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Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women opens sixty-fifth session in Geneva
24 October 2016
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GENEVA (24 October 2016) - The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women this morning opened its sixty-fifth session at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, hearing a statement by Ibrahim Salama, Chief of the Human Rights Treaties Branch, Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and adopting its agenda and programme of work for the session.
In his opening statement, Mr. Salama recognized the Committee’s determined efforts to mainstream women’s rights and gender equality across all Sustainable Development Goals and targets, and stressed that linking the 2030 Agenda to the Convention had a great potential to strengthen States’ accountability in delivering on their promises to promote and protect women’s rights and achieve substantive gender equality. Mr. Salama updated the Committee on the United Nations Summit on Refugees and Migrants on 19 September in New York; the thirty-third session of the Human Rights Council and the appointment of Vitit Muntarbhorn as an Independent Expert on the protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity; and the establishment of the high-level working group by the World Health Organisation and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to generate a high-level political support for the implementation of the Global Strategy on Women’s Children’s and Adolescent’s Health 2016-2030. An internal guidance, published by the Office in September, aimed to ensure that all commissions of inquiry and fact-finding missions paid adequate attention to all forms of gender-based violence and to the gender dimension of human rights violations.
Yoko Hayashi, Chairperson of the Committee, joined Mr. Salama in paying tribute to the outgoing Experts: Ms. Al-Dosari, Ms. Bailey, Mr. Bruun, Ms. Pimentel, Ms. Pomeranzi, and Ms. Zou. Since the previous session, the Central African Republic had acceded to the Optional Protocol to the Convention, bringing the total number of States parties to 108. The number of States parties to the Convention remained at 189, and the number of States parties having accepted the amendment to article 20, paragraph 1 on the Convention concerning the meeting time of the Committee remained at 70. Since the previous session, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia had submitted their periodic reports, and the Marshall Islands its initial report; the periodic report by Antigua and Barbuda had been returned to the State party as it had exceeded the word limit set by the General Assembly.
The Committee then adopted the provisional agenda and organization of work for the sixty-fifth session, and heard reports on the status of the follow up reports and on the pre-session working group for the sixty-fifth session, as well as updates on the activities conducted by the Committee Experts in the intersessional period.
Live webcast of the Committee’s public meetings is available at http://webtv.un.org/
During its sixty-fifth session, the Committee will consider the reports of Canada, Burundi, Bhutan, Belarus, Argentina, Switzerland, Honduras, Armenia, Bangladesh, Estonia, and the Netherlands. All the documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties can be found at the session’s webpage.
The Committee will reconvene at 3 p.m. today to hold an informal public meeting with non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions with respect to Canada, Burundi, Bhutan and Belarus, whose reports the Committee will consider this week.
Opening Statement
IBRAHIM SALAMA, Chief of the Human Rights Treaties Branch, Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, thanked the outgoing Committee Members, whose diverse expertise and spirit of cooperation had enriched the work of the Committee. The determined efforts of the Committee to mainstreaming women’s rights and gender equality across all Sustainable Development Goals and targets had been recognized as evidenced by the invitation to provide input to the 2017 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. That would be a first time that a treaty body had an opportunity to showcase its contribution towards the 2030 Agenda. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women enjoyed almost universal ratification and was the only human rights instrument that provided comprehensive protection of human rights of women. Linking the 2030 Agenda to the Convention, and other human rights treaties, had a great potential to strengthen States’ accountability in delivering on their promises to promote and protect women’s rights and achieve substantive gender equality.
Updating the Committee on the relevant developments across the United Nations System, Mr. Salama said that the United Nations Summit on Refugees and Migrants on 19 September in New York had been the first summit at the Heads of State and Government level to agree on a blueprint for a coordinated, humane international response to large movements of refugees and migrants. It outcome, the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, expressed the political will of world leaders to protect the rights and save lives of refugees and migrants and share responsibility for large population movements. During its thirty-third session in September 2016, the Human Rights Council had discussed the gender integration in the resolutions of the Council and in Universal Periodic Review recommendations, appointed Vitit Muntarbhorn as an Independent Expert on the protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, established a new mandate of Special Rapporteur on the right to development, and adopted a resolution on “Preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights” without a vote but with amendments to controversial parts such as the references to the right to sexual and reproductive health.
