This article is about of protection of women's rights in international law, gender aspects and violence against women in Kazakhstan.
The end of the 20th century is governed by one of the brightest historical events – final collapse of the Soviet Union. In that way, in 1991 Kazakhstan gains its statehood, becomes the fully legitimate subject of the international law. The problem of human right was always the point of arguments, which were held for enjoyment of rights, access amplification, which fixed the human position in society. Every stage of society development was the step on the way of gaining and expansion of individual freedom. The history shows that every generation needs again and again to protect human rights. Every generation accepts the challenge of the history connected with assertion of such great individual values as human rights and freedoms. That’s why we think that this theme is one of the specifically debatable point of issue as in domestic so in international law.
As a rule, none modern state, realizing the international relations with other states on the basis of principles of international law, can not be considered as authentically democratic and legal, if it admits whatever infringements of human rights and freedoms and doesn’t do anything for liquidation of such facts. In the field of defense of human rights and freedoms the state first of all uses internal procedures and mechanisms. Human rights are socially and economically dependent. The main thing is how this structures are developed, thereon depends the effectiveness of domestic protection of human rights and freedoms.
“All people are born free and equal in their dignity and rights. They have sense and conscience and they must behave in respect of each other in the spirit of brotherhood”– says the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The human rights from positions of international law – these are essential rights for characteristic of person’s legal status in every modern society. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International pacts, European Convention on Human Rights and other important international legislation determined that the universal set of human rights and freedoms, which in the whole with constitutional rights obliged to provide with normal vital activity of individual. That’s why in modern conditions under the main human rights you should understand the rights contained in state constitution and international legal documents on human rights. Defense of human rights is first of all the task of national, domestic legal order. Guarantees of human rights and freedoms are clearly declared in the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The International human rights constitute an integral part of the system of modern human and civil rights and freedoms in recent period.
Recognizing the impact of war on women and the importance of their involvement in the peace process, in October 2000, the Security Council unanimously adopted a groundbreaking resolution on Women, Peace and Security. Resolution 1325 urged Member States to increase women’s representation at all decision-making levels for the prevention, management, and resolution of conflict. It urged the Secretary-General to appoint more women as his special representatives and envoys, and to expand women’s role and contribution in UN field-based operations[1].
1. Women’s rights and Peace.
- Protection of Women's Rights: international legal
Women’s rights around the world is an important indicator to understand global well-being. A major global women’s rights treaty was ratified by the majority of the world’s nations a few decades ago. Despite many successes in empowering women, numerous issues still exist in all areas of life, ranging from the cultural, political to the economic. For example, women often work more than men, yet are paid less; gender discrimination affects girls and women throughout their lifetime; and women and girls are often are the ones that suffer the most poverty. Many may think that women’s rights are only an issue in countries where religion is law, such as many Muslim countries. Or even worse, some may think this is no longer an issue at all. But reading this report about the United Nation’s Women’s Treaty and how an increasing number of countries are lodging reservations, will show otherwise. Democracy is a valued principle, so much so that some people have sacrificed their lives to fight for it. While no system is perfect, it seems that democracy is once again under assault. What are the challenges posed in a democratic system and are established safeguards helping to strengthen democracy or are their forces successfully weakening it?
It is often argued—and accepted—that women, being the “gentler sex”, and typically being the main care givers in society, are less aggressive than men. Feminists often argue that women, if given appropriate and full rights, could counter-balance a male- dominated world which is characterized by aggression in attitudes, thoughts, society and, ultimately, war.
The adoption of Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security (SCR1325) on 31 October 2000 was a landmark in promoting greater attention to gender perspectives in the peace and security work of the United Nations. To follow-up on the implementation of the resolution, the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE) established an Inter-Agency Task Force on Women, Peace and Security in February 2001. Initially, the Task Force focused on the preparations for the Secretary-General’s 2002 study on Women, Peace and Security and the related report to the Security Council.
