PAST PROJECTS

 

Advocacy | Education | Documentation

 

Optional Protocol to CEDAW

The Optional Protocol to Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is a mechanism which enables individual women to complain to the UN about human-rights violations they have experienced.

WRANA, along with other organisations in Australia, lobbied the Australian government during the negotiations which led to the adoption of the Optional Protocol. In 1999 we prepared a submission on key elements for the OP to CEDAW.

In August 2000, the Government announced it would not ratify the OP to CEDAW. WRANA worked with other organisations to generate a collective response to the announcement, calling on the Prime Minister and others to reconsider the decision not to ratify the optional protocol to CEDAW. 146 organisations and 466 individuals endorsed before the close of endorsements.

WRANA focused on ratification of the OP to CEDAW in the 2001 election campaign, including the development of an extensive website on the issue.

We continue to work towards the eventual ratification of the OP to CEDAW and it will be addressed in our Shadow Report to the CEDAW Committee.

Sex Discrimination Act

In 2000, the Howard Government introduced an amendment to the Sex Discrimination Act to enable State Governments to enact legislation on access to reproductive technologies which has the effect of discriminating against women on the basis of their marital status.

WRANA coordinated a letter writing campaign to the government and prepared a submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee on the implications of the legislation on Australia's international obligations.

Anti-Terrorism Laws

In 2000-2001 the Howard government recently tabled a series of Bills which claim to combat the threat of terrorism and terrorist activity in Australia. WRANA is seriously concerned that this legislation poses a serious threat to human rights and democracy, and has been involved in the campaign against the proposed legislation. Please email us if you are interested in a copy of our submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee.

Commission on the Status of Women, 2002

In the lead up to the 2002 session of the Commission on the Status of Women, WRANA consulted with women's and social justice organizations to prepare a submission which identified areas for action in a resolution on women and poverty. WRANA distributed the report through national and international networks.

The Agreed Conclusions do contain some useful recommendations for Australian work, and they could perhaps be referenced in policy or funding submissions, in particular points related to budget initiatives to support women (5.l), funding of social policy programs (5.n), and family friendly work policies (5.o), health care (5.p and q), social security (5.r), education (5.s). In particular, the Agreed Conclusions notes the particular needs of women in rural areas at 5.z and 5.aa.


Women's Human Rights Violations in Australia: Reporting on the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, 2000

Based on evidence presented at the First Australian Tribunal on Women's Human Rights, WRANA prepared a report for the Federal Government reviewing Australia's implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action. This report was then used as the basis of lobbying document for the Five Year Review of the Beijing Platform for Action, held in New York in June 2000. The Government has used both the PFA and Outcomes Document to prepare its own implementation plan.



Australian and The UN Human Rights Treaty System

During 2000 the Australian Governments implementation of its human rights obligations under the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Convention Against Torture was reviewed by the UN human rights committees. The Committees issued views which included both positive and negative opinions. In late 2000, the Government announced the results of a separate review of its engagement with the human rights and refugee systems of the UN. Key elements of the announcement were:
  • The decision to focus on reform of the human rights and refugee systems
  • Questioning the level of influence of NGOs in the human rights treaty monitoring process
  • The decision not to ratify the Optional Protocol to CEDAW, a new international implementation procedure for women's human rights
  • The decision to disallow visits by human rights experts of the UN system only 'where there is a compelling reason to do so'
  • The decision to base decisions on reporting on the implementation of human rights obligations in Australia on 'a more economic and selective approach where appropriate'
WRANA contributed to a collective response to the announcement, including the preparation of a sign on letter to John Howard, which gathered the support of over sixty organizations We have continued to work on this issue. In early 2000 the Treaties Committee called for submissions on Australia's Relations with the United Nations in the Post Cold War environment. WRANA prepared a submission for the Committee.



Submission on Reservations to CEDAW

WRANA prepared a submission on the modification of Australia's reservations to CEDAW.


Health in the Platform for Action

To facilitate the review of the Health chapter in the Beijing Platform for Action at the Commission on the Status of Women in March 1999, a Working Group is meeting to identify issues of concern to Australian women, and prepare recommendations on implementing the health chapter of the PFA in Australia.


Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

In 2000 Australia's implementation of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was reviewed. WRANA prepared a report for the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on Australia's realisation of economic, social and cultural rights for women. The views of the Committee were released in mid 2000 and included reference to concerns documented by WRANA .
 

Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) & Native Title

 WRANA prepared a submission for the Committee: Consistency of the Native Title Amendment Act 1998 with Australia's International Obligations Under the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Racial Discrimination ("CERD") March 2000.


CEDAW

Australian became a party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in 1984. Elements of CEDAW have been incorporated into Australian legislation through the Sex Discrimination Act. Further information on the Sex Discrimination Act can be obtained from the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.

In 1998, the Government called for submissions on its reservations to CEDAW, and we prepared a submission on the issue.

WRANA is currently working on an Australia-wide project, which is assessing how well we have gone in implementing CEDAW. The process has been going on for a long time...and WRANA has been there at every step.

  • In 1999 we prepared an initial submission on Australia's implementation of CEDAW, focusing on the concluding comments made by the CEDAW Committee in 1997
  • In 2001 we prepared an initial response to the draft report prepared by the government.

Want to find out more?: Our Rights, Our Voices: Women's Report Card Project.

Mandatory Sentencing

In 2000, WRANA collaborated to produce a submission to the UN Human Rights Committee on the gender dimensions of the NT and WA legislation on mandatory sentencing and their relationship to obligations contained in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
 

Advocacy | Education | Documentation
 

Everyday: Intersections of Gender and Racism, An Awareness Raising Kit for Women's Organisations

An awareness raising kit for community and women's organisations. Everyday addresses the intersections of gender and race discrimination. It will help organisations who want to increase their understanding of the ways in which women experience multiple forms of discrimination, and outlines possible organisational responses.  The Kit contains

  •  “Concept Sheets” which explain the ideas behind the term “intersectional discrimination”

  •  “Fact Sheets” exploring the ways in which women living in Australia experience intersectional discrimination in the areas of health, education, government decision making, violence, housing, the economy, and the law

  • “Strategy Papers” outlining actions organizations can take to better respond to the needs of women who experience intersectional discrimination, and

  • A workshop plan and exercises organizations can use with members to increase understanding of the issues raised in the Kit

 

My Rights, Your Rights

In 1999 fourteen women made Australian human rights history when they testified about their experiences of human rights violations in Australia. The women’s testimonies tracked the practices of racism, sexism, homophobia, economic discrimination, age discrimination and violence against women.  These testimonies formed the basis for the education package, which has been designed to introduce senior secondary school students to human rights concerns in the Australian community. 

The Kit was initially developed with a video, however, these are no longer in production.  You can download from this website the thematic worksheets. The topics include: Refugees issues,  Young women and violence, Indigenous Rights, Prisoner’s Rights, Housing Rights, Domestic Violence, Sexuality Rights, Forced sterilisation of women with disabilities, Outworkers issues, Older women’s issues.

 

Putting Gender on the Agenda: A Gender Mainstreaming Resource Kit

Over half Australia's population are women, so why isn't Gender on the Agenda? Although there are more women in Australia than men, the experiences and needs of women are still largely underrepresented in organisational structures, public discussion and decision making, surrounding policy and legislation initiatives.

 The WRANA Putting Gender on the Agenda Resource Kit is designed for organisations involved in policy or legislation analysis and advocacy that believe in achieving just outcomes for all members of our diverse community.  This pack gives organisations ideas for how to integrate women into policy advocacy. It provides a range of materials from around the country, and around the world, to support gender integration in the Australian policy and human rights context, and provides a practical guide for organisations interested in increasing gender responsiveness in their own activity.

 Each package contains:

  • Material defining gender and gender integration in the domestic and international context

  • Material and tools addressing the complexity and diversity of gender

  • Papers outlining how gender integration can be, and have been, implemented in the workplace

  • A selection of international Human Rights standards that relate to the status of women

  • A brief guide to Human Rights standards, and how they can be used in policy advocacy

This publication will be available shortly.

 
 

Advocacy | Education | Documentation
 

The documentation work conducted by WRANA feeds into our advocacy and education. The best place to look is in individual projects, particularly the report on women's human rights violations and the Everyday gender and racism package.