UN Committee to review record of Honduras on women’s rights

GENEVA (31 October 2016)  – The record of Honduras on women’s rights will be examined by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on 3 November. Honduras has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and so is reviewed regularly by the Committee on how it is implementing the Convention. 

Among the possible issues for discussion between CEDAW and a delegation from the Honduran Government are: 

• High level of violence against women, lack of access to justice for women and impunity;
• Discrimination against women and girls from indigenous or Afro-Honduran communities;
• Investigation of violent female deaths and instances of femicide;
• Protection of rural women leaders from eviction, killings, threats and violence, and compensation to those who experienced grave human rights violations;
• Attacks on women human rights defenders;
• Protection and rehabilitation of women and girls subjected to human trafficking;
• Limited job opportunities for women in the formal sector; pay and labour conditions in domestic work, maquilas(assembly plants) and in the rural sector;
• Strategies to prevent and reduce teenage pregnancy;
• Decriminalisation of abortion and provision of access to emergency contraception, in the light of the high rates of sexual violence against girls and women;

The review will take place in Room XVI at Palais des Nations in Geneva from 10:00 – 13:00 (03:00 – 06:00 in Tegucigalpa) and 15:00 - 17:00 (08:00 – 10:00) and will be webcast at http://webtv.un.org/

The Committee will also hear from NGO representatives. More information about the review, including Honduras’ written report, here:
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=1027&Lang=en

The Committee’s findings, officially known as concluding observations, on Honduras and the other countries being reviewed – Canada, Burundi, Bhutan, Belarus, Argentina, Switzerland, Armenia, Bangladesh, Estonia, Netherlands, and Antigua and Barbuda– will be published on 21 November here:
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=1027&Lang=en

ENDS

For more information please contact Jakob Schneider at jschneider@ohchr.org 
Media requests: Liz Throssell +41 (0) 22 917 9466 ethrossell@ohchr.org

Media accreditation for the Palais des Nations:   http://unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/(httpPages)/70991F6887C73B2280256EE700379C58?OpenDocument

Background

CEDAW is composed of 23 independent human rights experts drawn from around the world. They serve in their personal capacity and not as representatives of States parties. The Committee’s concluding observations are an independent assessment of States’ compliance with their human rights obligations under the treaty. More information:
http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/cedaw/pages/cedawindex.aspx

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