{"id":1936,"date":"2015-09-17T16:21:46","date_gmt":"2015-09-17T16:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gqualcampaign.org\/old\/?p=1936"},"modified":"2015-09-22T16:26:34","modified_gmt":"2015-09-22T16:26:34","slug":"promoting-parity-in-international-tribunals-and-monitoring-bodies-twenty-years-after-beijing-viviana-krsticevic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gqualcampaign.org\/old\/promoting-parity-in-international-tribunals-and-monitoring-bodies-twenty-years-after-beijing-viviana-krsticevic\/","title":{"rendered":"Promoting parity in International Tribunals and monitoring bodies twenty years after Beijing. Viviana Krsticevic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Promoting parity in International Tribunals and monitoring bodies twenty years after Beijing<\/span><\/h1>\n

\nAuthor: Viviana Krsticevic, Executive Director for the Center for Justice and International Law
\nPublished in: Reuters Foundation<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

On September\u00a01995,\u00a0Governments\u00a0from across the globe\u00a0expressed their commitment\u00a0in Beijing, China\u00a0to ensure the full and equal participation of women in\u00a0accessing power and\u00a0decision-making processes\u00a0to build\u00a0a better world\u00a0for all\u00a0through the\u00a0Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Twenty years later, however, women are underrepresented in\u00a0International\u00a0Tribunals and\u00a0monitoring\u00a0bodies\u00a0that make critical decisions on issues of war and peace, commerce,\u00a0international borders, migration,\u00a0genocide and\u00a0human rights. For example, only 4\u00a0out of 106\u00a0judges\u00a0in the 70 year history of the\u00a0International Court of Justice,\u00a0also known as the\u00a0World Court, have been women.\u00a0Additionally, 19\u00a0out of a total of 52 United Nations\u00a0Human Rights Council\u2019s\u00a0Special Procedures\u00a0mechanisms\u2014which includes\u00a0Rapporteurs and Independent Experts\u00a0charged with\u00a0examining, monitoring, advising, and publicly reporting on human rights issues\u2014have never been led by a woman. As two final examples,\u00a0the Inter-American Court of Human Rights\u00a0(I-A Court)\u00a0currently has\u00a0no\u00a0women serving\u00a0on the bench;\u00a0and\u00a0only 6.5\u00a0percent\u00a0of commercial arbitrations involve women.<\/p>\n

International Tribunals and monitoring\u00a0bodies\u00a0are the backbone of the efforts to shape a better world for all. They\u00a0frequently find themselves at\u00a0a powerful intersection\u00a0of\u00a0current affairs and\u00a0outcomes that can\u00a0possibly\u00a0shape\u00a0the future of humanity.\u00a0However, the\u00a0scarcity\u00a0of women\u00a0within\u00a0international tribunals and monitoring bodies\u00a0fails to tap into\u00a0the diverse background and experiences\u00a0many of them\u00a0can bring\u00a0to the table. Moreover, their absence\u00a0erodes the legitimacy and impact\u00a0of these entities.<\/p>\n

Furthermore,\u00a0on the month of the 20th\u00a0anniversary of the Beijing Declaration,\u00a0two\u00a0questions\u00a0necessarily linger\u00a0in the wake of these disparities:\u00a0Can\u00a0International\u00a0Tribunals and\u00a0monitoring\u00a0bodies make\u00a0just\u00a0decisions for all\u00a0if\u00a0women\u00a0are underrepresented?\u00a0And can women\u2019s rights be adequately protected by\u00a0these\u00a0bodies?<\/p>\n

Making\u00a0parity\u00a0real\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The\u00a0dearth\u00a0of women\u00a0in international human rights bodies and tribunals\u00a0weakens these\u00a0institutions.\u00a0Even if they advocate for equality,\u00a0underrepresentation creates an appearance that\u00a0they\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0walk the walk.\u00a0The lack\u00a0or dearth of women\u00a0limits\u00a0the reach of certain\u00a0discussions\u00a0within these bodies, diminishes their authority and consequently, their potential.<\/p>\n

While we can\u2019t really say\u00a0any\u00a0woman\u00a0chosen to serve a term within a\u00a0tribunal will directly impact the outcome of a decision,\u00a0we can\u00a0agree that\u00a0factors like\u00a0life experiences, gender\u00a0and\u00a0race\u00a0are important\u00a0to\u00a0spark healthy debates\u00a0that enrich the conversation\u00a0and reinforce the legitimacy of these decisions.<\/p>\n

So how can parity for international tribunals and\u00a0monitoring\u00a0bodies become a reality?\u00a0In order to seriously pursue equality,\u00a0one\u00a0viable strategy points to\u00a0working to overhaul\u00a0the nomination and selection processes of tribunals and bodies.<\/p>\n

In most cases,\u00a0governments\u00a0are responsible for\u00a0nominating and voting for candidates, as well as for\u00a0ensuring\u00a0the equality and active\u00a0participation of women\u00a0to these entities.\u00a0Curiously\u00a0enough,\u00a0these\u00a0commitments don\u2019t seem to permeate key aspects of\u00a0State\u00a0policies that\u00a0deal with\u00a0international\u00a0tribunals\u00a0and\u00a0monitoring\u00a0bodies.\u00a0For example,\u00a0only one\u00a0female\u00a0candidate\u00a0was nominated to the\u00a0four\u00a0available\u00a0positions\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0I-A Court, a regional tribunal which makes decisions on serious human rights violations\u00a0in the Americas,\u00a0even\u00a0though\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0currently composed\u00a0exclusively\u00a0by men.\u00a0In June 2015,\u00a0this candidate\u00a0was successfully elected to the position and will begin serving her term in 2016.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0emphasis\u00a0on\u00a0fixing\u00a0nominations and voting\u00a0processes\u00a0is not meant to\u00a0encompass\u00a0or address\u00a0all aspects of exclusion. However,\u00a0it\u00a0serves as an\u00a0important leverage.\u00a0\u00a0Moreover, given these disparities, hundreds of prominent women and men worldwide, including\u00a0state representatives, practitioners, humanitarians, judges, among others, are beginning to establish an advocacy roadmap to address this challenge. Increasing awareness about the lack of gender parity in international human rights monitoring bodies and tribunals is one step along this journey. They are also mobilizing to urge States to make pledges to nominate and vote in parity, and\u00a0promote the development and implementation of selection guidelines, mechanisms, or policies that guarantee gender parity across international tribunals and bodies. With energy and creativity, they are building a sustainable collaborative global effort committed to equality, justice and women\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n

In the spirit of\u00a0walking the path laid out by\u00a0the\u00a0Platform for Action two decades ago,\u00a0we hope\u00a0to\u00a0contribute\u00a0to\u00a0significantly change the landscape for women.\u00a0Adequate representation in International Tribunals and bodies is a corollary of\u00a0the commitment to women\u2019s empowerment and their\u00a0full participation on the basis of equality in all spheres of society.\u00a0It will bring women to a\u00a0critical\u00a0space\u00a0for\u00a0contributing to\u00a0equality, development and peace.\u00a0Certainly, equal access\u00a0of women\u00a0to international tribunals and bodies is a small act with global\u00a0impact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Promoting parity in International Tribunals and monitoring bodies twenty years after Beijing Author: Viviana Krsticevic,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1431,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gqualcampaign.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1936"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gqualcampaign.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gqualcampaign.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gqualcampaign.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gqualcampaign.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1936"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.gqualcampaign.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1965,"href":"https:\/\/www.gqualcampaign.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1936\/revisions\/1965"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gqualcampaign.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gqualcampaign.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gqualcampaign.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gqualcampaign.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}