49 Practical Tool No. 4 Women’s human rights concerns during peacetime and conflict The chart below shows some illustrative examples of women’s human rights concerns in peacetime and their dimensions during conflict/crisis. It can be used as a tool to analyse how pre-existing discrimination can be aggravated by conflict or crisis:49 Forms of pre-existing discrimination in law and practice Possible concerns during conflict/crisis • Underrepresentation of women and lack of participation in public life and in decisionmaking processes (e.g. lack of participation in the formulation of government policies and programmes) • Marginalization from participating in peace efforts, transitional justice mechanisms and reconstruction processes • In contexts of displacement, exclusion from participating in or leading decision-making processes in a camp setting • Discrimination and restrictions in the exercise of the right to nationality (e.g. inability to claim citizenship and nationalityrelated rights due to discriminatory nationality laws) and restriction in passing on nationality to children • Statelessness due to the inability to prove nationality; lack of legal identity, because identity documents are not issued in women’s names, are lost or destroyed, or because birth registration is not accessible, has failed or is discriminatory • Discrimination and restrictions in the exercise of the rights related to equality in marriage and family relations (e.g. violations of right to enter freely into a marriage and to freely choose a spouse and inheritance; lack of prohibition of child marriage or different minimum legal ages for marriage for boys and girls) • Child and forced marriages as a result of poverty and/or desire or pressure supposedly intended “to protect the girl’s honour” • Discrimination related to right to housing, right to inheritance, right to property • Loss of home and income following the death or disappearance of spouse, parents or parental guardians, as a result of the human rights situation or conflict; difficulties in taking on the role of “head of the household” • Increased risk of exploitation and GBV, particularly in forced marriages, prostitution and trafficking (exacerbated by displacement) • Destitution following the death of male family member For more detailed information on the implementation of human rights standards and examples of discriminatory laws and practices against women, see: CEDAW general recommendations No. 21 (1994) and No. 29 (2013) on marriage and family relations, No. 24 (1999) on women and health, No. 25 (2004) on temporary special measures, No. 28 (2010) on the core obligations of States parties, No. 30 (2013) on women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations and No. 32 (2014) on the gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women; Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights general comments No. 16 (2005) on equal rights of men and women and No. 20 (2009) on non-discrimination; Human Rights Committee general comments No. 18 (1989) on non-discrimination and No. 28 (2000) on equality of rights between men and women. See also thematic reports of the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice, available at www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/WGWomen/Pages/Annualreports.aspx. 49 41