Rural Women's Access to Land and Property in Selected Countries
Analysis based on initial and periodic reports to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (1997-2003)
FAO/IFAD/International Land Coalition, Maria Hartl, Consultant, July/August 2003

Summary

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, ratified by 170 countries, is the only human rights treaty body that deals specifically with rural women. For the current study, a number of countries classified as low-income food-deficit (LIFDC) and others not classified as such have been selected, based on their recent presentation (1997-2003) of a report to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and, where appropriate, the land or agricultural reforms they have undertaken or launched:

The report analyzes how women's rights have been respected or not in those reforms and how their access to land and property, inheritance rights and legal capacity have been ensured. Statistics disaggregated by sex on rural population, rural labour force, and information on gender units or focal points in technical ministries have also been extracted.

The report provides a historic background to the Convention and its Optional Protocol and informs about efforts to implement the convention through enforcement and litigation. It also describes the working methods of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, in particular the reporting procedure and the concluding observations, as well as the contribution of United Nation organizations and non-governmental organizations.

A number of recommendations are made to encourage more efficient use of CEDAW reports by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the International Land Coalition in their respective activities for rural women.

Content

1. Introduction
2. The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women
a. Historic background
b. Reservations
c. Optional Protocol to the Convention
d. Bringing the Convention home
5. Working methods of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
a. Reporting procedures under the Convention
b. The role of specialized agencies and bodies of the United Nations
c. Involvement of non-governmental organizations
d. Concluding observations of the Committee
e. Challenges ahead
6. Analysis of CEDAW reports
a. Legislation on access to land, ownership and inheritance rights
b. Statistics on rural women
c. Institutional mechanisms for gender equality in rural areas
4. Recommendations
Bibliography
Annex

Table 1: List of selected States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
Table 2: Reference to rural women in concluding observations by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
Table 3: Legislation pertaining to access to land, property, inheritance and legal capacity
Table 4: Statistics on rural population, agricultural labour force, women farmers and access to land
Table 5: Gender units, focal points in technical ministries and action plans

1. Introduction

Bringing human rights and development together has been a major concern of the United Nations over the past 50 years. The rights based approach to development has gained particular importance in the last years, although in reality the human rights and the development community often work in parallel but use different strategies. The need to address human rights and development is most obvious in gender mainstreaming, where the full enjoyment by women of their human rights and the removal of all forms of discrimination is the core issue and sine qua non. The gap between de jure and de facto equality is nowhere as blatant as with regard to women. The promotion of gender equality implies a social transformation in society for which human rights instruments are a formidable tool since they address and ideally eliminate the underlying inequalities and discrimination.
This study makes the link between development and women's rights by analysing the information provided in reports presented by countries that have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women thus fulfilling their obligation to report on national compliance with the various articles of the Convention. Such information could be used efficiently by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), as well as by the International Land Coalition in their respective activities for rural women. Vice-versa, these organizations could use the various processes involved in CEDAW for mutual benefit and for advancing the status of rural women and their full enjoyment of their human rights.

The selection of countries for this study was initially based on two criteria: classification as low-income food-deficit (LIFDC)1, and ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and presentation of an initial or periodic report to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in the last six years (1997-2003). A number of countries not classified as LIFDC have been added to the study, based on their presentation (1997-2003) of a report to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and recent land or agricultural reforms undertaken or launched2. The reason for applying these two criteria being that States parties to the Convention classified as LIFDCs and countries undertaking land or agricultural reforms would report on the status of rural women (Article 14) as well as women's access to land, property and inheritance rights (Article 15 and 16) and thus on issues of critical importance to alleviating poverty and food deficiency among women. Reports submitted before 1997 could not be included because of a concern for timeliness of information, although initial reports presented before this deadline might include basic information that has not changed in the meantime.

Although the Convention has been ratified by a record number of 170 member states of the United Nations as of June 2002, many have not fulfilled their reporting requirements and did not yet present their initial report. For this reason many countries classified as LIFDCs could not be included in the selection3. Several countries have presented their initial report to the Committee before 1996 and failed to submit the required periodic up-dates4. One country has introduced its combined second and third report in 1995 but has not yet presented it for consideration by the Committee5. Several other countries have signed but not yet ratified the Convention, and therefore have no reporting obligations6. One country presented an oral report on an exceptional basis in 19947. The remaining countries have not signed or ratified the Convention8. (Annex, see Table 1)

For the purpose of this comparative analysis, the following issues have been evaluated:
* Legislation: Equal access to, or ownership of land and other property, inheritance and legal capacity (Articles 14, 15 and 16)
* Statistics disaggregated by sex on rural population, indigenous population, agricultural and rural labour force, land distribution and ownership, women farmers (Article 10, 12, 14)
* Information on gender units or focal points in technical ministries, gender mainstreaming and focus on rural women in national action plans for the advancement of women or development plans (Articles 2, 3, and 4).

2. The Convention and the Optional Protocol
a. Historic background

The international bill of rights for women, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, was adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly. The Convention brings together several other Conventions and treaties that protected and promoted the rights of women in particularly vulnerable areas9. In 1967, the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women combined in a single instrument the international standards articulating equal rights of men and women, but it was felt that only a binding treaty would give normative force to its provisions. Coinciding with the preparation for the First Women's Conference in Mexico (1975), a single, comprehensive and internationally binding instrument to eliminate discrimination against women was elaborated. The Convention entered into force on 3 September 1981 once twenty Member States had ratified it, faster than any previous human rights convention before10.

It defines discrimination against women as follows:
"For the purposes of the present Convention, the term "discrimination against women" shall mean any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field."(Article 1)

Thus the Convention addresses discrimination against women, not discrimination on the basis of sex. It is an instrument that is not dealing with equality per se, but with the removal of any direct or indirect discrimination women are confronted with. The distinction between direct and indirect discrimination is essential as it helps to reveal the hidden or supposedly neutral practices and policies that in reality discriminate against women and prevent them from enjoying fully their rights. The Convention not only addresses de jure enjoyment of equality, which today is guaranteed by many countries in the Constitution or in basic rights, but also de facto situations which reflect the extent to which women are enjoying these rights in their daily lives11.
The Convention covers comprehensively civil and political, as well as economic, social and cultural rights. Similar provisions and rights to non-discrimination are also contained in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic and Social Rights (ICESCR). Another specific feature of the Convention is its imposing of explicit obligations on states parties in respect of discrimination by private parties, not just by state or public officials12. This is all the more important as a lot of discrimination against women is occurring in private life.
Today, 170 countries - almost ninety percent of the members of the United Nations - are party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and an additional three have signed the treaty. The Fourth World Conference on Women created a momentum for many States to ratify the Convention. Ratifications increased by 34 per cent when 39 countries became a States party between January 1993 and 1996. It increased by another 10 per cent since then, following the call for universal ratification of the Convention by the year 2000 of the Beijing Platform for Action. Thus the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child are the two treaties which count for the majority of the notable 26 per cent increase in ratifications for all treaty bodies since 199313. This underscores the importance given to the human rights machinery worldwide.

