Eritrea: Not the country we struggled for
Posted: 1 April, 2015 Filed under: Hibo Mahad, Khuraisha Patel, Yulia Prystash | Tags: CEDAW, Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Eritrea, International Women's Day, right to education, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, UNHRC, United Nations Human Rights Council, violence against women in detention 2 CommentsAuthor: Khuraisha Patel
Student (LLM Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa), Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria
Author: Yulia Prystash
Student (LLM Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa), Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria
Author: Hibo Mahad
Student (LLM Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa), Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria
International Women’s Day – 8 March 2015
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)’s Working Group on the Issue of Discrimination against Women in Law and in Practice has applauded the extensive legal guarantee of women’s rights and equality across the globe. In its statement on International Women’s Day, the UNHRC indicated however, that this legal guarantee of equality has not translated into reality due to persistent discrimination against women and retrogression from these norms. Eritrea is an example of a country that has not fully translated the legal guarantees on women’s rights to equality into reality. Lack of implementation of laws, religion, tradition, regressive and patriarchal culture as well as the rhetoric of nationalism (“no war – no peace”) continue to hinder the realisation of gender equality in Eritrea.