Statement by the Head of the Delegation of the Czech Republic JUDr. Čestmír Sajda, MBA, Deputy Chairman of the Government Council for Equal Opportunities of Women and Men and Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
30.05.2007 / 18:22 | Aktualizováno:
36th session of the Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Third Periodic Report of the Czech Republic
Statement by the Head of the Delegation of the Czech Republic
JUDr. Čestmír Sajda, MBA,
Deputy Chairman of the Government Council for Equal
Opportunities of Women and Men and Deputy Minister of Labour and
Social Affairs
36th session of the Committee on Elimination of
Discrimination against Women
Third Periodic Report of the Czech Republic
New York, 17 August 2006
Check against delivery
Madame Chair, distinguished Committee Members, Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of the Czech Government I would like to thank the
Committee for reviewing our Third country report and our responses
to the pre-session list of issues.
First of all, allow me to express my pleasure that the Czech
Republic has been given the opportunity to present its efforts in
fulfilment of its international human rights obligations with
respect to elimination of all forms of discrimination against women
and of achieving true equality for men and women to this 36th
session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women.
Almost two years have already passed since the submission of
the Third periodic report of the Czech Republic on fulfilment of
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women. With regard to this fact, I would like to focus my
speech on the key legislative and other changes that have occurred
in respective areas of the protection of women's rights during this
period. At the same time, however, allow me to use this opportunity
to outline the activities in progress and our plans for the
future.
The status of women in society and fulfilment of
international legal obligations with respect to human rights in
general and women's rights in particular continues to be one of the
leading priorities of the Czech Government policy. Achievement of
full equality of men and women has been significantly enhanced by
the signature of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women and by adoption of the Optional
Protocol to the Convention. By signing the Convention, the Czech
Republic has affirmed itself as a follower of the treasured values
of democracy, freedom and human rights. At the same time, it
recognized the achievement of truly equal treatment of men and
women as one of the objectives and fundamental principles of human
rights. In addition to this UN Convention, the Czech Republic has
been committed also to numerous international obligations, such as
conventions of the International Labour Organisation, European
Social Charter and both UN human rights pacts. Further key
political obligations of the Czech Republic reflect conclusions of
the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in 1995 in Beijing,
revised conclusions of the 23rd special session of the UN General
Assembly, held in June 2000 in New York, informally known as
Beijing +5, conclusions adopted at the ceremonial 49th Session of
the Commission on the Status of Women in March 2005 in New York,
known as Beijing +10. In addition to the above-mentioned
obligations, the Czech Republic developed both legislative and
actual prerequisites of implementation of the equal opportunities
policy based on the core European principles of equal treatment of
women and men, initially as a part of the EU accession process and
then already as an EU Member State.
As the submitted report states, since 1998, the Czech
Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has been tasked with
coordination of the government policy related to the status of
women in society. The Government has concurrently authorised the
Ministry to draw up a national action plan, representing a
conceptual basis for the government policy in this area. The
strategy has been incorporated into the Government paper called "
Priorities and Procedures of the Government in promoting Equality
of Women and Men". The document was adopted by the Czech Government
in 1998 and since then it has been updated on an annual basis. From
the very beginning, the national action plan has been drawn up in
accordance with the Beijing Platform for Action and conclusions of
the CEDAW ensuing from discussions of the initial report on
fulfilment of the Convention in the Czech Republic. The Czech
Government performs annual assessments of progress in fulfilment of
the national action plan measures. Based on the assessment, the
action plan is updated, taking account of latest developments -the
most recent update being the Government Resolution from May this
year. No. 509 of 10 May 2006.
The national action plan for promotion of equality of women
and men in the Czech Republic has focused on seven areas of the
Beijing Platform for Action:
-
To promote the principle of equality of women and men as part of the Government policy,
-
To provide for legal guarantees of equality of women and men and for raising the legal awareness level,
-
To guarantee equal opportunities for women and men in access to economic activities,
-
To equalise the social status of women and men taking care of children and dependent family members,
-
To ensure consideration for women with regard to their reproductive function and physiological differences,
-
To combat violence against women, and
-
To monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of application of the principle of equal status for women and men.
