[women-rights] CEDAW 30th Session: Review of report of Germany

21/01/2004
Press Release
WOM/1428

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Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women

639th & 640th Meetings (AM & PM)

AS WOMEN'S ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE CONSIDERS REPORT OF
GERMANY, GOVERNMENT

EMPHASIZES RIGHT TO FREEDOM FROM VIOLENCE AS "POLITICAL
PRIORITY"

There had not necessarily been an increase in the number of cases of
violence against women in Germany, but the violence was just more
visible, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women heard today during its day-long consideration of
Germany's fifth periodic report.

Germany's Secretary-of State in the Federal Ministry for Family
Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Christel
Riemann-Hanewinckel, said that, for constitutional reasons, it was
not possible for the Federal Government to provide a nationwide
infrastructure of homes for battered women, or counselling or
emergency services, such as an emergency hotline.   Setting up and
funding such an infrastructure was the responsibility of the Federal
La"nder and municipalities.

She stressed, however, that the Federal Government had strongly
emphasized that the right to a life free of violence must be a
political priority.   Towards that goal, several steps had been taken
at the La"nder or state level, such as reform of police statutes to
close the legal vacuum between police action and court ordered
protection, but even the best laws would fail if women were not
provided with competent support, she acknowledged.

Many of the 23 Committee experts, who serve in their personal
capacities to monitor implementation of the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, pressed the
delegation for more information about the incidences of violence
against women, including data about the nature of the victims,
whether they were the elderly women or young girls, and to what
extent domestic violence existed in the rural areas.   It was also
noted that even in much less developed countries, an "early
warning system" or hotline had been set up.

The expert from Mexico, for example, said she did not understand why
such an economically, culturally, technologically and politically
advanced country did not have a system for compiling data on the
level of violence against women, both in the home and in society in
general.   There seemed to be an increase of violence against women,
particularly in the home.   So, one of two things was true:   either
the women were not being properly educated about their rights; or no
importance had been placed in the police centres on recording those
complaints, she said.

The Vice-Chairperson and expert from the Republic of Korea asked
whether the "paradigm change" mentioned in the report
about combating violence against women had meant that now the focus
was not only on women, but also on the behaviour of men.   Since
attention had presumably turned to the offenders, she asked whether
any changes had occurred in the male perception about violence.   She
also wanted to know if the Government had a consistent plan to change
the male perception through extensive campaigns around the country.

Among the replies, Ms. Riemann-Hanewinckel said that, for many
decades, violence against women had been considered taboo in both
parts of the country.   In the west, the stereotype was of a good
family in which violence was not discussed, and similarly in the
east, the stereotype had been that socialists were good, so no
negative data had been recorded in the statistics.   But, the issue of
violence against women was now being addressed, that process having
begun in 1997.   She said, however, that while much had been achieved,
the gains had not been sufficient.

Responding to a series of questions about protection of ethnic
minorities in Germany and requests for data disaggregated by those
groups, members of the delegation said that everyone enjoyed equal
protection under the law.   Instruments were in place for the
protection of minorities, and efforts were under way, including in
the schools, to overcome discriminatory attitudes.   But, there was a
great reservation in Germany concerning the collection of
disaggregated statistical data according to "this or that
ethnic group", owing to its historical sensitivities on the
subject, a representative said.

Summarizing the discussion, the Committee Chairperson and expert from
Turkey, Ayse Feride Acar, said that the Committee had faced a rather
unusual situation today.   There had been "striking gaps and
glaring examples" of attitudes and behaviours that were
"unexpected, if not unbecoming" to a State in a position
of such leadership.   In the next report, she looked forward to
hearing a more forceful expression of the measures taken to eliminate
discrimination against women in all areas, among them, comprehensive
data on violence against them, as well as data disaggregated by
minority communities.

Joining the State Secretary of Germany were:   Marion Thielenhaus and
Renate Augstein, Directors, Federal Ministry for Family Affairs,
Senior Citizens, Women and Youth; Peter Rothen, Head of Human Rights
Division, Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs; Antje Wunderlich,
Cornelia Rogall-Grothe, Advisers; and Gabriele Wolk, advisor.
Christian Simeit and Anneliese Klein served as interpreters.

The following members of the Permanent Mission of Germany to the
United Nations also participated in today's discussion:
Wolfgang Trautwein, Deputy Permanent Representative; Annette Priess,
First Secretary; and Ralf Eissler, Assistant Attache'.

The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow to hear replies
from the delegation of Bhutan, which presented its initial report
last week.

Background

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women met
this morning to consider the situation of women in Germany.   Before
the Committee was Germany's fifth periodic report on compliance
with the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women (document CEDAW/C/DEU/5).

The report states that Germany ratified the Convention in 1985 with a
reservation to article 7 (b), namely, the right to participate in the
formulation of government policy, to hold public office and perform
all public functions at all levels of government.   Germany entered
this reservation as it contradicted a provision of the Basic Law for
the Federal Republic of Germany, which prohibited the service of
women involving the use of arms.   That law was amended in 2001,
however, giving women access to all areas of the armed forces.
Subsequently, in 2001 Germany removed its reservation to the
Convention.   In 2002, Germany ratified the Optional Protocol to the
Convention.   It also deposited its instrument of acceptance regarding
the amendment to article 20, paragraph 1, on the Committee's
meeting times, in February 2002.

Regarding the situation of women in the new La"nder –- or states
–- following the reunification of Germany, the report notes
that targeted policy measures have been initiated during reporting
period to improve the situation of women in the labour market.   The
almost-complete collapse of the economy in the former German
Democratic Republic after reunification continues to have major
consequences on the labour market and the employment of both men and
women.

The number of part-time employees subject to social security
increased between 1977 and 2000 by some 8 per cent, the report
states.   Part-time work is still a woman's domain:   women
accounted for about 86 per cent of all part-time employees in 2000.
Recent trends, however, show that part-time work is increasingly
popular among men.   While the number of part-time women workers rose
by almost 4 per cent between 1987 and 2000, the growth in the number
of part-time male workers was about 46 per cent.   That trend will
most likely increase with the entry into force in 2001 of the Act on
Part-Time Working and Fixed-Term Employment Contracts.   The goal of
the Act, which gives male and female employees a right to part-time
work, is to enable both women and men to more easily reconcile family
and work life.

Continuing, the report notes that the integration of the definition
of direct and indirect discrimination into labour legislation will
take place in the context of the implementation of the Directive of
the European Parliament and the Council Amending Council Directive
76/207/EEC on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment
for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational
training and promotion and working conditions.   Also, the Act to
Prevent Discrimination in Civil Law is being drafted and will provide
a clear signal against discrimination in civil law legal
transactions.   The ongoing "women and work" programme has
at its core the integration of equality policies in all areas and
task of the Federal Government.

