173 Results
Quotes
Quotes based on international documents, law, and treaties- "Beyond the question of equal access, the actual quantity and quality of media coverage of women candidates have a critical influence on their public image and their electoral prospects. A key role of the media in any election is to ensure that the public has sufficient information on candidates and parties to be able to make informed choices. These factors underlie the need to assess whether women candidates are receiving a fair and unbiased share of media campaign coverage. The EOM should therefore examine such questions as whether the media promote the visibility of women candidates, whether they cultivate public acceptance of women as a normal feature of political life, and whether they present women in a manner that promotes public confidence."
- "The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to ensure the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights set forth in the present Covenant. "
- "Every woman has the right to the recognition, enjoyment, exercise and protection of all human rights and freedoms embodied in regional and international human rights instruments. These rights include, among others: ...j. The right to have equal access to the public service of her country and to take part in the conduct of public affairs, including decision-making. "
- "By definition, well-being policies require all citizens, and particularly vulnerable groups such as women, youth, indigenous peoples and the poor, to participate in decision-making. "
- "States parties have an obligation not to cause discrimination against women through acts or omissions; they are further obliged to react actively against discrimination against women, regardless of whether such acts or omissions are perpetrated by the State or by private actors. Discrimination can occur through the failure of States to take necessary legislative measures to ensure the full realization of women’s rights, the failure to adopt national policies aimed at achieving equality between women and men and the failure to enforce relevant laws. "
- " [Member states should] consider adopting legislative reforms to introduce parity thresholds for candidates in elections at local, regional, national and supra-national levels. Where proportional lists exist, consider the introduction of zipper systems. "
- "The obligation to protect requires that States parties protect women from discrimination by private actors and take steps directly aimed at eliminating customary and all other practices that prejudice and perpetuate the notion of inferiority or superiority of either of the sexes, and of stereotyped roles for men and women. "
- "Every woman has the right to the recognition, enjoyment, exercise and protection of all human rights and freedoms embodied in regional and international human rights instruments. These rights include, among others: …f.The right to equal protection before the law and of the law. "
- "Decisions on the choice of electoral systems are important to overcome the traditional gender bias that undermines women’s participation. Substantive progress towards the equal participation of women as candidates and voters as well as the holding of free and fair elections will not be possible unless a number of appropriate measures are taken, including a gender-responsive electoral system and the adoption of temporary special measures to enhance women’s participation as candidates, ensure a proper voter’s registration system and ensure that women voters and female political candidates are not subject to violence either by State or private actors. "
- "The obligation to fulfil requires that States parties take a wide variety of steps to ensure that women and men enjoy equal rights de jure and de facto, including, where appropriate, the adoption of temporary special measures in line with article 4, paragraph 1, of the Convention and general recommendation No. 25 on article 4, paragraph 1, of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, on temporary special measures. This entails obligations of means or conduct and obligations of results. States parties should consider that they have to fulfil their legal obligations to all women through designing public policies, programmes and institutional frameworks that are aimed at fulfilling the specific needs of women leading to the full development of their potential on an equal basis with men. "
- "The States Parties undertake to adopt the special policies and affirmative actions needed to ensure the enjoyment or exercise of rights and fundamental freedoms of persons or groups that are subject to discrimination or intolerance for the purpose of promoting equitable conditions for equal opportunity, inclusion, and progress for such persons or groups. "
- " [Member states should] protect and promote the equal civil and political rights of women and men, including running for office and freedom of association. "
- "Under article 2, States parties must address all aspects of their legal obligations under the Convention to respect, protect and fulfil women’s right to non-discrimination and to the enjoyment of equality. The obligation to respect requires that States parties refrain from making laws, policies, regulations, programmes, administrative procedures and institutional structures that directly or indirectly result in the denial of the equal enjoyment by women of their civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. "
- "States should foster citizen participation in the electoral process by] introducing in their electoral legislation mechanisms to promote the balanced representation of women and men in elected bodies at all levels as well as encouraging political parties to introduce internal regulations, policies and affirmative action so as to promote the participation and representation of women in politics. "
