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Crafting a blueprint for change in Timor Leste

Dignitaries open the CEDAW two day workshop. (L-R) Sr. Alfredo Pires, Acting Secretary of State for the Promotion of Equality; Sr. Mario Carrascalao, Vice Prime Minister; Ms. Pramila Patten, CEDAW Committee Member; Ms Elaine Tan, Country Program Manager, UNIFEM, Mr. Finn Reske-Nielsen, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General, UNMIT. Photo credit: Jen Ward/UNIFEM

The Timorese government has been issued with the challenge to guarantee genuine equality between women and men.  This sums the recommendations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the CEDAW Convention, the international bill of rights for women.

Ms. Pramila Patten, a member of the Committee that reviewed Timor-Leste’s first report on the rights of women in the country was in Dili in early November 2009 to present the Committee’s Concluding Observations. From all over Dili and the districts, NGO representatives, government officials and civil society members gathered to hear how Timorese women were faring in the quest to achieve their rights and equality both in the country’s laws and in day to day life.

The presentation of the Committee’s Concluding Observations were an ‘important milestone for the ongoing development of our state’ Vice Prime Minister Mario Carrascalao said.  While acknowledging the progress that has been made, Ms. Patten highlighted the areas of Timorese life still marked with inequality based on gender. 

Access to justice, and violence against women were two notable features in the extensive list.  Illiteracy, language difficulties, and scarce information on legal rights limit women’s ability to understand the justice process.  Coupled with practical difficulties, such as an absence of courts and lack of support, means for many women justice is not a concrete guarantee. 

The Committee also called on government to do everything possible to make violence against women socially and morally unacceptable, including passing the law against Domestic Violence in Parliament.

	Faciliated by UNIFEM’s National Coordinator Ana Paula Sequeria, participants discuss how to implement the CEDAW Committee’s concluding comments. Photo Credit: Jen Ward/UNIFEM

To respond to such a challenge may at first seem overwhelming.  But a blueprint for change, crafted over a two day workshop on the CEDAW Concluding Observations in Dili, demonstrates that there are practical and feasible solutions to achieve gender equality in Timor-Leste.    

NGO representatives, government staff and other interested parties spent the two days discussing and planning strategies on how to implement the Committee’s recommendations.   The buzzing conversation cut through the stifled air in a windowless room, as participants formed positive plans to realize the rights of women in Timor-Leste.

The workshop on 5 and 6 November 2009 was organized by the Office of the Secretary of State for the Promotion of Equality in Timor-Leste.  The event was funded by the UN Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), and UNIFEM, the United Nations Development Fund for Women.

Although there is political will to eradicate domestic violence, protection and assistance for victims is still lacking.  The passing of the domestic violence law in 2010 by the National Parliament will be seen as fundamental to assist women.    In two to three years, strengthening women’s referral networks for gender-based violence, and the construction of shelters coupled with improvements in roads and hospitals are also viewed as critical to support women who wish to leave abusive relationships.  This is to be accompanied by long-term and a larger awareness raising campaign involving civil society and religious group that challenges the patriarchal attitudes behind domestic violence.

Ms. Pattern was extremely pleased with the outcome and commitment shown during the workshop.  ‘I will leave Timor-Leste feeling quite comforted by the work that has been accomplished over the past two days’ she said. 

The onus is now on the Government to turn the blueprint into reality.  Opening the workshop, Vice Prime Minister Carrascalao promised the full commitment of the Government to carry out the Committee’s Concluding Observations, by taking ‘decisive and bold actions to make a difference in women’s lives.’  He assured that the CEDAW Committee’s Concluding Observations would be adequately funded for 2011 and 2012. 

There is now a need for civil society organizations to monitor the government and hold it accountable to ensure it implements the Committee’s Observations.    

For any further information please contact Jen Ward, Communications Officer, UNIFEM on +670 7611730 or jennifer.ward@unifem.org