ABSTRACT

In this era of globalization which is full of development, there is a very important part to put light on the several problems of women. This paper discusses the condition of Women on Two- level i.e. International level and National level (India). While discussing Indian problems this paper will tackle on three-level as legislative, executive, and judiciary. There are problems in the whole world which are related to women. There must be equality among all. Those problems might not be the same in all the countries but like FGM, child marriage, child trafficking, health and hygiene, property-related issues, and so on. These are some kind of problems which are common all over the world but In India, the problem of Sanitation in rural areas is there and one main what should be discussed is as there is a severe problem of case system and in that system also women have to face many problems. The people from the upper caste take the women granted as she belongs to the lower caste. The paper discusses the solutions specifically through CEDAW (Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.) and also the take of different organizations on this particular issue. The problems of Gender Discrimination are a major and it affects each part of a women’s life. This paper tries to put light on some of the issues and its causes and how to tackle them.

Keywords: gender discrimination, FGM, CEDAW, Human Rights, Equality

INTRODUCTION

Women’s Rights are Human Rights. In the whole world, there are no. problems related to women, different countries have different problems in different ways. There is a list of problems related to women as Female Genital Mutilation, Child trafficking, Sex Tourism, Female infanticide, child marriage, dowry system, prostitution, Rape, Acid Attacks, etc. There are regional efforts that were done by UNICEF’s Board for girl child protection as they were making programs for them. SAARC has also tried to explore the problems of the girl child through media and other sources. ECOSOC has also taken initiatives regarding the concern for girl children even before Beijing Conference in 1975.

CEDAW stands for Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The UN General Assembly adopted the treaty in 1979 and it came into force in September 1981. As of May 10, 2002, it has 169 state parties.¹This committee consists of 23 members who are independent experts on women’s rights from all over the world. That state party has a treaty with the committee has to submit a regular report to the committee that how they are implementing the convention in their respective states. Since 1982 a total of 138 experts had served the members of the committee. It has acceded to 187 countries to date or we can say that 90 % of UN members ratified this treaty. There are six member countries and one non-member country which had not ratified Cedaw are the United States of America, Iran, Somalia, Tonga,Palau,Sudan, and Vatican City respectively. It a convention that contains six parts and 30 Articles. It is divided into three parts that the 1^st part talks about the state’s obligation, the 2^nd part deals about the measures taken by the states over the discrimination against women in different aspects and third deals about the administrative and procedural aspects.²

CEDAW follows three principles that are the State’s obligation, Substantive Equality, and Non- Discrimination. In the principle of state obligation (Article 2) the state who had signed the convention shouldn’t enact discriminatory laws, should ensure complaints and redress mechanisms, regulate private actors such as business and individuals must ensure that not to violate any women’s right. The state has to promote awareness of women’s rights in the country.

It has to fulfil the rights of the women and provide enabling conditions and develop capacity, build women’s ability. In the principle of substantive equality, it is considered that to overcome inequality there are three approaches formal, protectionist and corrective. In the formal approach, society accepts that men and women are equal. For example, Ina factory there is a night shift and both men and women are allowed to work in night shifts but there is an increase in crime at night for women then women would be prohibited from working at night and this is a protectionist approach. But if there would be certain measures that might be taken for the safety and security of the women that is the corrective approach and that leads to Substantive equality. It looks that whether the women get equal opportunities, access to that opportunities, and results or benefits out of that or not. In the third principle of non-discrimination, it mentions that there should not be any direct or indirect discrimination between men and women.

This is an international bill of rights for women. It comes into existence to avoid sex-based discrimination as the women should be accessible to all forms of rights as economic, political, and public rights. It is there to exclude or restricts any distinction which is made on the basis of sex which deprives the recognition of women irrespective of anything. This convention asserts about the reproductive rights of women.³ It also targets the traditional and cultural system of patriarchy which plays a major role in shaping gender roles and family relations and this is the only human right treaty who confirms this right.

The committee has mandated that they will review the reports submitted by the state parties and they can recommend the state to be more attentive in that specific area where it is required. Two more terms are Optional Protocols and General Recommendation. It has two procedures one communication procedure and the second is an inquiry procedure. If a country signs OP (the country must be a party to the committee), then the individuals of that particular state parties are allowed to file a petition against the policies of the states party to the CEDAW committee about the violation of rights. The General Recommendation is an overview of the human rights of women and an analysis that how CEDAW applies it and also give measures to the government to implement it.