In May 2016, the World Health Organization and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights had announced the establishment of a high-level working group of global champions to generate a high-level political support for the implementation of the Global Strategy on Women’s Children’s and Adolescent’s Health 2016-2030. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights had published in September an internal guidance note on systematizing gender integration for commissions of inquiry and fact-finding missions, in order to ensure that adequate attention was paid to all forms of gender-based violence and to the gender dimension of human rights violations.
Adoption of the Agenda and Organization of Work and the Report of the Chairperson
The Committee adopted the provisional agenda and organization of work for the sixty-fifth session.
YOKO HAYASHI, Chairperson of the Committee, presenting her report on activities undertaken since the previous session, joined Mr. Salama in paying tribute to Ms. Al-Dosari, Ms. Bailey, Mr. Bruun, Ms. Pimentel, Ms. Pomeranzi, and Ms. Zou for whom this would be the last Committee session. The number of States parties to the Convention remained at 189, and the number of States parties having accepted the amendment to article 20, paragraph 1 on the Convention concerning the meeting time of the Committee remained at 70. The Chairperson recalled that, in order for this amendment to enter into force, the acceptance by 126 States parties to the Convention was required. The Central African Republic had acceded to the Optional Protocol to the Convention, bringing the total number of States parties to 108, and Malaysia and Saudi Arabia had submitted their periodic reports, while the Marshall Islands had submitted its initial report. The periodic report submitted by Antigua and Barbuda had been returned to the State party as it had exceeded the agreed length.
Turning to her inter-sessional activities, Ms. Hayashi said that she had briefed the participants of the meeting organized by the Gender and Law Society of Japan on 8 September 2016 on the process of updating General Recommendation No. 19, while on 10 October she had presented a statement to the Third Committee of the General Assembly and had participated in the interactive dialogue with Member States on the General Recommendation on women’s access to justice and on rural women, the Committee’s work on Sustainable Development Goals, and on updating General Recommendation No. 19 on violence against women. On 13 October, Ms. Hayashi had met with UN Women to discuss the Committee’s possible input on data relating to the different areas of law covered by the proposed Sustainable Development Goal indicators 5.1.1., and she had also met with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict Leila Zerrougui and received the briefing on the “Children, Not Soldiers” campaign.
Committee Experts provided an update on their respective activities during the intersessional period.
Pre-session Working Group Report and the Follow-up
ISMAT JAHAN, Committee Expert, briefed the Committee on the pre-sessional working group, which had prepared lists of issues with regard to the reports of Argentina, Armenia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burundi, Canada, Estonia, Honduras, the Netherlands and Switzerland, as well as a list of issues and questions in the absence of a report in relation to the implementation of the Convention in Antigua and Barbuda. The combined fourth to seventh periodic reports that Antigua and Barbuda had submitted in August 2016 had been returned as it had exceeded the word limit established by the General Assembly resolution 68/268. The consideration of Antigua and Barbuda had been postponed to a future session. The Working Group had also prepared, on a pilot basis, a list of issues prior to the submission of the combined seventh and eighth periodic reports of Romania under its optional simplified reporting procedure, scheduled to be considered at the Committee’s sixty-seventh session. The list of issues and questions, which had focused on themes covered by the Convention, had been transmitted to the States parties concerned.
XIAOQIAO ZOU, Committee Expert and the Reporter on Follow-ups, briefed the Committee on the status of follow-up reports received from States parties in reply to the Committee’s concluding observations, and said that during the previous session, she had met with the representatives of Equatorial Guinea who had appreciated the information shared. Follow-up letters had been sent to Cambodia, Finland, Guyana, Moldova, Pakistan, Syria, and the United Kingdom. First reminders of overdue follow-up reports had been sent to Cameroon, Kazakhstan and Sierra Leone, and second reminders to Cape Verde, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Committee had received delayed follow-up reports from Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Qatar, Serbia and Zimbabwe, while Bahrain, Colombia, and Iraq had submitted their follow-up reports on time.