By ratifying the Convention, States make a commitment to end discrimination against women in all forms, including to incorporate the principle of equality of women and men in their legal system, to abolish all discriminatory laws and adopt laws that prohibit discrimination against women, to establish tribunals and other public institutions to ensure the effective protection of women against discrimination and to ensure elimination of all acts of discrimination against women by persons, organizations or enterprises. Countries that have ratified or acceded to the Convention are legally bound to put its provisions into practice.

b. Reservations
Many countries have ratified the Convention with a reservation, which is possible "provided that the reservations are not incompatible with the object and purpose of the Convention"14. Reservations to individual provisions have often been removed once the inconsistent law or practice has been changed. A number of States have entered reservations to particular articles on the ground that national law, tradition, religion or culture are not congruent with Convention principles, and purport to justify the reservation on that basis. These reservations appear to limit the state's obligations in particular if the reservations address family relations including frequently women's legal capacity, property and inheritance rights. It should be noted that states have not entered reservations to the equality guarantees of other treaty bodies such as the ICCPR, ICESCR and the Convention on the Rights of the Child15.
The countries under review have made substantive reservations to paragraphs in Article 2, 9, 15 and 16 of the Convention on the grounds that they conflict with certain provisions of either the Islamic Shari'ah (Bangladesh, Egypt, Iraq, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco), the Act on personal status (Jordan), the Family Code (Algeria) or the Personal Status Code (Tunisia). Reservations to Article 16 on marriage and family life have also been introduced on the grounds that the provisions of this article are contrary to existing customs and practices (Niger) or would only be applied in conformity with a policy of non-interference in the personal affairs of any community without consent (India). No reservation has been made to Article 14 on rural women.
The permissibility of reservations that undermine the commitment to the core human rights obligations towards women has been repeatedly addressed, but there is no procedure to determine incompatibility with the Convention. Only a few States parties have addressed this issue and expressed their objections to reservations entered. In 2001-2002, for instance, objections to reservations have been made by a small number of countries, some of which have done so repeatedly: Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Norway and Spain16.

c. Optional Protocol to the Convention
For many years, women's non-governmental organizations (NGOs), activist and human rights lawyers have urged the establishment of a complaints procedure that would assist women in fighting discrimination at international level. In follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women was elaborated and adopted by the General Assembly 6 October 1999. It entered into force on 22 December 2000, following the ratification of the tenth States party to the Convention. By ratifying the Optional Protocol, a State recognizes the competence of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to receive and consider complaints from individuals or groups within its jurisdiction. As of January 2003, there were 75 signatories and 49 ratifications of the Optional Protocol17.
The Optional Protocol contains a communications procedure allowing individual women, or groups of women, to submit claims of violations of rights protected under the Convention to the Committee once all domestic remedies have been exhausted. The Protocol also creates an inquiry procedure that will enable the Committee to initiate inquiries into situations of grave or systematic violations of women's rights in any States party to the Convention and the Protocol18.

d. Bringing the Convention home
Legal action to bring the Convention home is one way to change national legislation and remove discrimination. In a number of cases, the Convention has been successfully invoked to persuade domestic courts to refer to international standards, in particular the Convention, when applying existing law19.
Tanzania: In Ephrohim v Pastory, a woman brought a court challenge to the Haya customary law that prevented her from selling clan land. Holaria Pastory had inherited land from her father, through his will, but when she tried to sell it her nephew applied to have the sale voided. Tanzania's Declaration of Customary Law prohibited her sale of the land in section 20 of its rules of inheritance, which states that "women can inherit, except for clan land, which they may receive in usufruct but may not sell." Pastory argued that this constraint on women's property rights violated the constitution's Bill of Rights. The court relied on the fact that the Government had ratified the Convention, as well as on the ICCPR and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, to find that women were constitutionally protected from discrimination and thus overruled customary law rules. The court stated that "the principles enunciated in the above named documents are a standard below which any civilised nation will be ashamed to fall.
Nepal: In Dhungana v Nepal, the Forum for Women, Law and Development asked the Supreme Court to overturn a law that gave sons a share of ancestral property at birth but denied daughters a share of their parents' property until they reached the age of 35 without having married, and required that it be returned to the family if a daughter subsequently married. Because the Convention has the status of national law in Nepal, the case was argued both as a violation of the Convention and as a violation of the constitution's equality guarantee. The Supreme Court found that the law did discriminate against women and directed the Nepalese Government to "introduce an appropriate Bill to parliament within one year.
India: In Madhu Kishwar and Others v. State of Bihar and Other, the customary law excluding tribal women from inheritance of land or property was challenged. The court recommended that the Central Government should withdraw the exemptions given under the Hindu Succession Act and the Indian Succession Act.

Although judges may not be willing to base their decisions on international treaties such as the Convention, they have the authority to do so, if their country has ratified the Convention. Some of the most interesting and significant decisions have been produced when a court decided to combine a vague or inadequate constitutional guarantee of women's equality with the principles of gender equality articulated in the Convention. Litigation has made history, when the Convention has been successfully relied on in a number of court cases to interpret constitutional guarantees of equality, including on access to land and inheritance rights20.

To advance a case before a domestic court is a complex undertaking. Success depends on the popular support that has to be part of any litigation strategy and the approach adopted by the judiciary, their knowledge of and intention to draw on international jurisprudence. If not enough work has been done to inform and educate the Government and the general public, a court's decision might not be enforced or overturned by new legislation21.

3. Working methods of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
a. Reporting procedures under the Convention
To fulfill their reporting obligations within Article 18 of the Convention, States parties to the Convention have to submit to the UN Secretary-General an initial report on the legislative, judicial, administrative or other measures that they have adopted to implement the Convention within a year after its entry into force and a periodic up-date at least every four years thereafter, or whenever the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) so requests. These reports are forwarded to the Committee, composed of 23 independent experts, for consideration. The reporting procedure is the most important activity of CEDAW and provides for international scrutiny of compliance with the Convention and implementation of its articles at national level. It also offers a valuable opportunity to policy makers, judiciary, parliamentarians and the NGO community at the national level to hold the Government accountable for its achievements and failures under the Convention.

Reports are to be prepared according to guidelines established by the Committee22. The initial report should be a detailed and comprehensive description of the position of women at the time of submission since it is meant to provide a benchmark against which subsequent progress can be measured. Second and subsequent national reports are intended to update the previous report, detailing significant developments that have occurred over the last four years, noting key trends, and identifying obstacles to the full achievement of the Convention. If the report of a States party does not contain sufficient information, the Committee may request the State concerned to furnish such additional information as required23. A central feature of the report is the description of de jure and de facto equality, in line with the premises of the Convention. The inclusion of statistics disaggregated by sex and information on difficulties and remaining obstacles is required to provide a true picture of de facto equality or indirect discrimination.

Many countries have fallen behind in their reporting. With the number of ratifications increasing, the number of overdue reports has increased accordingly. As of 31 August 2002, there were 263 overdue reports to CEDAW, of which 45 were initial reports, 61 were second periodic reports, 59 were third periodic reports, 48 were fourth periodic reports and 50 were fifth periodic reports. Reports submitted by 17 States parties had yet to be considered by the Committee24. Lengthy delays in the preparation, submission and consideration of reports by CEDAW may significantly reduce the impact of international scrutiny of the compliance of States parties with the Convention. Equatorial Guinea, for instance, had introduced its combined second and third periodic report in 1995, but for internal reasons could not yet present it to the Committee. The Republic of Guinea ratified the Convention in 1982, but could submit a detailed, comprehensive initial report only 19 years later. It explained that it had been unable to submit a report earlier because of political change and the impact on the technical departments of frequent changes to ministerial portfolios. While on one side the number of overdue reports increases, the capacity of the Committee to consider reports is also stretched with the high number of 170 ratifications and periodic reports to be prepared by all States parties. At its 23rd session, the Committee decided, on an exceptional basis and as a temporary measure in order to address the backlog of reports awaiting consideration, to invite States parties with overdue reports to combine these outstanding reports in a single document25. An exceptional session of CEDAW took place in 2002 to reduce backlog26.

To improve reporting under the Convention, the UN Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) has provided advice and assistance to States parties to the Convention on the substantive requirements of the Convention, as well as reporting obligations on request. In July 1999, DAW organized a subregional meeting which was attended, inter alia, by participants from countries who had not yet prepared their initial CEDAW report (Chad, the Central African Republic, Togo and Cote d'Ivoire). Another Subregional meeting for the Asia Pacific was held in December 2000 in Fuji, in collaboration with UNDP, UNIFEM, ESCAP and the Government of New Zealand. It was attended by countries from Oceania who had ratified the Convention in the 1990s and did not yet present their initial report (Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu). Training seminars have been offered also by the ILO Training Centre in Turin.

Since the judiciary plays a crucial role in the application of human rights norms, DAW convened a judicial colloquium on the application of international human rights law at the domestic level. Participants at this meeting called for all judges to engage in an on-going process of comprehensive, in depth and credible judicial education to integrate international human rights instruments into domestic law and decision-making.