"The fight against right-wing extremist and xenophobic
tendencies is one of the Federal Government's domestic policy
priorities", the report says.   The Federation and the La"nder
have agreed, as of January 2001, to collate politically motivated
criminal offences in a new definition system entitled
"Politically-motivated crime".   The possibility of
including "hate crime" has been created, a term that
would include both "xenophobic" and
"anti-Semitic" criminal offences as specific subgroups.
The Government has, for the first time, submitted a special report on
the situation of families of foreign origin.   The report portrays the
differing aspects of the specific situation of migrant women and
their integration into German society.   It contains many
recommendations for the various levels of political activity to
implement more equal opportunities and improved integration of
immigrant women, men and their families into German society.   Elderly
female migrants in Germany were also given special attention in the
study, which will conclude in 2003.

Concerning female asylum-seekers, the report notes that in 2001 some
88,287 people applied for asylum in Germany, of whom 30 per cent were
girls and women.   Most asylum-seekers in 2001 came from Iraq, Turkey
and the former Yugoslavia.   Compared to other European countries,
Germany ranked second in the number of asylum applications received.
The general administrative provision of the Aliens Act, which entered
into force in October 2000, takes greater account the case of
female-specific reasons for flight.   Gender-specific violations, such
as systematic rapes or other forms of sexual violence, are expressly
mentioned.

Regarding the issue of prostitution, the report notes that the Act
Regulating the Legal Situation of Prostitutes, which entered into
force in January 2002, improved the legal and social protection of
prostitutes.   The Prostitution Act enables prostitutes to more easily
gain access to social insurance.   Prostitution is no longer
considered immoral under civil law and prostitutes have an actionable
right to an agreed wage.

Among other measures carried since 1998 to realize the concept of
equal rights is the Aliens Act, which entered into force in 2000.
According to the Act, foreign spouses now receive their own right of
residence in the event of a separation after two years, instead of
the previous four.   The reform of the 2001 Federal Child-Raising
Benefit Act improves the conditions for child-raising benefit and
child-raising leave, which is now referred to as parental leave.
Parents have a right to parental leave for up to three years for one
child, while retaining full protection against dismissal.

The Federal Act on Equal Opportunities between Women and Men in the
Federal Administration and in the Courts of the Federation, which
entered into force in 2001, places greater emphasis on equality
between the staff of the public service of the Federation, the report
says.   It replaces the 1994 Federal Act on the Promotion of Women.
According to the Act, women with the same aptitude, qualifications
and professional achievements are given preference when filling
senior positions if they are underrepresented in the respective
field.

Another measure is the Act to Protect against Violence, the report
continues.   The Act, which entered into force in January 2002,
introduced, in addition to the simplified allocation of the marital
home and regulations for a ban on contact, harassment and coming
close, also a general right to allocation of the home if violent acts
have taken place.   This is conditional on the offender and the victim
having a joint household established in the long term, and forms of
co-habitation other than marriage also being taken into account.

On women in public life, the report says that the proportion of women
in the parliaments has steadily increased in recent years.   In 2002,
for example, the highest proportion of women to date in the German
Federal Parliament was reached since the Federal Republic's
creation.   In total, after the 1998 election, some 30.9 per cent of
the members were women, accounting for 207 women out of a total of
669 members of Parliament.

Introduction of Report

CHRISTEL RIEMANN-HANEWINCKEL, Secretary of State, Federal Ministry
for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, said that never
before had a State Secretary from the eastern part of Germany
presented a report.   The report provided an overview of the equality
policy pursued by the German Government after the change of
government in 1998.

In the German Parliament, the Deutsche Bundestag, the Convention now
enjoyed unprecedented priority, she said.   Last year, a national
Convention report was, for the first time, discussed in Parliament.
All parties represented in the Deutsche Bundestag emphasized the
importance of the significant international instrument.   The
Convention's high priority was not only a great success, but
also an obligation.

Regarding violence against women, she said the Government had been
able to launch successful measures to fight violence against women.
With the plan of action to combat violence against women, the Federal
Government had, for the first time, developed a comprehensive overall
concept for all levels of the fight against violence.   The decision
to continue the action plan would be taken before the end of the
current legislation period.

The Federal Act to Protect against Violence helped victims of
violence to restore their rights more quickly and obtain court
protection against offenders, including violent partners, she said.
Several Federal La"nder had reformed their police statutes to avoid a
legal vacuum between police action and court ordered protection
measures.   The first results from the Federal La"nder indicated that
the statutory improvements had been effective with increasing numbers
of women feeling that their position had been strengthened regarding
violent partners.

Even the best laws would fail if women were not provided with
competent support, she said.   The survey "Living situation,
safety and health of women in Germany", which would be
available in the summer of 2004, indicated that women needed concrete
support, as they were often unable to undergo strenuous legal
proceedings on their own.   For constitutional reasons, however, it
was, in general, not possible for the Federal Government to provide a
nationwide infrastructure of homes for battered women, counselling
centres for women, women's refugees, emergency calls services,
and intervention projects and centres.   Under the Basic Law, the
responsibility for setting up and funding an infrastructure to
support women lay with the Federal La"nder and the municipalities.   In
view of austerity measures of the Federal La"nder, the Federal
Government had strongly emphasized that the right to a life free of
violence must be a political priority.

She said the 1994 Employee Protection Act obliged employers to
protect their employees against sexual harassment at work.   The
Federal Ministry for Women had commissioned an evaluation of that
Act, the results of which were soon to be published.   There were
still very few women who had the courage to defend their rights
against their employer or enforce them in court.   Much more had to be
done at the plant level to bring the law to life.   Difficulties had
been encountered regarding the definition of sexual harassment and
the "evidence situation".   With the forthcoming reform of
the Employee Protection Act in the wake of the transposition of the
European Union anti-discrimination directives into German law, the
Federal Government would take account of that evaluation.

She said the overall concept of the plan of action to combat violence
against women focused on structural changes.   The implementation of
the concept required not only close cooperation of the respective
Federal Ministries, but also specific cooperation between the Federal
Government and the Federal La"nder.

In the fight against trafficking of women, good progress could be
made with the help of institutionalized forms of cooperation, she
said.   At the European level, the Council of Ministers of Justice and
Home Affairs had reached political agreement in November 2003 on the
proposal for a Council directive on the short-term residence permit
issued to victims of actions taken to facilitate illegal immigration
or trafficking in human beings who cooperated with the competent
authorities.   In Germany, the directive was implemented by the
Migration Act.   Victimized witnesses were now given temporary
permission to stay in the country for the period in which they were
needed for legal or administrative proceedings.   The consolidation of
the residence status of victims of trafficking in human beings and
the strengthening of support measures was a significant contribution
to the protection of victims.