With growing demands for improved policy, programming, advocacy, coordination and monitoring around implementation, the role and the work of the Task Force expanded. From 2002 to 2008, the Task Force undertook a range of activities. Among other things the Task Force: contributed to the preparation of Secretary-General’s reports on women, peace and security; prepared awareness-raising materials, events and activities related to Open Debates of the Security Council on women, peace and security; coordinated the preparation of briefing notes and checklists for different Security Council and assessment missions and supported the participation of gender advisers on teams; and undertook an analysis of the Security Council’s work from a gender perspective and a mapping of United Nations resources on women, peace and security.
Building on this early work on women in conflict, the four United Nations World Conferences on Women focused on the linkages between gender equality, development and peace: Mexico in 1975; Copenhagen in 1980; Nairobi in 1985; and Beijing in 1995. Over the years, the focus of the discussions on women and peace shifted from overall political issues to the impact of war on women and girls and their role in peacebuilding.
At the 1975 World Conference on the International Year of Women in Mexico City, governments and non-governmental organizations identified international cooperation, the strengthening of international peace and women's political participation as specific areas for national and international action. The Conference addressed women's participation in the struggles against colonialism, racism, racial discrimination and foreign domination. The World Conference also gave impetus to the drafting of an international treaty to eliminate discrimination against women. In time for the Copenhagen Conference, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), often referred to as women's bill of rights, was adopted by the General Assembly in 1979 and entered into force in 1981. At the 1980 World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women in Copenhagen, member states and participants saw women as agents of change at the national and international levels, and in political, social and economic areas. Women were also seen as key in building more just, rational societies and in the struggle for fundamental national rights and self-determination of peoples against wars of aggression. The Conference was concerned with the situation of women living under apartheid in South Africa and Namibia, as well as with the situation of the Palestinian people.
At the 1985 Nairobi World Conference, participants considered women's participation in the efforts for peace in decision-making positions, and in education for peace as vital to peace building. Delegates discussed strategies for women's participation in safeguarding world peace, averting nuclear catastrophe, halting the arms race, and in complete disarmament. For the first time, the various forms of violence against women in everyday life and in all societies were highlighted as major obstacles to the achievement of peace.
The Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995, identified women and armed conflict as one of 12 critical areas of concern. Delegates discussed the increased participation of women in conflict resolution at decision-making levels; the protection of women living in the situation of armed conflict; reduction of excessive military expenditure; and the promotion of women's contribution to fostering the culture of peace. The section on action in connection with armed conflict was further reinforced by the critical areas of concern on violence against women and the human rights of women. The Platform for Action recognized that civilian casualties outnumber military casualties, with women and children comprising a significant number of the victims, and proposed a number of strategic objectives and actions to be taken by relevant actors. It also called for the upholding and reinforcement of the norms of international humanitarian and human rights law in relation to the offences against women, and the prosecution of all those responsible for such offences.
1.2 Women's Rights in International Agreements
In 2000, the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly entitled "Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century" reaffirmed the commitments made in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. The outcome document called for the full participation of women at all levels of decision-making in peace processes, peacekeeping and peace building. It also addressed the need to increase the protection of girls in armed conflict, especially the prohibition of their forced recruitment.
Professor of anthropology, Richard Robbins notes: “At the same time that women produce 75 to 90 percent of food crops in the world, they are responsible for the running of households. According to the United Nations, in no country in the world do men come anywhere close to women in the amount of time spent in housework. Furthermore, despite the efforts of feminist movements, women in the core [wealthiest, Western countries] still suffer disproportionately, leading to what sociologist refer to as the “feminization of poverty,” where two out of every three poor adults are women. The informal slogan of the Decade of Women became “Women do two-thirds of the world’s work, receive 10 percent of the world’s income and own 1 percent of the means of production.” [2].
In 2005, the Commission on the Status of Women conducted a ten-year review and appraisal of the Beijing Platform and issued a declaration reaffirming the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcome document.
In addition to its role in preparing the World Conferences on Women and drafting CEDAW, the Commission on the Status of Women adopted agreed conclusions on women and armed conflict in 1998, which addressed gender-sensitive justice; the specific needs of women affected by armed conflict; the need to increase women's participation in all stages of peace processes, including conflict prevention, post-conflict resolution and reconstruction; and disarmament issues.