States parties that fulfil their reporting requirements show an increased compliance with reporting obligations under the Convention. More and more reports are prepared in line with the guidelines established by the Committee and include statistical data. Zambia, in preparation of its combined third and fourth periodic report, used not only instruction provided by the United Nations, but also reporting guidelines developed by an NGO, the International Women's Rights Action Watch (IWRAW). Governments have become more self-critical in their reports. Nicaragua, in the introduction to its 5th periodic report, "acknowledges the difficulties and limitations that have prevented the country from achieving more rapid fulfilment of the commitments it made as a States party to the Convention".

In recent years, reports have increased in volume and provide more information. The average size of a report is now 80 pages, a long way from the two-page report submitted by Mali in 1987. Opinions may differ as to the utility of States parties reports, in particular with regard to interpretations of articles of the Convention28. Accuracy and timeliness of information provided may also be questionable, in particular if there is a long delay between preparation, submission and consideration of a report.

More than anything else, the preparation of a report provides a unique momentum in a country to galvanize efforts on women's human rights. Due to the comprehensiveness of the Convention, many ministries and state departments need to be involved in preparing such a report. The Ministry of Agriculture or rural development would need to contribute on the implementation of Article 14 on rural women. In Georgia, for instance, the report was prepared by a group of experts who based their draft on materials provided by State legislative and executive bodies and on information from non-governmental organizations and mass media publications. In Suriname, the first draft of the report was prepared by a non-governmental organization and not by the national machinery or the relevant ministry. In India, widespread consultations took place from 1993 to 1996 throughout the country to prepare the CEDAW report. Meetings were held with a number of women's organizations, NGOs and individual women and detailed discussions took place between various Ministries/Departments of the Government on different articles of the Convention who also provided written input. The report of the Philippines is the product of a consultative process between the government organizations and non governmental organizations, a process to which the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) adhered in the spirit of partnership and collaboration with non governmental organizations. In many countries, NGOs have also used the reporting procedure to draw attention to the implementation of the Convention and prepared "shadow reports29."
In the countries selected, the preparation of the CEDAW report was a lengthy process which in most cases involved various ministerial departments in Government and civil society. Several countries circulated the draft report widely among NGOs, as well as Government and private institutions and invited them to submit comments. They held workshop or conferences before the finalization of the report in an effort to give various Government representatives and NGOs an opportunity to come together and discuss (Jordan, Kazakhstan, Namibia, Tunisia, Viet Nam, and Zimbabwe).
Whereas efforts to involve civil society in preparing the CEDAW report have clearly increased all over the world, the involvement of large segments of Government and civil society does not always produce the expected outcome. Namibia, for instance, noted that the level of interest shown both inside and outside government was low, pointing to the need for a more formalized monitoring process.

In some countries, the preparation of the report was supported by donors. The report of Jordan was finalized at a national workshop organized in conjunction with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). In Zimbabwe, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) supported the initial stage of data collection, compilation and editing of the report, whereas the Danish Agency for Development Assistance (DANIDA) funded the final editing and production of copies for dissemination. The Commonwealth Secretariat provided technical assistance to South Africa for the preparation of the report, as well as for establishing a Gender Management System and developing gender policies at national and departmental level. The Canadian Caribbean Gender Equity Fund and UNIFEM granted financial and technical assistance to Suriname.

Some countries used the preparation of the report to plan for the future. In Jordan, workshops on the draft report agreed also on measures to be taken by public institutions, non-governmental organizations and the National Committee for Women in the coming years to ensure the effective implementation of the Convention in Jordan.

b. The role of specialized agencies and bodies of the United Nations

The Rules of procedure of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women foresee the participation of specialized agencies and bodies of the United Nations and of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations30. The Committee may invite specialized agencies to submit reports on the implementation of the Convention in areas falling within the scope of their activities.

In the 1990s, the Committee tried to re-activate and reinforce collaboration with the specialized agencies of the United Nations, in particular the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO)31. The Committee continued to request the specialized agencies to present reports that focus on the implementation of the Convention in areas falling within the scope of their activities. The Committee also welcomed the assistance and cooperation of specialized agencies in implementing its mandate under the Convention and the Beijing Platform for Action, and in the translation and wide dissemination of the Convention.

In follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women, the Committee identified the areas of concern that were compatible with the articles of the Convention, and decided on priorities to better coordinate and avoid overlap with the activities of United Nations specialized agencies, organs and programmes. Thus, poverty and structural adjustment programmes were to be dealt by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNIFEM, the World Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), whereas rural women were to be coordinated with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and IFAD. The Committee also decided to designate one of its members to serve as focal point for particular United Nations entities. Efforts were to be made to explore cooperation in relation to field-level activities and to develop further ways of integrating the Convention into the work of the United Nations system32. Subsequently, the Committee agreed that representatives of the specialized agencies and bodies of the United Nations should be invited to address the Committee as a whole in a closed meeting on those States parties whose initial reports were before the Committee33.

Reports by FAO, UNICEF, WHO and ILO are issued as pre-sessional CEDAW documents. FAO, in its written information, refers to activities, programmes and policy decisions undertaken to promote the implementation of Article 14 and related articles of the Convention. In some cases, information provided by the specialized agency may be more detailed than the information provided by the States party. In the case of Kenya, little statistical data was given in the report of the States party and FAO provided supplementary statistical information from its own sources on population and the labour force34. It also informed about FAO emergency operations and food aid during the severe drought that began in 1999 and the decline in agricultural production (maize, coffee, tea and horticulture). None of these topics had been mentioned in the report submitted two years earlier by the Government of Kenya (February 2000). However, FAO did not present comments on all reports to be considered at the CEDAW session and its comments were limited to specific topics.

c. Involvement of non-governmental organizations
Over the years, the Committee has given greater attention to NGOs, who play no formal role in the reviewing of reports, but can provide additional information on national reports and act as agents for promoting the Convention. Since the World Conference on Human Rights (Vienna 1993) and the increased attention on violence against women as a human rights issue, more and more activists have focussed on human rights and received training in international law. Thus the non-governmental women's rights community has grown considerably in the 1990s. These NGOs know how to refer to women's rights and use international human rights instruments as a tool in their activities. In their "shadow reports", NGOs put pressure on States parties, and provide alternative information to CEDAW experts35.

After the Fourth World Conference on Women, collaboration between the Committee and NGOs intensified. The role of non-governmental organizations in publicizing the Convention and the work of the Committee was noted, in particular the contribution of International Women's Rights Action Watch, with its regular "IWRAW to CEDAW report", and the International Human Rights Law Group36. In 1999, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women decided that representatives of national and international non-governmental organizations should be invited to provide country-specific information in an informal meeting on States parties whose reports are before the Committee37.
Many NGO networks are using the Convention for giving additional leverage to their activities and urging for legal reform. In particular, NGOs working on violence against women have always applied a rights-based approach. New alliances of NGOs are emerging in other fields. For example, a consortium of NGOs in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has established a regional platform on women's land and water rights, using legal instruments38.

d. Concluding observations of the Committee
Following the presentation of each States party report, the CEDAW Committee engages the country representatives in a constructive dialogue and later on formulates concluding comments or observations which outline factors and difficulties affecting the implementation of the Convention for the States party, positive aspects, principal subjects of concern and suggestions and recommendations to enhance implementation of the Convention39. The Committee also makes suggestions which it addresses to bodies other than States parties. The concluding observations should assist the States party in implementing its obligations under the Convention and include guidance for the preparation of the next periodic report of the States party40.
The practice of drafting concluding comments or observations is recent in CEDAW. Over the years, the concluding observations have undergone major changes and became more detailed and specific41. Whereas the summary of discussion had more prominence in the past, the concluding comments now address each article of the Convention and detail the specific action to be taken. CEDAW requests the wide dissemination of the concluding comments in order to make government administrators and policy-makers aware of steps taken to ensure de jure and de facto equality for women and future action required. It also requests the Government to disseminate widely the Convention and its Optional Protocol, in particular to women's and human rights organizations. In many countries, CEDAW concluding comments are commented on in the local press and disseminated by NGOs. The more controversy develops around the concluding comments, the better the coverage. Recently, States parties have used the concluding comments as a tool to plan ahead and strategize. Armenia, for instance, organized a two-day planning conference where it presented the concluding comments to gender experts, NGOs and the media.

