpopular.

In Morocco, after a campaign led by women’s associations for more than 20 years, the reform of the family code has led to a radical review of the status of women, in particular granting them the right to marry and divorce on an equal footing to men. The law has yet to be put into practice - and not only judges must be encouraged to enforce it, but also the women themselves, to ensure that they actually make use of their new rights. Certain discriminatory clauses also remain in force.

The NGO recommendations call upon the EU to reinforce its support for judiciary reform by supporting the training of magistrates and judges and, on a global level, the reform of the judiciary system taking into account awareness-raising among magistrates of the rights of women and non-discriminatory enforcement of laws. The participants also insisted on the importance of continuing and reinforcing lobbying concerning the withdrawal of reservations to the CEDAW[1] and in favour of the ratification of the additional protocol to the CEDAW; of ensuring that the implementation of the recommendations of the CEDAW are included in dialogues with third countries; of supporting the work of NGOs who undertake legal defence activities, and of supporting the creation of a database allowing the different legislation and best practices with respect to legislative reforms to be recorded.

Furthermore, the NGOs called for the creation of a new special procedure of the United Nations Human Rights Council on discriminatory laws and hoped to reinforce their action to promote the implementation of the procedure. This appeal had already been relayed at the opening of the forum by the Secretary of State for Human Rights, Ms Rama Yade, who confirmed that, ‘This Special Rapporteur would provide support to the fight against discrimination, which from now on is indispensible given the lack of significant progress in the field.’