MILESTONES
General Recommendation on the Rights of Rural Women
By Ramya Rajagopalan (ramya.rajagopalan@gmail.com), Programme Associate, ICSF
On 3 March 2016, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) adopted a General Recommendation on the rights of rural women that identifies the Voluntary Guidelines as a standard for gender mainstreaming. The General Recommendation calls on states to integrate and mainstream a gender perspective in all agricultural and rural development policies, strategies, plans and programmes, enabling rural women to act and be visible as stakeholders, decision-makers and beneficiaries, in line with the Voluntary Guidelines on tenure, and the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication.
This call is placed within a recognition of the unique situation of rural women, their contribution to poverty reduction, food and nutrition security and the sustainable management of natural resources, taking into account that rural women’s rights to land, natural resources, including water, seeds, forestry, as well as fisheries, are fundamental human rights.
Read the General Recommendations here:
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/1_Global/INT_CEDAW_GEC_7933_E.pdf