At the outset of each concluding comment, the Committee addresses the essence of the Convention, and whether the principle of direct and indirect discrimination has not been understood and addressed. Specific reference is made to customary and statutory law in rural areas (see Annex, Table 2). In the case of Kyrgyzstan, for instance, the Committee was concerned about the lack of understanding of discrimination against women as a multi-faceted phenomenon that entails indirect and unintentional as well as direct and intentional discrimination. As for Tanzania, the Committee noted that the prevailing customary laws and religious laws which sometimes supersede the constitution are discriminatory towards women. Practised and accepted more widely in rural areas, they often prevent women from inheriting and owning land and property. The Committee urged Zambia to strengthen law enforcement and to provide effective remedies through the courts for women who experience discrimination.

With regards to rural women, the Committee mostly addresses health and education of women and girls in rural areas. CEDAW is concerned about high illiteracy among girls and women, unequal access of girls and young women to all levels of education and girls dropping out of school. It encourages the States party to introduce further special measures in the area of education, including incentives for parents to send girls to school and to encourage the recruitment of more qualified women teachers42. With regards to health, the Committee is concerned about high rates of maternal and infant mortality, low life expectancy, the low rate of contraceptive use, teenage pregnancies, unsafe abortions and lack of adequate health-care facilities and family planning services, particularly in the rural areas as well as the decline in health services and urges the Government to take actions in these areas43.
CEDAW also addresses the lack of information on rural women, especially in the informal sector. The Committee asked Egypt to provide in its next periodic report a comprehensive picture of the situation of rural women, in particular with regard to education, health and employment. It requested Mongolia to collect data and information on women living in poverty, disaggregated by age. Nicaragua was asked to give priority attention to rural women and women heads of household, including in the allocation of budgetary resources.

Access to land and property rights, discrimination in inheritance, access to resources and credit are also often highlighted in the concluding observations. The Government of South Africa was invited to prepare a uniform family code in conformity with the Convention in which unequal inheritance rights, land rights and polygamy are addressed, with the aim of abolishing them. The Committee also noted the need for rural women's participation in land reform programmes. Access to land was also addressed in the case of Namibia. The Committee expressed concern about the fact that despite new laws, women, in particular those in the rural areas, were unable to own land. It was suggested that the Government should endeavour to bring about legal change with regard to land ownership by women, especially in rural areas. As for Vietnam, the Committee recommended that the States party review the existing legal provisions regarding the retirement age of women and men, to ensure that women are entitled to continue productive employment on an equal basis with men.

The full integration of women into rural development, the elimination of marginalization of women in agriculture and poverty reduction was highlighted in the concluding observations. The Committee recommended that Kazakhstan, for example, set specific targets in poverty alleviation programmes for poor women and, in particular, female heads of household and older and rural women.

Among the specific topics addressed with regard to violation of the human rights of rural women are food taboos in Tanzania, suicide of rural women in China and violence against women in Kyrgyzstan, Egypt and Morocco. In its concluding observations on Peru, the Committee expressed concern about sexual violence against rural and indigenous women and the high rate of sexual abuse of teenagers and girls in emergency zones.
Discriminatory practices and disparities between statutory law and customary law have also been forcefully addressed by other treaty bodies such as the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights established under the International Covenant on Economic and Social Rights (ICESCR). It invoked discriminatory laws which prevent women from inheriting land in a number of cases, inter alia, in its concluding observations to Cameroon (1999), Sri Lanka (1998) and Morocco (2000)44.

e. Challenges ahead
With 26 per cent of initial reports by States parties not submitted, the Committee and the UN system is challenged to encourage, facilitate or pressure Governments to fulfil their reporting requirements. The usefulness of the reporting procedure depends on the willingness and efforts made by States parties to actually report.

With the number of ratifications of all treaty bodies increasing, the reporting process and coordination between the different treaty bodies and complaints mechanisms has become difficult. As illustrated by the high number of countries not able to adhere to their reporting obligations, some changes need to be introduced. The reform agenda of the Secretary-General recognized that the existing treaty bodies and human rights mechanisms and procedures constituted a large and intricate network whose growing complexity and the corresponding burden of reporting obligations strained the resources of Member States and the Secretariat. It was suggested to improve the Organization's work in this area, to strengthen the capacity of the United Nations to help individual countries to build strong human rights and review the procedures of the treaty bodies in order to simplify reporting obligations45.
Another challenge is the practical integration of a rights-based approach into all areas of work of the UN system, in particular into development assistance and emergency relief operations. The division between the human rights framework and its machinery and other activities is maintained. There is a need to incorporate a rights-based approach into the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), in particular into the Common Country Assessment (CCA) and the preparation of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. This is all the more relevant for the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals and for bringing human rights and development together.

4. Analysis of CEDAW reports

a. Legislation on access to land, ownership and inheritance rights
The Convention contains a number of provisions pertaining to access to land, property rights, inheritance and legal capacity. The discrepancy between de jure and de facto equality is most obvious in the area of law and family life. An analysis of Article 14 (rural women) and Article 15 of (equality before the law) and Article 16 (marriage and family relations) shows that inequalities persist and the gap between de jure and de facto equality remains an obstacle (see Annex, Table 3). In its General Recommendation No. 21, adopted at the occasion of the International Year of the Family in 1994, the CEDAW Committee provides a detailed exegesis of individual articles of the Convention that have particular relevance for the status of women in the family (Articles 9, 15 and 16)46.

While women have civil and political rights and can enjoy them, equal rights in marriage and family matters are a different question. Algeria, for instance, highlights the existing dichotomy in the legal status of women, where on one side, the constitutional principle of the equality of the sexes is scrupulously respected when it comes to civil and political rights and women have the status of full citizens, but in their personal status, women's rights are governed by a Family Code, which is based in part on the Shari'ah law.

Most countries have included the principle of equality and non-discrimination in their Constitution or basic law. Many have also brought their civil code and family code in line with the Convention. This gender neutrality does not imply the removal of all discrimination, as women may still suffer from indirect discrimination even in countries where equality is enshrined in the basic law. For this reason, CEDAW insistence on de facto equality is all the more important and helps to reveal the ongoing discrimination. Facts and data are valuable tools to demonstrate how discrimination persists.
In countries governed by Shari'ah law, the principle of equality does not apply to personal law which includes family and inheritance law or the Family code (for instance Maldives). Other countries maintain a dual legal system such as Congo, where a form of modern law was superimposed on the customary law. The Constitution of Zambia recognizes a dual system whereby customary or traditional law is administered by local courts which in practice is often discriminatory against women and upholds customs usually on matters of inheritance, marriage or compensation for property that discriminate against women. Customary law prevails because it is unwritten, administered by a male-dominated local court system composed of untrained justices who come form a patriarchal background. In Kenya, the amended Constitution of 1997 includes provisions against discrimination based on sex, but reserves the right to discriminate in certain matters such as marriage, divorce, devolution of property at death, personal and customary law.

In their reporting on Article 15 of the Convention on equality before the law and Article 16 on marriage and family relations, States parties provide information on women's legal capacity and right to property and inheritance. Access to land may also be raised under Article 14 on rural women, in particular if a country has implemented land reform or land distribution in rural areas. However, the status of women in the family is the entry point to any discussion of women's right to land and property.

Legal reform is difficult to achieve. Sri Lanka reports that reform could be facilitated if there was a call for change from within the affected communities. A position also taken by India, where only the Hindu Personal Law and Christian Personal Law have been reformed to give women greater rights regarding inheritance, adoption and divorce, but the personal laws of some minorities and other communities have remained unchanged on the basis of a policy of non-interference. The demand for such change would have to come from within the communities themselves before the State could intervene.

