April
2002
WOMEN’S ECONOMIC,
SOCIAL
AND CULTURAL
RIGHTS
in
CZECH REPUBLIC
The Report was prepared in cooperation with
Michaela Tominova of the Gender Studies Center,
Prague, Czech Republic
Independent information for
the twenty-eight session
of the Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR)
HUBERT H. HUMPHREY INSTITUTE
OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
CZECH REPUBLIC
Initial State Party report submitted on
30 August 2000 (E/1990/5/Add.47)
BASIC COUNTRY
DATA
Population, 2001 estimate: 10.2
million
Population growth, 2001 estimate: -0.7 %
Ethnicities, 1991:
81% Czech, 13.2%
Moravian, 3.1% Slovak, 0.6% Polish, 0.5% German, 0.4% Silesian,
0.3% Roma, 0.2% Hungarian, 0.5 % other.
Religion: 39.8% atheist, 39.2 % Catholic, 4.6% Protestant,
3% Orthodox, 13.4% other
GDP, 2000 estimate (purchasing power parity): US$49,510
million
GNP per capita, estimate:
US$ 4,920
Annual growth in GNP per capita, 2000 estimate: 2.5%
Major industries:
agricultural products (wheat, potatoes, sugar beets, fruit,
pigs, poultry), machinery and transport equipment, manufactured
goods, and chemicals
Fertility Rate, 2001 estimate: 1.18 children born/woman
Infant Mortality Rate, 2001 estimate: 5.55 per 1,000 live births per year
Maternal Mortality Rate:
15 deaths due to pregnancy or childbearing
per 100,00 live births
Life expectancy at birth, 2001 estimate: Total
– 74.73 years
Male – 71.23 years
Female – 78.43 years
Literacy, 1999 estimate:
99.9%
Sources: World Factbook
[1]
, World Bank Group
[2]
Critical Issues
Compliance with International Obligations (Covenant Articles
2 and 3)
∑ Dissemination
and public education regarding country’s human rights obligations
concerning women
∑ Strengthening
governmental mechanisms to promote equality between women
and men
Women in the Workplace (Covenant Articles 6, 7 and 8)
∑ Discrimination
in hiring and promotion; low women’s participation in decision-making
both in public and private sector
∑ Widening
salary disparity between men and women
Trafficking and
Prostitution (Covenant Article 12)
∑ Trafficking
and violence against women
Overview
The
Czech Republic gained independence in January 1993 following
Czechoslovakia’s “velvet divorce.”
Playwright Vaclav Havel, the first Czech president,
is currently serving his second 5-year term.
[3]
Social
Democrat Milos Zeman has been prime minister since the 1998
election. Although
the prime minister holds the real political power, Havel —nationally
and internationally respected former dissident in Czechoslovakia
and long-time human rights advocate— continues to be a strong
moral and ethical force in Czech politics. For instance, he repeatedly appealed to the
Czech society to fight “latent racism” against its Roma population.
Politicians
have wielded considerable influence on the media. Criticism
over control of Czech public television — of which management
had been politically appointed— led to street protests in
support of journalists supporting a leadership change at the
Czech Television. As
a result of public pressure, an amended Media Law was adopted
in an effort to depoliticize the station.
[4]
Czech
journalists continue to face harassment for critical reporting
about politicians and government policies.
[5]
For instance, Prime Minister Zeman recently
threatened a weekly with legal action and called it “the garbage
pail of Czech journalism” for writing about government corruption. Zeman also attempted to discredit a journalist
for the Prague weekly Reflex
by alleging he takes bribes for critical reporting.
[6]
Although
the Czech Republic is a candidate to join the EU in 2004 and
was pronounced compatible with the EU in the “social sphere,”
[7]
the country continues to be criticized
concerning its efforts to deal with the problems of inequality
between men and women, to curb trafficking of women and to
eliminate discrimination against the Roma minority. The Roma
minority numbers about 300,000 and suffer disproportionately
high levels of poverty, illiteracy, and unemployment.
[8]
The
Czech economy is considered one of the most stable of the
post-Communist states, but it has been recovering from recession
since mid-1999, and dealing with steadily increasing public
debt.
[9]
The
Czech Republic became a World Bank (WB) member immediately
after the split of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (which
had been a member since 1990).
In June 1991, the US$450 million Structural Adjustment
Loan was approved for the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic
of which US$300 million was given to the Czech Republic. Since
1998, the WB intensified its cooperation with the Czech Republic
and it has focused on providing services to support the accession
process to the EU. This effort has included capital and financial
market reform, enterprise restructuring and fiscal management.
[10]
The country faces serious environmental
issues, one of the legacies of environmental neglect during
the Communist period, including air and water pollution and
acid rain.
[11]
STATUS
OF WOMEN IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC
PER
ICESCR COVENANT:
COVENANT
ARTICLE 2 AND 3:
Non-Discrimination
and Obligation of States Parties to Adopt Legislative Measures,
and
Equal Rights of Men and Women
Government’s Efforts to Promote Equality
and Eliminate Discrimination Against Women
The principle
of the equal rights of men and women is enshrined in Articles
3 and 10 of the Czech Constitution.
