The human rights of minority women: Romani women's rights from a perspective on international human rights law and politics

International Journal on Minority and Group Rights

Volumn 17, Issue 1, 2010, Pages 1-45

  Ravnbøl, Camilla Ida ^a  

^a UNICEF   (United States)

Author keywords

Intersectional discrimination; Minority rights; Multiple discrimination; Roma; Romani women; Universality; Women's rights

Indexed keywords

ETHNIC MINORITY; HUMAN RIGHTS; INTERNATIONAL LAW; WOMENS STATUS;

EUROPE;

EID: 77649252125     PISSN: 13854879     EISSN: 15718115     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/157181110X12595859744123     Document Type: Review

References (235)

1. Where international human rights law contains no definition of minorities, one recognised definition is that of the former UN Special Rapporteur of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, Francesco Capotorti: "a group numerically inferior to the rest of the population of a state, in a non-dominant position, whose members - being nationals of the State - possess ethnic, religious or linguistic characteristics differing from those of the rest of the population and show, if only implicitly, a sense of solidarity, directed towards preserving their culture, traditions, religion or language", F. Capotorti, Study on the Rights of Persons belonging to Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/384/Rev.1. 1979 [1977], p. 96. Th is definition does not always apply, e.g. can minorities constitute a numerical minority, such as the indigenous population in Bolivia, and today non-nationals are also included.
2. C. Fenger-Grøndahl and M. Fenger-Grøndahl, Sigøjnere: 1000 år på kanten af Europa [Gypsies: 1000 Years on the Margins of Europe] (Aarhus Universitetsforlag, 2006) p. 11.
3. Roma/Romani (sing. and adj. e.g. Romani women) and Roma (pl. e.g. European Roma) links to the language Romanés and is a self-ascribed political umbrella terminology that gathers all the many different Romani communities, I. Klimóvá-Alexander, The Romani Voice in World Politics: The United Nations and Non-State Actors (Ashgate Publishing Limited, UK, 2005) p. 30.
4. High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM), by M. van der Stohl, Report on the Situation of Roma and Sinti in the OSCE Area, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, 10 March 2000, p. 1.
5. The Decade is an international initiative that brings together the UN, European national governments, intergovernmental and nongovernmental organisations, as well as Romani civil society, to improve the socio-economic status and social inclusion of Roma within the European framework. See (consulted 15 July 2009).
6. "The term 'gender' refers to the socially constructed roles of women and men that are ascribed to them on the basis of their sex. The word 'sex' refers to physical and biological characteristics of men and women. Gender roles reflect different social constructions of female and male identities which result from their different social positions, rather than innate female and male behaviour", C. A. Brautigam, 'International Human Rights Law: The Relevance of Gender', in W. Benedek, E. Kisaakye and G. Oberleitner G. (eds.), The Human Rights of Women: International Instruments and African Experiences (Zed Books, London, 2002) pp. 3-30.
7. European Union's Specialist Group on Roma/Gypsies, The Situation of Roma/Gypsy Women in Europe, report by N. Bitu for the 7th Meeting of the European Union's Specialist Group on Roma/Gypsies, Strasbourg, 29-30 March 1999, p. 2, available at (consulted 15 July 2009);
8. International Romani Women's Network (IRWN), A Place at the Policy Table: Report on the Roma Women's Forum, Budapest, Hungary, 29 June 2003, Network Women's Program, Open Society Institute, pp. 1-7, available at (consulted 15 July 2009).
9. The interrelation of different forms of discrimination on grounds of the person's gender, race, class, etc. See discussion and definition by K. Crenshaw, 'Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics and Violence Against Women of Color', 43:6 Stanford Law Review (July 1991) pp. 1241-1299.
10. IRWN, supra note 6, p. 3;
11. A. Oprea, 'Re-envisioning Social Justice from the Ground Up: Including the Experiences of Romani Women', 1:1 Essex Human Rights Review (July 2004) p. 33.
12. Minority Rights Group International (MRG), report by F. Banda and C. Chinkin, Gender, Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, Minority Rights Group Int., 2004, p. 9.
13. Discourses are institutionalised ways of thinking that inform social practices - social boundaries that define how to speak and act on a specific topic. See N. Fairclough, Discourse and Social Change (Polity Press, Cambridge, 1992)
14. and M. Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge (Routledge, UK, 1972).