In 2004, the Commission revisited this theme and adopted agreed conclusions on women's equal participation in conflict prevention, management and conflict resolution and in post-conflict peace building. It was recognized that peace agreements provide a vehicle for the promotion of gender equality and that a gender-sensitive constitutional and legal framework was necessary to ensure that women fully participate in such processes. Finally, the allocation of necessary human, financial and material resources was seen as critical for specific and targeted activities to ensure gender equality at the local, national, regional and international levels, as well as for enhanced and increased international cooperation.
In March 2000, the Security Council issued a Presidential Statement on International Women's Day in March 2000. It recognized the link between peace and gender equality, and the fact that women's full participation in peace operations was essential to sustainable peace. It was an important precursor to resolution 1325.
A thorough review of the United Nations peace and security activities was undertaken by a high-level panel convened by the Secretary-General in 2000, which resulted in the Report of the Panel on the United Nations Peace Operations. The report recognized the need for equitable gender representation in the leadership of peacekeeping missions. The seminar on the gender perspectives of multidimensional peacekeeping missions led to the development of the Windhoek Declaration and the Namibia Plan of Action on Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective in Multidimensional Peace Operations in June 2000. The Windhoek Declaration was another critical step leading to the adoption of resolution 1325 (2000). On 31 October 2000, the Security Council adopted resolution 1325 under the presidency of Namibia. This resolution was the culmination of several decades of growing realization of the diverse roles that women play both in conflict resolution and building peace and the result of active involvement and advocacy by women's organizations. The resolution has galvanized the UN system, Member States and civil society organizations and has become one of the best known and the most translated resolutions of the Security Council. Within the United Nations system, the Inter-Agency Taskforce on Women, Peace and Security of the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality has been coordinating efforts for the implementation of the resolution.
2. Protection and promotion of women’s human rights and gender equality in Kazakhstan.
- Equal rights and opportunities in Kazakhstan: some legal
The First mentioning of the union of tribes populating the territory of Kazakhstan appeared` in ancient manuscripts dated in the middle of the first millennium BC. The largest of the tribes was collectively called Saki. The prevailing of economy time semi- nomadic and nomadic cattle breeding. In the early medieval period, in the VI-VII centuries AD, the Turkic Kaganate played an important role in the process of ethno- genesis. The formation of the Turkic ethnos per see took place in the III-IV cc AD in the areas of eastern Turkestan and Altay. The period of XIII to XVcc is connected with history of the Golden Horde, created by Gehngiz Khan. In the XIX-XY cc the Kazakh language was separated from the Kypchak group of Turkic languages.
In 1991 Kazakhstan declared its independence. Kazakhstan maintains a presidential form of governance. In accordance with Constitution of Republic of Kazakhstan, all citizens of our country are given equal rights regardless of gender and age. Kazakhstan has joined over 20 international human rights agreements and conventions, including the UN Convention on Political Rights of Women and on the Nationality of the Married Women. Ratification of the UN Convention on Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women in 1998 highlighted once more the commitment of our state to further democratization of the society, implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, adopted by the International Women’s Forum in 1995.
Under Decree N 4176 of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated December 22, 1998 for purposes of protection family interests, provision of the necessary conditions for women’s participation in political, social, economic and cultural life of the country in accordance with Subpoint 20 of Article 44 of the Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan, there was established the National Commission for Family and Women under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The National Commission for Family and Women under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan (further – Commission) is a consultative body under the Head of the state. The Commission consists of 28 members. They are representatives of different spheres of our society, heads of central bodies and representatives of the regions.
They are divided into sections in 6 main directions of activity of the National Commission: Woman, power and policy; Woman in economics; Family problems; Women’s rights and protection from violence; Work with Women’s non-governmental organizations and their representations in the Republic of Kazakhstan; Family, woman and media.
The principal tasks of the Commission are: Identifications of priorities and designing of recommendations on forming complex state policy in respect of the family, women and children considering regional special features in the context of realization of the Strategy of Kazakhstan development up to 2030; Development of the system of complex measures in economic, social, psychological, legal support of family, women and children and rendering the assistance in their implementation; Assistance and stimulation of the expansion of the women’s representation in the bodies of state management; Participation and assistance in the development of projects of the normative legal documents, which regulate the position of family, women and children; Cooperation with non-governmental women’s organizations, international organizations and their representations in the Republic of Kazakhstan on problems of position of the family, women and children.