In 1999, the Federal Government made gender mainstreaming the guiding
principle of its political action, she said.   Under the leadership of
an inter-ministerial working group, pilot projects had been launched
to implement the strategy in the Federal administration.   The
"Gender Competence Centre" at Humboldt University in
Berlin was inaugurated a few weeks ago to support the implementation
of the gender-mainstreaming concept in all areas of society,
business, politics and administration.   Its tasks included providing
advice, coordinating research and training experts.   The
establishment of such a centre at a time of budgetary cuts
demonstrated the importance attached to gender mainstreaming as a
strategy for greater equality of opportunities for women and men.

Beside the traditional policy for the advancement of women, gender
mainstreaming had initiated a new, broader stage of equality policy,
she said.   Germany had advocated the establishment of the dual
strategy for equality policy at the level of the European Union.
While gender mainstreaming aimed at structural change, the policy
served to eliminate specific discriminatory situations in individual
policy areas.

Development cooperation was a good illustration of a successful
gender mainstreaming strategy, she said.   Equal rights for women and
men were a horizontal task for all sectors of development
cooperation.   The Federal Government pursued a "dual track
strategy".   Gender mainstreaming was meant to ensure that the
needs of men and women were taken into account.   Through
gender-differentiated planning and implementation of bilateral
development cooperation, the specific needs of girls and women were
taken into account.

With its Agenda 2010, the Government introduced far-reaching reforms
in the portfolios of economics and labour, health, finances and
education in recent weeks and months, she said.   Its purpose was to
boost the economy and modernize the social systems.   In the labour
market reforms, the primary aim was to bring the interests of women
and families to bear.   In the past five years, women had benefited
"quite considerably" from the labour market policy of the
German Red-Green Government, especially with the introduction of
parental leave and the legal claim to part-time employment.   Also,
women now had better opportunity for promotion.

She said that job centres were being set up, with the aim of
integrating hard-to-place and long-term unemployed persons into the
labour market, even if those were not entitled to benefits under the
employment promotion laws.   The measures, from more intensive
assistance by case manager to placement into childcare services,
would particularly benefit women returning to gainful employment,
single mothers and migrant women.   Above all, single parents who used
to receive social assistance would gain from the fact that social
insurance coverage had now been extended to all persons who received
certain unemployment benefits, meaning that contributions to pension,
unemployment and long-tern care insurance were paid on their behalf.

"It is a very special concern of mine that the labour market
prospects of women in the eastern part of Germany are further
improved", she stressed.   She herself had come from that part
of the country and had seen first-hand the difficulties for women
struggling in the economic and social restructuring process.   She had
also seen how the women had mastered the situation.   In order to
achieve equal opportunities in employment, the conflict of interests
between family life and work still had to be solved.   Today, many
enterprises, and nearly 50 per cent of large companies, offered
possibilities to their employees to reconcile family life and work,
and research was under way to ensure that that was integrated into
policy, and not exceptional.

Recent experience had also shown that management boards could be
persuaded of the equal opportunities issue with "hard economic
facts", she said.   Currently, a national network of local
alliances for family and women-friendly working and living conditions
was being set up.   Moreover, together with employers'
organizations, the Government was encouraging companies to undergo
audits developed for that purpose by non-profit associations and a
foundation.   In a few days, the first evaluation would be presented
of the activities of the past two years to implement the 2001 Federal
Government's agreement with the Central Associations of German
Business.   That agreement sought to promote equal opportunities based
on a strategy of cooperation with business.

She said that a special evaluation of the "microcensus",
conducted by the Federal Statistical Office in the fall of 2003, had
shown clear differences between women and men in approaches to
setting up businesses.   The share of women in start-ups for the
purpose of subsidiary gainful activity was higher than in other forms
of newly started businesses.   One priority of the 2003 offensive for
medium-sized companies, called "Pro Mittelstand", was to
promote women's self-employment.   The Federal Government was
cooperating closely with industrial associations in that field.   It
had also set up a national agency for female business starters.   It
intended to increase the share of women in technology-oriented
business start-ups, and there were plans to improve the financial
conditions for starting new businesses.

Overall, she noted that the women's employment rate had reached
58.8 per cent in 2002.   If the current tendency continued, the target
of 60 per cent, laid down in the Lisbon strategy of the European
Union in 2000, would probably be reached even before 2010.   The
agreement between the Federal Government and the Central Association
of German Business had also shown that the position of women in
industry could be influenced in a positive way by a broad range of
measures and cooperation between politics and the business community.

On childcare, financial resources had been extended to families, and
the Government had introduced a new child allowance in the context of
new legislation, she said.   That would enable 150,000 children and
their parents, mostly single parents, to live without social
assistance benefits.   Single parents living alone with their children
in a household would receive tax relief of 1,308 euro.   That replaced
the household allowance that had been criticized by the
Constitutional Court.   The introduction of that benefit was largely
attributable to the commitment of the Ministry for Family Affairs.

With Germany ranking among the top 30 per cent of European countries
in terms of granting financial benefits for families, "we are
last in line when it comes to childcare and education
facilities", she said.   By 2010, it intended to create
needs-based offers for children of all ages.   It sought to provide
differentiated offers for children and young persons of all ages,
which should be of high quality, flexible in terms of time,
affordable and varied, in all-day schools and after-school
facilities, and all-day kindergartens and nursery schools.   Even with
necessary austerity measures, the Federal Government had earmarked 4
billion euros for all-day schools, despite the fact that the Federal
Government was neither responsible for schools nor for day nurseries
or day-care facilities, which, under the Constitution, was the
responsibility of the La"nder and the municipalities.

Turning to elderly women, she said that demographic change was the
central issue of the Second World Plan of Action on Ageing of the
year 2002.   In Germany, that plan would be implemented by means of a
national plan of action, which also included the obligation
emphasized in the United Nations documents to observe the aspects of
gender and equality.   One objective of her country's equality
policy was to strengthen the self-esteem of women in old age.
Enhancing independence and participation in society of senior
citizens was a priority of the German Action Programme for the
Elderly.   Moreover, the Federal Government supported further
education measures for senior citizens, such as in the areas of
communication, and it planned to have senior citizens pass on their
know-how, under a model programme called "Know-how for
Initiatives".

Expert Comments/Questions

AYSE FERIDE ACAR, Chairperson and expert from Turkey, thanked the
delegation for its informative report and congratulated the
Government for having ratified the Optional Protocol in 2002.

NAELA GABR, expert from Egypt, asked for more information about the
nature of the meetings with the non-governmental organizations and
the level of cooperation, including for the preparation of the
report.   On stereotypes and prejudices, she said that sometimes the
media distorted the image of women.   That required additional effort
on the Government's part.   That was of vital importance in
changing stereotypes of women and in combating violence against
them.   What were the Government's approaches to that question?

Concerning migrant women, the Committee had voiced concern earlier
about migrant workers.   What was the Government's plan to
integrate those workers as full-fledged members of society?   The
answers provided thus far had not been sufficient.

MARIA REGINA TAVARES DA SILVA, expert from Portugal, appreciated the
information on the integrated system in place on gender
mainstreaming, but she was still concerned about the stereotypical
view of women's and men's roles.   That had quite visible
consequences in the area of employment, and the Government had not
provided much information about efforts to combat that, including
through the media.