15. Today, consensus exists within academics that India is the country of origin (although the dates and waves of migration remain disputed between year 500 and 1000 A.D.), and that the language Romanés has roots in Sanskrit. Klimóvá-Alexander, supra note 2, p. 13;
16. Fenger-Grøndal and Fenger-Grøndal, supra note 2, p. 22.
17. See discussion on Peytster 1882 and Anon 1856 in I. Hancock, We are the Romani People (University of Hertfordshire Press, 2002) p. 33,
18. and quotations from documents from Bologna 1422, Germany 1496, Netherlands 1525 and Sweden 1637 in Minority Rights Group International (MRG), Report by J. P. Liegeois and N. Gheorghe, Roma/Gypsies: A European Minority, 1995, pp. 19-20, available at (consulted 15 July 2009).
19. E.g. Victor Hugo's depiction of Esmeralda in the Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831)
20. and Isabella Fonseca's Bury me Standing (1996).
21. HCNM, supra note 3, p. 19;
22. Klimóvá-Alexander, supra note 2, p. 14;
23. Hancock, supra note 12, p. 25.
24. Equality Ombudsman (DO) report, Discrimination against Roma in Sweden, 2004, p. 8;
25. Fenger-Grøndahl and Fenger-Grøndahl, supra note 2, p. 324.
26. Klimóvá-Alexander, supra note 2, p. 14,
27. HCNM, supra note 3, p. 21;
28. Hancock, supra note 12, pp. 34-53.
29. HCNM, supra note 3, pp. 21-22.
30. For further discussion, see e.g. M. Stewart, Time of the Gypsies (Westview Press, UK, 1997)
31. and Klimóvá-Alexander, supra note 2.
32. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), The Roma in Central and Eastern Europe: Avoiding the Dependency Trap, 2002, pp. 1-5 and 31-68, available at (consulted 15 July 2009).
33. " Whereas the 12-15 million Roma living in Europe, 7-9 million of whom live in the European Union, suffer racial discrimination and in many cases are subject to severe structural discrimination, poverty and social exclusion", European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) - see now European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), Roma and Travellers in Public Education: An Overview of the Situation in the EU Member States, Vienna, 2006, p. 129, available at (consulted 15 July 2009);
34. Fenger-Grøndahl and Fenger-Grøndahl, supra note 2;
35. HCNM, supra note 3. Structural discrimination is systematic ways in which a given social structure or social institution discriminates a particular group of people through laws/policies and behaviour of persons who implement the laws/policies and control these institutions. These are either directly discriminating or neutral in intent but with a differential and/or harmful effect on the given group in question. See (consulted 5 July 2007).
36. EUMC, ibid., pp. 8 and 46;
37. European Parliament, Report on the Situation of Roma Women in the European Union (2005/2164(INI)), Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, Rapporteur Lívía Járóka, Final A6-0148/2006, 27 April 2006, p. 5, available at (consulted 15 July 2009);
38. UNDP, supra note 19, p. 55.
39. EUMC, ibid., p. 130.
40. EUMC, ibid., p. 19;
41. HCNM, supra note 3, pp. 35-37;
42. UNDP, supra note 19, p. 71;
43. and ERRC .
44. E.g. some use self-appellations as Kale, Sinti, Romanichal instead of "Roma" that is most common in the Central and Eastern European region. Klimóvá-Alexander, supra note 2, p. 30.
45. Klimóvá-Alexander, supra note 2, pp. 19-22;
46. N. Gheorghe, 'The Social Construction of Romani Identity', in T. Acton (ed.), Gypsy Politics and Traveller Identity (University of Hertfordshire Press, 1997) pp. 153-172, at p. 161;
47. Hancock, supra note 12.
48. It has been suggested that Roma constitute a tribal people in Europe according to Article 1(1) and (2) ILO Convention 169. However the UN does not recognise this term (G. Alfredsson, 'Minorities, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, and Peoples: Definitions of Terms as a Matter of International Law', in N. Ghanea and A. Xanthaki (eds.), Minorities, Peoples and Self-determination (Koninklijke Brill NV, Netherlands, 2005) pp. 163-172, at p. 169). p. 169).