- "[Member states should] protect and promote the equal civil and political rights of women and men, including running for office and freedom of association. "
- "[Member states should] consider adopting legislative reforms to introduce parity thresholds for candidates in elections at local, regional, national and supra-national levels. Where proportional lists exist, consider the introduction of zipper systems. "
- "The Committee recommends that States parties: Ensure that new constitutions provide for temporary special measures, apply to citizens and non-citizens, and guarantee that women’s human rights are not subject to derogation in states of emergency. "
- "The Committee recommends that States parties: (d) Ensure that electoral reforms incorporate the principle of gender equality, and guarantee women’s equal representation through the adoption of temporary special measures such as quotas, including for disadvantaged groups of women; adopt a proportional representation electoral system; regulate political parties; and mandate electoral management bodies to ensure compliance through sanctions. "
- "The Committee recommends that States parties: (e) Ensure the registration and voting of women voters, such as by allowing postal balloting, where appropriate, and removing all barriers, including by ensuring an adequate and accessible number of polling stations. "
- "Racism, Zionism, occupation and foreign control constitute a challenge to human dignity and are a fundamental obstacle to the human rights of peoples. It is a duty to condemn all such practices and to work towards their abolishment."
- "Each State party to the present Charter undertakes to ensure that every individual located within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction, shall have the right to enjoy all the rights and freedoms recognised in this [Charter], without distinction on the basis of race, colour sex, language, religion, political opinion, national or social origin, wealth, birth or other status, and without any discrimination between men and women."
- "Legislation ensuring women’s participation in election commissions should be considered, since women are heavily underrepresented in election management bodies in many countries. "
- "There is broad agreement that women’s representation should be increased in democratic institutions. The electoral system may affect the structure of opportunities for women’s representation. There is some empirical evidence, for example, that women are generally better represented under proportional representation list systems than, for example, in plurality or majority systems in single-member constituencies. Usually closed lists are preferable to open list voting systems. "
- "There might be gender quotas for the composition of or the candidacies for Parliament. According to the Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters, legal rules requiring a minimum percentage of persons of each gender among candidates should not be considered as contrary to the principle of equal suffrage (CDL-AD(2002)023rev, I.2.5). "
- "It should be clear that the electoral system itself is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition to ensure women’s representation. Additional measures are needed to encourage the increase in women’s representation. Some measures have been included in the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly recommendation 1676 (2004), adopted on 5 October 2004. "
- "If there is a specific constitutional basis, rules could be adopted guaranteeing some degree of balance between the two sexes in elected bodies, or even parity. In the absence of such a constitutional basis, such provisions could be considered contrary to the principle of equality and freedom of association. "
- "Moreover, the scope of these rules depends on the electoral system. In a fixed party list system, parity is imposed if the number of men and women who are eligible is the same. However, if preferential voting or cross-voting is possible, voters will not necessarily choose candidates from both sexes, and this may result in an unbalanced composition of the elected body, chosen by voters. "
- "[Consider] signing and ratifying or acceding to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other core international human rights treaties. "
- "Tak[e] all necessary measures to eliminate laws, regulations and practices that discriminate, directly or indirectly, against citizens in their right to participate in public affairs on grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, or on the basis of disability. "
- "Tak[e] proactive measures to eliminate all barriers in law and in practice that prevent or hinder citizens, in particular women, persons belonging to marginalized groups or minorities, persons with disabilities and persons in vulnerable situations, from participating fully in effectively in political and public affairs, including, inter alia, reviewing and repealing measures that unreasonably restrict the right to participate in public affairs, and considering adopting, on the basis of reliable data on participation, temporary special measure, including legislative acts, aimed at increasing the participation of underrepresented groups in all aspects of political and public life; "
- "Campaign finance rules should ensure equality of opportunity for parties and candidates alike. Special measures may be incorporated to encourage more balanced participation of underrepresented groups, such as women, national minorities or persons with disabilities."
- "While it is important to respect the free internal functioning of parties with regard to candidate selection and platform choices, public campaign financing may be used as a means to encourage more balanced participation of men and women as candidates."
