JUDGES, EXPERTS ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS MEET IN BANGKOK
TO ADVANCE RIGHTS OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN

Judicial colloquium calls for conformity with international legal obligations

United Nations Information Services (Bangkok) -- Judges from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Singapore meeting in Bangkok this week have called on countries to amend legislation to conform with their international legal obligation regarding the rights of women and children. The meeting held from 4 to 6 November 2002 at the United Nations Conference Centre was part of week-long conference focusing on the application of human rights law at the domestic level.

In a statement adopted at the conclusion of the colloquium, participants also recommended that judges, other judicial officers and lawyers should be made aware of the international legal standards applicable to women and children so that they can be sensitive to these principles when they are conducting trials and formulating judgements. Law schools and colleges in the region were called upon to introduce international human rights law into their curricula.

Ms. Thelma Kay, Chief of the Gender and Development Section of UNESCAP, pointed out that judges could play an important role in applying principles derived from international human rights law in their decisions. She said they could make it a practice to regularly refer to the legal obligations inherent in the human rights treaties signed by their governments before reaching their verdicts.

Other participants included resource persons from Australia, Nepal and Sri Lanka who suggested ways in which the judiciary and magistrates could use international treaties, in particular the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in national decision-making to advance the rights of women and children. Participants also discussed court decisions in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, South Africa and Zimbabwe where these treaties were relied on to promote women's rights.

Following the colloquium, officials from Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cambodia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Tajikistan, Thailand and Timor-Leste participated in a training workshop on reporting under CEDAW. The Convention obliges its 170 States parties to take legislative, policy and programmatic measures to eliminate discrimination against women and report on their progress in doing so. Bhutan, Cambodia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia and Tajikistan are currently preparing reports on implementation of the Convention. Afghanistan and Timor-Leste have yet to become party to the Convention.

The judicial colloquium and training workshop were jointly organized by the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women in New York and the Bangkok-based UNESCAP, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. Financial support for the colloquium was provided by the Government of Germany.

For further information please contact:
Ms. Margaret Hanley, Information Officer
United Nations Information Services/Bangkok
Tel: 02-288-1862; Fax: 02-288-1052
E-mail: unisbkk.unescap@un.org

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