CHALLENGES FACED BY WOMEN AND ROLE OF CEDAW

1. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

FGM is a non-medical practice that intentionally removes the genital organs of women and it is done to fulfill the aim that women should be inhibited from her sexual feelings. It is practiced on the girls who are at the age of puberty or even before it and now it is started to do on the babies who are only a couple of days.⁴Although there is no punishment in any religion and it is illegitimate in many countries, it is still practiced in many countries of the Middle East and few countries of Asia.⁵ In sub-Saharan regionsand the North-eastern region of Africa FGM is still practiced. Article 1⁶ of the CEDAW convention talks about the Definition of Discrimination and it is comprehensive. The thing is that this is embedded in the customary practice of certain communities and it is accepted that by doing this they are preparing the girls for marriage. Government while enacting legislation for prohibiting this should look after the matter that it would further discriminate girls from restraint to their marriage.⁷

Article 2⁸ of UDHR mentions that everyone has the right and freedom which are mentioned in this declaration irrespective of color, race, and sex. FGM is a violation of the basic human right and physical integrity of a women and she compromises with her liberties. This issue must be seen from the perspective of reproductive health concern and human rights violation and it is a harmful practice that is not based on any social or religious practice and of course it’s an issue of Medical health.⁹Article 5 of CEDAW demands the government of the respective state parties abandon traditions that are discriminatory to women and reorganize the cultural and social practices based on the cue of female mediocrity.

Coming to its consequences, it is harmful to both physical and mental health. It causes mental trauma, loss of sexual sensation, severe bleeding, blood poisoning; even it can cause HIV Aids due to the use of certain instruments. It also causes pain during the menstruation, urination, and sometimes due to the rubbing of the clothes the stitched part gets hurt. Infertility can be a long- term consequence of this. It has a lot of payback which is worst for women.

It is believed by the people that by doing this they ensure premarital virginity and marital fidelity. It is done to reduce the women’s libido and hence she can avoid sexual acts. The fear of opening of that stitch will herself control it from doing so.

WHO has classified FGM into four parts: first is Clitoridectomy, which is the removal of the clitoris, an organ which is the primary source of female sexual pleasure. Second is Excision, which the total or partial removal of the clitoris with labia minora. Next is Infibulation, it is the stitching of vulva to avoid sexual intercourse and finally it is called as FGM after removing all the genital organs of women.¹⁰

If we consider the take of organizations to prevent it the Joint Programme on FGM was commenced by UNFPA(United Nations Fund For Population Activities) and UNICEF in 2007.WHO (World Health Organization) with other 89 UN partners had stated with a vision to abandon FGM called “Eliminating female genital mutilation: an interagency statement”. It also published a “Global Strategy to stop health care providers from performing female genital Mutilation” in 2010. UN General Assembly approved a resolution to eliminate FGM in 2012. WHO with UNFPA-UNICEF a joint program has launched guidelines which are evidence based on the mainframe of health dilemma from FGM in May 2016 and it is working hard for its effective implementation by boosting knowledge and skills of health providers to avoid the snags of FGM.¹¹

Next considering the CEDAW committee, it had issued General Recommendation no 14 which is related to FGM. It talks about the state parties to take competent measures to eliminate such a heinous practice.¹²

1.     Child Trafficking

Child Trafficking is a severe problem and it is rampant in India. It is a business of children in which they use them for labor, or domestic servants, or on streets as child beggars and girl child is specifically for sexual matters. The recruitment or obtaining of a person for commercial sex

or labor services through methods of force human trafficking is a hundred and fifty billion dollars per year globally. Trafficking doesn’t happen suddenly it’s a process which first includes traffickers act this includes recruiting victims, transporting them to the place where they will be exploited hiding them from authorities, and receiving victims from other traffickers. It is a major problem in the United States as the cases have been reports from all its 50 states.¹³The women and girls are mostly the victims of sex trade survivors, trafficking, and exploitation in the sex trade.

