This thesis is about issues concerning the implementation of women's human rights in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has had a conflict between the Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam, LTTE for two decades. Since 2002 there has been a ceasefire agreement in place, which is being violated by both parties. Before being abandoned in 2003, one woman was present during the peace talks that were held. In this paper I present the results of my field research conducted in Sri Lanka in November and December of 2005. The aim was to find out how women were active in the peace process since it is stipulated in international conventions that they have a right to participation. During the interviews with women activists it became evident that women were not involved in the official peace process. Therefore the thesis is about women’s human rights in Sri Lanka and the obstacles for their implementation. Two main reasons for the lack of implementation of women’s human rights in Sri Lanka are identified. Firstly, for reasons of culture and patriarchal structures, there is a general lack of implementation internationally of women’s human rights. Secondly, the unresolved conflict situation in Sri Lanka, which reflects the unequal power relations between men and women that existed prior to the conflict. The lack of implementation of women’s human rights in Sri Lanka results in women not being present in the political life and they are therefore not part of the official peace process. International conventions such as the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, CEDAW and the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on peace and security are addressed in the thesis in order to examine women’s human rights and their right to participation in politics and peace building. Finally, I conclude that in order to include women in the official peace negotiations women need to actively participate in politics. The method presented to ensure such participation is that of affirmative action. It is a measure that falls under the category of temporary measures, which is suggested in CEDAW article 4.1.

The purpose of this study is to examine the implementation of the Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, CEDAW, in Uppsala local council and county council. The aim is to examine how the respondents, in their daily work, understand and implement the convention as well as how they consider the prerequisites for a successful implementation. The study was conducted using qualitative interviews with three civil servants and four politicians. The theoretical approach was implementation theory whose concepts willingness, comprehension and capability were used as tools for the analysis. The results portray CEDAW as a well-known treaty amongst the respondents but at the same time absent in local politics and everyday work. The convention is perceived as an abstract and ideological document which reveals the respondents’ insufficient knowledge about CEDAW as a human rights treaty and the state´s obligation to eliminate discrimination against women. The results also indicate that unclear instructions and responsibility distribution as well as lack of resources, such as time and knowledge, obstruct successful implementation of CEDAW. In conclusion, gender equality is neither a prioritised issue in Uppsala local council and county council and nor seen as a human right.

Devant le constat de la persistance du patriarcat au sein du groupe religieux majoritaire québécois, soit le catholicisme, cette thèse défend une idée contrintuitive : l’affirmation que la laïcité de l’État québécois est préjudiciable pour les femmes. Les analyses féministes du libéralisme politique et la généalogie de celui-ci faite par Michel Foucault font voir que la laïcité s’est développée dans le déni de la citoyenneté des femmes croyantes. La séparation religion/État et la neutralité ont donné naissance à une zone de non-droit pour les croyantes. L’organisation de la démocratie libérale, inspirée par John Rawls en Occident, a défendu la notion de liberté religieuse. Analysée d’un point de mire féministe postcolonial, la liberté religieuse protège le privilège des hommes d’exercer leur domination dans les groupes religieux. Pour les femmes, cette liberté se résume en la possibilité de quitter le groupe. Elle nie l’agentivité des femmes croyantes et présuppose que vivre une appartenance religieuse équivaut à renoncer au droit à l’égalité. Il semble naturel que les femmes croyantes s’abstiennent d’utiliser les outils juridiques qui, dans d’autres domaines, ont permis l’avancement des droits des femmes. De plus, les débats actuels sur la laïcité qui portent sur l’aménagement de la diversité religieuse occultent les pratiques de l’État québécois. Celui-ci, que ce soit par le féminisme d’État, par le droit associatif, par la reconnaissance du droit canon ou encore par l’organisation de services publics, fournit des instruments qui soutiennent les pratiques discriminatoires à l’endroit des femmes. L’intervention de l’État pour faire appliquer le droit à l’égalité dans le domaine religieux semble inconcevable dans la tradition juridique. Toutefois, il est possible de penser autrement la laïcité en considérant les engagements de l’État à l’endroit de la Convention sur l’élimination de toutes les formes de discrimination à l’égard des femmes (CEDEF) et en prenant acte de la contestation du patriarcat par les femmes croyantes à l’intérieur des groupes religieux. / Given the persistence of patriarchy within the majority Quebec religious group, Catholicism, this thesis defends a counterintuitive idea: the affirmation of the secular nature of the Quebec state is harmful to women. Feminist analyses of political liberalism and its genealogy by Michel Foucault show that secularism has developed in the denial of the citizenship of women believers. The separation of religion and state and neutrality has created an area of lawlessness for women believers. The organization of liberal democracy, inspired by John Rawls in the Western culture, defended the notion of religious freedom. Analyzed from a postcolonial feminist perspective, religious freedom protects the privilege of men to exercise their domination in religious groups. For women, this freedom can be summed up in the possibility of leaving the group. It denies the agentivity of women believers and presupposes that living a religious affiliation is equivalent to renouncing the right to equality. It seems natural that women believers should refrain from using the legal tools that have advanced women's rights in other areas. In addition, the current debates on secularism on the management of religious diversity overshadow the practices of the Quebec state. This, whether through State feminism, associative law, the recognition of canon law by the judiciary or the organization of public services, provides instruments that support discriminatory practices against women. State intervention to enforce the right to equality in the religious sphere seems inconceivable in the legal tradition. However, it is possible to think otherwise about secularism by considering the State's commitments to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and by noting the challenge to patriarchy by women believers within religious groups.