The Commission takes part in the development of economic programs in which such issues as women’s business undertakings development, improvement of the facility of current and new working places for women through the projects which are funded from the state and private sources, foreign investments, by means of granting credits, introduction of modern technologies will be outlined.
The key means of achievement of the given tasks will be designing and realization of the republican and regional programs for small and medium business development which include training for principals of business undertakings and psychological arrangements. The Commission has considerable rights and powers. Reports from the heads of state bodies, subject and accountable directly to the Head of the state, heads of central and local executive bodies are expected to be listened at its sessions. The Commission has the right to demand from them to carry out examinations and official investigations on facts of infringing laws affecting the family interests, maternity and childhood. The Commission is forming the data base covering the position of women in society and their political, social, economic and cultural level. The Commission is ready to collaborate with everyone who is interested in improvement of the position of family and women in the Republic of Kazakhstan and will consider all proposals, programs, projects.
Kazakhstan is strongly committed to the further advancement and empowerment of women and gender equality, particularly through implementing the National Law on State Guarantees of Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities for Women and Men, and the Law on Prevention of Domestic Violence. Both these legislations aim at incorporating international standards into national legislation and enacting legal previsions that will strongly protect women’s wellbeing and their inalienable rights through introducing strict measures for violators of domestic violence.
Recognizing that the key factor for the economic empowerment of women is decent work, Kazakhstan has striven to significantly decrease the unemployment ratio among women to 6.4 per cent; and for rural women, this indicator has dropped to 5.4 per cent. Furthermore, the wages for women is moving closer to that for men, reaching today some 66 per cent, in comparison with 61 per cent five years ago. According to the National Strategy on Gender Equality, we expect the average wage for women to rise to 80 per cent by 2020. In Kazakhstan also undertakes measures to provide allowances for women who loose or give up their jobs due to pregnancy or child birth, and for economically vulnerable families. The total budget for family support programmes over the last 10 years has reached some 3 billion US dollars.
The role of women in decision making is steadily increasing and becoming more significant. The current proportion of women in the Parliament has now risen to 14 per cent and on the ministerial level to 15 per cent. Over 58 per cent of the civil service positions are held by women. Kazakhstan’s women are more than equally represented in the business sphere: the proportion of women is now 52 per cent and 66 per cent of these women have their own small business.
2.2 Discrimination and violence against women and girls in Republic of Kazakhstan.
Many women face multiple forms of discrimination and increased risk of violence. Violence against women knows no boundaries. Women are traded across the world as cheap labour, catalogue brides and forced prostitutes. More than two million girls aged between five and 15 are sold as prostitutes every year.
The bodies of women and girls are being mutilated and sold because of new reproduction technologies. Prenatal determination of a baby's sex through ultrasound or Amniocenteses has led to a situation in which female foetuses are aborted one after the other in countries such as the People’s Republic of China and India in order to secure male offspring. Based on the birth statistics and the numerical relationship between men and women there should be 100 million more women alive on the earth today. In addition to this, girls are systematically neglected. They are breast fed for a shorter period, less likely to be inoculated, receive less to eat and have to work much harder. 1.5 million children die every year because they are girls. Girls and women are abused and raped on a daily basis. 75 percent of rapes are carried out by offenders that know their victims socially. Only between 10 and 30 percent of these crimes are reported to the police. 40,000 women are forced to flee their violent men to a refuge for battered women every year in Germany. The persecution of women because of their gender is not recognized for asylum purposes. Women and girls are refused the right of self-determination over their own bodies[3].
In many countries, women are refused the right to contraception. The genitals of 150 million women and girls have been mutilated. Each year, this number increases by two million. Women and girls are refused the right to take part in public life by law, be it legal or religious. In career terms, women and girls are at a disadvantage in every nation on earth. In Germany, a mere seven percent of women command management positions in business, the state sector and science, but are employed in 94 percent of all part-time positions.