She pointed to what seemed to be an "unconscious
acceptance" of a conservative role for women.   The report had
stated that the Federal Government continued to improve the special
needs of women, by means of consistently further developing part-time
working opportunities.   Those "needs" clearly referred to
the responsibility of reconciling family and work.   But, why should
that continue to be considered a specific need or responsibility of
women, when that must be a need of men on equal terms? she asked.

On the question of violence, she said that the plan and wide-ranging
measures to combat that had said nothing about the one area that was
fundamental, namely, the support of victims.

CORNELIS FLINTERMAN, expert from the Netherlands, said that the early
ratification of the Optional Protocol had implied that complaints
about violations of women's rights enumerated in the Convention
could be brought to the Committee's attention.   That made it
even more important that the legal profession be made fully aware of
those rights.   He was somewhat disappointed by the general answer in
the report to the Committee's recommendation in that regard, as
only a general reference had been made to training courses on
equality for the German Lawyers' Institute and the Federal
Judges Academy.   Do those courses specifically focus on the
provisions of the Convention and the Optional Protocol, and was the
Government willing to encourage the judges and legislators to attend
such courses? he asked.

MARIA YOLANDA FERRER GOMEZ, expert from Cuba, said it was her
understanding that it was possible in Germany to submit a law to the
Parliament on violence in general.   Was it on the legislative
programme to adopt such a law?   She also asked for more information
on government measures to reduce the use of women as sex objects in
the media.   Increasing numbers of entertainment programmes portrayed
women as sex objects.   Despite all the positive measures taken, there
had been an increase in violence against women, most specifically
minority and foreign women.   How was stereotyping against migrant
women being tackled? She asked.

DUBRAVKA SIMONOVIC, expert from Croatia, congratulated the country
for timely reporting and the significant progress it had made.   She
also stressed the importance of the national preparation of the
report.   What was the legal position of the Convention in regard to
Germany's Constitution, and was the Convention directly
applicable before German courts?   She noted a lack of
sex-disaggregated data on ethnicity, including on the access of
foreign women to health and education services.   Data disaggregated
by sex was necessary to determine possible multiple discrimination of
minority women, especially Roma women.

SALMA KHAN, expert from Bangladesh, commended the Government's
use of gender-budgeting.   Gender-budgeting raised the question of how
to calculate the non-remunerated work shared by men and women.   Was
gender-budgeting going to take into account different sectors of the
economy?   To what extent would women's economic opportunities
enhance that type of budgeting.   Had a guideline been issued at the
La"nder level, and would non-governmental organizations (NGOs) be
invited to participate in the process? she asked.

Country Response

Addressing the issue of stereotypes, Ms. RIEMANN-HANEWINCKEL said
that in the past few years, the Federal Government had tried hard to
change the conservative image of women, including by legislation.
Until recently, Germany had a very conservative approach that limited
women to household and family life.   Conservative views towards women
were hard to change by legislation.   Germany had a divided situation
concerning the attitude of women on family and employment.   In the
eastern part of the country, it was common for women to be in the
labour market.   Women demanded employment there.   Attitudes in the
western part of the country were changing.   The main problem,
however, was the prevalence of the stereotypical attitudes of men.

On the debate in the Parliament, she said the report had for the
first time been debated by the Parliament.   As a result of procedural
mechanisms, the report was not, so to speak, "approved"
by Parliament.   All parliamentary parties had formulated questions
regarding the report.

RENATE AUGSTEIN, Director, Federal Ministry for Family Affairs,
Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, said Germany had a manifold
approach to its work with NGOs.   Non-governmental organizations were
involved in major issues, such as sexual violence, where they
participated as full members in discussions with the Government.   The
Federal Government held regular consultations and talks with human
rights organizations and strongly supported NGOs.   It also supported
the nationwide networking of NGOs, as the Ministry needed the support
and lobbying of women NGOs.   The Statute of the Federal Government
provided that nationwide NGOs were heard in legislative procedures.
Non-governmental organizations had been involved in the discussion on
the Act to protect against violence, and their comments had led to
improvements to the draft law.   Non-governmental organizations were
not directly involved in the report preparation, however, as the
report was a government product.

Regarding the issue of stereotypes and prejudice in the media and
advertising, she said freedom of press and media meant that the
Government had very limited ability to exert direct influence.   While
there was a prohibition on pornography and the portrayal of abuse,
there was no prohibition of the so-called "gray area" in
the media, which often depicted women stereotypicaly.   The
Advertising Advisory Council sometimes recalled negative ads.
Advertising was a short-lived sector, however.   For that reason,
great importance was attached to training young persons on how to
sharpen their critical view of the media.   That training was given a
high priority.

Regarding the issue of parental leave, she said stereotypical
attitudes often prevented young men from applying for parental
leave.   Men often feared lost income and career advancement
opportunities if they took parental leave.   The Federal Government
was interested in encouraging employers to positively respond to
applications by men for that leave.

Regarding support for victims of violence, legislation existed to
compensate victims of crime, she said.   There were manifold services
to support victims in Germany, including counselling services, homes,
call services and women's health centres financed by the
Federal La"nder, municipalities or individual sponsors.   The situation
was not a rosy one, but on a European scale Germany had the closest
network of specific counselling services for women.   The Federal
Government was not responsible for financing those institutions, but
called on the Federal La"nder and municipalities to support them.

She agreed that there was some confusion on the question of special
temporary measures.   Temporary special measures, such as
women's ministries and commissioner, were institutions that
would become redundant at a certain point, but it was impossible to
say when.   Apart from the Maternity Protection Act, none of the
programmes were aimed especially at women, but at men and women.

Regarding the question on an increase in violence against women in
rural areas, she said she could not confirm or deny that.   The
Government did not know the extent of violence against women.   While
it knew how many women took refuge in homes for battered women, it
could not extrapolate the actual extent of violence against women.   A
representative survey was being conducted on the extent of violence
against women, its background and consequences.   Germany had tried to
learn from other European Union countries in that regard.   She looked
forward to the outcome of the survey, which would be available in the
autumn.

Without the survey, it would be impossible to determine if there had
been an increase, as there was no concrete data, she continued.
Incidents of violence were better known, as the discussion of
violence against women was no longer considered a taboo and the Act
was now in place.   Violence had become more visible.   Changes had
also been made to police statutes of the Federal La"nder.   The La"nder
had started to collect data on police intervention in cases of
domestic violence.   It was not necessarily an increase in the number
of cases, but the increased visibility of those cases.

There had also been an amendment to the foreigners legislation,
whereby women who separated from their violent partners now had the
right to a residence permit of their own, she added.

