Advancing Gender Justice in the Pacific

Over the last 30 years the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has evolved from being just an international standard, to being a standard that is integrated into national constitutions, laws and policies. CEDAW has great significance as a statement of global commitment on gender equality, and it is critical as a concrete, practical tool for advancing gender equality at national levels. All but two PICs have ratified CEDAW. However, Pacific governments have experienced difficulties with timely CEDAW and general human rights reporting and effective implementation. A numbers of barriers have been identified which contribute to this including; the size of Pacific state structures, the lack of institutionalised mechanisms to report and implement human rights obligations and the inability to harmonise reporting obligations at the national level.3 Even countries are successful in enacting legislative change guided by CEDAW to achieve gender equality, the majority of Pacific Islanders live in rural areas or on outer islands, and that this rural population’s access to justice is limited to lower formal and informal courts.