Dili, 07 July, 2009 - Ahead of the presentation of Timor-Leste's Initial State Report to the Committee for the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), a preparatory Mock Session was organized by the CEDAW Southeast Asia Programme (CEDAW SEAP) of UNIFEM, the United Nations Development Fund for Women on 23 and 24 June in Dili.

What constitutes discrimination against women?

"The Constitutional Provisions will not capture the meaning of discrimination – both intended and unintended - the question is whether there has been any discussion of how to bring about or tie the meaning of discrimination as defined by the Convention?"

"The law must not contradict social practices – the law should reflect the social values of the people. What if the social values or social practices of the people are in contradiction of the human rights principles?"

These were some of the issues raised by the mock Committee Members to the six-member State Delegation of Timor-Leste that will present the report on 30th July in New York for the CEDAW Committee's 44th Session.

The Convention is also known as the International Bill of Rights for Women or the United Nations Treaty for the Rights of Women, and is the first and only international treaty that comprehensively addresses women's rights, not only within civil and political spheres, but also within economic, social, cultural and family life. It defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination. CEDAW considers discrimination against women a human rights violation.

Timor-Leste ratified the Treaty on 16 April 2003 obligating the state party to protect, promote and fulfill women's human rights. The State Report is the first to be presented by Timor-Leste.

"This review is meant to help them understand exactly the kind of difficulties that there are for bringing out equality between women and men and the methods of overcoming the difficulties," said Shanthi Dairiam, a former CEDAW Committee member who was brought to Timor-Leste to help prepare the State Delegation and accustom them to the procedures and their responsibilities during the presentation of the report.

"The Committee will try to engage them in a dialogue to find out precisely what is happening in the country- therefore, they must give clear answers," continued Dairiam.

The report documents the implementation of the Convention and serves to monitor how far the government of Timor-Leste has fulfilled its obligations in meeting the human rights of women.

"We have to prepare ourselves in terms of answering to the questions especially in terms of the mechanisms," said Idelta Rodrigues, the Secretary of State for the Promotion of Equality who will head the State Delegation for the presentation.

"The policy actions we take- will there be any impact? That is the key. That is what the Committee wants to know from us," reiterated Rodrigues on what is needed to eliminate discrimination in order to achieve gender equality.

On this Dairiam stressed the importance of the first report which she pointed will provide the baseline for Timor-Leste to move forward.

"Without the review and the first report we will never know what really needs to be done," she said.

Dairiam, who first came to Timor-Leste in 2000 and later in 2004 as part of the CEDAW SEAP inception mission, cautioned that it will be an on-going process.

She noted that Timor-Leste is in a better position than many other countries where laws have been established for many years.

"There has been a lot of legislation passed that is relatively new including the penal code, the civil code, the new law on domestic violence (currently being debated), the plans to have a new gender equality law," acknowledged Dairiam on positive legislation for advancing women's rights.

However, she cautioned that, "unless those laws are enforced and implemented, they are of no benefit to women."

According to the State Report to the CEDAW Committee a dominant patriarchal system exists in Timor-Leste. Dairiam recognized this as one of the cultural impediments that has not changed.

The State Report will be supplemented by reports from the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the Office of the Provedor for Human Rights (PDHJ). The submission of the NGOs is an Alternative Report. It takes issue on nine areas where NGOs claim women are still facing discrimination. The report identifies the political and public life of women, education, health, livelihoods, social services, justice, family life and violence against women in Timor-Leste as areas of concern. It also states that despite constitutional guarantees for women's rights and equality, Timor-Leste is still in need of a law on gender equality. In the area of justice, it cites discrimination in the Penal Code as it mainly says abortion is illegal and that court cases are often thrown out due to a lack of evidence from victims as they feel intimidated by the presence of perpetrators in court.

The PDHJ report goes on to criticise the State's failure to implement its recommendations on the conditions in the Gleno Prison in Dili. It also calls for the recommendations of the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) on the sexual violence that occurred during the Indonesian Occupation to be implemented.

The reports have asked for the members of the CEDAW Committee to provide recommendations and advice for efficient solutions to the problems.

Together, the Reports will highlight the challenges that remain for gender equality to be realised and how women's claim to their rights can be redressed in Timor-Leste. The Report to the CEDAW Committee is submitted every four years. Concluding Observations will be made by the Committee which the State of Timor-Leste is required to implement.

The Committee's Concluding Observations will be available on the OHCHR website the day after the State Appearance: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/index.htm

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Japan National Committee for UNIFEM contributed to the preparation of the reporting process.

For more information contact: Rosaini Sulaiman, Communications Officer, UNIFEM Timor-Leste, Mobile: +670 7466067