Heads of household

The question of who is the head of household and which powers are invested in the household head is central to marriage and family relations and to legal interaction with actors outside the family (legal capacity) in general. In countries, where a man is considered the head of the family, be it implicitly or through designation, he can derive his authority over decisions on property and land from this status. Wives, daughters and other female household members are subordinates and may have no say on decisions that affect in particular the family property. Problems arise, when the male head of household is temporarily or permanently absent and women cannot legally fill the vacuum of authority over assets and property under their care.

Some countries do not acknowledge the right of women to own an equal share of the property with the husband during a marriage or de facto relationship and when that marriage or relationship ends. The need to designate a head of family in some countries is critical, as it is usually the men in such cases who become the head of family. In Albania, for instance, the family is represented in property relationships by the head, elected by the members of the family, who is, by tacit agreement, the man and the land is registered under his signature. If the head wants to alienate the family land, he can easily coerce the wife and other family members. In Ecuador, the "head" of the marriage enterprise or "conjugal society" which can be headed by either of the spouses by common agreement must obtain written authorization from the other spouse. In the absence of explicit pronouncement of who is the head of the "conjugal society", the husband is deemed responsible for its administration. According to statistics, the husband is most frequently the head of the household. The absence of the head of family, be it temporary for migration or permanent, leaves the spouse struggling to deal with family affairs without direct authority.

In some cases, adult women have to abdicate their legal capacity once they are married. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the principle of the married woman's incapacity to sign certain acts and contracts and execute certain legal acts without her husband's consent is established in the Family Code (Article 215 and 448). A married woman lacks capacity to engage in business whereas her 18-year-old daughter has full legal capacity. Guinea admits that the law discriminates in terms of marital status, when the husband is deemed to be the head of household with all the legal effects arising therefrom.

In Chile, for instance, the husband is the head of the conjugal partnership and administers the joint estate and the wife's property. Although by law a woman has legal capacity to enter into contracts and dispose of her own property, she cannot do so if she is married under the joint ownership regime, unless such property has been expressly excluded from the husband's administration. A woman cannot even receive the proceeds from her property, which becomes part of the assets of the conjugal partnership and, as a result, is administered by the husband. In the case of Peru, the informal property situation remains unfair especially to women in the informal real estate market. When a family decides to sell its property, there is no requirement that the deed of sale be signed by both spouses. The husband's unilateral control of the property is thus maintained. In Namibia, the man is also considered the head of household. Under common law, the husband has marital power over the property and person of his wife. Women married under civil law still need their husband's consent to enter into credit agreements. A wife cannot bring a civil action or enter into a contract without the "assistance" of her husband. As for South Africa, the Black Administration Act (1927) still regards women as minors who cannot own property or conclude contracts in their own right. A male relative has to do so on their behalf.

One way to remove the dependence on the head of household and circumvent the authority linked to household headship is to introduce the principle of partnership between spouses. Tunisia has done so when it established for the first time a regime for the joint estate of husband and wife. After amendments to the Personal Status Code in 1993, spouses are obliged to cooperate with one another for the proper management of their household affairs and to contribute to the family's expenses with their own resources, particularly in the case of the wife. The aim of this regime is to ensure that the spouses have joint ownership of property specifically intended for the family's own use.

Access to property and inheritance

Equal access to property remains one of the most disputed issues with regard to gender equality. India, for instance, identified child marriage, enforced widowhood and property rights as the three major problems faced in first phase of the women's movement. Whereas in the case of India action has been taken on the first two issues, equal access to property rights has not even reached the top of the agenda. The question of property rights is further complicated by the fact that land distribution and equal access to land are often not only a gender, but also a social class and race issue.

Not having access to land or full legal capacity is a particular disadvantage for female heads of households, who form a substantial proportion of the total rural households in certain areas. Many of these women include single parents, widows, divorcees, wives of migrant workers, older women and women with disabilities47. In Ecuador, 21.3 per cent of families are sustained by a woman alone in rural areas. In Zambia, few women own land, which is not allowed by customary law. Thus women represent the majority of persons without title deeds and 10 per cent of female-headed households seek title on inheritance.

In many countries, law and practices concerning inheritance and property lead to serious discrimination against women. As a result of this uneven treatment, women may receive a smaller share of the husband's or father's property at his death than would widowers and sons. In some instances, women are granted limited and controlled rights and receive income only from the deceased's property. Often inheritance rights for widows do not reflect the principles of equal ownership of property acquired during marriage. Customary practices such as levirate48 infringe a woman's right to inherit as in the case of Cameroon. In Guinea, a childless widow's inheritance, if there are children heirs or other widows with children of the deceased, is calculated on the basis of every five years of a marriage "based on dignity and devotion". Shari'ah law defines the portion to which each heir is entitled. A woman's share of inheritance in Morocco, for instance, is half that of a man.

In many countries, property accumulated during a de facto relationship is not treated by law on the same basis as property acquired during marriage. If the relationship ends, the woman receives a significantly lower share than her partner. Guatemala is one of few countries that recognize de facto union of a man and a woman who have lived together openly and continuously as if they were married. Such union can be registered in the Civil Registry Office so that it takes the effects of marriage. In Congo, "betrothal" is recognized as the period that precedes marriage and arises from the promise of two persons to become man and wife. However, pre-marriage is without effect in terms of inheritance which can be a source of frustration or injustice in the case of couples who have cohabited for a long time.

While inequalities in inheritance persist and limit women's access to land and property, some inequalities are de facto and not de jure. In Uganda, both widow and widower are entitled to 15 per cent of the property of the deceased spouse, but in reality a widower usually takes the whole estate. Under customary law it is assumed that a widow and her children will be taken care of by the relatives of the deceased husband and father. In practice, this is usually not the case as the widows and her children are dispossessed by relatives of the family's assets and forced to move back to the widow's parent's home.

It is often the women themselves who renounce, under social pressure or not, to their fair share of inheritance. In Viet Nam, women rarely inherit or have any say over their parent's land-use right due to traditions and customs. In countries under Shari'ah law, the percentage or amount of inheritance is established for men and women. In Jordan, the Act on Personal Status prohibits social practices that have deprived women - wives or daughters - of the share of the inheritance and women can inherit from both their fathers as well as their husband. However, many women in Jordan frequently renounce that right in favour of a close male relative. In Yemen, it is also reported that rural women submit to traditions and renounce their right to land in favour of their nearest male relative. It is contrary to tradition in rural areas for women to register land in their own names. A woman who wishes to assert her right to own land by bringing a court action would have to face social disapproval. In addition, land registration fees are very high, thus being a further deterrent, especially for poor women.

Few countries have introduced changes in inheritance laws favouring women. The Personal Status Code (1956) in Tunisia, instituted a mandatory bequest in favour of the daughter's children if she should predecease her father; and enables an only daughter to inherit her parents' estate in its entirety.

As the above examples show, women's illiteracy in legal matters and the lack of empowerment, are major obstacles in their enjoyment of the rights they have. For this reason, support for women's rights is essential to inform women especially in the rural areas. In Uganda, for instance, a network of legal aid services for women such as the Federation of Uganda Women Lawyers (FIDA), the Law Development Centre (Makere University) and the Legal Aid Project (LAP) of the Uganda Law Society assist women in matters of inheritance, property rights, marriage, assault, divorce, separation and child support.

Land reform

The right to own, manage, enjoy and dispose of property is central to a woman's right to enjoy financial independence, and critical to her ability to earn a livelihood and to provide adequate housing and nutrition for herself and for her family. In countries undergoing agrarian reform or redistribution of land among groups of different ethnic origins, the equal right of women, regardless of marital status, to share such redistributed land on equal terms with men are not always observed. As Kyrgyzstan reports, women might be losing out if there is a lack of a clear understanding of their own needs and requirements in the course of land reform.

Countries that have undergone land reform or are introducing land or agricultural reforms seem to make an effort to take into consideration gender equality. However, many obstacles arise, the first one being a lack of women in decision-making. South Africa acknowledged that the male domination in decision-making structures and positions is a contributing factor for women not being more involved in the Land Reform Programme. Only one member out of 12 was a woman on Zimbabwe's Commission of Inquiry into Land Tenure which was established to resolve the problem of unequal access to land, especially for the disadvantaged, mostly women.

