Complete Citizens Total Rights (Poori Nagrik, Poora Haq)
In 2003, a number of women’s organizations in alliance with community
based groups of Uttar Pradesh united to make a claim for women’s
citizen rights within the framework of state accountability through a
campaign Complete Citizen Total Rights.
The coalition of campaign partners included civil society groups working
on women’s rights, violence against women, law, reproductive rights,
child rights, farmers’ rights, health rights, HIV/AIDS and sexual
minorities, women’s wings of political left-wing groups and a network
of men against violence. Support was also received through the active
endorsement and contribution of activists and supporters from different
walks of society -- such as the media, students, professionals,
academicians, artists and others.
Carried out on both the district and state levels, the campaign was
based on empirical and statistical evidence and used international
standards of women’s rights as set out in the CEDAW treaty. According
to the treaty, the state is obliged to fulfil, promote and protect
women’s rights. The main objectives of the campaign were:
- To assert women’s citizenship rights to hold the state to
account
- To raise awareness of state actors and media
- To mobilize different stakeholders on the issue of state
accountability
This attempt was made in four ways, through directly addressing the
community as voters, through addressing political parties, through
approaching the Chief Minister and through engagement with the electoral
process. The campaign activities took place through two phases:
The Truth, and Nothing But the Truth - Public Campaign
An actively public phase of the campaign was launched between 25
November-18 December 2003. The two dates coincided respectively with the
International Day of Stopping Violence Against Women and the anniversary
of CEDAW, an international treaty on equal rights for women. This
phase of the campaign focused on revealing the reality of women’s
lives and struggles in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
Women's Demands from their Candidates - Political Level
On 8th March, 2004, International Women’s Day, a delegation met the
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and had a brief discussion about the
campaign demands. Later, campaigners seized the opportunity to influence
political candidates' campaign platforms during the General Elections of
2004. A "Women's Manifesto' was created by to outline the various
women's issues that should be intgrated into the agenda's of political
candidates who would like to earn women's votes. in addition, 'Open
Forums’ were organized with local electoral candidates to enable
community women to advocate with their candidates on women’s rights
and state accountability. Some simple material, like pamphlets and
posters was prepared further stating women’s expectations from
electoral candidates.
At the policy level, the campaign contributed to the government order
regarding review of maternal deaths and increased outlay for emergency
obstetric care services. The order makes provisions for such review to
be done at various levels, including village, block, district and state
level, which can enable health systems' failures to be identified. This
policy enhances state accountability for maternal deaths. At another
level, the campaign appears to have spurred media interest in issues
such as maternal health and domestic violence. |
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