It is a matter of great concern for CEDAW, as 80% of the victims are women. It sees this issue as far as sexual exploitation is considered which 79% was and followed by forced labor i.e. 18%¹⁴, the majority of the victims are girls and women. CEDAW committee had drafted a General Recommendation on Article 6, which ensure state parties to take suitable steps, to censor all forms of traffic, prostitution, and exploitation against women.¹⁵CEDAW mentions that in its 52^nd session that trafficking is a momentous problem irrespective of geographical location.¹⁶

It is a major issue in India for the women, there are several reports which show that every day with time we have become immune to the stories of exploitation of girls from Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh by placement agencies and doubt lowered by the temptation of dignified jobs or secures marriages. These girls end with domestic servitude, prostitution, or extremely violent marriages to more than one man. In those states that have finished their girls, news of bondage child labor rescues by organizations like Bachpan Bachao Aandolan and sex rackets unearthed by NGOs like Shakti Vahini. In the Government of India, the National Plan of Action for Children 2005 was made for the children. Internationally, India had taken a major step by ratifying UN Protocol to prevent suppression and punish trafficking. In 2011, India has done changes in its domestic law that added a distinct legal provision in the Indian Penal Code, 1860 to deal with trafficking as a part of criminal law.

1. Deprivation from Property Rights

In many countries around the world due to customs and social norms, women’s property rights are denied which hampers their economic status and other probabilities to overcome poverty. In the countries in which there are women as farmers, they are also denied land or property rights.¹⁷

There are International Organizations that are concerned with this particular issue. The Beijing Platform for Action asserted that there should be recognition of the rights of women to inheritance and ownership of land and property. Article 13 of CEDAW discusses the economic benefits of Women that she should have an equal avenue to family benefits and other financial credits and similar rights as men. Considering the condition of women, property rights are crucial for them as secure land rights could help them to gain gender equality, economic independence, and greater autonomy and would increase their participation in the community. In some Research, it is also seen that property rights and HIV-AIDS both are considered to be related. There are certain evidences that where the women’s property are sustained they can alleviate the adverse effects of economic consequences and it is so that this helps the women to avoid HIV/AIDS by developing her economic security and it also leads to reduce the factors which are related to AIDS as domestic violence or unsafe sex.¹⁸

There are certain provisions from CEDAW General Recommendations Relevant to Women’s Property Right. GR 3 which is on the subject matter of education and public information to deduct the mold representation of women urges state parties to promote education and public information which will help to eliminate the stereotypical practices that are obstacles for women to gain social equality. GR 19 which is on the subject matter of violence against women and specifies that the inadequacy of economic independence is a major factor for women to be in a violent relationship. A woman can only have property rights if she is married, i.e. through her husband and hence she is eschewed legal autonomy. Article 16(1)(h) overlaps and

accomplished those things mentioned in Article15(2) which obligates state parties to give women the property rights.¹⁹

In India, the Patriarchal setup disregards the Hindu woman’s right to property and brought her to be inferior in social and economic aspects. In ancient times Hindu women’s property rights were provided with many fold limitations and legislative enactments were done in pre and post- independent India. The Hindu Succession Act, 1956 was enacted to improve this section and rights of women, however, the position is not yet improved as it was reflected in the 174^th report of law commission of India on property. There was an amendment in this act in 2005 in which section 4(2) was deleted and pawed away for women’s inheritance in agricultural lands equally to that of males. All the above mentioned is of a legislative part.

Next about the judiciary perspective, there are various landmark judgments in cases where they have declared and had gone one step further to make sure that there is no ambiguity on women’s property rights. It is made crystal clear that even if a woman was born before 1956 what to talk of 2005 all have property rights. Certain cases to mention are Danamma @ Suman Surpur & Anr. V. Amar & Ors., Prakash & Ors. V. Phulvati & Ors., S.R. Batra & Anr. v. Smt. Taruna Batra etc.