On the legal status of the Convention, she had no information on the
direct application of the Convention by the German courts.   Regarding
gender-budgeting issues, one study had been carried out under the
heading of a time-budget study.   Gender-budgeting was a part of
gender mainstreaming.   The Federal Government was still trying to
choose a strategy to implement gender-budgeting in the Federal
Budget.   It had studied the way in which other European Union
countries had implemented gender-budgeting.   Individual Federal
La"nder were in the initial stages of implementing a gender-budgeting
approach.

Another representative, addressing questions about part-time
employment of women and the persistence of stereotypes in the labour
market, said that part-time employment had had a different
development in the eastern and western parts of Germany.   Studies had
been undertaken in the framework of the micro-census, and recently a
large-scale study had been done to investigate the motives of men and
women for seeking part-time work.   Whereas the large majority, almost
75 per cent of women in the west, said that part-time employment
helped them reconcile working life with family responsibilities, more
than 50 per cent of women in the east said they were seeking
part-time work because no full-time jobs were available.   The
expectations of women in the eastern and western parts of the country
were very different.

Concerning working mothers, she said that the clear majority of those
working part-time were quite content with their work; they were more
content than mothers who did not have a job at all, or than mothers
who were working full time.   That was closely connected to the
childcare situation, to which she would return later in the
discussion.

To overcome stereotypical approaches in labour, a pilot project,
which had how become permanent -- Acting in a Partnership Way --
targeted young trainees and trainers.   The aim was make young people,
both girls and boys, aware of sexual harassment at work, and to
anticipate the issue of reconciling work and family life.

Turning to the situation of migrant women, she said that the findings
had not been very informative thus far.   Two surveys had been
commissioned and the drafts had been received just before
today's presentation.   A very preliminary look indicated that,
on the one hand, young migrant women in Germany faced barriers in
education.   The migrant women themselves did not feel that they were
disadvantaged or discriminated against, or that their problems at
school had been due to barriers in society.   The school barriers,
however, were seen as the result of their own deficits and that fact
had remained a problem for them in their working life.

She added that the Federal Government had put in place additional
promotional instruments targeted at migrant women in districts where
there was a very high share of unemployment among migrant workers.
The act to reform the labour market would also have a very positive
impact on the situation of migrant women.   According to that Act,
persons who were very hard to place would be looked after by case
managers, and the barriers encountered as a result of their
background would be analysed and remedies would be found.   Offers by
job centres ranged from placement to language studies and additional
training.

Another representative explained that there was not enough
statistical data about minorities.   Germany, in its legislation, did
not differentiate between ethnic groups.   They enjoyed equal
protection under the law.   Two instruments of protection were in
place for minorities, however, including for the Sinte and the Roma.
Also, the Federal Government had adopted a series of measures to
encourage the population to overcome discriminatory attitudes.   As an
example, the Alliance against Racism and in favour of Tolerance was a
very broad initiative of the Federal Government, which comprised all
groups of society in its aim of overcoming prejudices.

She added that much was being done in the schools to make the issue
of protecting minorities and overcoming prejudices more prominent
Teachers were specifically trained in that regard.   The Federal
Government also was providing financing to the Central Council of
Sinte and Roma in Germany, and a cultural centre had been
established.   In Germany, there was a great reservation concerning
the collection of disaggregated statistical data according to
"this or that ethnic group", owing to historical
sensitivities on the subject.

AIDA GONZALEZ MARTINEZ, expert from Mexico, said she did not
understand why such an economically, culturally, technologically and
politically advanced country did not have a system for compiling data
on the level of violence against women, both in the home and in
society in general.   Such a system would enable everyone to know
which women suffered from violence in the home.   For example, were
those elderly women, young women, or girls?   Nor was it known to what
extent violence existed against women in the rural areas.

Had the lack of such data meant that due importance had not been
given to combating violence against women?   What was going on? she
asked.   There seemed to be an increase of violence against women,
particularly in the home.   So, one of two things was true:   either
women were not being properly educated about their rights in that
regard; or there was no importance placed in the police centres to
keep a record of those complaints.   How was the protection plan
working?   Experts had been told this morning that there was no
"early warning system" or hotline, yet in much less
developed countries those systems were in place and working, she
said.

DORCAS AMA FERMA COKER-APPIAH, expert from Ghana, said she
appreciated the efforts of the Federal Government to deal with the
vexing issue of trafficking of women and children, as well as the
various measures that had been put in place to assist the victims and
prosecute the traffickers.   Among the measures adopted had been the
granting of temporary permission to the victim to stay in the
country.   What was the victim's situation in that interim
period?   Were they also given a work permit in that period to enable
them to look after themselves, and, if not, did the special measures
include a provision for the authorities to provide some financial
support? he asked.

ROSARIO MANALO, expert from the Philippines, wanted to know the
situation of migrant domestic workers in the households of
diplomats.   She said that some had been forced to work under a
situation similar to slavery and under sexual exploitation.   In those
situations, the woman was helpless, while the diplomat abused his
power and exploited them.   That was far from a normal working
relationship.

She had heard this morning that, for the first time, Germany had
developed a comprehensive overall concept of fighting violence
against women.   In concrete terms, how did that apply to the abused
migrant domestic workers, particularly those who were in the service
of diplomats?   In the last report, she had asked about the "au
pair" system and about the truth of the allegation that many of
its embassies provided "au pair" visas when, in reality,
the system, under the pretext of cultural exchange, violated the
criteria established by the country of origin, as well as the
immigration laws of Germany.   There had been no reply in the fifth
periodic report to her questions.   She would appreciate a verbal
reply on that situation.

HEISOO SHIN, Vice-Chairperson and expert from Republic of Korea,
emphasized the importance of partnership with civil society in
advancing gender equality, not only at the implementation phase, but
at all phases of policy development and evaluation.   She asked
whether the "paradigm change" mentioned in the report
about combating violence against women had meant that now the focus
was not only on women, but also on the behaviour of men.   Since
attention had turned to the offenders, had the delegation seen any
changes in the male perception about violence, and was that the
subject of discussion among men or boys?   And, did the Government
have a consistent plan to change that male perception through
extensive campaigns throughout the country?

She also asked about the legal status of migrant women who came to
Germany as the spouse of a German husband.   She knew there was
two-year cohabitation requirement to gain an independent right to
stay.   What if the foreign spouse of a German man separated or
divorced because the husband had been violent towards her? And, what
if sexual violation of the children was committed?   Which law applied
then?

KRISZTINA MORVAI, expert from Hungary, asked for data on prostitution
in Germany, including the number of prostitutes and their countries
of origin.   What was the current trend in prostitution in Germany and
what were the sociological characteristics?   Had the Government
attempted to target the demand side of prostitutes, namely, the
clients, or did it view prostitution as a form of work?   Had there
been any research on the realities of prostitution and its connection
to violence against women?   The Convention required States parties to
adopt a broad strategy against trafficking and prostitution.   What
was the Government's strategy in that regard?   Did it have
programmes to prevent women from entering into prostitution, as well
as rehabilitation programmes to help women get out of prostitution?
Had the relationship between prostitution and trafficking been
researched?   According to the Convention, pimping must be
criminalized, she noted.