Sveriges ratificering av CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, eller Kvinnokonventionen, är ett internationellt traktat framtaget av Förenta nationerna i syfte att stärka kvinnors mänskliga rättigheter. Som det första landet att ratificera konventionen har Sverige varken transformerat eller inkorporerat konventionen i svensk lagstiftning, då svensk rätt har ansetts redan vara i normharmoni med konventionen. Tvister som uppstår i en transnationell kontext kan emellertid orsaka att kvinnors rättigheter i skilda regelverk hamnar i kläm, och föranleder frågan hur detta förhåller sig till åtagandet av Kvinnokonventionen. Det internationellt privaträttsliga rättsområdet har utvecklats i syfte att underlätta för domstolar att hantera gränsöverskridande tvister. I en gränsöverskridande tvist är det emellertid risk för att rättigheter kan förgås när två regelverk ser olika ut och det ena regelverket blir tillämpligt framför det andra. Lagval som landat i svensk rätt och som exempelvis behandlat anspråk från kvinnor på typfrämmande rättsinstitut såsom mahr, och som inte har en motsvarighet i svensk rätt, har underkänts i Högsta domstolen. Kvinnan, som inrättat sig efter sitt i ursprungslandet ingångna äktenskapsavtal, står därmed plötsligt utan denna rättighet. Uppsatsen behandlar just denna komplexa relation som kan uppstå vid gränsöverskridande tvister mellan svenska rättsregler och förhållningssätt, och andra länders rättsregler, seder och bruk. Vidare testas om svensk rätt, när den inte erkänner ursprungslandets seder, uppfyller åtagandet som följer av Kvinnokonventionen i dessa avseenden. Tre rättsfall som behandlar det typfrämmande rättsinstitutet mahr, barnäktenskap respektive månggifte används för att illustrera den transnationella kontexten. Slutsatsen som kan dras är att Sverige i vissa avseenden inte uppfyller sitt åtagande och att den svenska rättspolitiken inte tillräckligt har beaktat de negativa konsekvenser som kan uppstå för kvinnor när deras ursprungliga rättigheter underkänns abrupt. Motargument mot denna slutsats som stödjer den svenska hållningen behandlas också för visa på det komplexa rättsläget som för närvarande råder. / Sweden’s ratification of CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, is an international treaty developed by the United Nations with the aim of strengthening women’s human rights. However, as the first country to ratify the convention, Sweden has neither transformed nor incorporated the convention into Swedish legislation, as already existing Swedish law is considered to be in harmony with the convention. Disputes that arise in a transnational context can, however, lead to women’s rights not being fully considered when dealing with different regulations and raises the question if the commitment to comply with the Convention is being upheld. Private international law has been developed with the aim of enabling courts to deal with cross-border disputes by means of rules on how to determine the choice of law, which court has jurisdiction in the case, and recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. However, when deciding on these issues in a cross-border dispute, there is a risk that rights may be forfeited when two regulations are different and one of them becomes applicable over the other. Choice of law rules that has decided that Swedish law is applicable in cases that deal with claims from women regarding, for example, their right to mahr according to the law of their home country, and which has no equivalent in Swedish law, has been rejected by the Supreme Court in some instances. The woman has thus suddenly lost her right. This essay deals with the complex relationship that can arise in cross-border disputes between Swedish legal rules, and other countries’ legal rules and customs. Furthermore, it is tested whether Swedish law, when it does not recognize the customs of the foreign country, still meets the rules stipulated in the Convention in these respects. Three cases dealing with mahr, child marriage and polygamy are used to illustrate the transnational context. The conclusion drawn is that Sweden, in some respects, does not fulfill its commitment and that Swedish legal policy has not sufficiently considered the negative consequences that may arise for women when their rights, according to their home country, are abruptly rejected. Counterarguments against this conclusion, in line with the Swedish approach, are also dealt with to show the complexity of the legal situation that currently prevails.