- "Campaign finance rules should ensure equality of opportunity for parties and candidates alike. Special measures may be incorporated to encourage more balanced participation of underrepresented groups, such as women, national minorities or persons with disabilities."
- "While it is important to respect the free internal functioning of parties with regard to candidate selection and platform choices, public campaign financing may be used as a means to encourage more balanced participation of men and women as candidates."
- "One form of gender-targeted public funding that mainly focuses on the broader aim of improving the gender balance in politics is the earmarking of parts of public funding. Political parties can for example be required to use a certain percentage of the public funds they are provided for outreach activities linked to gender equality, in order to increase the role of women in political parties or to develop a gender action plan."
- "A common aim of gender-related public funding is to incentivize political parties to nominate more female candidates by using financial rewards to connect the amount of public funding provided to the level of gender equality among its candidates, regardless of how the parties use these additional funds."
- "Many forms of gender-targeted public funding, however, do not incentivize parties to nominate women in competitive electoral areas. (...) Some countries have sought to overcome this problem by relating the amount of public funding provided to the number of female candidates elected by each political party."
- "The aim of gender-targeted public funding may be to reduce the financial burden for female candidates by ensuring that they receive more money to allow them to compete more effectively in elections, given the gender prejudices within the electorate."
- "In most cases, those majoritarian systems that are based on single-seat electoral districts will only be advantageous for minority representation in states where minorities are concentrated territorially. (…) If a national minority community is dispersed throughout the state, it would not necessarily be ensured representation because there may not be sufficient votes to ensure a national-minority winner in any of the single-seat districts. "
- "The representation of a sizable concentrated national minority achieved in a single-seat district may prove to be less than the representation that would be achieved under a proportional system, as majoritarian candidates may receive more votes than are necessary to win seats."
- "There are also implications for national minorities in the choice between FPTP and majority systems. In a FPTP system, there is no incentive to seek votes across constituencies if the national minority represents the largest percentage of voters but not the majority. In a majority system, there could be an incentive to seek votes outside the national minority in order to acquire the required majority."
- "Proportional systems produce results more representative of different opinions, including those of national minorities."
- "Electoral systems that provide the possibility of preferential voting, such as AV and STV systems, enable voters to indicate how they would vote if their preferred candidate lost, by indicating second, third and subsequent choices."
- "While the principle of one person, one vote is one of the most fundamental rules of democratic electoral systems, in some cases a dual voting system can be used to promote representation of minority communities."
- "According to a study by the Venice Commission, dual voting is an exceptional measure that has to be within the legal framework of the constitution and may be permitted if it respects the principle of proportionality in its various aspects. This implies that it can only be justified if: - It is impossible to reach the aim pursued through other less intrusive measures that do not infringe upon equal voting rights; - It has a transitional character; and - It concerns only a numerically small minority."
- "If there is the political will to ensure the representation of such minorities, this can be achieved by introducing special measures through reserved seats. Reserved seats are contested within a minority community and filled by people representing minority communities."
- "State Parties acknowledge the need to eliminate discrimination against girls and young women according to obligations stipulated in various international, regional and national human rights conventions and instruments designed to protect and promote women's rights. In this regard, they shall: (...) b) Ensure that girls and young women are able to participate actively, equally and effectively with boys at all levels of social, educational, economic, political, cultural, civil life and leadership, as well as scientific endeavours. "
- "State Parties shall take the following measures to promote active youth participation in society: They shall: a) Guarantee the participation of youth in parliament and other decision-making bodies in accordance with the prescribed laws; b) Facilitate that creation or strengthening of platforms for youth participation in decision-making at local, national, regional, and continental levels of governance; c) Ensure equal access of young men and young women to participate in decision-making and in fulfilling civil duties. "
- "A government may allocate additional funds to programmes benefitting historically disadvantaged groups in order to enable such groups to enjoy their rights on a par with others in society."
- "It may be appropriate to require political parties and other nominating organizations to put forward a minimum number of candidates of each gender, with reasonable chances to be elected."