With reference to fulfilment of the objectives adopted by the
Beijing Platform for Action, two new measures have been included in
the action plan for 2006:
1. To prepare analysis of relevant aspects of migration and
integration policies with regard to equality of women and men
aiming at identification of inequalities and problems. To maintain
records of illegal migration and residency of foreign nationals in
the Czech Republic territory taking into account the gender
perspective; and
2. To honour the principle of equality of women and men when
setting up policy strategies and projects of development
cooperation across all institutional structures and at all levels
of the decision-making process.
As a member of the international community of democratic and
economically developed countries and of the European Union, the
Czech Republic respects the principle of mutual solidarity between
people and countries and accepts its share of responsibility in
resolution of global issues. This attitude is reflected for example
in the area of international development cooperation, which forms
an integral part of the Czech foreign policy, and which must
contribute to the fulfilment of principles of gender
mainstreaming.
For several years, contributions to promotion of equality of
women and men in the Czech society have been made by Gender
Equality Unit on MoLSA Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs,
officials of various ministries responsible for the agenda of
equality of women and men (so called gender focal points), by the
Ombudsman and by two advisory bodies of the Government - the
Government Council for Human Rights and Government Council for
Equal Opportunities for Women and Men. The Ombudsman acts as a
protector of individuals against actions of public authorities and
other institutions, whose actions are contradictory to law,
incompliant with the democratic principles of the state of law and
good governance. The Government Council for Equal Opportunities for
Women and Men and Government Council for Human Rights operate as
advisory bodies to the Government in systemic and conceptual
issues. One of the committees set up within the Government Council
for Human Rights is the Committee for the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women. The Czech Government closely
cooperates with most of the leading NGOs involved in equal
opportunities for women and men.
In this context I would like to mention the fact that the
Czech Republic has been aware of the importance of existence of
both national and international institutions serving the ends of
equality of women and men. Therefore, we have formally declared our
interest in becoming the country of residence for a newly forming
European Union institution for equal status of women and men - the
European Institute for Gender Equality - that would have its seat
in Prague. The Czech Republic expects that the institution would
assist more efficient promotion of equal status of women both
within and outside the European Union.
An important initiative focusing on enhanced institutional
backing to the equal opportunities policy was a project of the
Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs implemented in 2002 and 2003
under the EU PHARE programme. The main objective of the project
consisted in setting up a basis for transformation and improvement
of the institutional structure with respect to issues of equality
of women and men both on the nation-wide and local levels. Its
findings concluded that the institutional structures in place were
more or less adequate and therefore the short- and long-term
recommendations aimed at equipping the existent institutions with
improved stability and clear political support.
Thinking of examples of already implemented recommendations
identified by the project, I would like to mention the following
measures: As from 2004, all papers with relevance to natural
persons that are submitted to the Government must include an impact
analysis with respect to equality of women and men, as well as
statistics divided by sex, and explanations of any potential
differences identified. In 2004, the Ministry of finance together
with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and in co-operation
with NGOs developed a methodology for gender budgeting. An
extensive information campaign was subsequently run on that issue,
with a focus on municipalities and regions, as well as general
public. In addition, the Government tasked all its members to
undergo, together with senior officials of their ministries,
training courses on equal opportunities for women and men.
In May 2006, a project was launched in the Czech Republic, implemented under the Transition Facility programme of the European Union. Its key purpose is to encourage the social partners across the Czech Republic - associations of employers and trade unions - to promote the equality of women and men. By that, the Czech Government intends to support employers in wide-spread introduction of equal treatment of women and men in the workplace in a pre-meditated and systemic manner and to offer them training and information on good practice of equal treatment from other countries. Moreover as an integral part of another project an information campaign on the importance of equality of women and men and its benefits for society will be organized in order to increase the sensitivity of journalists and media to the issues of equality of women and men.
Madame Chair, distinguished Committee Members, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Allow me to inform you on the most important changes in the
Czech legal system that have been adopted since the delivery of the
Third periodic report of the Czech Republic on fulfilment of the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women. The changes have served the aims of fulfilling the
Convention, as well as meeting the obligations ensuing from the
legal provisions of the European Communities. These changes have
been affecting in particular the labour law and criminal law
areas.