Article 3 states that “Part of the constitutional order of the
Czech Republic is the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms,”
and Article 10 states that “Ratified and promulgated international
accords on human rights and fundamental freedoms to which
the Czech Republic has committed itself are immediately binding
and are superior in the Czech law.”
[12]
When the Czech Republic
became a member of the UN on 19 January 1993, it took over
all the obligations relating to human rights protection (including
CEDAW and ICESCR) from the former Czechoslovakia. The Czech
Republic submitted its initial report to CEDAW in 1994.
The CEDAW discussions on the report took place on 26-27
January 1998, and CEDAW issued its final its concluding comments
on 14 May 1998. The second periodic report contains a description
of the changes achieved since the development of the initial
report (1 January 1995 to 30 June 1999), and lists legal and
other measures documenting progress achieved in the elimination
of discrimination against women, changes in the status of
women, measures aimed at eliminating the remaining obstacles
to women’s integration into political, social, economic and
cultural life, and problems emphasized by CEDAW, which the
Czech Republic has not yet addressed.
[13]
The
Czech government only began to address the status of women
and issues concerning equality of women and men systematically
in late 1997 upon the initiative of members of the parliament,
who asked the prime minister to demonstrate what Czech Republic
had done to prepare its own National Action Plan under the
Beijing obligations. The government appointed the Minister
of Labor and Social Affairs (MLSA) to coordinate government
policy on the status of women and asked the minister to formulate
the elementary objectives of this policy. This initiative
resulted in the document entitled Priorities and Procedures for Enforcement of Equal Opportunities of Men
and Women 1998. By
approving this document, the government expressed its will
to contribute effectively to the elimination of existing de
facto and formal obstacles that prevent women from achieving
status comparable with men. The document Priorities is updated every year.
Nevertheless,
with the exception of the MLSA, tasks relating to equality
between men and women that are assigned to other ministries
typically carry no deadlines and are treated on a “continuing”
basis, which results in “minimal activity”
[14]
in these ministries. Until 1 January 2002 (see below), there were
no officially appointed employees who would deal with the
issues of equal opportunities.
In spring 2001, for the first time ever four one-day-seminars
were organized for top officers from ministries, during which
they received basic information on the issue of equal opportunities,
both in the context of the Czech Republic and the EU.
Mechanisms Created to Advance Women
The most significant progress
concerning the Czech legislation has been achieved due to
the EU accession process and virtually all of the changes
concern the situation in the labor market.
Currently, there are three bodies that may be viewed
as institutional mechanisms addressing discrimination against
women or promoting equal opportunities. However, no part of the Czech state budget is allocated to the implementation
of policies on equal opportunities for women and men, or to
the improvement of women’s status.
Due to lack of financial allocations and lack of personnel,
none of these bodies serve as an adequate national mechanism
for women’s advancement:
a) On 1 February 1998, the MLSA established
a Division for Equality between Men and Women within the
Ministry (as part of the Department for Integration into
the European Union) with three female employees. In order
to fulfil its assumed coordination role, the Ministry initiated
an interdepartmental Committee for Equal Opportunities for
Men and Women. Members of this committee, appointed by individual
ministers, are civil servants mainly from the personnel departments,
most of whom have no understanding of the role of the Committee
or of their own role. This Committee ended its activities
on 31 December 2001 (see under d) below).
b) The current
government committed itself to human rights protection and
promotion following the June 1998 elections.
In September 1998, a Commissioner of the Government
of the Czech Republic for Human Rights was appointed.
The Commissioner does not act as a protector of rights in
individual cases involving citizens or other persons (it is
not an ombud’s office).
In
December 1998, the Government set up the Council of the
Czech Republic for Human Rights (hereafter “the Council’) as an advisory and coordinating body of the Government
for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms
of persons within the jurisdiction of the Czech Republic.
The main task of the Council is to monitor the fulfillment
of the Czech Republic’s international commitments and the
implementation of obligations arising from international conventions
and treaties. Unfortunately, the office of the Commissioner
mostly deals with the Roma discrimination and much less with
discrimination against women, because the Roma problems are
considered to be more important.
Regarding
the international obligations assumed by the Czech Republic,
the Council has formed advisory bodies (expert sub-groups
to monitor the observance of ratified treaties in particular
areas of human rights and freedoms). According to the Council
statute, one of the eight sub-groups is dedicated to equal
opportunities for men and women. As of 31 July 1999, the equal
opportunity sub-group had 18 members, three of whom were men;
11 members were from NGOs and experts from the public and
seven members worked in federal government. The secretary,
who is a female employee of the department for human rights,
coordinates the activities of the group. However, she only
covers the agenda of women’s rights part-time. According to
new standards of governmental advisory bodies, the group’s
official name (since 1 January 2002) is the Committee Against
all Forms of Discrimination against Women in the Czech Republic.
c) After the 1998 elections, a Subcommittee
for Equal Opportunities for Men, Women and the Family
was set up under the Committee for Social Affairs and Health
Care at the initiative of a social democratic female member
of the Chamber of Deputies. In addition to the parliamentary deputy, representatives of women’s
NGOs are also members of the Subcommittee.