For socially empowering women and preventing gender-based violence, Kazakhstan has adopted a multi-pronged gender strategy that aims to address gender-related issues and equip women with comprehensive knowledge about their legal rights, as well as access to those rights. The Government reviews and resolves complaints of individual women who face violence and discrimination. Victims of abuse have access to immediate assistance in 21 crisis shelter centers throughout the country.
As party to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of violence Against Women Republic of Kazakhstan takes measures to develop legislation and ensure its effective implementation to eradicate violence against women and prosecution of persons guilty of it. On 19 February 1999 in order to take effective measures on prevention and termination of all forms of violence against women, subdivisions of administrative police to control violence against women were established within the system of the Internal Affairs Bodies. The main direction of their activities include the protection of the constitutional rights and freedoms and lawful interests of women against illegal encroachments, provision of legal support to the population on issues of prevention and suppression of violence, analysis and summarising of information on violence against women.
The most vivid manifestations of violence against women are homicides aggravated by alcoholism and drug abuse, rape repeated beating, torturing, forcing to cohabitation, prostitution, etc. The most widely spread violence against women is domestic violence, resulting in physical, psychological, economic and moral harm and suffering as well as threat of committing such acts.
An international movement against violence on women and for the recognition of women's rights was born out of the daily experiences of women from across the world. This universality created close ties between women and demonstrated the necessity of a united battle: Women’s rights were officially recognized as human rights for the first time in 1993 at the UN World Conference for Human Rights in Vienna.
The international women’s rights movement was successful in its efforts to get the UN to define violence against women both in public and private as a violation of human rights and, therefore, to recognize universally the right of women to a life free of violence. This was a great success. The human rights concept that had existed to this point, that is, a concept which had been limited to classifying and condemning state (public) violence as a violation of human rights, was expanded: Until this point, private (domestic) violence had had no place. Those involved in the women's rights movement regarded this turning a blind eye to private violence as a large deficit for human rights as an instrument as a whole.
The movement had faced its greatest opposition in the West because of the prevailing discussion based on a premise that norms varied from culture to culture. According to this premise, terrible human rights violations such as genital mutilation were acceptable as culture-specific characteristics. But the World Conference for Human Rights was successful in beginning a process in which women’s rights would become accepted as human rights and in which a new international standard was set. Structural oppression of women in all its forms was no longer seen as discrimination against women, but as a violation of human rights. This is a new dimension providing women with a far more effective instrument for putting pressure on governments in their fight to achieve equal rights[4].
2.3 Implementation of international legal norms on protection of women's rights in the national legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan (some aspects).
The definition of the term “discrimination against women” as such, does not exist in the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Nevertheless, this term is widely used in legal practice, is used in the Constitution and other legal acts. Thus, Article 14 of the Constitution adopted on 30 August 1995 reads: 1. All are equal before law and court. 2. No one shall be subject to discrimination of any form on the basis of origin, social, property status, occupation, sex, race, nationality, language, religion, convictions, place of habitation or other circumstances.
Article 120 of the Criminal Code, which was in force until 1 January 1998, stated that impeding women in participating in state, social, cultural activity or other actions violating equality of women through the use of force, treat, material or other dependence was subject to punishment of up to 3 years imprisonment.
In the new Criminal Code which came into force on 1 January 1998 there is no separate consideration of the issue of violation of equal rights of women. However, an analogous bode of crime – violation of equality of citizens (Article 141) – treats as a crime direct or indirect limitation of human rights and freedoms, including on motives of sex and envisions confinement of up to three month or penalty equivalent to one thousand of average monthly calculated indicators. The same crime committed by a person while performing official duties, is punished by confinement for a term of up to six months or imprisonment for a term of up to two years, or penalty equivalent to two thousand of average monthly calculated indicators.