With respect to the labour law, a new Act on Employment was
adopted in 2004. The Act has laid down legal relations related to
implementation of government employment policy and access to
employment. Such relations precede entering into an employment
contract. The Act prohibits the parties of these relations to
commit both direct and indirect discrimination on multiple grounds,
including any discrimination based on gender. Discrimination is
deemed to include any conduct inciting, instigating or invoking any
pressure leading to discrimination. In addition to the ban on
discrimination, the Act also allows for adoption of various types
of positive steps in support of disadvantaged population groups,
inter alia in support of (achieving) equal treatment of women and
men.
The first Labour Code, adopted in 1965, already included
general provisions on equal treatment. Since 2001, the Code
includes an explicit prohibition of discrimination on gender
grounds. Earlier this year, a new Labour Code was adopted that has
retained and further specified the ban on discrimination.
Discrimination has been forbidden also by the acts newly
laying down service relations of members of security forces and
service relations of civil servants in administrative
authorities.
Based on a new Act on Labour Inspection of 2005,
reorganisation of surveillance over breaches of labour law
provisions was performed in order to increase its efficiency. Until
adoption of the Act, an inspection role rested solely with the
labour offices that checked up on discrimination of both job
seekers and employees. As from 1 July 2005, certain amount of
inspection powers were assigned to labour inspectorates. As far as
discrimination on the labour market is concerned, labour offices
have retained their inspection powers towards employers with
respect to hiring employees, which specifically include, for
example, discriminatory advertisements, discriminatory questions
during a job interview or turning down of candidates for
discriminatory reasons. All other issues occurring already during
employment have been devolved to labour inspectorates. These
include checking up on equal remuneration, equal treatment in
selection of employees for promotion to more senior positions,
equal access of women and men to vocational training, and equal
working conditions for women and men.
The principle of equality of women and men and the ban on
discrimination based on multiple reasons, including the gender
grounds, with respect of access to primary, secondary and tertiary
education, have been incorporated into a new Education Act that
entered into force on January 1, 2005. The Education Act includes
special provisions on education of ethnic minorities, religious
education, education of pupils with special educational needs, as
well as of exceptionally gifted pupils.
In the criminal law area, there have been important changes
concerning domestic violence and trafficking in human beings. Until
2004, domestic violence was subject to the same penalties as many
of general criminal offences (such as assault and battery,
blackmailing, rape, homicide etc.). In 2004, a new criminal offence
was included into the Criminal Code, specifically penalizing
domestic violence. This offence is defined as battering (whether
physical or psychological) aimed at persons dwelling in the same
flat or house with the abuser.
An important element of the legal framework providing
protection to persons against domestic violence is represented by a
new act adopted at the beginning of 2006, which has been further
detailing the legal provisions of 2004. The act has introduced an
institute of banishing the offender from the common dwelling by the
Police for 10 days, as well as checking on compliance with the
obligations imposed on the aggressor upon banishment and subsequent
care for the person at risk by an intervention centre. The care of
the intervention centre, the place of which is often concealed from
the offender, consists of psychological, social and legal
assistance. It also includes assistance to the person at risk in
approaching the court with a request for an emergency ruling. Based
on the emergency ruling, the aggressor would be forced to leave the
flat or house and its immediate neighbourhood and to abstain from
returning throughout the determined period of time. The act is
coming into force as from 1 January 2007.
Penal provisions on trafficking in human beings have been
significantly modified by two fundamental amendments to the
Criminal Code. Based on the first amended version adopted in 2002,
the body of the criminal offence of trafficking of women was
changed to trafficking in human beings for sexual intercourse
purposes. The second amended version of the Criminal Code of 2004
introduced a new body of crime - trafficking in human beings. This
new body of crime is more extensive in several directions than its
precursors. First, it covers both trafficking in human beings for
sexual intercourse purposes as well as for other purposes. Second,
the new definition includes not only cross-border trafficking but
also trafficking in human beings within a country. At the same
time, the amended Criminal Code has newly put the criminal offence
of trafficking in human beings on the list of the most serious
crimes, which for example enables the investigative and prosecuting
bodies to use certain special investigative procedures. In
accordance with the definition of the Palermo Protocol, the Czech
Criminal Code has drawn a distinction between trafficking in
children and trafficking in adults. Following the CEDAW
recommendation of 2002, the Government also adopted the National
Strategy of the fight against Trafficking in Human Beings.
