NEWS
CENTER SHADOW LETTER ON CHINA SEES RESULTS AT UN
September 2006 --The Center for Reproductive Rights submitted a shadow letter to the 36th session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women highlighting violations of reproductive and sexual rights of women in China. A Chinese delegation reported to the Committee on governmental efforts to fulfill treaty obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), a key UN treaty established to further women’s right to nondiscrimination and gender equality. The Committee has since released its Concluding Observations, calling attention to several concerns the Center raised in its shadow letter.
Our shadow letter underlined many areas of concern, including: harmful effects of the one-child policy such as forced abortion, coerced sterilization, and increased trafficking and abduction of women; limited access to infertility treatment; maternal mortality; sex-selective abortions; and deficiencies in sex education. The Committee, through its Concluding Observations, expressed concern over rights violations ensuing from these practices. It advised the Chinese government to investigate and prosecute instances of forced sterilization and abortion and to strengthen and enforce existing laws outlawing sex-selective abortion and female infanticide.
PUBLICATIONS
Reports
Women of the World: East and Southeast Asia
Learn more by reading the China chapter (PDF) of Women of the World: East and Southeast Asia > >
Our Women of the World reports document laws and policies which impact women’s reproductive and sexual health and shape their reproductive choices. Reproductive rights are internationally recognized as critical to both advancing women's human rights and promoting development. In recent years, governments worldwide have acknowledged and pledged to advance reproductive rights to an unprecedented degree. Formal laws and policies are crucial indicators of government commitment to promoting reproductive rights.
The Women of the World reports are the product of collaboration between the Center for Reproductive Rights and NGOs around the world. Each volume presents regional and national information about the following:
- Laws and policies regarding health, population, contraception, abortion, sterilization, safe pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and other sexually-transmitted infections;
- Women's legal status within marriage, including divorce, custody and property; labor rights; access to credit and education; and the right to physical integrity;
- Reproductive health and rights of adolescents, including the legal status of adolescent marriage, sex education, and sexual offenses against minors;
- Customary and religious laws and practices that influence the status of women and girls.
The reports show that although governments have adopted laws and policies to promote women's reproductive health and rights, such instruments have not always had the desired effect. In fact, oftentimes, the problem lies with the law or policy itself. The reproductive rights of women in the region continue to be violated with impunity due to the lack of enforcement of potentially beneficial laws and the lack of accountability for governmental failure to remove barriers to health care and to end gender-based discrimination.
Briefing Papers
Reporting to Treaty Monitoring Bodies
Organizations like the Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners play an essential role in providing credible and reliable independent information to international human rights treaty monitoring bodies regarding the legal status and real-life situation of women and the efforts being made by governments to comply with human rights treaties. Shadow reports work to supplement, or "shadow," governments' reports on human rights issues by calling attention to their strides, as well as their setbacks.
Articles
Regional Partner Organizations