1.Women’s Education

Education plays a cardinal cathartic and enthusiast role to avail human rights values and is considered as a route to gender equality and women’s condonation and also important for personal development. Education has been endorsed as a basic human right since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the UN General Assembly in December 1948 has assented to it.²⁰ Article 10 of the CEDAW Convention mentions the education of women and it is further elaborated in GRs. In parallel to GR 33 on women’s approach to justice, all the state parties are obliged to protect women from any kind of prejudice that stops them to access all levels of education and approach there where this occurs.²¹

CEDAW Committee has lightened some factors that are obstacles to the education of girls. The first factor is poverty. If in a family there are two children, one girl, and one boy then due to this factor the parents make the boy go and study further because of heavy fees. Economic crisis and asperity dogma incline to privatize education and it harms girls who belong to poor families. Poverty is based on the part of gender and CEDAW specifically is attentive to its gender dimension. The Next factor is about the measures taken for the unbiased education for girls which should address gender-violence. There must be a safe environment while studying that there should not be sexual harassment or assault on the girls and due to such reasons people keep the girls at home for their safety. One more factor is that in the classroom there is the influence of customary practices. Women didn’t get that much opportunity in the management as boys are being given. Women are continued to be mobilized in the low-status occupation irrespective of their social status. General Recommendation No. 36 is a significant tramp in International Human Rights Law. To rationalize the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), the committee mentions that policy should be for the unbiased education of women and which would remove all the above-mentioned obstacles.²²If there is education, there is self-awareness and only because of illiteracy women have to face many problems. Everything is linked with education. No female foeticide, no domestic violence would be there and many more things are there.

1.     Child Marriage

Child Marriage is a practice in which one of the parties (girls) is below 18 years of age and not consented for the marriage, which is forced child marriage. In some cases, it also occurs in the want of money as the parents are taking money and giving their girl child and it is done in the form of child marriage. As per the report of UNICEF, there are more than 650 million women who are alive and they are victims of child marriage. In the countries which are not developed at a particular level, 40% of girls have to face this practice.²³ Research shows that it is because of factors which include firstly less access to education, gender bias, insecure feeling, rise in the risk of gender-based violence, improper family planning, fear of onus of pregnancy outside from pregnancy, then the breaking of rule of law and following the statutes properly and there is

a misconception among people that by doing the forced marriage they are protecting their girls.²⁴

Article 16 of CEDAW talks about the marriage part and its 2^nd clause mentions that while entering into an institution of marriage there must be the consent of both the parties. And this single practice is connected with other rights as the right to freedom, right to be protected from other forms of exploitation, and the right to be protected from other forms of harmful practices. This issue is concerned mainly by the committee of CRC. This committee permits the state parties to abolish or declare unlawful, the marriage between the parties who have not attained the majority. CEDAW and CRC both are can be seen complementary because CRC didn’t talk directly about child marriage but if we read it under the roof of CEDAW it provides a necessary ground to abandon child marriage.²⁵In a certain way, this is also related to the maternal health of the girl child. If there is married before age then there is more rate of pregnancy and it is before attaining a proper age and would lead to ill-health of the girl child.

In the 58^th session of CEDAW, it urged India to take stronger action to eliminate this practice and to take measures to prevent women’s reproductive rights. Despite the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act of 2006, the committee directs India to effectively implement in the country and prohibit the practice of Child marriage. The UN’s World Report of 2006 on Violence against children specifies the nocuous role of personal laws, looking that they generally blunt the legislation by giving more importance to the traditional and cultural values. UN General Assembly approved that state parties should abolish violence against her without invoking or giving importance to any other custom or tradition. In addition to this, SRVAW has mentioned that if the personal laws remit child marriage then the state should rely on International norms.²⁶ To see a good example of the influence of the International norm on the country, we can see Nepal. There was a customary law of Nepal called as Mulk Ani. It was highly discriminatory of the human rights of a person and hence it was reformed. The 11^th amendment of that customary

laws leads to provide the girls’ child the ancestral property rights and other rights also.

1. Sanitation and Health

It is a very crucial issue to be discussed about this topic specifically in the matter of rural women. It is related to the reproductive health of women. Article 11(1)(f) of the CEDAW convention is about Health &Safety in working conditions and also the protection of reproductive rights.Article 12 (2) of CEDAW talks about Nutrition during pregnancy. The committee given General Recommendation which mentions that the state parties must include certain points in their report concerning the implementation of this. The state parties are obliged to look after the rights of women regarding her health and it must provide everything related to it without discriminating based on gender. The committee has GRs as GR 14 is for Female circumcision and GR 15 is regarding the HIV-AIDS. In the 20^th session of CEDAW Gr 24 related to Article 12 of the convention-related to women and health. One of the main causes of health status is the biological difference between men and women and hence there is a need to be more attentive to the health sector of women. Cultural, psychological, economic, and many other factors are there which leads to the health of women. FGM is a customary practice that affects adversely to women’s health. The Psychological factor is different in men and women, leads to an eating disorder called anorexia, and also due to lack of confidentiality it may affect women from taking treatment.²⁷

