filia.die frauenstiftung

1. Successful Alternative Rreport

 The UN CEDAW Convention (Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979) is an achievement of the global women's movement. It defines the facts of discrimination in various social fields and explicitly sets out the human rights of women.
On ratification of CEDAW in 1985 by West Germany (by East Germany in 1980), the Federal Republic of Germany committed to taking active measures to implement complete equal rights for women.
Every four years the State parties have to report to the CEDAW Committee on the human rights situation of women in their country and the measures they have taken. The Committee analyses these reports and issues recommendations. 
The non-governmental organisations (NGOs) draw up alternative reports. These set out the human rights situation of women independently of the government reports. In Germany the German Women's Council organised this project on the 6th State Report of the German Government. The CEDAW Committee met to discuss this at its 881st and 882nd sessions in Geneva on 2 February 2009. filia supported costs of translation and the journey to the sessions in New York and Geneva. We had already provided support in 2004 in connection with the 5th State Report.
The work on the alternative report sets a framework within which widely varying women's organisations describe their experiences, formulate joint objectives and have to agree on demands. The alternative report describes in detail in what areas the German Government's gender equality policy is deficient and what measures are necessary to promote equity.
A major success story – this time the CEDAW Committee included many of the demands from the alternative report in its "Final Remarks" and called on the German Government to act. For example in the case of inequality of wages: "The Committee views with concern the long existing differences in wages and income between women and men, whereby despite the ban on wage discrimination embodied in the German Constitution since 1949, women only earn 78 % of men's earnings. The Committee vigorously calls on the State Party to take concrete proactive measures to reduce and eliminate wage and income differences between women and men." (From the Final Remarks of 10 February 2009)
Henny Engels, General Manager of the German Women's Council, writes in her report, "The way the UN Committee deals with discrimination in Germany and its critical evaluation showed an appreciation of and respect for the victims of discrimination such as is seldom observed within the country and this provides great backing for the work of the NGOs. Even after the Final Remarks of the UN Committee, improvements will only take place if the women's initiatives show sustained effort in cooperation and remain persistent in their lobbying and mutual support for their demands."
In discussions with members of parliament and the parliamentary political parties and at events with gender equality officers from the Federal States, the representatives of the women's alliance are now working to ensure that political deeds follow the words. The authors of the NGO Alternative Report were invited to attend the Committee for Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth on 17.06.2009 "That has never happened before," writes Henny Engels.

2. Gender is a human right

The alliance of women's organisations has strategically resolved to draw up two supplementary reports on the situation of transsexual and intersexual women.
"A country's stand on human rights, what human rights really mean to a country, can best be seen by the way it treats minorities. Transsexual people are such a minority", says the report by ATME on the human rights situation of transsexual people in Germany. In 2008, transsexual women joined together to form the association "Action Trans-sexuality and Human Rights" (ATME). Transsexual women are women – yet according to the German transsexual act they are men who want to "become" women, men with a psychic disturbance. "Gender is a human right", argue the activists and derive specific demands from this. They call for civil law recognition of themselves as women from the time of their coming out; for better medical care; and for protection against discrimination such as protection against dismissal.
filia supported ATME in its statements on the human rights situation of transsexual women in Germany.
ATME and other trans-gender groups are increasingly seeking cooperation with political parties in order to bring influence to bear on legislation (Transsexual Act).
Forced divorce of married transsexuals has so far been a prerequisite for recognition of their new gender. This was eliminated in the reform of the Transsexual Act in June 2009. However the constraint of gender-approximating operations and sterilisation was not.
"What will the German Government do to ensure that the dignity and right for a life free of discrimination becomes possible for transsexual people too?!”, asks the alternative report of intersexual women. Intersexual people have both female and male sex characteristics. According to official estimates there are about 80,000 to 120,000 intersexual people living in Germany. They are often subjected in very early infancy to irreversible medicinal and surgical interventions – with severe consequences for their psychological and physical health. The report documents cases and compiles the demands of those affected. They would like to be involved in studies on inter-sexuality as observers; a compensation fund should be set up.
The CEDAW Committee has called on the German Government to submit an interim report in two years to show whether the German Government has entered into the required dialogue with the NGOs of the transsexual and intersexual people.
www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw
www.frauenrat.de
www.atme-ev.de

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