Having gender-neutral legislation on its own is not sufficient, as the case of South Africa shows. The Department of Land Affair recognizes that women are largely ignorant of the Land Reform Programme, and do not know what it has to offer. Information does not reach them because they are not regarded as potential heirs to land.

If women don't know about their rights and the administrative procedures to apply for land, they lose out in any land reform. The percentage of women in Suriname who applied for and was granted land by the Ministry of Natural Resources through the years is less than 1 per cent of the total number of applications. The land requested by and granted to women particularly single women and heads of households, is small and varies from 0.5 to 1 ha.

Viet Nam reports that 10.4 million farmer households or 90 per cent of households using agriculture land received land-use certificates. Local administrations advised families that family property should be registered in the names of both husband and wife as a positive measure to protect women's interest in case of divorce. According to customs and traditions however, most of the land use certificates were issued in the husband's name as he is considered head of household. The 1993 Land Law which provides for equal land-use rights between women and men had no impact on these customs. The number of land-use certificates registered in the woman's name account for only 10-12 per cent, mostly for single or widow households. The number of certificates in both husband's and wife's name is very low. Moreover, many women after marriage do not have land for cultivation because their parents and their husband's parents do not give them the right to use land allocated to their respective families. Another setback for women in the case of Viet Nam was the difference in working age between men and women as this defined the size of land allocation. The working age being 15 to 60 years for men and 15 to 55 years for women resulted in smaller average land areas allocated to women.

As women rarely have their names on land-use certificates, be it separate or jointly with their husband, it is very difficult for them to use those certificates to apply for mortgage or credit. Legally, women cannot use ownership certificates in their husbands' names of property owned by both husband and wife in civil transactions or as collateral when applying for bank loans. Interestingly, a survey in Viet Nam showed that over 76 per cent of urban women and 51.2 per cent of rural women said that they had full independence and had entered into civil contracts (particularly contracts to borrow capital from the bank, mortgage, property, etc.), but 23 per cent of urban women and 46 per cent of rural women said they voluntarily passed this right to their husbands or children for implementation.

In Brazil, the Agrarian Reform guarantees that the title-deed and concession of use shall be granted to the man or the woman, or to both, irrespective of their marital status, preferably to the heads of large households. However, among the beneficiaries of agrarian reform plans, 85 per cent are men and women hold just 12.6 per cent of the title deeds and concession of land use.

Women's access to land, property and credit is still extremely low in Uganda, where 97 per cent of women have access to land, but only 8 per cent have leaseholds and 7 per cent actually own land. With the coming into force of the 1998 Land Act, rural women's rights to the land have been strengthened; they not only have access to land but also control and ownership. However, one "lost clause" not introduced in the Land Act is a provision on co-ownership where land is registered in the names of two or more persons and the land is jointly owned49.

A difference is to be made between the right to hold the land and the right to use it, which women seem to have more often. Many rural women in South Africa face the legal difficulty that they cannot hold title to land, although they are given the right to till the land and erect a home on a piece of land allocated to the household head. In most rural areas the majority of households use communal land which belongs to the people of that area. The Common African Law and Customary Law do not accord women the rights and powers to own property. The homestead head, husband or male relative has to act on her behalf. Territorial legislation and numerous regulations continue to prevent women from owning land on the basis of gender and race50. Not holding a title becomes an obstacle when women try to apply for credit. To address the problem of collateral for loans, the South African Department of Land Affairs is concentrating on legislation which would grant all married women the right to use property registered in the name of their spouses as security to obtain financial loans.

Conclusion:

* While reports by States parties contain a lot of information on legislation affecting rural women with regards to property and land rights, inheritance and legal capacity, the degree of accuracy and inclusiveness of information provided varies from one report to the other. A thorough examination of these rights and the legislation, in particular legal reform, would warrant further resources to be used51.
* Countries undergoing land reform should take into consideration existing inequalities between men and women and pay due respect to gender differences. The issuance of title to land in both the name of husband and wife might be one way to ensure equal access to land.
* The earlier measures to ensure equal access to land are taken and principles of equality are established in any reform process, the better, as it may be difficult or impossible to reverse actions taken.
b. Statistics on rural women

In its reporting guidelines, CEDAW requests States parties to include sufficient statistical data and statistics disaggregated by sex relevant to each article of the Convention in their reports so as to enable the Committee to assess progress in the implementation of the Convention. However, it does not ask for specific data or indicators. The provision of statistics disaggregated by sex in CEDAW initial and periodic reports, a major prerequisite for consideration of de facto equality, has improved in the last years. The most extensive data with regards to rural areas and rural-urban discrepancies can be found in reporting on Article 10 (education) and 12 (health), which has not been analysed for this paper. Under Article 14 (rural women), many reports provide statistics on rural population and rural labour force (see Annex, Table 4).

The CEDAW reports illustrate that in many developing countries, the majority of the population live in rural areas (Tanzania: 80 per cent, Sri Lanka: 78 per cent, et al), as does the vast majority of women. In India, rural women constitute nearly 80 per cent of the female population; in Burkina Faso they represent 86 per cent. Monitoring the impact of demographic changes on the status of women is therefore essential. In Ecuador, for instance, the current figure of 45 per cent of the population living in rural areas in 1990 was predicted to fall to 36 per cent by the turn of the century.
The quality of the information depends on the quality of statistical data available in a country, the functioning of the national statistical office, the timeliness and accuracy of agricultural census and surveys, the level of international support provided. A variety of sources are used in CEDAW reports for illustrating women's status. In Nigeria, for instance, the National Consumer Survey found that 7 out of 8 landholders were men. Agricultural loan schemes or the Department of Agriculture provided information on loans given out to women. The National Department of Agricultural Statistics in Guinea included detailed statistical information on women in agriculture, the agricultural workforce, women farm managers (by age group and region), agricultural equipment operated by women and the surface area cultivated under the supervision of a woman. Kyrgyzstan also provides a lot of statistical information on the agricultural sector, in particular on the percentage of women engaged in agricultural enterprises and institutions and peasant holdings, as well as women's access to loans and commercial credits and distribution of tractors to women farmers.

The data and statistics provided in CEDAW reports remain uneven from one country to the other. Many reports provide specific information on de facto equality of women in rural areas: land and farm ownership by women (Cameroon), access to land and usufruct rights (Cuba), access to property in general and to productive agricultural resources such as fertilizers, pesticides and improved planting material (Nigeria), women's participation and decision-making in cooperative farming and in agricultural enterprises (Morocco, Kyrgyzstan, Cuba), food production (Congo, Zambia) agricultural labour force (Burkina Faso, Guinea, China, Kyrgyzstan) or indigenous populations (Guatemala). Unfortunately, this information is sparse and diverse and does not allow for comparisons between countries. The same applies for information on land and agricultural reform (Armenia, Cuba, Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, Philippines, South Africa, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam, etc) where not enough data disaggregated by sex is provided.

Several reports include specific data on the number of female-headed households. Yemen reports that women are heading 13.6 per cent of rural families which consist of 10 or more members on average. Nigeria provides data on the average annual income of rural female-headed households compared to males. Sri Lanka includes data on the number of widows heading female households.

Rural women's economic and social activities and contributions are not adequately described by the current concepts, definitions and statistical data collected, as the main focus of national statistics has generally been on the non-rural sector. The very concept of women in the rural labour force seems to have no common definition, as some countries do not take into account women's informal work in the rural areas, whereas others do. Algeria, for instance, acknowledges that a downward trend in female workers in nearly all branches of economic activity, particularly in agriculture (2.2 per cent) and the low proportion of rural women in paid employment does not reflect their real participation in development. Rural women are overlooked since their work in agriculture is regarded as an extension of their domestic chores and not as an economic activity.
Tunisia, by contrast, is reporting that the number of economically active women in the field of agriculture is increasing and the proportion of women working in family agriculture is 64.29 per cent. In 1994, the number of economically active rural women had increased by 26.9 per cent compared to 1989. At the same time, the agricultural sector and employment patterns in the rural areas are changing in Tunisia and the development of the female wage-earning class in the manufacturing industries is one of the most significant transformations seen in rural employment in the last two decades.