In his opening statement, Mr. Salama recognized the Committee’s determined efforts to mainstream women’s rights and gender equality across all Sustainable Development Goals and targets, and stressed that linking the 2030 Agenda to the Convention had a great potential to strengthen States’ accountability in delivering on their promises to promote and protect women’s rights and achieve substantive gender equality. Mr. Salama updated the Committee on the United Nations Summit on Refugees and Migrants on 19 September in New York; the thirty-third session of the Human Rights Council and the appointment of Vitit Muntarbhorn as an Independent Expert on the protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity; and the establishment of the high-level working group by the World Health Organisation and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to generate a high-level political support for the implementation of the Global Strategy on Women’s Children’s and Adolescent’s Health 2016-2030. An internal guidance, published by the Office in September, aimed to ensure that all commissions of inquiry and fact-finding missions paid adequate attention to all forms of gender-based violence and to the gender dimension of human rights violations.
Yoko Hayashi, Chairperson of the Committee, joined Mr. Salama in paying tribute to the outgoing Experts: Ms. Al-Dosari, Ms. Bailey, Mr. Bruun, Ms. Pimentel, Ms. Pomeranzi, and Ms. Zou. Since the previous session, the Central African Republic had acceded to the Optional Protocol to the Convention, bringing the total number of States parties to 108. The number of States parties to the Convention remained at 189, and the number of States parties having accepted the amendment to article 20, paragraph 1 on the Convention concerning the meeting time of the Committee remained at 70. Since the previous session, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia had submitted their periodic reports, and the Marshall Islands its initial report; the periodic report by Antigua and Barbuda had been returned to the State party as it had exceeded the word limit set by the General Assembly.
The Committee then adopted the provisional agenda and organization of work for the sixty-fifth session, and heard reports on the status of the follow up reports and on the pre-session working group for the sixty-fifth session, as well as updates on the activities conducted by the Committee Experts in the intersessional period.
Live webcast of the Committee’s public meetings is available at http://webtv.un.org/
During its sixty-fifth session, the Committee will consider the reports of Canada, Burundi, Bhutan, Belarus, Argentina, Switzerland, Honduras, Armenia, Bangladesh, Estonia, and the Netherlands. All the documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties can be found at the session’s webpage.
The Committee will reconvene at 3 p.m. today to hold an informal public meeting with non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions with respect to Canada, Burundi, Bhutan and Belarus, whose reports the Committee will consider this week.
Opening Statement
IBRAHIM SALAMA, Chief of the Human Rights Treaties Branch, Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, thanked the outgoing Committee Members, whose diverse expertise and spirit of cooperation had enriched the work of the Committee. The determined efforts of the Committee to mainstreaming women’s rights and gender equality across all Sustainable Development Goals and targets had been recognized as evidenced by the invitation to provide input to the 2017 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. That would be a first time that a treaty body had an opportunity to showcase its contribution towards the 2030 Agenda. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women enjoyed almost universal ratification and was the only human rights instrument that provided comprehensive protection of human rights of women. Linking the 2030 Agenda to the Convention, and other human rights treaties, had a great potential to strengthen States’ accountability in delivering on their promises to promote and protect women’s rights and achieve substantive gender equality.
Updating the Committee on the relevant developments across the United Nations System, Mr. Salama said that the United Nations Summit on Refugees and Migrants on 19 September in New York had been the first summit at the Heads of State and Government level to agree on a blueprint for a coordinated, humane international response to large movements of refugees and migrants. It outcome, the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, expressed the political will of world leaders to protect the rights and save lives of refugees and migrants and share responsibility for large population movements. During its thirty-third session in September 2016, the Human Rights Council had discussed the gender integration in the resolutions of the Council and in Universal Periodic Review recommendations, appointed Vitit Muntarbhorn as an Independent Expert on the protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, established a new mandate of Special Rapporteur on the right to development, and adopted a resolution on “Preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights” without a vote but with amendments to controversial parts such as the references to the right to sexual and reproductive health.