49. Gheorghe, supra note 25, p. 160;
50. EUMC, supra note 20, p. 19.
51. Asylum Aid, Romani Women from Central and Eastern Europe: A "Fourth World", or Experience of Multiple Discrimination, Asylum Aid Refugee Women's Resource Project, 2002, p. 17, available at (consulted 15 July 2009).
52. Stewart, supra note 18, p. 12.
53. E. Ardner, 'Belief and the Problem of Women', in T. H. Eriksen (ed.), Socialantropologiske Grunntekster (Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, Oslo, 2001) pp. 197-214, at pp. 198-200.
54. European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) Roundtable Meeting, 'Roundtable: Romani activists on women's rights' (includes article by S. Xhemajli, 'Everything we don't want to hear', pp. 28-30 and responses by participants in the Roundtable pp. 30-37), 1 Roma Rights Quarterly Journal of the European Roma Rights Centre (2000) response by Ivanov at p. 35.
55. Berliner Institut für Vergleichende Sozialforschung (BVIS), Economic Aspects of the Condition of Roma Women, IP/CFEMM/2005-09, Report prepared for the European Parliament DG of Internal Policies, Citizen's Rights and Constitutional Affairs (RMD 3J 24/26), April 2006, available at (consulted 15 July 2009);
56. IRWN, supra note 6, pp. 2-7;
57. European Parliament, supra note 21, p. 4;
58. EUMC, supra note 20, p. 129.
59. IRWN, supra note 6, p. 13.
60. European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) - see now European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), Breaking the Barriers: Romani women's access to public health care, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg, 2003, pp. 39-42, available at (consulted 15 July 2009).
61. Ibid., pp. 39-48.
62. European Parliament, supra note 21, p. 6,
63. Asylum Aid, supra note 28;
64. Center for Reproductive Rights in New York and Centre for Civil and Human Rights of Poradna, Body and Soul: Forced Sterilization and Other Assaults on Roma Reproductive Freedom in Slovakia, 2003, available at (consulted 15 July 2009).
65. Equality Ombudsman, supra note 15, p. 15.
66. Asylum Aid, supra note 28, p. 48.
67. European Parliament, supra note 21, p. 5 and (consulted 18 May 2007).
68. Center for Reproductive Rights in New York and Centre for Civil and Human Rights of Poradna, supra note 36.
69. For a more detailed discussion on the legal aspects of coercive sterilization of Romani women in the Czech Republic, see M. Kopalová, 'Coercive Sterilization in Czech Republic: Civil and Criminal Law Aspects', 4 Roma Rights Quarterly Journal of the European Roma Rights Centre (2006) pp. 27-31, at pp. 27-30.
70. Asylum Aid, supra note 28, p. 54;
71. Kopalová, ibid., p. 30.
72. ERRC Roundtable, supra note 31, response by Ivanov at p. 35.
73. ERRC Roundtable, supra note 31, article by Xhemajli at pp. 28-30;
74. IRWN, supra note 6, p. 3.
75. IRWN, supra note 6, and additional information on homepage .
76. European Union's Specialist Group on Roma/Gypsies, supra note 6, p. 7;
77. C. Cahn, 'Nexus: domestic violence, Romani courts and recognition', 1 Roma Rights Quarterly Journal of the European Roma Rights Centre (2000) pp. 42-46, at p. 42;
78. IRWN, supra note 6, p. 5.
79. "Romnia" is used as a feminine form of Roma in Oprea, supra note 8, p. 33.
80. S. Spiliopoulou Åkermark, Human Rights of Minority Women: A Manual of International Law (Åland Islands Peace Institute in co-operation with Åbo Akademi University Institute for Human Rights, 2000) p. 11.
81. Article 27 in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, 1966) was for a long time the only provision in international human rights law that explicitly concerned minorities. History, however, has shown general human rights law to be inadequate in presenting solutions to the most important concerns of minorities. Consequently, specific minority rights have been elaborated as complementary to general human rights law. At the international level these rights are laid out in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National, Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities (UNDM, 1992). This Declaration is often referred to as an authoritative interpretation of Article 27 ICCPR and was the first international document to comprehensively address the rights of persons belonging to minorities. At European level minority rights are defined in the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM, 1995) and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (1992).