Statistics on credits and loans are also provided in some CEDAW reports. In some countries, a quota system in favour of women has been established to ensure that credit would be accessible to women. In Brazil, the Ministry of Agrarian Development determined that 30 per cent of funds in the National Program for the Strengthening of Family Agriculture (PRONAF) should be earmarked for actions aimed at rural women. The Ministry of Agrarian Reform also earmarked 30 per cent of all funds to women settled in family agriculture units. In Chile, the National Institute for Agricultural Development (INDAP) developed a policy to support the financing of productive activities among peasant women and changed the rules on access to credit, extending coverage to women and young people.

Conclusion:

* Statistical data should be presented more coherently and systematically in CEDAW reports to enable comparisons and view of progress achieved. As the guidelines for reporting, established by the Committee, do not ask for specific data or indicators, the disparity of information provided does not allow the establishment of indicators or easy comparison towards targets or between countries. However, efforts could be made when compiling reports on Article 14 to include specific reference to the areas of interest mentioned above.
* With regard to rural women's economic and social contributions, more precise and uniform definitions and concepts are needed to take better into account various forms of activities such as the informal work of women in the agricultural sector and new forms of employment emerging in the rural areas.
c. Institutional mechanisms for gender equality in rural areas
States parties report on the establishment, composition and functioning of national mechanism to implement the policy on equal opportunities and gender mainstreaming under Article 2 or 3 of the Convention. Given the large majority of women living in rural areas, information on mechanisms dealing with their situation is of great interest. Information on specific institutions established for rural women is scarce in most reports (see Annex, Table 5). Under Article 14 (rural women), only a small number of States parties provide detailed information on policies, programmes and institutions for women. Some countries have established focal points on gender mainstreaming in agricultural ministries or regional directorates to deal with the specific concerns of rural women (Congo, Guinea). In Brazil, Women's Councils operate all over the country - 19 at state level and 78 at municipal level. A Programme for the Support to Rural Women was established in the Ministry of Agriculture in December 1985 as well as a Committee for Support to Rural Female Workers in the Ministry of Agrarian Reform.

In several reports, the national programme of action for gender equality contains specific reference to rural women or has made rural women a priority (Morocco, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kyrgyzstan).

Several countries report on the establishment of specific units dealing with rural women in the Department of Agriculture or the introduction of programmes on rural women as priority areas in rural development programmes (Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan, Philippines, Nicaragua). In Namibia, the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Rural Development has established a Steering Committee on Gender Sensitization to ensure that the needs of women farmers are adequately incorporated into agriculture policies and programmes at all levels. The Draft National Agriculture Policy for Public Consultation states that women's access to and control over household resources remains marginal and will ensure that women are not left behind. In Tunisia, the national plan of action for rural women, formulated in 1998, established regional commissions and regional counselling and rural activity centres for women. In Chile, a rural division was created within the National Office for Women's Affairs to ensure that the Ministry of Agriculture and its affiliated offices, decentralized agencies and other public and private entities associated with rural women's issues incorporate measures and actions guaranteeing equal opportunity for rural women into their planning and regular activities. Within the Ministry of Agriculture, a Women's Equal Opportunity Commission was created in 1998 to improve coordination among the services and assist the Ministry.

In Jordan, non-governmental organizations have set up programmes in rural areas for organizing self-help groups to improve the situation of rural women, providing them with the skills required to create income-generating projects such as carpet making, dressmaking, production of dairy products or porcelain goods. Training and specific projects for rural women are also mentioned (Ecuador, Egypt, Philippines).

Besides the information on national machinery for the advancement of women contained in CEDAW reports, few other resources can be used to get up-dates on establishment and composition of such a national mechanism. In their annual statements to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women or to the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, countries might provide up-dated information on recent development at national level with regard to national machinery for the advancement of women. The UN Division for the Advancement of Women maintains a database on national machinery, which only contains basic information but no details as to the structure of the office nor does it inform about the existence of focal points in various line ministries such as agriculture. In follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and preparation for the 5-year-review process, information has been gathered and is still valid, although it has not been updated.

Additional sources for information on national machinery can be found on the UN website:
* A complete listing of countries and their compliance to the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and with International Legal Instruments on Women which includes also information on national machinery
(www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/country/index.html)
* Replies by Governments to a questionnaire for the 5-year review in 2000, inter alia, on national budgets allocated for women-specific policies/programmes, structures and mechanisms that have been put in place in follow-up to the Beijing Platform for Action
(www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/followup/countrylist.htm).
* - An overview of national implementation strategies or plans of action, prepared by Governments in 1995-1997 as requested in the Beijing Platform for Action, which include critical areas of concern and selected activities, institutional arrangements, and the allocation of national and international resources (www.un.org/womenwatch/confer/beijing/national/natplans.htm).

Conclusion: While information provided in CEDAW reports is helpful for getting a clearer picture of the institutional mechanism at national level, institutions in rural areas are not systematically included. It is unfortunate that there exists no other reliable and timely source of detailed information on these mechanisms beside the periodic CEDAW reports. Efforts should be made to invite countries to present information on the structure and composition of their national machinery, including at rural level, in the periodic CEDAW reports and to compile this information systematically.

5. Recommendations
Based on the findings in this paper, the following recommendations are put forward:

1. The integration of a rights-based approach into all activities of the UN system, in particular into development and emergency relief operations would improve the accountability and achieve high levels of participation and ownership. Keeping in mind that countries that have ratified or acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women are legally bound to put its provisions into practice, a rights-based approach would help overcoming the fragmentation of strategies and contribute to reducing the gap between de jure and de facto equality while incorporating women's rights in particular into poverty reduction programmes and the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals.

2. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women is the only human rights treaty body that deals specifically with rural women in its Article 14 and highlights pertinent issues with regard to their equal access to basic social services and participation. FAO, IFAD and the International Land Coalition should therefore make full use of this human rights instrument in their activities for rural women.

3. As the right to food is not contained in the Convention, efforts by the Committee should be encouraged to further explore this question and consider the elaboration of a draft General Recommendation on this right of vital importance for rural women especially in countries classified as food deficient.

4. The reporting procedure under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, in particular the preparation of an initial or periodic report and its presentation to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women provides a unique momentum in a country to take stock of de jure and de facto gender equality and therefore should be used as an opportunity to investigate discrimination that still persists in various areas.

5. FAO, IFAD and the International Land Coalition should seize the opportunity provided by the preparation of an initial or periodic report to the CEDAW Committee to concentrate efforts on women's human rights, including on the de facto equality in rural areas. Upon request, support could be provided to the Ministry of Agriculture or rural development in a given country through the gender focal points involved in preparing the report. To improve reporting under the Convention, the UN Division for the Advancement of Women and UNIFEM have provided advice and assistance to States parties to the Convention on the substantive reporting requirements of the Convention. A special focus on the situation of rural women could be added by FAO/IFAD, in particular in those countries where a specific mandate exists such as in the low-income food-deficit countries (LIFDC). States parties to the Convention which did not yet introduce their initial reports or have fallen back in submitting periodic reports, should be given priority, upon their request.

6. Efforts should be made to develop and strengthen the statistical concepts and definitions and encourage their consistent application in measuring women's role in the rural sector and reporting at national and international levels, including in the reports to CEDAW.

7. For FAO, IFAD and the International Land Coalition to benefit from the information provided in the report of States parties to the Convention, full use should be made of this source of information for preparing country briefs or documents on thematic issues concerning women in rural areas in particular education, health, female workforce, access to land, property rights and legal capacity.

8. It is suggested that accessibility to treaty-based information, in particular country- based information, reports to human rights treaty bodies and concluding observations of treaty bodies be made better known and used in order to allow access to a larger audience (internet links, mailing lists etc). These include WomenWatch, the gateway to the information and resources on the promotion of gender equality throughout the United Nations system (www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw), the Treaty Bodies Database of the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (http://193.194.138.190) and the Official Document System (ODS) of the UN (http://www.ods.un.org/ods) which contains UN documentation in the six official languages.

