Women's Empowerment and Leadership Development for Democratisation
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Worldwide: Women's rights at stake
A dramatic development shocked most delegates and observers on the last day of the 47th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York, March 2003.
Only half an hour before the 15-day
session was to end, Iran’s representative, supported by delegates from Egypt and
Sudan, rose to register his government’s objection to paragraph (o), which read:
“Condemn violence against women and refrain from invoking any custom, tradition
or religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its
elimination.” They were not prepared to have their reservations on the paragraph
officially recorded after the document had been adopted by consensus in its
entirety. Nor were other delegations willing to drop the paragraph so that the
rest of the document could be adopted by consensus.
session was to end, Iran’s representative, supported by delegates from Egypt and
Sudan, rose to register his government’s objection to paragraph (o), which read:
“Condemn violence against women and refrain from invoking any custom, tradition
or religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its
elimination.” They were not prepared to have their reservations on the paragraph
officially recorded after the document had been adopted by consensus in its
entirety. Nor were other delegations willing to drop the paragraph so that the
rest of the document could be adopted by consensus.