The 54th session of the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is currently taking place in Geneva, with several of SI’s Representatives to the UN taking part in meetings and events. In this week’s SoroptiVoice blog, Herta Kaschitz, who for 27 years worked as a lawyer for the UN Division for the Advancement of women, introduces CEDAW, a landmark international convention setting out the rights of women. Herta has been a Soroptimist for 23 years, for 13 years in New York City (USA) and now at SI Wien-Belvere (Austria). She is Governor of the SI Austrian Union.
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was adopted in 1979 and entered into force in 1981. At present, 187 countries have become party to the treaty (known as States parties). The only States that have not yet become parties of the Convention are Iran, Palau, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and the United States of America.
The former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, referred to the Convention as “a landmark”, because it aims at securing equal rights of men and women in practice. It is the most comprehensive treaty on women’s human rights. It has often been referred to as the “international bill of rights for women” because it establishes legally binding obligations to end discrimination and provides comprehensive guidelines to all States parties for adopting anti-discriminatory policies.Overview
Articles 1 to 16 of the Convention cover all walks of life of women. Articles 17 to 30 establish the procedure for implementing the Convention. The Convention provides for equality between women and men in civil, political, economic and cultural rights; it focuses on ending all forms of discrimination in public or private life, before the law or in everyday life so that women are accepted as equal to men in law and practice. It affirms the reproductive rights of women and deals with cultural practices and traditions as forces that shape gender roles and family relations. It provides women the guarantee of the same basic human rights and fundamental freedoms as for men.
The Convention in detail
CEDAW obliges States parties
- to adopt appropriate laws prohibiting all discrimination against women
- to work on the elimination of prejudices and practices based on stereotyped roles for men and women
- to make sure that women and men have a common responsibility in the upbringing of their children.
The Convention secures equal rights for women in political and public life, in diplomatic representations at international level, in nationality issues, in education and employment. It deals with the elimination of discrimination in the field of health care, it guarantees women economic and social benefits, the right to bank loans and mortgages, and the right to participate in sports and other recreational activities. It guarantees identical legal capacity to that of men regarding administration of property, court proceedings, and freedom of movement and free choice of residence and domicile.
The Convention secures women the right to enter into marriage, to choose a spouse, to choose the number and spacing of their children, the right to choose a family name, and the right to inheritance.
One article deals exclusively with the special problems of rural women, their participation in development planning, their access to health care facilities, social security benefits, education, credit and loans. One article deals with the suppression of all forms of traffic in women and sexual exploitation of women.
A special feature of the Convention is embedded in article 4, which gives States parties the possibility to take temporary special measures to accelerate women’s equality – such as a quota system. And it states specifically that “measures taken for maternity protection are not to be considered discriminatory”.
Monitoring body
The implementation of all these rights is monitored by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). This is a group of 23 experts of “high moral standing and competence in the field covered by the Convention”. They are elected by the States parties for four-year terms. They serve in their individual capacity, not as representatives of States.
CEDAW started its work in 1982. The Committee’s 54th session will be held at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from 11 February to 1 March 2013, during which it will review the reports presented by Pakistan, Austria, Hungary, Cyprus, Greece, Angola and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on their measures taken to implement the Convention.
Currently CEDAW meets three times a year, each time preceded by a pre-sessional working group. Under article 18, Governments are bound to submit a first report one year after becoming a State party to the Convention, and thereafter every four years. The Government representatives present their reports to the Committee which follows up with very precise questions and observations. It is important to note that the Committee also receives information from non-governmental organizations. In the words of one of its former Chairpersons, Feride Acar (Turkey), “the Committee has ensured that the principles of the Convention have become relevant for women’s real lives all around the world”.
Concluding Comments of the Committee
At the end of the dialogue between Committee members and Government representatives the Committee draws up Concluding Comments, which are very specific observations resulting from that dialogue. They are sent to the respective Governments under review to be publicized, followed up and put into action.
General Recommendations
Under Article 21, the Committee may make suggestions and general recommendations to States parties. It has used this power to elaborate on States parties’ obligations and also to address areas not specifically covered in the text of the Convention, such as violence against women (Gen.Rec. 12 and 19), female circumcision (Gen.Rec. 14), HIV/AIDS (Gen.Rec. 15), disabled women (Gen.Rec. 18), and older women (Ge.Rec. 27). So far, the Committee has adopted 28 general recommendations.
Role of NGOs
During the whole treaty process NGOs prepare written and oral “shadow reports” and use them for advocacy during the review process. NGOs help in publicizing States parties’ reports and the concluding comments. Over time, they make for sharper and more specific recommendations by the Committee. And furthermore, they raise awareness and advocate for the implementation of the concluding comments. The presence of NGOs during the review process contributes to better government transparency, and at times, raises their standing in some countries.
Optional Protocol
In 1999, the General Assembly adopted an Optional Protocol to the Convention, which allows individual women or groups of women who have exhausted local remedies to petition the Committee directly about severe violations of their rights by their Governments. It also allows the Committee to conduct inquiries into grave or systematic abuses of women’s human rights in countries that are parties to the Convention and the Optional Protocol. To date, there are 104 parties to the Optional Protocol.