9. Over the years, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination has extended opportunities for collaboration with specialized agencies, including FAO. It is suggested that FAO continue to provide precise, up-dated information in its pre-sessional documents to further draw the attention of the committee members on areas of concern and highlight points that would need to be followed-up in the future. The invitation expressed by the Committee to address the Committee as a whole in a closed meeting on those States parties whose initial reports are before the Committee deserves full attention.

10. Pertinent issues with regard to rural women should be brought to the attention of the Committee so as to be eventually retained in the concluding observations of the Committee and consequently raised at national level and responded to in the next periodic report. A concluding observation on the report of a States party by the CEDAW Committee may provide leverage in any negotiations with Governments and justify mobilization of activities and allocation of resources.

11. FAO, IFAD and the International Land Coalition should establish closer working relationships at national level with the non-governmental women's rights community which has grown considerably but whose immediate focus is often not the status of rural women. Many NGOs are already using the CEDAW reporting procedure to draw attention to particular areas that need attention in the implementation of the Convention although not enough attention seems to be given to rural women. It should be noted that in many cases, a call for change from within an affected community might facilitate reform, including on land rights and property rights. Legal literacy and knowledge about the possibility of litigation to be introduced at national level or, once all domestic remedies have been exhausted to the Optional Protocol, are prerequisites for women claiming their rights.

12. Through their communication channels, FAO, IFAD and the International Land Coalition should assist in the dissemination of the concluding observations of the Committee in particular those that address Article 14 and other areas of immediate concern for rural women in order to make those widely known among Government officials, parliamentarians, NGOs, media and the development community working in rural areas.

13. Immediate attention should be given to those countries that will present their CEDAW reports in 2003-2004: Morocco and Ecuador at the 29th CEDAW session in 2003, Bhutan, Nepal, Ethiopia and Nigeria at the 30th session in 2004. Efforts could also be made to consult with DAW, UNIFEM and UNICEF on assistance provided to countries or subregions where reports are under preparation in order to seize the momentum of CEDAW reporting at an early stage.


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Endnotes

1LIFDC is determined by a per capita income below the ceiling used by the World Bank to determine eligibility for IDA assistance and for 20-year IBRD terms and the net food trade position for a broad basket of basic foodstuffs (cereals, roots and tubers, pulses, oilseeds and oils other than tree crop oils, meat and dairy products) which are converted and aggregated by the calorie content of individual commodities. In addition, a self-exclusion criterion is applied when countries that meet the above two criteria specifically request to be excluded from the LIFDC category.
2Algeria, Brazil, Chile, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Namibia, Peru, Uganda, South Africa, Suriname, Tunisia, Vietnam and Zimbabwe
3Cape Verde, Central African Rep, Chad, Comoros, Cote d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Eritrea, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Liberia, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Sierra Leone, Togo, Bhutan, Cambodia, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Haiti, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
4Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Senegal, Bolivia, Honduras
5Equatorial Guinea
6Afghanistan, Sao Tome and Principe
7Bosnia and Herzegovina
8Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Syrian Arab Republic, Kiribati
9Convention on the Political Rights of Women (1952), Convention on the Nationality of Married Women, (1957), Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages (1962), and the Recommendation on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages (1965).
10United Nations, Progress achieved in the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Report by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (A/CONF.177/7).
11Andrew Byrnes, The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, in : Wolfgang Benedek, Esther M. Kisaakye, Gerd Oberleitner (editor): The Human Rights of Women: International Instruments and African Experiences, London, New York 2002 12Andrew Byrnes, op.cit.
13United Nations, Final report on enhancing the long-term effectiveness of the United Nations Human Rights Treaty System, Commission on Human Rights, E/CN.4/1997/74 of 27 March 1997
14Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Article 28
15GA resolution A/RES/44/25, Annex (1989)
16United Nations, Status of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Report of the Secretary-General, A/75/406
17General Assembly resolution A/54/4 of 6 October 1999, opened for signature on 10 December 1999, Human Rights Day, entry into force 22 December 2000
18United Nations, The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women: Text and Materials, New York 2000 (UN Sales No.:E.00.IV.2)
19UNIFEM, Bringing Equality Home Implementing the Convention on All Forms of Discrimination Against Women CEDAW, 1998 (www.unifem.org/resources/cedaw/index.html)
20Ephrohim v Pastory, 87 I.L.R. 106; [1990] L.R.C. (Const.) 757; Dhungana v Nepal, Supreme Court of Nepal, Writ No. 3392 of 1993, 2 August 1995, unreported; Madhu Kishwar and Others v. State of Bihar and Other, Writ Petn. (C ) N. 5723 of 1982 with 219 of 1986
21see UNIFEM (1998), Byrnes, Andrew (1998)
22www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/reporting.htm, see also: Compilation of Guidelines on the form and content of reports to be submitted by States Parties, HRI/GEN/2/Rev.1, 9 May 2001
23Rules of procedure, Rule 50, CEDAW/C/ROP of 26 January 2001; see also: Compilation of Rules of Procedure Adopted by Human Rights Treaty Bodies, HRI/GEN/3 of 3 June 2001
24United Nations, Status of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Report of the Secretary-General, A/57/406 of 16 September 2002
25Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, A/55/38, pg.49, Decision 23/II : Overdue reports required under Article 18 of the Convention
26General Assembly resolution A/RES/56/229
27United Nations, Bringing international human rights law home: Judicial colloquium on the application of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child at the domestic level, New York 2000. (UN Sales No. E.00.IZ.3) 28Byrnes, Andrew (1998)
29see: http://iwraw.igc.org/iwraw/publications/countries/
30 Article 22 of the Convention, Rules 45-47, Annex I of the Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (A/56/38)
31Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, A/50/38
32Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, A/51/38
33Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, A/53/38/Rev 1, Decision 18/II, page 3
34United Nations, Report provided by specialized agencies of the United Nations on the Implementation of the Convention in areas falling within the scope of their activities, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, CEDAW/C/2003/I/3/Add. OF 7 November 2002
35http://iwraw.igc.org/iwraw/publications/countries , www.amnestyusa.org/women; www.htlawgroup.org
36Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, A/50/38
37A/54/38/Rev.1, pg.7, Decision 20/I: Non-governmental organizations
38Platform on Women's Land Rights in Southern Africa, Critical Issues - Women's land rights in Southern Africa, abby@wllg.co.zw
39Article 21, paragraph 1, of the Convention
40CEDAW Rules of procedure, Rule 52 and 53
41Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, A/52/38, pg. 1 Decision 16/I. Concluding comments; A/54/38/Rev.1,pg.7. Decision 19/II. Concluding comments
42Egypt, Guinea, Nepal, Yemen, Zambia, et al
43Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Morocco, Mongolia, Zambia, et al
44Concluding Observations/Comments of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights E/C.12/1/Add.40., E/C.12/1/Add.24., E/C.12/1/Add.55
45United Nations, Strengthening of the United Nations: an agenda for further change, Report of the Secretary-General, A/57/387, see also resolution adopted by the General Assembly A/RES/57/300
46CEDAW General Recommendation No.21, (13th session, 1994); A General Recommendation is based on the reports of States parties, the discussion between the Committee and the states party presenting the report and the concluding comments of the Committee.
47FAO, Gender issues in land tenure, paper presented at the "High level consultation on rural women and information", Rome, 4-6 October 1999
48Social custom under which a man has the right to marry his dead brother's widow.
49See United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN Habitat), Rights and Reality - Are women's equal rights to land, housing and property implemented in East Africa?, Habitat 2002, p. 69 ff
50South Africa has entered a new phase of land reform in 1999, when the redistribution of land was linked to enhanced agricultural productivity and promotion of a black commercial farming class, a policy that had potentially negative impact on poor rural women. See Cheryl Walker, Agrarian Change, Gender and Land Reform, A South African Case Study, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, Social Policy and Development Programme Paper Number 10, April 2002
51see two recent publications: FAO, Women's Rights in Agriculture, 2002; UN Habitat (United Nations Human Settlement Programme), Rights and Reality - Are women's equal rights to land, housing and property implemented in East Africa?, 2002