Madame Chair, distinguished Committee Members, Ladies and
Gentlemen,
The progress achieved by the Czech Republic in reinforcing
the legal framework for equality of women and men has significantly
reduced factual barriers limiting promotion of the principle of
equal treatment of women and men in practice. Gender stereotypes in
our society are being gradually eliminated, in particular among the
young generation. The Government policy objectives have therefore
consisted in raising general awareness of the substance and
contents of the principle of equal status of women and men, with a
special emphasis on promoting gender sensitivity of civil servants
responsible for creation of individual policies. Efficient
application of gender mainstreaming represents a fundamental tool
for achieving these objectives. That means that conceptual,
decision-making and evaluation processes at all stages of their
preparation and performance should always be subjected to the
perspective of equal opportunities for women and men. Gender
mainstreaming has contributed to increased visibility of the gender
equality issues, thus helping to identify gender differences and to
take them into account in further actions.
In order to disseminate information on gender equality issues
and to promote the principle in practice, the Government has
decided to carry out public information campaigns, thematically
focused on the issues of domestic violence and gender stereotypes.
Since October 2003, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has
been running a public information campaign on the unacceptability
of domestic violence, with a special emphasis on the prevention
among young people within the age group between 15 and 25 years of
age. Through the campaign, young people should learn about basic
facts on domestic violence and also learn to recognise signs of
such violence at early stages of a relationship. They should be
also advised that a relationship in which either of the partners
inclines towards committing domestic violence should be preferably
terminated as soon as possible. An educative computer game has been
developed for the campaign, teaching the young people how to act
and respond in a relationship and how to recognise the line of
difference between the "still normal" conduct and domestic
violence.
This year, a public information campaign will be organised by
the Government, focused on overcoming gender stereotypes, most
importantly in employment, families and public administration. It
will be implemented by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in
cooperation with the Government plenipotentiary for human rights.
In the employment area the campaign will be targeted on access of
women to senior positions. In the family area, it will focus on the
balanced roles of women and men in a family. Finally, in the public
administration area, the campaign will promote participation of
women in decision-making and management. The campaign is intended
as a long running and should support an ongoing public discussion.
It should strongly and clearly state the need to eliminate gender
stereotypes and to highlight the benefits of genuine application of
equal opportunities for women and men for the society.
Furthermore, as a Member State of the European Union, the
Czech Republic has been participating in implementation of
Europe-wide activities. In 2007, the Czech Republic will be
involved in putting into practice a European initiative towards a
just and solidarity-based society - the European Year of Equal
Opportunities for All. The European Year of Equal Opportunities
will be a follow-up to similar programmes implemented within the
European Union in the past, such as the European Year against
Racism in 1997 or the European Year of Disabled People in 2003.
These activities have proven themselves as efficient tools of
highlighting certain themes of the European policy. The upcoming
programme will focus on training and educational activities
promoting equal opportunities, including equal opportunities for
women and men, both on the EU and national levels. The European
Year of Equal Opportunities should also draw attention to issues of
multiple discrimination based on a combination of reasons, such as
gender and ethnicity, or gender and disability.
The Czech Government is aware of possible existence of
multiple discrimination of Roma women who may be exposed to double
discrimination as women and concurrently on the grounds of their
ethnic origin. This issue forms one of the universal themes of the
Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015, an international initiative of
which the Czech Republic is a participant. Various activities in
support of Roma women are implemented under the initiative, such as
training events for Roma women or cooperation with the NGOs that
have been implementing projects focused on gender mainstreaming and
Roma women. Furthermore, an extensive project dealing with this
issue has been in progress under the European Social Fund.
Madame Chair, distinguished Committee Members, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I believe that the above-mentioned activities undertaken by
the Czech Government will contribute to the resolution of issues
related to implementation of gender equality.