SJAMSIAH ACHMAD, expert from Indonesia, congratulated the delegation
for the timely and comprehensive report.   She stressed, however, the
absence of comprehensive data regarding the condition of women
migrant workers and asylum-seekers.   While she realized the
sensitivity of compiling data according to ethnic groups, such data
was needed to seriously address the issue.   She asked if the Gender
Competence Centre addressed the issue of women migrants.

Country Response

Ms. RIEMANN-HANEWINCKEL said that, while Germany had done quite a lot
in the last decades, for many decades violence against women had been
considered taboo in both parts of Germany.   In the west, the
stereotype was that of good families in which violence was not
discussed.   In the German Democratic Republic, the stereotype had
been that socialist people were good.   Since 1997, the issue had been
addressed step by step.   Two working groups had been established as a
steering body to address the matter.   While much had been achieved in
the last few years, more action was needed.   The Parliament had had
very difficult discussions on the issue of rape in marriage as an
offence, reflecting the strength of the taboo regarding violence
against women.   How to proceed with the discussion was another
question.

Ms. AUGSTEIN said it might seem strange that such a developed country
did not have representative data on violence against women.   The
entire issue of violence, up until recently, had been an issue of
women's movement and policy only.   The issue had taken a long
time to be incorporated in the general Government's internal
policies.   On data collection, there was a wealth of inside
information on violence, but it was not representative.   Women from
less privileged spheres were most often found in homes, whereas women
from more privileged spheres tended to go to courts to fight
violence.   In the past, the courts, judiciary and the police had not
taken the issue seriously.   Incidents of violence had been considered
"family disputes".   Only now was violence against women
called "domestic violence".   Police were now required to
report violence as domestic violence and pass it on to public
prosecutors.   Germany had a very good help system, however, including
a full fledged emergency call system.

Germany also had a highly differentiated picture of violence against
women, including bodily assault and psychological violence, she
added.   Collecting statistical data was very difficult for that
reason.

Regarding trafficking, she said that, at present, victims of
trafficking had the right to stay in Germany.   Deportation was
suspended for at least four weeks.   Deportation was suspended for the
entire duration of court proceedings, which could take years.   The
Federal Government had tabled a new migration law, which would
improve the residence situation of victims of trafficking by giving
them temporary residence entitlements.

She went on to say that trafficking in human beings was not always
connected with the sex industry.   Germany, at the international
level, had worked hard to extend the definition to include that of
forced labor.   On the special situation of domestic help in
diplomatic households, she said the Federal Government was aware of
that problem and was exerting all its efforts in that regard.
Diplomatic immunity made the matter difficult, however.

Regarding the issue of youth, she said it had been a challenge to get
boys to think about their role as males.

She said various studies had been carried out on prostitution,
including information on clients.   One survey had been carried out on
the issue of how to keep clients from unprotected sexual
intercourse.   Another survey was carried out on the clients of
prostitutes travelling abroad to sexually exploit children.   There
were various reasons why women undertook prostitution.   Women who
were forced to be prostitutes would not go to counselling services,
as they were often in Germany illegally.   There were a huge number of
unknown cases.   Germany had not adopted the Swedish, but the Dutch,
approach.   There were some 200,000 prostitutes in Germany.   The
German approach was not to discriminate against prostitutes in legal
terms, by labelling their services as immoral. That approach made
clear that the purchase of sexual services was not immoral.   While it
was not a desirable transaction from an ethnical point of view,
prostitution must not lead to a situation in which women were legally
discriminated against.   Prostitutes were protected by law as of
January 2002.

Expert questions

FRANC,OISE GASPARD, expert from France, noted that German
women's participation in political life had exceeded the
critical threshold of 30 per cent.   It would be interesting to
provide statistics not only for the Bundestag, but for the
Bundesrat.   Regarding communes, she had noted with interest the
importance of municipal committees.   Building equality started at the
community level.   With respect for local autonomy, did the Federal
Government encourage the integration of a gender aspect into local
policy?   She noted the low proportion of women in a number of federal
bodies, as well as the low number of women ambassadors.   Had studies
been conducted on hindrances to women's participation in public
life?

Continuing to respond to expert comments and questions, a
representative said that, concerning participation of women in the
diplomatic corps, their proportion in senior functions was a bit
lower than in other areas of public administration.   The German
Foreign Office, however, had committed itself to increase the share
of female diplomats in leading functions.   That had begun to bear
fruit, so that the proportion of female "beginners" in
the foreign service had now risen to 50 per cent.   Also, for the past
few years, more women had assumed the level of deputy division heads.

She said she believed that situation would improve as those
women's careers developed.   In contrast to other areas of
federal administration, however, the mobility expected from diplomats
would make it difficult for women to rise above a certain level of
service if the male partner was not prepared to make the move.
Concerning women's participation in political bodies, the
Federal Government could ensure that both a man and a woman were
proposed as candidates for posts.



Expert Questions, Comments
==========================

Ms. FERRER, expert from Cuba, said the Committee had expressed a
concern in Germany's last report about the increase in the
number of women in part-time work, as well as the high level of
unemployment among women, both of which were evidence of persistent
discrimination.   The report indicated that the problem persisted.
Despite the fact that the delegation stated that equal employment
opportunities were offered to men and women, discrimination
persisted, and women tended to be involved in part-time work -- up to
42 per cent in eastern Germany, and domestic work prevailed primarily
for women.   She was very concerned that part-time work was seen as
advantageous.

She asked about the two laws adopted in January 2003 relating to a
system to include women into the modern sector of the labour market.
The Committee had also been told that, by 2005, individuals who were
still unemployed should accept any job offered to them.   Would any
step be taken for women in a much less favourable situation?

Ms. KAHN, expert from Bangladesh, said that women, despite their
willingness to work full-time, could not find full-time work.   Had
any temporary special measures been introduced to remedy that?   The
main reason given today as to why women opted for part-time
employment had been that they could not reconcile full-time work with
their family life.   Was there affordable childcare and were men being
encouraged to share domestic responsibility?

Also, she said, by tying a resident permit to employment meant that
when a migrant woman sought a better job, she had to reapply for a
work permit.   A policy of that nature would only exploit them
further.   Also, could the Federal Government, under the Basic Law,
investigate a complaint relating to unequal pay? And, what measures
had it taken to remedy the wage gap between men and women?

Ms. TAVARES DA SILVA, expert from Portugal, said the agreement to
build partnerships with the labour market was very interesting.
Regarding the reform policy to modernize social systems and the
evaluation of new labour market instruments, had the impact of
measures on women been present in terms of planning?   Noting numerous
references in the report and presentation to various European Union
treaties as the basis for Germany's gender policies, she asked
why systematic reference to the Convention's obligations had
not been mentioned as being equally binding.