There are certain additional instruments regarding the health sector of women as the protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on Rights of Women in Africa was adopted by UN General Assembly which comes into force on 25 November 2005 and it assures about the right to health of women. On the platform of the Beijing Declaration, this issue is of great concern. There are also Special Rapporteurs of the UN Commission which specifically talks about the physical and mental health of women.²⁸

In India, specifically in rural areas women are not aware of sanitary napkins, they are still using the cloth for menstruation and this is very harmful to their health. It would lead to many serious diseases. Menstruation is a great matter of concern as a health issue. Using the cloth, again and again, would lead to infection of the urinary tract. Now one more is that some of them are not

aware to clean the external genitalia because of a lack of education in this aspect. In rural areas, it is also considered taboo, and the concept of magic is also there regarding this thing. But awareness should be there or the consequences are very bad. Nowadays there is the use of menstrual cup instead of sanitary napkins in the places which are aware of it and on the other side women are not even aware of sanitary napkins.

Analysis

• Caste System and Women in India

In India, gender and caste are two main problems since ancient times. Women are always discriminated against on the basis of sex for a long period. In the caste system, the lower caste people have to suffer a lot and in that also women have to face a lot of problems. The problem of caste has become a very certain factor in Indian Feminism. The system of patriarchy affects more harshly to lower caste women. The thing is that a Scheduled Caste Women has to face a threshold of patriarchies i.e. diligent patriarchy, that is particular to caste and overlaying patriarchy of upper caste.²⁹ The case of Khairlanji Hatyakand in Maharashtra is one of the known cases for this matter. It is the case of Bhandara district in Maharashtra. In this case there was murder of all family members of Bhootmange and rape was done on his wife. Even the Atrocities Act was not applied on this case. The session has given death sentence to the convicts but the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court has reduced their punishment to life imprisonment. The thing is that the cause of this was that those people were belonging tolower caste.³⁰

·  Other problems in India

In India Rape is a very big issue as far as the present time is concerned. There is an extreme increase in the no. of rapes in India or we can say that it becomes a culture that we called rape culture. Is it very simple that if a girl is raped by merely punishing the rapist is justice for the girl? What I feel is no because what is happening is there should be such a punishment that after that all the people should have an example before them that they could recall it before doing rape or what we can say is exemplary damages. Indian judiciary has a lot of philosophy, recently Justice S. A. Bobade also mentions that Justice loses its character it takes the forms of

revenge and it does not allow the death penalty easily. But concerning today’s position in the country which has a male dominant or patriarchal system in which the man thinks that he has a dick so he has power over women and only to satisfy his desire or ego he commits heinous crimes against her as an example of acid attacks also judiciary needs to take strict action. There is a need to feel the loopholes in the systems which even exist after making a lot of laws regarding several issues of women. It is said that “Justice delayed is justice denied” but it is also there “Justice hurried is Justice Buried.” In today’s condition system need to implement all the laws effectively because it has not done it yet. If it could have done, one of the most heinous cases of Nirbhaya, the accused are yet to be hanged and that issue from the last seven years is still stretched. If there would be an effective or a verdict was given in specific time without this much delays there might be a change in the situation. Rape is about the violation of an individual’s rights to bodily integrity and autonomy. Rape is Rape and it doesn’t matter of what caste that women belong to on whom the rape is committed.

In India, it is also seen that there are certain problems that whenever there is anything wrong with the women or considering in the context of rape when the victim wants to enter an FIR or the police come to the spot, they first discuss the police jurisdiction. It is problem which was also seen in the Nirbhaya case that there should be a rule or they should re-organize it in such a way and firstly file an FIR and then after some time see it and transfer the case accordingly to which station it belongs to. The Next problem related to this is that such issues are politicized and then here there is a concept of justice v power because if there is the involvement of any political leaders, they by exercising their powers could withdraw the case and it had happened in many cases. In Kathua rape case that issue was tried to be related to religion and the accused were supported by the BJP leaders which should not be done. Such sensitive issues are also related to the castes also which should not be done. Even today in India in some part of Punjab- Haryana, women are considered as a commodity. The main problem starts if the women are uneducated and it is seen in rural areas that most of them are not aware of sanitation and still using a cloth which is very dangerous for their health. In metropolitan cities, women are using menstrual cups and in one-part people are not even aware of sanitary napkins. This is an issue of great concern.

