THE translation of policy documents including international treaties is important for the understanding of people affected by conventions such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
The Pacific Community’s principal strategic lead for Pacific Women, Mereseini Rakuita, says efforts have been made to inform local audiences about the event and what CEDAW is about in the iTaukei and Fiji-Hindi languages.
“It’s important that translation happens at national level,” she said.
“That is something I’m sure governments in the region would be cognisant of, if raised, for example, in the recommendations or the work of regional organisations, in our convenings in the gender equality ecosystem.”
Regional Representative of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) for the Pacific Heike Alefsen said it was important to have initiatives that contextualise information.
“It’s one thing to have the convention itself translated,” she said. “And it does, I believe, exist in a number of languages here in the Pacific, but that’s not enough. It needs to be broken down, in a way, for people to really use them.
“I think it is important also to acknowledge that member states are under an obligation where they ratify the convention to do this kind of dissemination.”
Ms Alefsen said the concluding observations for Fiji, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu from the CEDAW Pacific Technical Cooperation Session should be distributed “because that will show exactly what the committee has found in term of opportunities, challenges and need for further progress”.
Next week’s Pacific Technical Cooperation Session will be held at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and the University of the South Pacific in Suva.
