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Space and Law, Gender and Land: Using CEDAW to Regulate for Women’s Rights to Land in Vanuatu

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Abstract

International laws such as The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) promise a universal system of rights to varied people in varied places. In many Pacific states this has been translated to mean that women should have the same privileges as men to control, possess and use land. This could not be further from the truth as evidenced by women’s experiences in Vanuatu, which bring home the visible and invisible spaces of international law. The insights of legal geographers into the spatialised dimensions of social, political and economic activities, together with those of feminist legal scholars into the gendered nature of law, are invaluable in understanding how some spaces are prioritized while others are devalued. We rely on these insights to uncover the prioritized legal spaces of Vanuatu and to locate them against the lived-in spaces of Vanuatu’s women. Becoming aware of the multispatiality of law is the first step in contemplating a landscape where justice can play a part.

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Notes

  1. See: Bue Manie and Kenneth Kaltabang v Sato Kilman (5 July 1983) Supreme Court Vanuatu Land Case No L5/1984.

  2. This is also clear in Noel v Tito [1995] VUSC 3.

  3. See the Preamble to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, opened for signature 1 March 1980, 1249 UNTS 13 (entered into force 3 September 1981). It obliges States Parties to pursue a policy of eliminating discrimination against women, which it defines as any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex that has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women of their human rights in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field; Arts 1,2.

  4. See United Nations, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties under Article 18 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women: Combined Initial, Second and Third Periodic Reports of States Parties, Vanuatu, CEDAW/C/VUT/1-3, 2005, 9. The Optional Protocol to CEDAW provides a mechanism for individuals to complain to the United Nations about breaches of the Convention. Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, opened for signature 10 December 1999, 2131 UNTS 83 (entered into force 22 December 2000).

  5. There are a number of other treaties which also deal with the right of equality including International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (opened for signature 16 December 1966, entered into force 23 March 1976 and in particular Article 3; and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (opened for signature 16 December 1966, entered into force 3 January 1976).

  6. Interview with Mary Kululuk on April 2010.

  7. For a critique of feminist engagements with law that have failed to produce a fundamental social transformation in liberal democracies see Chunn et al. (2007, p. 2); see also Moss and Falconer Al-Hindi’s (2008) argument that feminist thinkers must be self reflective about knowledge production and constantly contest discursive authority.

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Cases

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Legislation

  • Constitution of the Republic of Vanuatu.

  • Land Reform Act 1980 (VU).

  • Alienated Land Act 1982 (VU).

  • Land Leases Act 1984 (VU).

International Law

  • Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, opened for signature 1 March 1980, 1249 UNTS 13 (entered into force 3 September 1981).

  • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (opened for signature 16 December 1966, entered into force 23 March 1976 and in particular Article 3.

  • International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (opened for signature 16 December 1966, entered into force 3 January 1976).

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos and Margaret Thornton for their generous comments on an earlier draft of this paper. We would also like to thank the Macquarie University Research Development Grant for supporting this research and to Jaya Keaney for editorial assistance.

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  1. Macquarie Law School, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia

    Vijaya Nagarajan & Archana Parashar

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  1. Vijaya Nagarajan
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Correspondence to Vijaya Nagarajan or Archana Parashar.

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Nagarajan, V., Parashar, A. Space and Law, Gender and Land: Using CEDAW to Regulate for Women’s Rights to Land in Vanuatu. Law Critique 24, 87–105 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10978-012-9116-7

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