The Criminal Code effective before 1 January 1998 contained only one article referred to preclusion of exploitation of women’s prostitution – “Keeping of Dens and Pimping” (Article 215-1). The new Criminal Code enacted on 1 January 1998 considerably mitigated the maximum punishment for this crime from 5 to 3 years (of imprisonment) (without aggravating circumstances) , simultaneously introduced several articles that were completely new for Kazakhstan legislation: recruiting people for sexual or other exploitation (article 128) with the maximum punishment up to 8 years of imprisonment involving a minor in prostitution (article 132) – up to three years of imprisonment; traffic in minors (article 133) connected with their import to Kazakhstan or export from Kazakhstan - up to ten years of imprisonment; involving in prostitution (article 270) – up to three years of imprisonment.
Besides, the diplomatic representatives and consulate institutions of Kazakhstan in the countries where there is a possibility of traffic in women were given the appropriate instructions in order to prevent similar practices with women citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In the event of discovering facts of trafficking in Kazakhstan women, the proper measures are taken to return them to Kazakhstan.
In accordance with Kazakhstan’s legislation, legal protection is provided on an equal basis, irrespective of sex. Article 13 of the August 1995 Constitution recognises everyone’s right to be legal subjects, to have the right for juridical defence of their rights and freedoms and obtaining qualified legal assistance. Where it is envisioned by law legal assistance is provided free of charge. Article 14 of the Constitution states: “All are equal before law and court”.
On 29 June 1998 Kazakhstan joined the “Convention against Tortures and Other Cruel, Brutal or Humiliating Human dignity Ways of Treatment and Punishment”. By pledging to observe the norms of this Convention, it confirmed its commitment to human rights protection.
The Law “On marriage and Family” which came into force on 17 December 1998 and which acts as a substitute for the earlier existing Code of Marriage and Family of 1969.
Article 2 of this Law fixes the principle of voluntary marriage of a man and a woman, equality of spouses, and resolving family conflicts through reconciliation. It prohibits any kind of limitation of the rights of citizens during their marriage of family life on the grounds of social status, race, ethnicity, language or religious creed.
The Criminal Code of the Republic Kazakhstan features positive discrimination of women related to serving sentence by them. According to the new Criminal Law (article 72), deferred sentences can apply to pregnant women and women whose children are under 8, except for those who committed grave offences against the person both at the time of passing a verdict and of serving. Whereas in the former legislation an analogous norm was focused only on women serving sentence in the form of imprisonment, the new legislation renders this norm applicable to women condemned to all forms of sentence.
Article 20 of the Constitution 1995 guarantees freedom of speech and creative activities. Taking into account the higher level of education of the women in Kazakhstan compared with men, one can say with confidence that possibilities of the women for all- round cultural development are greater. This is reflected in the spheres of employment which are directly or indirectly connected constitute an overwhelming majority. Nevertheless, the women’s opportunities to exercise their rights in the sphere of culture are constantly decreasing, which is caused by two factors.
The first factor is the general economic recession that affects culture as well. The second reason lies in the fact that the women are being steadily ousted from the spheres of science, arts and culture, especially from the most prestigious levels.
Conclusion. Disunity of the states and confrontation of various social systems are being replaced gradually with consciousness of generality of all people and necessity of the joint solving of global problems, including creation of the international system providing reliable protection of fundamental laws and freedom of the person. Creation of such system is impossible without a reliable legal basis. The similar laws, conventional legal principles and regulations should operate in all states of the world community. Certainly, in conditions of distinction of social systems, levels of economic development, national structure of the population, cultural traditions and historical features of development to achieve full concurrence of all legislative systems is impossible. However, the obligations of the states allow speaking with confidence about successful promotion of community of peoples to the uniform legal space.