In all, if we if consider all the countries that didn’t have the same problems as women. As in India Rape is a very critical issue now-a-days but it might not the problem in countries of Middle East Asia as it is in India. They have problems like FGM which not a major issue in India. While norms of International law are created, they are at a made at a common level it deals with the prevalent issues. But as far as India is concerned the problem of rape, acid attacks, dowry death, and women are deprived due to the caste system and CEDAW doesn’t talk about any of this issue. It doesn’t mention any provision related to any of this aspect. There is a uniform policy that would not work for women of all countries.

The enforcement structure of CEDAW is lacking and hence women are still facing discrimination. There were two mechanisms discussed in Article 18 and Article 29 of the convention. Article 18 of CEDAW states that the state parties had to submit a report after every four years to the committee about how the state or in what way the state is implementing the Convention domestically. The committee will then give recommendations to the state based on that report but the state is not bound to follow those recommendations. Article 29 of CEDAW states that if there is any difficulty in interpreting the clause of the convention then this clause provides or allows the parties to submit their dispute arbitration and further it goes to ICJ and that decision would be binding on the state parties. But the efficiency of this article is impeded by para 2 included in the article which mentions that state parties are allowed to reserve their right to hold the procedure or not.³¹

Next about the conditions of the women in rural areas and her economic rights. Here women live more under the burden of social customs and tradition. People in rural areas lack education and hence they still have the same mindset of women are inferior to men. However, the thinking is somehow changing but the change is at a low level. In those areas’ agriculture is the main occupation and women play or work equally as men but the wages given to her as half of what men are given. CEDAW doesn’t mention anything about the caste system or anything about the rape culture and for the India it is very important to be discussed.

Conclusion

Every human being has an inalienable right that is human rights. In today’s era, development is very important in every aspect irrespective of gender. If a country needs development then every person of that country must be accessed to all the opportunities required. Since very long- time women were not given their rights which are basic human rights. Various forms of issues have been discussed in the paper as FGM, Child trafficking, Child Marriage, Health-related issues and also land rights, etc. The main cause  of all this problem is the cultural and

³¹ Amanda Ulrich, “Can a World’s poorest Women are saved: A Critical Third World Feminist Analysis of the

CEDAW’s Rural Women’s Economic Rights and Alternative Approaches to women’s Economic Empowerment”, (2007) 45-2 Alberta Law Review 477.

traditional practices which are blindly followed by the people and because of this, there are clashes between the provisions of the Convection and some practices which are followed by the people. In all the problems mentioned they are directed to the adverse effect of health. It affects the physical as well the mental health of women. CEDAW talks about the economic independence of women through land or property rights of women but what I feel is, there should be also attention on the employment of women and it could be there only after education.

The first step to cure this is that Education must be given to all the people specifically women. In the education also there is one part where it should of the awareness programs, there is such kind of facilities in many institutions but specifically seeing it from the rural area perspective there the people need a lot of awareness and it can be done even by the lawyers like us as there is legal awareness programs in the Universities. Next, there should be proper access to education and government in the Indian perspective had made schemes for that also and many other schemes for the welfare of women but the problem in this is that some people are even unaware of those schemes also. There is an implementation problem that is if the government is making schemes then there is a loophole in the implementing part so this should also be fulfilled. One more thing is that media could play a major role that whenever specifically talking about India that whenever an issue is discussed they should show it in an unbiased way by stating the proper facts. People should be aware of the real problem and not the one that other people want to show to the common people because now-a-days the media is also working or shows news in a favor of certain people and few are there who work with full integrity.

¹ United Nation Human Rights Office Of The High Commissioner

<https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CEDAW/Pages/Membership.aspx>Accessed on 4 February 2020

² United Nation Women Asia and Pacific

<https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/focus-areas/cedaw-human-rights/faq>Accessed on 4 February 2020

⁴<https://www.desertflowerfoundation.org/en/what-is-fgm.html>Accessed on 4 February 2020

⁵ Rajat Khosla, Joya Banerjee, Doris Chau, Lale Say, “Gender equality and Human rights approach to female genital mutilation: a review of the International human rights norm and standards”(NCBI Report, 12 May 2017)

<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5429526/>Accessed on 5 February 2020

⁶ CEDAW Convention, 1979

⁷ UN Women Virtual Knowledge Centre to end Violence against Women and Girls

<https://www.endvawnow.org/en/articles/645-sources-of-international-human-rights-law-on-female-genital- mutilation.html>Accessed on 4 February 2020

⁸UDHR, 1948.

