Advocacy activities – institutional protection and support of human rights in Slovakia, prevention of violations of the women human rights, implementation of the gender equality principle

Beginning in October 2014 and continuing through January 2016, we had been in the process of realizing the project Advocacy activities focused on the improvement of institutional protection and support of human rights in the Slovak Republic with the emphasis on the prevention of violations of the human rights of women and on consistent implementation of the principle of gender equality in public policies. We were working in cooperation with other women’s NGOs, and the project was supported by the NGO Fund of the EEA Financial Mechanism 2009-2014 within the area of Gender Equality and the Combating of Gender-based Violence of the programme Democracy and Human Rights.

In connection with other rights, the right to equality on the ground of sex and gender is at the base of the constitutional and legal system of the Slovak Republic, as well as mechanisms of international law, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Istanbul Convention. However, the enforcement of the human rights of women and rights stemming from the legal requirement of gender equality continue to be insufficient. One of the main causes of this is inadequately functioning public institutions – most notably the Slovak National Centre for Human Rights (acting as a so-called equality body based on the Directive 2006/54/EC) – that are appointed to actively implement these rights along with helping to remedy their violation. Throughout the project, we have been directly involved in the creation of a partial amendment to the law concerning the Slovak National Centre for Human Rights, as well as a conceptual framework for a deep reform of the Centre’s institutional and legislative arrangement. Our influence has contributed to the government’s decision to publically commit to the reform under the Statewide Strategy of the Protection and Support of Human Rights.

The violation of the right to equality for women represents another serious problem we aimed to tackle in the course of the current project. In the area of employment, relatively progressive legislation has not been adequately executed in the decision-making of courts and other authorities in their respective areas. In the area of health, non-respectful and even violent treatment of women in healthcare facilities immediately before, during, and after childbirth has been troublesome. At its core is a deep misunderstanding of the human rights context of providing obstetric care during pregnancy, birth, and puerperium, as well as a lack of respect for pregnant women and women in childbirth, who are not considered equally valuable and autonomous subjects of law.

The project advocacy and litigation activities are a direct continuation of the project Supporting implementation of Slovakia’s obligations in the area of women’s human rights to promote system changes in the elimination and prevention of discrimination against women, including gender based violence by public institutions, funded in the previous round of the programme Democracy and Human Rights (October 2013 – April 2015). In this previous project, we had intensely focused on both of the above mentioned issues. Now, we strived to use our working experience from the previous project development and outcomes as effectively as possible. Outcomes included the well-proven methodology of monitoring and diagnosing the (mal-)practice of public institutions and authorities in the fullfillment of Slovakia’s national and international human rights obligations, the established network of communication and personal contacts with stakeholders, as well as other components of our know-how in the area of the systemic enforcement of women’s human rights and gender equality in public policies.

Under the framework of the project, we provided legal counselling to several women discriminated against in the labour market, and women whose human rights had been violated during childbirth. Simultaneously, we provided legal advice to selected clients including legal representation before courts (so-called strategic litigation). Furthermore, we were engaged in advocacy activities, particularly commenting on legislation and programme documents, as well as negotiation with relevant public authorities; communication with media, informing the public, networking with other organizations, monitoring violations of women’s human rights in the provision of obstetric care (including the care immediately preceding and following childbirth), creating comprehensive background documents necessary for quality decision-making of public authorities and institutions in mentioned areas, etc.

Project objectives

The main aim was to contribute to the principal improvement of the institutional protection and support of human rights in Slovakia via advocacy activities.
We placed specific emphasis on the prevention of the violation of women’s human rights and the consistent promotion of gender equality in all public policies (in the labour market, in healthcare, and so forth) in accordance with international obligations of the Slovak Republic. We focused our attention primarily on rights related to autonomy, integrity, human dignity, and the non-discrimination of women.
Particularly important for the systematic inclusion of topics of women’s human rights and their discrimination in public discourse is informing the public. We shared information mainly via the specialized web portal www.diskriminacia.sk, the website of Citizen, Democracy and Accountability, and on the social network Facebook. We also used these media to disseminate publishing outputs (articles, press releases and so on) and promote events related to the current project (round table, workshops).
Equally important is the informal education of young people, who will soon influence the overall setting of society in Slovakia and its further development. Through various project activities (such as workshops and advocacy activities), we involved them in issues concerning the human rights of women. Young people could thus acquire greater sensitivity and the understanding of causes and causality behind discrimination against women.

Target groups:

Public institutions staff
Students
Public

Project activities:

Monitoring and advocacy activities related to institutional changes towards ensuring the protection of women’s human rights
Monitoring, strategic litigation and advocacy activities connected to discrimination against women and the violation of their human rights in the labour market and in relation to childbirth
Round table on current challenges in the area of women’s human rights protection
Source materials for project activities and information booklets for the public
Cooperation with active university students, providing supervision for their engagement and the organization of youth-targeted workshops
Disseminating information to the public

The project Advocacy activities focused on the improvement of institutional protection and support of human rights in the Slovak Republic with the emphasis on the prevention of violations of the human rights of women and on consistent implementation of the principle of gender equality in public policies was supported by the amount of 46 424,90 EUR from the Fund for Non-governmental Organisations of the EEA Financial Mechanism 2009-2014. The Fund is managed by Nadácia otvorenej spoločnosti – Open Society Foundation. The aim of the project was the support of the democratic values including human rights.

Posted in Projects