Thus, it is necessary to make propositions [5, 8-10 р.]:
- In order to take into account the interests and needs of women who represent an essential part of modern society, it is suggested that governments and relevant international organizations such as UN elaborate and adopt the international standard of women’s rights. It must be based on universal concept of human rights allowing to unite states in protection of women’s
- The idea of international protection of women’s rights, and the idea of elimination of discrimination against women, must, before all, be based on gender conscience of people that is one of many forms of public
- In order to ensure effective protection of women’s rights, it is expedient to legally fix the notion of women’s ‘vulnerability’ that means that it is necessary to arrange special international protection of the women whose lives are threatened by objective external factors, and the notion of aggregate vulnerability of women that arises when a woman is simultaneously exposed to a few factors causing vulnerability, i.e. additional protection of women. At the same time, it is necessary to pay special attention to the following groups of vulnerable women: the women who were exposed to globalization processes; the women who live in environmentally unfavorable areas; young
- In order to ensure effective implementation of gender policy, and based on international law norms of protection of women’s rights, and subject to mentality and national ethnic traditions of the peoples of Kazakhstan, it is expedient to elaborate a project of national action plan of protection of women’s rights for the future that must be approved with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Subject to the condition of protection of women’s rights in the Republic of Kazakhstan, it is expedient to introduce the position of Ombudsman for Women’s Rights whose status must be determined with a law of the Republic of
- In order to implement international social and economic rights of women, every state must take a number of effective measures to liquidate women’s poverty based on state social policy on women’s affairs; to form a system of national statistics on women’s economic status; to provide social assistance to women; to stimulate economic interestedness of states and employers in making healthier women’s labor conditions, before all, women of childbearing age, using legal levers; to adopt Law ‘About protection of health of pregnant women’.
- It is necessary to introduce provision in international law setting forth social and legal liability of employers and administrative officials who infringe upon women’s reproductive rights; to create necessary conditions to ensure that women have vocational training for obtaining proper labor
- Based on analysis and generalization of the materials about the status of implementation of international law provisions on protection of women’s civil and political rights in modern Kazakhstan society, we have revealed certain defects in both legal basis and information system on actual status of women in the society and protection of their civil and political rights. Therefore, it is proposed: to complete the existing laws with the provisions imposing liability for violation of women’s rights, for violation of equal participation of women on a level with men in public administration bodies; and to introduce an internal Kazakhstan mechanism to control how international law provisions on protection of women’s rights are implemented by all state bodies and
- The member states of the Convention on elimination of discrimination against women undertook to include the principle of equality of man and women in their national constitutions or any other relevant legislation, and implement this principle by their laws and other relevant means in practice. Therefore, it is seems possible to add the following provision to sub-clause 3 of Article 12 of the current Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan: ‘In the Republic of Kazakhstan, men and women have equal rights’.
- Violence against women is of no racial, class, age or ethnic nature. Violation of human rights as an issue of protection of women’s rights includes slavery (forced prostitution), sexual terrorism (rape), restriction of freedom (house arrest), humiliation (permanent beating) that are global acts of discrimination of women. The gender discrimination often leads to murder because the fact of being female is a threat to life. Although many states do not provide the status of refugee to women who were exposed to sexual victimization and raped, we believe that the victimization by gender as a kind of humanitarian repression may be a reason for provision of the status of
- Based on complex analysis of international law related to protection of women’s rights and current practical situation on guarantees of protection of women’s rights, one can conclude that the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) may not consider individual cases, and it is the competence of the Human Rights Committee. The only procedure of control how the women’s Convention is observed is the controlling and reporting procedure. The member states of the Convention must observe its provisions, and at the same time, they are not obligated to observe the provisions reserved by the states, and the Convention has a great number of such reservations. Thus, CEDAW has no immediate means of protection of women’s rights. In modern international law related to protection of women’s rights the status and role of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women formed by UN to eliminate any discrimination against women must be understood and analyzed anew to make the resolutions of CEDAW
LIST OF LITERATURE:
- Сайт ООН. [Электрон. ресурс].-2013.-URL: http://www.un.org/en/globalissues /women/peace.shtml(дата обращения: 20.03.2013).
- Richard H. Robbins, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, (Allyn and Bacon, 1999).- 354 p.
- Сайт ЮНЕСКО[Электрон. ресурс].-2013.-URL: www.dadalos.org (дата обращения: 03.2013).
- Christa Stolle. UNESCO School’s Project, Issue 3/2002: "Frauen und Mädchen der Welt" v. Deutsche UNESCO-Kommission e.V., Bonn.
- Ainur Sabitova. Международно-правовые проблемы защиты прав женщин: вопросы теории и практики. Автореферат. Алматы, 2010г.-С. 8-10.