Human Rights Committee speaks out on the rights of women

Hon Roy Bodden 
Chairman of the CIHRC

Tuesday,  April 19, 2005

Honouring Women Month in the Cayman Islands, celebrated throughout the month of March, rightly honoured one half of society that has historically been undervalued. However, many women in these Islands remain vulnerable to abuse, despite giant strides by Cayman society.

According to Estella Scott, Director of the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre, “The Immigration status of immigrant women in the Cayman Islands whose intimate partners are Caymanian is, unfortunately, many times used as a means to maintain abusive and violent relationships. These women are left feeling that if they attempt to leave their abuser they will be kicked off the islands. For those women with children in common with their Caymanian partner, the child is also used as a means of control, with the threat that the child will remain in Cayman while the mother will have to go.”

In light of this disturbing fact, Cayman Net News invited the Cayman Islands Human Rights Committee to answer questions on Women’s Rights. 

Net News: Is there widespread comprehension in these Islands that physical and mental abuse is wrong?

HRC: In general, yes, but only up to a point. The public education campaigns against physical and mental abuse by Governmental and non-governmental organizations have increased over the past decade. However, as with any social ill, there are those within society that continue to commit crimes of abuse. Globally, women are viewed as less valuable than men. Thus, this ideology is reflected in abusive acts against women, which is often viewed as culturally acceptable within our region of the world. 

Unfortunately, physical and mental abuse between partners (especially male perpetrated abuses) is still shrugged off by too many people as “normal”. There may be a certain level of comprehension by all parties involved that the act of abuse is “wrong”, however, abusive behaviour is a learned behaviour fueled by power and control. The perpetrators and victims often have not had healthy relationship models that encouraged freedom and autonomy and thus the cycle continues generation after generation. 

Additionally, the exploitation, mental abuse and sometimes physical abuse by some employers of low-paid immigrants such as domestic workers further supports the belief that women and those performing traditionally feminine occupations are not valued within society. 

Net News: What mechanisms should be in place to protect work permit holders from abuse by partners? 

HRC: The new Immigration Law which came into effect January 1, 2004 should make things easier on persons who are in abusive marriages. In the past, victims of abuse would often stay in abusive marriages longer than they would have liked. Victims of abuse knew that if they got divorced and they had their Caymanian status for less than ten years after the marriage, they would automatically have their status revoked. With the new law, this time-frame has been decreased to three years. 

The Immigration issues are quite different for persons who are being abused by another person, who holds a work permit on them. In this scenario, it may be the case of a boyfriend/girlfriend situation or quite simply employer abuse of employees. 

Net News: How should the Immigration Law be changed to protect foreign spouses from domestic abuse? 

HRC: As suggested in the answer to (the previous question), the new Immigration Law 2004 is a welcome change that, hopefully, will lessen the likelihood that foreign spouses would stay in abusive marriages for the long term because of Immigration issues. The new Immigration Law will, hopefully, improve a common issue for victims of abuse, i.e. victims would continue to stay in abusive marriages and stick it out for 10 years with their status so that their status wouldn’t be taken away once they finally filed for divorce. It may be that further alterations of the law are not necessary, but that we look to ways that assistance could be provided to assist victims of abuse who are vulnerable within the initial three years after getting their status should they divorce before then. 

Additionally, we would encourage that the effects of the new Immigration revisions are monitored to assess whether these changes are a sufficient remedy to the problems discussed above. Also, one of the recommendations regarding Immigration from the National Policy on Gender Equity and Equality supported by the Human Rights Committee is that Government promotes a public literacy campaign on the Immigration Law and policies so as to prevent infringements and empower individuals to exercise their rights.

Net News: All core international Human Rights treaties have been extended to the Cayman Islands except CEDAW (the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women). Should CEDAW also be extended to the Cayman Islands? 

HRC: Yes. It was agreed in Parliament in 2004 that the Cayman Islands Government would request through the United Kingdom Government that CEDAW be extended to the Cayman Islands. In the future, the Human Rights Committee will be the driving body to request that the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, a State Party to the Convention, include the Cayman Islands in its instrument of ratification. 

Net News: If adopted, would CEDAW be enforceable in the Cayman Islands? 

HRC: CEDAW is a comprehensive human rights treaty which aims to advance the status of women. The Convention is rooted in the goals of the United Nations: to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women. The Convention requires States Parties to eliminate discrimination against women in the enjoyment of all civil, political, economic, and cultural rights. The States that are party to CEDAW are obliged not only to work for equality in the public life, but also in private life. 

However, as with all international treaties, these ‘international’ laws only become fully effective in legal systems such as ours when they are incorporated into domestic law by our legislature. Essentially, the distinction is that it is an ‘executive function’ to sign international treaties and a ‘legislative function’ to make domestic law. Therefore, this does not necessarily mean that we would expect the Legislative Assembly to pass a law simply incorporating CEDAW or any of the other treaties for that matter, but instead Government may wish to consider certain aspects of certain treaties that may be usefully incorporated into a broader piece of domestic legislation. For example, like the abolition of corporal punishment is contained in the Education Bill or the introduction of international principles of asylum into the local Immigration Law.

With that having being said, just because an international treaty is not domestically enforceable in a local court, this does not mean that ratification would be meaningless. Far from it, when the CEDAW treaty is extended to the Cayman Islands, then we will have to account for our actions in periodic reports to the administering authorities. 

Net News: What are the main obstacles to upholding Women’s Rights in these Islands? 

HRC: The main obstacle upholding women’s rights in the Cayman Islands and around the world is that the vast majority of societies are patriarchal. Patriarchy and its systems is the root oppressor of women’s rights. As stated by Rhoda Reddock, an esteemed Caribbean scholar, “In all existing cultural contexts, women are valued less than men. By extension, femininity is valued less than masculinity. This means that behaviours, attitudes, practices associated with womanhood are seen as less prestigious than those associated with manhood.” Operating in a patriarchal system, which includes the laws that govern us all and the various social systems, means that girls’ and women’s situations and status are often not considered, less valued or not event taken into account. Thus this creates a variety of obstacles faced by females throughout their lifetime. 

As a collective group, women also need to speak out more on the issues that are inhibiting them from realizing their full human potential. Ideally, these obstacles can only be changed by more and more individuals in society - both women and men - equally valuing both sexes and their contributions to society, and this will only happen through continuous public education and the passage of time. 

Net News: Are you satisfied with the progress that has been made in relation to Women’s Rights in the Cayman Islands? 

HRC: There have been positive steps of progress in the area of women’s rights in the Cayman Islands, however as with any relatively “new” social issue there is still much more to be done. When comparing the Cayman Islands to other countries in the region, we have a lot of catching up to do. It has only been within the past decade that the issue of women’s rights was brought to a national level, with the introduction of Women’s Affairs as a Governmental subject area in 1996; whereas, this occurred within most Caribbean countries by the 1970’s and early 1980’s. However, on a positive note, we can say that within this short amount of time, we are the first country in the Caribbean to complete a National Policy on Gender Equity and Equality.

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