So far, the Subcommittee has not produced any gender-related
policies.
d) Under pressure from women´s NGOs, the
Governmental Council for Equal Opportunities for Men and
Women was established in October 2001 and began work in
January 2002 with the backing of the Czech Deputy Premier
and MLSA Minister Vladimir Spidla. In March 2002, Jana Volfova of the Social Democrat party (CSSD)
became the chairwoman of the Council replacing Spidla who
had led it since its inception.
Volfova vowed to prepare a program for women by mid-June
2002 when parliamentary elections are set to take place.
[15]
The
23-member Council is an advisory body, and its decisions can
be directly submitted to the government.
The ministries are obligated to take its recommendations
seriously and implement them.
The Council is not empowered to deal with individual
complaints. The first
meeting of this Council will take place on 24 April 2002. Most likely the Council will not be able to
do anything until the general elections in June. There is no guarantee that a new government, after June 2002, will
continue the Council’s existence.
e) According to a decision spelled out in
the Priorities,
since 1 January 2002 at each ministry one civil servant has
been officially appointed for at least a half-time job as
a coordinator of equal opportunities (gender mainstreaming)
for the particular ministry.
Even before December 2001, however, each ministry had
to submit its own gender mainstreaming/equal opportunities
policy plan.
Women in Elected
Bodies
The
Czech Parliament has two Chambers, each of which has several
committees. There are 13 committees in the Chamber of Deputies,
one of which is headed by a woman. Women do not head any of
the six political caucuses (or clubs). In the Senate, there
are 9 committees, two of which are headed by women and 4 political
clubs, one of which is headed by a woman.
[16]
The following parties hold seats both in
the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate (in alphabetical
order):
CSSD – Czech Social Democratic Party.
DEU - Democratic Union (conservative
right-wing party, nowadays without any important political
influence; because of it, before the elections in 2002 a united
party US-DEU has been created).
KDU-CSL – Christian Democratic Union-Czech
People´s Party (existed before 1989).
KSCM – Communist Party of Czechia and Moravia
(existed before 1989).
ODA – Civic Democratic Alliance (conservative
right-wing party, nowadays without any important political
influence; because of lower number of the Senators they created
a club together with ODA: US-ODA).
ODS – Civic Democratic Party (conservative
right-wing party, 1992 - 1997 majority in the government).
US – Union of Freedom (conservative
right-wing party, founded in Winter 1997 by some members of
the ODS).
Membership Structure of the Main Political
Parties:
Party |
Year |
Total Members |
Number of Women |
% of Women |
|
CSSD |
1999 |
14
000 |
3
780 |
27.0 |
|
|
31.
12. 2000 |
16
300 |
4
189 |
25.7 |
|
KDU-CSL |
1999 |
60
464 |
31
597 |
52.3 |
|
|
1.
3. 2002 |
50
834 |
26
770 |
52.7 |
|
KSCM |
1999 |
136
516 |
51360 |
42.8 |
|
|
31.
12. 2001 |
112
973 |
49
143 |
43.5 |
|
ODS |
1998 |
19
730 |
6
900 |
35.0 |
|
|
1.
3. 2002 |
18
443 |
6
486 |
35.2 |
|
US |
1999 |
4
000 |
missing |
missing |
|
|
2001 |
3
152 |
do
not follow |
- |
The representation of men and women in the
Czech Parliament according to elections results:
| Year |
1981 |
1990 |
1992 |
1996 |
1998 |
|
|
|
|
|
Chamber of Dep. |
Senate |
Chamber of Dep. |
Senate |
| Women |
58 |
22 |
19 |
30 |
9 |
30 |
9 |
| Men |
142 |
178 |
181 |
170 |
72 |
170 |
72 |
| Women
(%) |
28.0 |
11.0 |
9.5 |
15.0 |
11.1 |
15.0 |
11.1 |
Source:
1999 Czech Government Report to CEDAW
Women in representative bodies of the Czech
Republic based on election results:
|
Election terms |
Body |
Total
elected |
Number of women |
% of Women |
| November
1994 |
Municipal,
town, district and local authorities |
62,160 |
11,100 |
17.9 |
| June
1996 |
Chamber
of Deputies of the Czech Parliament |
200 |
30 |
15.0 |
| November
1996 |
Senate
of the Czech Parliament |
81 |
9 |
11.1 |
| June
1998 |
Chamber
of Deputies of the Czech Parliament |
200 |
30 |
15 |
| November
1998 |
Senate
of the Czech Parliament |
27 |
3 |
11.1 |
| November
1998 |
Municipal,
town, district and local authorities |
62,412 |
12,785 |
|