Implementationsproblematiken inom de mänskliga rättigheterna är en pågående diskussion. Denna undersökning behandlar hur artikel 16.2 implementerats i Gambia och vad det kan finnas för svårigheter i implementeringen av en artikel som behandlar barnäktenskap. Genom fallstudien som metod och implementeringsforskning, Susan Möller Okin samt Sheyla Benhabibs teori gällande grupprättigheter kontra kvinnors rättigheter på individnivå undersöks hur artikel 16.2 i CEDAW implementerats i Gambia. Artikel 16.2, vilken beskriver barnets trolovning och äktenskap, dekonstrueras och utifrån det diskuteras innebörden i artikeln vilket senare jämförs med Gambias nationella lagstiftning. Undersökningen består av att se hur artikel 16.2 implementerats i Gambiaoch vad det kan finnas för svårigheter i implementeringen av en artikel som behandlarbarnäktenskap. Slutligen konstateras implementeringsproblematikens komplexitet och hur ett fall och en implementering av en specifik artikel i en specifik stat inte är den andra lik. Därmed inte sagt att det inte går att eliminera de grövsta misstagen genom att lära av tidigare försök och forskning. / Implementation issues within Human Rights is an ongoing discussion. This study deals with how Article 16.2 was implemented in The Gambia and what difficulties can arise in the implementation of an article on child marriage. Through case study as a method and implementation research, Susan Moller Okin and Sheyla Benhabibs theory of group rights versus the rights of women on an individual level I wish to examinate how Article 16.2 in CEDAW is implemented in the Gambia.Article 16.2, which describes the child betrothal and marriage, is being deconstructed and from that discussed the meaning of the article, which later is compared with the Gambia national legislation. The study consists of seeing how Article 16.2 was implemented in The Gambia and what the difficulties in the implementation of an article on child marriage may be. Finally it is confirmed that implementation issues complexity, a case and an implementation of a specific item in a specific state is not like the other. That said, it is not possible to eliminate the largest mistakes by learning from previous experiments and research.

No description available.

Violence against women continues to be an issue that severely impacts women worldwide. Since the global spread of the #MeToo movement in 2017, debates regarding this issue significantly increased. Yet the precise ways in which women are impacted by violence, heavily influenced by their unique and diverse aspects of identity, are often disregarded. By focusing on two of these aspects of identity, namely gender and nationality, and comparing the circumstances of sexual violence against women in Germany, Nigeria, and South Korea, this thesis aims to showcase the diverse experiences of ‘being a woman’ and what this implies regarding the issue of sexual violence against women. With an additional analysis of four important international conventions aimed at ameliorating women’s lives (UDHR, CEDAW, DEVAW, and BPfA) regarding their acknowledgement of this diversity and guided by three theories, namely Multi-Ethnic Feminism, Feminist Postcolonialism, and Intersectionality, this thesis highlights the necessity of including everyone and their unique experiences with all kinds of discrimination to adequately tackle an issue such as sexual violence against women.

Frauen*rechte beschreiben Grund- und Menschenrechte, die für Frauen* und Mädchen* besonders relevant sind, wie beispielsweise das Recht auf politische Partizipation, auf Bildung, auf Gesundheit oder auf körperliche sowie sexuelle Integrität. Bemühungen um und die Konzeption von Frauen*rechten sind sowohl auf inter- als auch auf nationaler Ebene von Frauen*rechtsbewegungen beeinflusst. Trotz des strukturellen male bias des Rechts kennen sowohl das internationale Menschenrechtsregime als auch nationale Rechtsordnungen Gewaltschutzmechanismen, Geschlechterdiskriminierungsver- oder Gleichstellungsgebote. Kritik gegenüber Frauen*rechten wird aus kulturrelativistischen, universalistisch-feministischen, postkolonialen und queer-feministischen Perspektiven geübt.