82. Also the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) has played a large role in the development of international minority standards in recommendations on the educational, linguistic and political rights of minorities. These are based on the OSCE Copenhagen Meeting Document (1990) that has also inspired the work of the UN and Council of Europe on minority issues. Notably, the Copenhagen Document refers specifically to the discrimination of Roma in Article 40. Th is development of a special legal field of minority rights signifies that persons belonging to minorities are entitled to human rights for all as well as to specific rights.
83. UDHR, Article 2;
84. ICCPR, Article 2(1) and Article 26;
85. ICESCR, Article 2(2);
86. ECHR, Article 14.
87. A. Eide, 'The Non-inclusion of Minority Rights: Resolution 217C (III)', in G. Alfredsson and A. Eide (eds.), The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: A Common Standard of Achievement (Kluwer Law Intenational and Martinus NijhoffPublishers, The Hague, 1999) pp. 701-723, at p. 714.
88. Freedom of association (UDHR, Article 20; ICCPR, Article 22; ECHR, Article 11).
89. Freedom of expression and information (UDHR, Article 18; ICCPR, Article 18; ECHR, Article 10).
90. Freedom of assembly (UDHR, Article 20; ICCPR, Article 21; ECHR, Article 11).
91. M. Nowak, Introduction to the International Human Rights Regime, The Raoul Wallenberg Institute Human Rights Library, Volume 14 (Martinus NijhoffPublishers, Leiden, 2003) p. 85.
92. CERD, Article 1(4).
93. General Comment no. 27: Discrimination against Roma: 16/08/2000, reference to Romani women in Articles 6, 7, 34 and 46.
94. E.g. CERD on sterilisation of Romani women in Slovakia: Concluding Observations 10/12/2004, UN. Doc CERD/C/65/CO/7. See also CERD on multiple discrimination against Romani women in Ireland (Travellers): Concluding Observations 14/04/2005, CERD C/IRL/CO/2.
95. UDHR, Article 26 and ICESCR, Article 13; Convention on the Punishment and Prevention of the Crime of Genocide (1948);
96. UNESCO's Convention against Discrimination in Education (1962);
97. CERD (1966);
98. United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989);
99. UNESCO's Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice (1978);
100. and the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief (1981).
101. UNDM, FCNM and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
102. G. Alfredsson, Minority Rights and Democracy, submitted to the Third Strasbourg Conference on Parliamentary Democracy, Strasbourg, 16-18 September 1991, Secretariat: Council of Europe SXB.CONF (III) 8, 1991, pp. 4-5.
103. HCNM, Lund Recommendations on the Effective Participation of National Minorities in Public Life (1999).
104. FCNM, Article 12, 13 and 14.
105. UNDM, Article 8(2);
106. FCNM, Article 20.
107. See also ICCPR, Article 5(8).
108. P. Thornberry in Spiliopoulou Åkermark, supra note 47, pp. 53-54.
109. .
110. Sandra Lovelace v. Canada, Communication No. 24/1977, UN Doc. A/36/40(1981).
111. Lubicon Lake Band v. Canada, Communication No. 167/1984, UN Doc. A/45/40 (1990).
112. European Roma Rights Centre, (consulted 7 June 2007).
113. Buckley v. UK, Application No. 20348/92, (25/9/1996).
114. ECHR, Article 8.
115. ECHR, Article 14. This case exemplifies the limitations in the use of Article 14 in ECtHR jurisprudence. Protocol 12 to the ECHR has been elaborated in order to ensure more efficient implementation of Article 14.
116. This critique was raised by an official from the International Romani Union and by a member of the chamber which dealt with the case, see Spiliopoulou Åkermark, supra note 47, p. 69.
117. ERRC report, Ambulance not on the way: the disgrace of health care for Roma in Europe, pp. 47-59.
118. The adoption of the terminology internal and external discrimination is inspired by Kymlicka's terminology on group rights for external or internal restriction. See W. Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights (Oxford University Press, 1995) p. 35.
119. CERD, Article 5 (f).
120. FCNM, Article 16 and Spiliopoulou Åkermark, supra note 47, p. 16.
121. Article 1 of CERD explicitly defines discrimination within public life.
122. Sandra Lovelace v. Canada, Communication No. 24/1977, UN Doc. A/36/40(1981), and Spiliopoulou Åkermark, supra note 47, pp. 50-52.