In May 2016, the World Health Organization and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights had announced the establishment of a high-level working group of global champions to generate a high-level political support for the implementation of the Global Strategy on Women’s Children’s and Adolescent’s Health 2016-2030. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights had published in September an internal guidance note on systematizing gender integration for commissions of inquiry and fact-finding missions, in order to ensure that adequate attention was paid to all forms of gender-based violence and to the gender dimension of human rights violations.
Adoption of the Agenda and Organization of Work and the Report of the Chairperson
The Committee adopted the provisional agenda and organization of work for the sixty-fifth session.
YOKO HAYASHI, Chairperson of the Committee, presenting her report on activities undertaken since the previous session, joined Mr. Salama in paying tribute to Ms. Al-Dosari, Ms. Bailey, Mr. Bruun, Ms. Pimentel, Ms. Pomeranzi, and Ms. Zou for whom this would be the last Committee session. The number of States parties to the Convention remained at 189, and the number of States parties having accepted the amendment to article 20, paragraph 1 on the Convention concerning the meeting time of the Committee remained at 70. The Chairperson recalled that, in order for this amendment to enter into force, the acceptance by 126 States parties to the Convention was required. The Central African Republic had acceded to the Optional Protocol to the Convention, bringing the total number of States parties to 108, and Malaysia and Saudi Arabia had submitted their periodic reports, while the Marshall Islands had submitted its initial report. The periodic report submitted by Antigua and Barbuda had been returned to the State party as it had exceeded the agreed length.
Turning to her inter-sessional activities, Ms. Hayashi said that she had briefed the participants of the meeting organized by the Gender and Law Society of Japan on 8 September 2016 on the process of updating General Recommendation No. 19, while on 10 October she had presented a statement to the Third Committee of the General Assembly and had participated in the interactive dialogue with Member States on the General Recommendation on women’s access to justice and on rural women, the Committee’s work on Sustainable Development Goals, and on updating General Recommendation No. 19 on violence against women. On 13 October, Ms. Hayashi had met with UN Women to discuss the Committee’s possible input on data relating to the different areas of law covered by the proposed Sustainable Development Goal indicators 5.1.1., and she had also met with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict Leila Zerrougui and received the briefing on the “Children, Not Soldiers” campaign.
Committee Experts provided an update on their respective activities during the intersessional period.
Pre-session Working Group Report and the Follow-up
ISMAT JAHAN, Committee Expert, briefed the Committee on the pre-sessional working group, which had prepared lists of issues with regard to the reports of Argentina, Armenia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burundi, Canada, Estonia, Honduras, the Netherlands and Switzerland, as well as a list of issues and questions in the absence of a report in relation to the implementation of the Convention in Antigua and Barbuda. The combined fourth to seventh periodic reports that Antigua and Barbuda had submitted in August 2016 had been returned as it had exceeded the word limit established by the General Assembly resolution 68/268. The consideration of Antigua and Barbuda had been postponed to a future session. The Working Group had also prepared, on a pilot basis, a list of issues prior to the submission of the combined seventh and eighth periodic reports of Romania under its optional simplified reporting procedure, scheduled to be considered at the Committee’s sixty-seventh session. The list of issues and questions, which had focused on themes covered by the Convention, had been transmitted to the States parties concerned.
XIAOQIAO ZOU, Committee Expert and the Reporter on Follow-ups, briefed the Committee on the status of follow-up reports received from States parties in reply to the Committee’s concluding observations, and said that during the previous session, she had met with the representatives of Equatorial Guinea who had appreciated the information shared. Follow-up letters had been sent to Cambodia, Finland, Guyana, Moldova, Pakistan, Syria, and the United Kingdom. First reminders of overdue follow-up reports had been sent to Cameroon, Kazakhstan and Sierra Leone, and second reminders to Cape Verde, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Committee had received delayed follow-up reports from Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Qatar, Serbia and Zimbabwe, while Bahrain, Colombia, and Iraq had submitted their follow-up reports on time.
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