Ms. SHIN, expert from the Republic of Korea, expressed concern with
the problem of part-time work and "mini-jobs".   Was the
delegation aware of the negative implications of that kind of work on
women's pension plans?   Were there plans to deal with the
problem of women's' economic dependence on their
husbands?   On the sharing of childcare responsibilities, awareness
raising alone was not enough.   Fathers must be given economic
incentives to apply for parental leave.

FUMIKO SAIGA, expert from Japan, asked for information on the
parental leave system.   Were both parents entitled to take leave at
the same time for up to three years?   How was payment arranged during
that period? she asked.

Country Response

A member of the delegation noted that women and men, up to the age of
30, earned about the same.   Inequality in wage earnings was not,
therefore, a problem among the younger generation.   While it was true
that the majority of women made use of part-time work, the reasons
for that were different in the eastern and western part of the
country.   Although childcare requirements were sufficient in the
eastern part of the country, there were not enough jobs.   In the
western part of the country, there was a shortage of childcare
facilities.

The Parental Leave Act had been designed to eliminate existing
stereotypes, she said.   Men and women could take leave at the same
time and were entitled to a certain level of income during that
time.   Parents who decided to take time out for their children were
provided with economic incentives.   Parents taking one year had a
higher budget allocation, however.   Fathers often did not take
parental leave in order to maintain income.

Another delegate said German legislation did provide for equal pay
for work of equal value.   A continual evaluation of the development
of women's and men's salaries was needed.   Germany had
studied the strategies used in other European Union countries in that
regard.   The federal employee tariff had also been reviewed to
determine hidden discrimination.   Germany had legal requirements for
collective agreements without discrimination.

On the issue of part-time work and "mini-jobs", she noted
that the number of women working part-time jobs in eastern Germany
was half the number of women in part-time employment in the west.
Men and women working "mini-jobs" were entitled to
minimum social security protection.   So-called
"midi-jobs" had also been introduced.   The Federal
Government had worked to ensure that employees received minimum
social security.   Employers were obligated to pay 25 per cent of tax
deductions into the legal pension system.   For the first time,
part-time workers were entitled to sick pay.   The mini-jobs of today
did not compare with those in the past.   The Federal Government was
reviewing whether legal provisions should be tightened to ensure that
household help received minimum levels of protection.

Commenting on legislative reform, she said the reform package had
been a complex negotiation involving different power structures.   The
legislative procedure had carried out in a sensitive political
environment.   They had only been partially successful in
incorporating gender concerns into the reform process.   No women with
a child under the age of three could be obliged to work if childcare
was not ensured.

The Federal Government would evaluate the laws and their impact on
women, she said.   Appropriate research consortia had been engaged to
carry out the evaluation of the legislative process, including how
gender-specific issues had been taken into consideration.   She did
not share the view that women were experiencing massive
disadvantages.   Regarding the social protection of women, it was
correct to say that part-time work would only lead to a pension on
the basis of contribution made during the employment period, she
said.

Women working in diplomatic households had the right to file lawsuits
and turn to legal authorities if they are maltreated in any way, she
said.   The Federal Government did not have direct influence, however,
due to diplomatic immunity.

Ms. MORVAI, expert from Hungary, said that if each prostitute in
Germany, based on the Government's figures, had just one new
client each day, that would mean that more than 10 million men were
involved in prostitution as clients.   Apart from the right to
equality for women in those families –- presumably most clients
were married men -– imagine the public health consequences.

She said it was an illusion that the promotion of condom use could
stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.   It could not.
Besides, there were lots of other diseases that spread through an
exchange of bodily fluids.   Wouldn't it be a better idea
instead to sit down those 10 million men and say it was not all right
to use prostitutes as toilets?   Wouldn't it be better to tell
them to respect women and not to use them as prostitutes?

PRAMILA PATTEN, expert from Mauritius, said she wished to return to
the question of the dramatic shift among German women from full-time
to part-time work.   She was also concerned about the concentration of
women in low- and medium-earning enterprises.   While several studies
had indeed been undertaken, did the Federal Government have a
concrete strategy with a time frame to address that imbalance?   Also,
she noted that the 2001 regulations on parent leave had so far met
with much resistance.   Regarding equal pay, she asked about the
success of measures already taken by the Federal Government with the
business community, the public and private sectors, and the trade
unions.

Ms. SIMONOVIC, expert from Croatia, stressed that nothing should
prevent the Government from collecting data disaggregated by ethnic
minorities, and further broken down by age, gender and location.   It
was appropriate to collect such data, in order to provide additional
measures in specific situations.   Regarding the education of Sinte
and Roma girls, it was well known that in many European countries
those girls tended to marry earlier and had higher school dropout
rates.   What were those rates in Germany and had the Government
formulated any specific programmes for the "dropouts", or
encouraged them to stay in school?

Ms. MANALO, expert from the Philippines, said that in the concluding
comments of the fourth periodic report, the Committee had told the
German delegation to undertake a study about foreign girls.   She had
not found that anywhere in the present report and wondered why.

Ms. GASPARD, expert from France, said that very few statistics had
been provided in the report on women in higher education, except that
there were very few women in high academic or research posts.   It had
been shown in 2000 that more girls than boys were entering the
scientific field.   Also four years ago, however, only 7 per cent of
the professors were women.   That was a problem confronting several
developed countries.   There seemed to be some resistance at the
university level for women to accede to high-level posts, yet that
was very important since women could serve as role models for both
boys and girls, she said.

Concerning part-time employment, she said that statistics from other
countries had shown that part-time work was often restrictive and
that women were participating in that only because they were not
offered full-time employment.   In France, for example, women occupied
80 per cent of part-time employment; 20 per cent were in full-time
employment.   Did the Government intend to look at the future
situation for retired women, with a view to taking measures to
alleviate the great poverty women might face in Germany, particularly
in the next 10 to 20 years?

Government Response

The State Secretary said that, according to the association of
prostitutes in Germany, there were 1 million clients per day. The
Government had not envisaged abolishing prostitution.   That would not
make sense because "we wouldn't be successful", she
said, adding that "no society has been able to do this".

She said that, when the legislation was reformed, women who worked in
prostitution on a voluntary basis had a legal status and a legal
protection, with the possibility of working as a self-employed person
or for an employer.   They, therefore, had a basis for taking legal
action to get their wages.   In Germany, more than 76 per cent of the
general population believed that prostitution should have an improved
legal and social standing.   Prostitutes in Germany had access to
doctors and counselling, and to the health-care system overall.   So,
there was no need for action in that regard.

Concerning public health, the association of prostitutes had said
that, above all, prostitutes took care of their health.   The problem
was not voluntary prostitution, but trafficking for the purpose of
forced prostitution.   That group of women needed support and
protection.