123. Minority limitations are mostly discussed in relation to the harmful practices of female genital mutilation and infanticide, prenatal sex selection and dowry-related violence. Spiliopoulou Åkermark, supra note 47, p. 54.
124. Alfredsson, supra note 26, p. 165;
125. C. Johnsson, Nation States and Minority Rights - A Constitutional Law Analysis, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden, Faculty of Law, PhD thesis, 2002, pp. 33-40.
126. Kymlicka, supra note 72, p. 35;
127. Johnsson, ibid., pp. 36-40.
128. Some communities maintain the use of the traditional Romani internal dispute settlement institution (Criss). This is a tribunal-based court system adjudicated by elders. Cahn, supra note 45, p. 42.
129. Johnsson, supra note 78, p. 110;
130. Kymlicka, supra note 72, p. 36.
131. Johnsson, supra note 78, p. 39.
132. H. Charlesworth, 'What are "Women's International Human Rights"?', in R. J. Cook (ed.), Human Rights of Women: National and International Perspectives (University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1994) pp. 58-84, at p. 60;
133. F. Gómez Isa, 'The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and its Optional Protocol', in F. Gómez Isa and K. de Feyter (eds.), International Protection of Human Rights: Achievements and Challenges (University of Deusto, HumanitarianNet, Bibao, 2006) pp. 217-249, at p. 219.
134. The Convention on the Political Rights of Women (1952), the Declaration of the General Assembly on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1967), ILO Convention No.3 (1919).
135. Gómez Isa, supra note 83, p. 223.
136. HRC General Comment no. 18: Non-discrimination, 10/11/1989;
137. HRC General Comment no. 28: On the Equality of Rights between Men and Women (article 3), 29/03/2000, ICCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.10.
138. ICCPR and ICESCR articles 3.
139. ICCPR, Article 23(2);
140. ICESCR, Article 10(1);
141. and ECHR, Article 12.
142. ICESCR, Article 10(2).
143. European Social Charter, Article 8 and Article 17.
144. Article 1 of CEDAW, and United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, Discrimination Against Women: The Convention and the Committee, United Nations, Human Rights Fact Sheet No. 22, 1995, available at (consulted 15 July 2009).
145. Articles 7-9 and 10-14.
146. Articles 15-16.
147. Article 5(a) in conjunction with Article 2(e) and (f), and R. Cook, 'State Accountability Under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women', in Cook, supra note 83, pp. 228-256, at p. 239.
148. Article 6 and Article 14.
149. Article 2 imposes an obligation of result, e.g. policy development for eliminating discrimination. Article 2 plus subsequent articles also establish obligations of means, e.g. the use of legislation or temporary measures to ensure the elimination of discrimination. Spiliopoulou Åkermark, supra note 47, p. 33.
150. Arguably, some of these reservations go against the object and purpose of CEDAW (CEDAW, Article 28(2) and Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Article 19).
151. In CEDAW the Committee's mandate is limited to state reviews (Article 17), Gómez Isa, supra note 83, p. 229.
152. Spiliopoulou Åkermark, supra note 47, p. 36.
153. E.g. referring to minority women: Communication No. 11/2006, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/37/D/11/2006, Fourth Periodic Report of States parties: Netherlands, 10/02/2005, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/NLD/4.
154. See also referring to Roma women: Concluding comments of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: Czech Republic, CEDAW/C/CZE/CO/3, 25/08/2006.
155. A. S. v. Hungary, Communication No. 4/2004, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/36/D/4/2004.
156. Besides this case CEDAW has dealt with five communications under the Optional Protocol: B.J. v. Germany, Communication No. 1/2003, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/A/59/38/D/1/2003;
157. A.T. v. Hungary, Communication No. 2/2003, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/32/D/2/2003;
158. Dung Th i Th uy Nguyen v. The Netherlands, Communication No. 3/2004, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/36/D/3/2004;
159. Rahime Kayhan v. Turkey, Communication No. 8/2005, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/34/D/8/2005;
160. Constance Ragan Salgado v. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Communication No. 11/2006, U.N. Doc. CEDAW/C/37/D/11/2006.
