October 2007 - Women’s Tribunals Against Poverty

In October 2007, as part of the mobilisation around the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, GCAP’s Feminist taskforce organised Women’s Tribunals Against Poverty. 70% of the world’s population are women so the Tribunals served to inform and present testimony on the conditions women endure as well as put pressure on governments.  The tribunals took place in Peru and in India, and a third one is planned in Egypt in March 2008.

PERU

National Court for the DESC of Rural Women

The tribunals in Peru were organized in the framework of the 17th of October, International day for the eradication of Poverty, and also as part of the commemoration of 15th October, International Day of rural women. They aimed to highlight the situation endured by women living in rural areas who are more vulnerable to poverty and prevented from exercising their rights and citizenship on a daily basis. The cases presented were:

1)    A case of non-documentation

2)    A case of rape in internal armed conflict

3)    A case of rape of indigenous girls

4)    A case of forced sterilization

Bringing these cases to a tribunal made explicit how the realities faced by these women result in increased poverty and how in turn this poverty inflicts on their human rights. Clear demands were presented to the Peruvian government:

Summary of demands made to Peruvian government

• To set policies which provide women living in rural areas with official documents , to launch campaigns for the provision of documents and the restitution of identity with a gender perspective and to respect each person’s language at a national level.
• To add gender education campaigns into school curricula in a cross-cutting way, contents addressed to change the traditional patterns of women’s subordination.
• To guarantee that rural women have access to contraception.
• To guarantee that women sterilized against their will have access to a Redress Program. 
• To investigate with due diligence and to bring charges for rapes that happened during the armed conflict.
• To review the legislation that penalizes abortion due to rape with a view to guarantee that any woman victim of sexual violence will never again have to live an imposed motherhood.
• To implement protocols and physical and mental health care services specialized in sexual violence victims’ care within the framework of interculturality.

For more information:
Osver Jaime Polo Carrasco
Llamado Mundial a la Acción contra la Pobreza - Perú
Web: llamadoperu.org

INDIA

Over 400 women from 20 states presented their experiences before a Jury of eight persons comprising of academics, political thinkers and social  activists. The voices were of women who are on the margins of society, in particular from Dalit, Adivasis, Muslim women, Women with Disabilities and from Nomadic Tribes, who are excluded and discriminated both by society as well as within their own communities thus bearing double-treble burdens.

WATCH: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXyy1tMi2-k

While India is growing at phenomenal rates, the lives of the most  marginalised women are further impoverished. Poverty is no longer secular.  The process of exclusion and discrimination as well

as the stereotypes faced by Dalit, Adivasi and Muslim women based on their community and gender identity determines their right to life, security, dignity, livelihood and development. In the past two decates poverty rates amongst these groups has increased.

Summary of demands made to Indian government:

• ACCOUNTABILITY - programmes aimed at enhancing both livelihoods and social services need to be implemented and strictly monitored with transparency and accountability to the poor ,especially women from Dalit, Tribal and Muslim communities.
• LAND -  land is critical to addressing poverty and the right to cultivable land for women from these marginalised communities is a must.
• IDENTITY – the government must recognise and institute the independent identity of women as independent citizens, not just linked to their families.
• PARTICIPATION LAWS - customary laws that marginalise and exploit women need to be amended in keeping with progressive human rights, legislations and provisions, and new laws to ensure their equal cultural, economic and political participation must be enacted.
• VIOLENCE – every effort must be made to address the causes of violence against on women to to bring to justice the perpetrators of agressions against women.

Further information on the Women Tribunal Against Poverty in India can be found on wadanatodo.net