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The international community has always paying much attention on the plight of women and has taken legal measures to eliminate the unequal treatment of women. The 1980 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (hereinafter the Convention) recognized that women''s issues have been lost in general human rights agreements and are in need of special, individualized attention. Through Article 5 of the Convention , the international community directly addresses the issue of harmful cultural practices. Article 5 provides that:
States Parties shall take all appropriate measures:
(a) To modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customs and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women . . . .
Another important provision, Article 2, targets cultural-gender discrimination by requiring the elimination of discriminatory legislation and customs. Article 2 states in pertinent part:
States Parties . . . by all appropriate means and without delay . . . undertake:
(f) To take all appropriate measures, including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices which constitute discrimination against women.
Moreover in 1995, during the Fourth World Conference on Women, the international community (albeit, community of women) recognized the proscription of FGM as a form of violence against women as a fundamental human right. The international document resulting from the Conference, the Beijing Declaration, defines "violence against women as follows:
“[A]ny act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life... encompassing but not limited to the following: Physical sexual or psychological violence occurring in the family, including battering, sexual abuse of female children in the household, dowry- related violence, marital rape, female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation...” (Emphasis added).
Despite the above treaties and declarations, nations have taken one of three approaches. Some nations have ratified the treaty with a "reservation," relieving them from the obligations of Article 2. Egypt, for example, ratified the treaty with the following reservation to Article 2: "The Arab Republic of Egypt is willing to comply with the content of this article, provided that such compliance does not run counter to the Islamic Sharia''a." Such a reservation is quite common among Islamic states and results in limiting the effects of the Convention. Some states, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Lebanon, have refused to ratify the treaty, claiming that the treaty as a whole is antithetical to their nation''s culture. Some states also perceive the treaty as an imperialist tool of Western Universalism. The way in which these nations have reacted to the Convention is not uncommon. In fact, other human rights treaties have met the same fate.
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