161. Articles 10(h), 12 and 16(1)(e) of CEDAW.
162. Cook, supra note 94, p. 242;
163. Charlesworth, supra note 83, p. 69.
164. Charlesworth, supra note 83, p. 59;
165. Cook, supra note 94.
166. ICCPR, Article 7.
167. CEDAW, Article 1 in conjunction with Article 3 and Spiliopoulou Åkermark, supra note 47, p. 31.
168. This also signifies that CEDAW challenges the traditional public/private division in human rights law where cultural and religious rights have been regarded as private freedoms outside legal regulation. Charlesworth, supra note 83, p. 74.
169. CEDAW, Article 2(f) in combination with Article 5(a).
170. Cook, supra note 94, pp. 239-240.
171. A. S. v. Hungary, Communication No. 4/2004, U.N. Doc CEDAW/C/36/D/4/2004.
172. Throughout history women with disabilities have been subject to unlawful coercive sterilisation as have also women with indigenous ancestry and ethnic minority women.
173. Charlesworth, supra note 83, p. 66.
174. Center for Reproductive Rights in New York and Centre for Civil and Human Rights of Poradna, supra note 36, p. 96.
175. G. Warnke, 'Race, Gender, and Antiessentialist Politics', 31:1 Journal of Women in Culture and Society (2005) p. 94, available at (consulted 15 July 2009);
176. Kymlicka, supra note 72, p. 9.
177. (consulted 15 July 2009).
178. ERRC Roundtable, supra note 31, responses by Demirovski and Sztojka at pp. 31-32 and 33-43.
179. Crenshaw, supra note 7, p. 1253.
180. Examples are: EUMC, supra note 34,
181. and BVIS, supra note 32.
182. ERRC Roundtable, supra note 31, response by Ivanov at p. 36.
183. Charlesworth, supra note 83, p. 62.
184. P. Antrobus, The Global Women's Movement: Origins, Issues and Strategies (Global Issues, Zed Books, London, 2004) p. 21;
185. B. Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, new edition (Verso, 2006) p. 81.
186. Antrobus, ibid., p. 15;
187. C. T. Mohanty, 'Introduction: Cartographies of Struggle: Th ird World Women and the Politics of Feminism', in C. T. Mohanty, A. Russo and L. Torres, Th ird World Women and the Politics of Feminism (Indiana University Press, 1991) pp. 1-43, at pp. 10-15.
188. A. Lorde in Antrobus, ibid., p. 15.
189. R. Coomaraswamy, Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Integration of the Human Rights of Women and the Gender Perspective: Violence Against Women, E/CN.4/2003/75/Add.1, 27 February 2003, submitted in accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 2002/52 Addendum 1, International, regional and national developments in the area of violence against women 1994-2003, available at (consulted 15 July 2009).
190. See discussion on this issue in E. Brems, 'Enemies or Allies? Feminism and Cultural Relativism as Dissident Voices in Human Rights Discourse', in B. B. Lockwood (ed.), Women's Rights: A Human Rights Quarterly Reader (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006) pp. 101-129.
191. IRWN, supra note 6, pp. 7-8.
192. ERRC Roundtable, supra note 31, article by Xemajli at p. 30.
193. See (consulted 4 July 2007).
194. IRWN, supra note 6, p. 8.
195. See also N. Bitu: "Then I started to put forward questions on my own declared beliefs and public discourse. Do I really believe in the universality of human rights? I was thinking: I am an activist fighting for the rights of Romani people, but what about other types of rights? Do I really believe in them or are my personal convictions so far from that, that I pray in public until the point where I start to have double discourse?" N. Bitu in 4 Roma Rights Quarterly Journal of the European Roma Rights Centre (2003) at (consulted 4 June 2007).
196. K. Hastrup, 'The Quest for Universality: An Introduction', in K. Hastrup (ed.), Human Rights on Common Grounds: The Quest for Universality (Kluwer Law International, The Hague, 2001) pp. 1-25.
197. Recent literature often presents a normative conception of universality, as general and worldwide applicability or all-inclusiveness of human rights, signifying that human rights are rights that belong to all simply because they are human. E. Brems, Human Rights: Universality and Diversity (Kluwer Law Intenational and Martinus NijhoffPublishers, The Hague, 2001) pp. 4-16 and J. Donnelly, in same book, at p. 4.