    Another representative explained that the delegation had not
included the results of the study of foreign women in its current
report or presentation, as that extensive document had only been made
available two weeks ago and had yet to be carefully reviewed.   The
study had covered two years.   The female researchers had considered
the life situation of young women and girls, with a migration
background, and also the situation of elderly female migrants.   The
delegation would report on the results of that study in great detail
at a later date.

On part-time work, there seemed to be a misunderstanding that there
had been a major shift of women who had worked full-time and now had
been forced to seek part-time work, another delegate said.
Participation of women as a whole in the labour market had increased
considerably in the past 10 years, and part-time work in Germany
often was a small step back into continuous employment.

Experts' Questions

Ms. SIMONOVIC, expert from Croatia, asked for more information on new
provisions for parental custody.

HUGUETTE BOKPE GNACADJA, expert from Benin, said she was surprised
not to have seen any reference to article 15 of the Convention on the
equality of women and men before the law.   Each report should contain
a minimum of information on each article.   She also asked for
information on the amended Alien Act.

MERIEM BELMIHOUB-ZERDANI, expert from Algeria, asked if marriage
legislation provided for a general contract at the time the marriage
was preformed.   If so, was it a model contract?   Was property equally
divided between the spouses upon divorce?   Two feminist authors, in
separate publications, had concluded that

99 per cent of the world's wealth belonged to men, and 1 per
cent to women.   She asked for a breakdown of wealth in Germany
between men and women.   She also asked for information on
Germany's commitment under the Beijing Platform.

Ms. PATTEN, expert from Mauritius, commended the Government for
reforms in areas of family law.   To what extent were German women
aware of their rights?   Was there a special strategy to target
migrant women?   What were the eligibility criteria for legal aid, and
was it widely available in the field of family law?   She asked for
data on the number of migrant women that had obtained legal aid.   She
also drew attention to an increasing problem of forced marriages
among the Turkish community.   Had that issue been addressed by the
Ministry of Family Affairs?   Was the procedure to apply for an
extension of child maintenance beyond three years an easy process?

Ms. GASPARD, expert from France, said the question of forced
marriages was a difficult question.   What was the Government doing to
inform civil servants about the need to help young women avoid forced
marriages?

Country Response

Concerning article 15 of the Convention, a member of the delegation
said that the report did not repeat information provided in previous
reports if nothing had changed.   Female migrants had the same rights
as German women.   Forced marriages were forbidden.   Marriages entered
into under pressure were nullified.   The problem was not a lack of
legal instruments, but the fact that women would not have the courage
to say they did not want to marry.

Forced marriage was a problem, and urgent data was needed in that
respect, the delegate said.   It was important to note the results of
a survey carried out on foreign girls and women, which showed that
while most foreign girls were happy with the education provided by
their families, they were strictly against pre-arranged and forced
marriages.   They were also strictly against discussing conflict
within the family with government agencies.

On model contracts for marriage, in general, the German marriage law
covered the issue of wealth distribution within marriage and upon
divorce, she added.   The Federal Government did inform the public on
the various laws.   It maintained an extensive Web site and carried
out major awareness-raising campaigns.

On the issue of family names, when there was no agreement on a family
name, the courts would refer the right to one parent to decide, she
said.   In the case of illegitimate children, the family name depended
on the name of the parent with the right to custody.

On development aid, the Government did everything it could to include
a gender perspective in its development assistance.   Women played a
major role in development cooperation.

Experts' Questions

Ms. MORVAI, expert from Hungary, thanked the delegation for
correcting her estimate, noting that there were some 365 million
clients of prostitution every year in Germany.   Given that figure,
was that not a form of emotional abuse of the wives whose husbands
were encouraged to use prostitutes?   It was an abusive behaviour on
the part of several million husbands.

Ms. MANALO, expert from the Philippines, asked what the Federal
Government's intentions were regarding the removal of
immunities.

Ms. SHIN, expert from the Republic of Korea, asked for a copy of the
report to the Parliament on the effects of prostitution.

Country Response

In a concluding comment, a representative of the delegation said the
Government did not share the expert's view on emotional abuse
as a result of prostitution.   As for the Vienna Convention, she could
not say anything on the removal of diplomatic immunities off the
cuff.

Closing Statement by Chairperson

In closing, the Chairperson and expert from Turkey, Ms. ACAR, said
that Germany was a leading country in Europe and in the world.
Germany's policies, therefore, regarding women's human
rights on both the international and domestic levels, were of
critical importance.   In that context, she commended the Government
for advocating a dual strategy for equality policy at the level of
the European Union.   That had been a much-needed emphasis for some
time now.   She also commended the Government for including the gender
dimension in its development cooperation policies, and she urged it
to "keep up the good work" in that regard and to further
upgrade it.

In the context of the European Union, she urged Germany to spearhead
the specific promotion and advocacy of the Women's Convention.
That would underscore respect for universal standards of
women's human rights as the legal norms for all members and
candidate States of the Union.   That was a very promising course for
German policy.   The expectations from Germany were "very
high", given its leadership role.   In that context, she was
pleased about the increased salience of the Convention in Germany
today, and she commended the Government for the many positive steps
it had taken to implement it.

One remaining area of concern was that of the continuation of
discriminatory stereotypes in several contexts, she said.   Arguments
of freedom of press and media had been touched upon, as well as the
difficulties of penetrating the cultural and community spaces.   Those
arguments could not be allowed to operate in such a way as to create
a space for the perpetuation of discriminatory stereotypes, under the
guise either of freedom of expression or anything else.   Whether
discriminatory stereotypes and images emanated from culture,
tradition, customs or plain patriarchal attitudes, those must be
eliminated.   The Federal Government undertook that obligation when it
ratified the Convention.   She urged it to address itself more
forcefully to that.

On migrant and minority women, she was pleased to hear about the
granting of residence permits to foreign women separated from their
violent husbands.   That had been underlined in the previous
dialogue.   Yet, the protection of the human rights of foreign and
minority women in Germany "still leaves much to be
desired".   The Committee, once again, underlined the need for
gender disaggregated data on migrant and minority women, including
for Sinte and Roma women, especially regarding their access to
education, health and employment.   She sought a full-fledged
statistical expose on those matters in the next report.

She said that many contradictions had been exposed today, confronting
the committee with a rather unusual situation, given that the country
was very advanced in political and economic terms and had put in
place many admirable measures to implement the Convention and was, by
all indications, very committed to that.   Yet, there were
"striking gaps and glaring examples" of attitudes and
behaviours that were "unexpected, if not unbecoming", to
a State in a position of such leadership.   In the next report, she
looked forward to hearing a more forceful expression of the measures
taken to eliminate discrimination against women in all areas.   The
lack of comprehensive data on violence against women, as well as
disaggregated by minority communities, was among those issues needing
elaboration.

Keep on carefully evaluating, she urged the Government, especially in
the area of employment and the impact of developments such as
part-time work on women in the long run, so that it did not evolve
into a "default option" for women in the labour market.

* *** *


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