The Czech Republic, through the Ministry of Labour and Social
Affairs as a coordinator of the agenda of the status of women in
society, has been making efforts, inter alia, to reduce differences
in remuneration of women and men and to enhance the involvement of
women in decision-making processes. Allow me to present several
facts about the current situation in the Czech Republic in this
area:
As regards differences in remuneration of employees, the
current average income of women is lower by approximately 25 per
cent compared to that of men. The Czech Republic has been striving
to equalise the remuneration levels of women and men. The key
reason of the current situation should be seen in the horizontal
and vertical segregation of jobs. A low participation of women in
the decision-making processes, for example, is illustrated by the
fact that only 12.3 per cent of women are represented in the Senate
of the Czech Parliament, and 15.5 per cent in the newly elected
Chamber of Deputies. Higher representation levels of women (22.7
per cent) may be found in local governments. In general, the share
of women is decreasing with increasing seniority of position, both
in the public and private sector. Introduction of positive actions
is being subject to intensive open public debate, respecting the
sensitivity of the topic.
The employment rate of women in the Czech Republic is high
compared to other countries, including EU Member States. Women
represent 44 per cent of the economically active population in the
Czech Republic. Their economic activity is impacted primarily by
their maternity - envisaged or actual. Lower economic activity
levels are found in fertile-age women in comparison with men of the
same age group. As a result of a later retirement age, the rate of
economic activity of women aged over fifty has increased over the
recent years. According to the ILO methodology, the unemployment
rate in the Czech Republic is below the European Union average (8.5
per cent) and it amounted to 7.8 per cent as of 31 December 2005.
On the same date, the unemployment rate of women in the Czech
Republic totalled to 9.8 per cent, while the male unemployment rate
was 6.2 per cent. Improvement of the situation should be brought
about by consistent enforcement of the policy of generating equal
opportunities for men and women; by application of the principle of
equal treatment of men and women; and, by creation of favourable
conditions for harmonization of professional and family life.
I am pleased to note that the Czech Republic has a long
tradition in helping families with the care of pre-school children.
Therefore there is wide network of kindergartens available for
three- to six-year-old children. The facilities operate on a
daylong basis and are affordable for the whole society in general.
Their final, pre-school class is free of charge. Practically all
children in the Czech Republic attend kindergartens - in the school
year 2004/2005 for example, the attendance rates were 93.4 per cent
of four-year-old children and 94.1 per cent of five-year-olds. On
the average, 25 per cent of children admitted to kindergartens are
aged below three. Let me further note on the issue of harmonizing
professional and family life that in the Czech Republic one of the
parents is entitled to the following:
-
Maternity cash assistance which amounts to 70 per cent of the person's salary. It shall be provided over the period of the maternity leave that is over the period of maximum of 28 weeks. Once 6 weeks have elapsed since the childbirth, the cash assistance may be paid either to the father or mother of the child, depending on which of them stays at home to care for the baby.
-
Parental benefit, entitlement to which arises for the parent who cares for a child up to the age of four. The current level of the benefit is approximately CZK 3,700 per month. For your comparison, the minimum monthly wage in the Czech Republic is slightly below CZK 8.000 before tax. The Government has decided to more than double the parental benefit bringing it to the approximate level of CZK 7,600 per month as from 1 January 2007. For your comparison, the average retirement pension in the Czech Republic currently amounts to approximately CZK 8,000.
Madame Chair, distinguished Committee Members, Ladies and
Gentlemen,
I am convinced that the Czech Republic has been successful in
developing measures in support of women's rights and in gradually
promoting the principle of equality for women and men throughout
various spheres of the life of society. I have used this
opportunity to introduce to you at least some of the major
activities of the Czech Government in this area and changes that
have occurred with respect to protection of women's rights during
the time since the submission of the Third periodic report of the
Czech Republic. In the hours to follow, the delegation of the Czech
Government experts are prepared to provide relevant explanations to
any queries you may have, in order to provide you with a
comprehensive and objective picture of the current status of women
in the Czech Republic.
In conclusion, let me kindly introduce to you respective
members of the Czech Republic delegation: Ms Hana Zdražilová and Ms
Jarmila Hanslová of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs; Ms
Jana Švecová of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports; Ms
Lucie Otáhalová of the Office of the Government; Ms Petra Ali
Doláková of the Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the UN,
Mr Radim Bureš of the Ministry of the Interior; and, Mr Vít Schorm
of the Ministry of Justice, Government Agent before the European
Court of Human Rights.
Thank you for your attention.
Follow us on