198. Brems, ibid., pp. 23-25.
199. Ibid., p. 27.
200. Ibid.;
201. Hastrup, supra note 130;
202. G. Ulrich, 'Universal Human Rights: An Unfinished Project', in Hastrup, supra note 130, pp. 195-225.
203. Ulrich, ibid., p. 196.
204. See also M. Kjærum, 'Universal Human Rights: Between the Local and the Global', in Hastrup, supra note 130, pp. 75-89, at p. 76.
205. Ulrich, ibid., p. 221.
206. Ulrich, ibid., p. 221. Ulrich terms the contextual validation of human rights the "test of pertinence".
207. J. Habermas, Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy (Polity Press, UK, 1996) p. 107.
208. Kjærum, supra note 135, p. 83.
209. UN Charter, preambular paragraph 1, and Johnsson, supra note 78, p. 91.
210. UDHR preamble, and Johnsson, supra note 78, p. 91.
211. Johnsson, supra note 78, 2002 pp. 91.
212. Nino in Johnsson, supra note 78, p. 93.
213. European Parliament, supra note 21, p. 10.
214. Crenshaw, supra note 7, pp. 1241-1245
215. and Crenshaw in MRG, supra note 9, pp. 11 and 33. This thesis is inspired by Crenshaw's theory and develops it further to serve within a minority women's context, whereas Crenshaw focuses on black women in the United States.
216. E.g. European Commission, Tackling Multiple Discrimination; T. Makkonen, Multiple, Compound and Intersectional Discrimination: Bringing the experiences of the most marginalized to the fore, Institute for Human Rights, Åbo Akademi University, 2002;
217. UN General Assembly Report of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, Durban, 2001, Declaration No 2.
218. Crenshaw, supra note 7, p. 1244.
219. MRG, supra note 9, p. 13.
220. Asylum Aid, supra note 28, p. 57.
221. A third aspect of gender-based discrimination that may be present in the justice institution is non-investigation of domestic violence or spousal rape because they are regarded as private matters.
222. Kopalová, supra note 40, pp. 27-30.
223. Crenshaw, supra note 7, pp. 1249-1251.
224. Crenshaw, supra note 7, p. 1252.
225. Crenshaw, supra note 7, p. 1282. The author presents a discussion on representational intersectionality as the cause for misleading cultural images of Black women. This discussion is, however, beyond this thesis.
226. Paragrahs 33 and 75 of Report of the Independent Expert on Minority Issues: Mission to Hungary, 26 June-3 July 2006, UN Doc. A/HRC/4/9/Add.2, 4 January 2007.
227. An example of a fragmented and unexplained use of the concept is the Report of the Independent Expert on Minority Issues: Mission to Hungary, ibid.
228. "Mainstreaming" is much debated in the international community. It is criticised that the concept is used varyingly and inconsistently and also that the UN mainstreaming models have shown little result. M. O'Flaherty and C. O'Brien, 'Reform of the UN Human Rights Treaty Monitoring Bodies: A Critique of the Concept Paper on the High Commissioner's Proposal for a Unified Standing Treaty Body', 7:1 Human Rights Law Review (2007) pp. 141-172, at p. 169. Th is discussion is, however, beyond the scope of this thesis as it requires an investigation of effective implementation methodologies.
229. General Comment no. 25: Gender-related Dimension of Racial Discrimination, 20/03/2000.
230. K. de Feyter, 'Localising Human Rights', in W. Benedek, K. de Feyter and F. Marella (eds.), Economic Globalization and Human Rights (Cambridge University Press, 2007) pp. 19-41, at pp. 26 and 37.
231. Concept Paper on the High Commissioner's Proposal for a Unified Standing Treaty Body, HRI/MC/2006/2;
232. M. Nowak, 'The Need for a World Court of Human Rights', 7:1 Human Rights Law Review (2007) pp. 251-259;
233. O'Flaherty and O'Brien, supra note 157, pp. 141-172.
234. O'Flaherty and O'Brien, supra note 157, p. 150.
235. The feminist legal scholar Hilary Charlesworth argues that despite the adoption of a gender-mainstreaming vocabulary, little implementation is seen as ensuring gender perspectives in planning, monitoring, follow-up activities, etc. Charlesworth in O'Flaherty and O'Brien, supra note 157, p. 170.