⁹ United Nation Human Rights Office Of The High Commissioner

<https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CEDAW/Pages/Membership.aspx>Accessed on 4 February 2020

¹⁰ Female Genital Mutilation A Matter of Human Rights An Advocate’s Guide to Action

<https://reproductiverights.org/sites/default/files/documents/FGM_final.pdf>Accessed on 5 February 2020

¹¹ World Health Organization

<https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation>Accessed on 4 February 2020 ¹² UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), CEDAW General Recommendation No. 14: Female Circumcision, 1990, A/45/38 and Corrigendum, available at:

<https://www.refworld.org/docid/453882a30.html>Accessed on 5 February 2020

¹³ UNICEF USA

<https://www.unicefusa.org/mission/protect/trafficking>Accessed on 5 February 2020

¹⁴ UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, 2009

¹⁵<https://kvinnefronten.no/cedaw-end-trafficking-in-women-and-exploitation-of-prostitution-of-

women/>Accessed on 5 February 2020

¹⁶ CEDAW Emphasises Its Concern Over Trafficking in Women and Girls

<http://opiniojuris.org/2012/09/09/cedaw-emphasises-its-concern-over-trafficking-in-women-and-girls/> Accessed on 6 February 2020

¹⁷ UN Women Asia and Pacific

<https://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/focus-areas/women-poverty-economics/women-s-land-property-rights> Accessed on 6 February 2020

¹⁸ Richard S. Strickland, “To Have and To Hold Women’s Property and Inheritance Rights in the Context of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa”

<https://www.icrw.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/To-Have-and-To-Hold-Womens-Property-and-Inheritance- Rights-in-the-Context-of-HIV-AIDS-in-Sub-Saharan-Africa.pdf>Accessed on 6 February 2020

¹⁹ Using CEDAW to Secure Women’s Land and Property Rights: A Practical Guide

<http://globalinitiative-escr.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/CEDAW-Guide.pdf>Accessed on 6 February 2020

²⁰ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

<www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Documents/UDHR_Translations/eng.pdf>Accessed on 5 February 2020

²¹ CEDAW General recommendation No. 36 (2017) on the rights of girls and women to education

<https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/1_Global/CEDAW_C_GC_36_8422_E.pdf> Accessed on 6 February 2020

²² Transforming Women’s Lives Through Education, Oxford Human Rights Hub

<https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/transforming-womens-lives-through-education/>Accessed on 6 February 2020

²³ UNICEF Report

<https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/WRGS/Pages/ChildMarriage.aspx>Accessed on 6 February 2020

²⁴ United Nations Human Rights Office of the Commissioner

<https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/WRGS/Pages/ChildMarriage.aspx>Accessed on 5 February 2020

²⁵ Child Marriage and law

<https://www.unicef.org/french/files/Child_Marriage_and_the_Law.pdf>Accessed on 6 February 2020

²⁶ Child Marriage and Personal Laws in South Asia International Standards Requiring Governments too end Human Rights Violations Based on Religious Norms

<https://reproductiverights.org/sites/default/files/documents/ChildMarriage_PersonalLaw_7.7.14.pdf>Accessed on 6 February 2020

²⁷ CEDAW, General Recommendation. 24

<https://www.escr-net.org/node/387809>Accessed on 6 February 2020

²⁸ CEDAW,1979

<https://www.who.int/hhr/CEDAW.pdf>Accessed on 6 February 2020

²⁹ S. Tambe, “Introduction to Gender,Sex and sexuality”Gurpreet Bal(eds),Contemporary Gender issues Identity, Status and Empowerment (Rawat Publication 2016)

³⁰Avinash Pandey Samar, ‘Because khairlanji is not just a murder story’, TheHindu (22 August 2010)

<https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/Because-Khairlanji-is-not-just-another-murder- story/article16140401.ece>Accessed on 13 February 2020