UN women’s rights committee to review Canada, Burundi, Bhutan, Belarus, Argentina, Switzerland, Honduras, Armenia, Bangladesh, Estonia, Netherlands

GENEVA (17 October 2016)  – The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is meeting in Geneva from 24 October to 18 November to review women’s rights in the following countries:  Canada (25 October); Burundi (26 October); Bhutan (27 October); Belarus (28 October); Argentina (1 November); Switzerland (2 November); Honduras (3 November), Armenia (4 November); Bangladesh (8 November); Estonia (9 November); and Netherlands (10 November).

The above countries have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and are reviewed regularly by CEDAW on how they are implementing the Convention. The Committee, which is composed of 23 international independent experts, will hold dialogues with delegations from the respective governments and also be briefed by NGOs and national human rights institutions.

The Committee’s dialogues with the delegations will take place from 10:00 to 13:00 and from 15:00 to 17:00 at Palais des Nations – Room XVI and be webcast at http://webtv.un.org/

CEDAW’s findings, officially termed concluding observations, on the countries reviewed, will be published on Monday 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/treaty-bodies/cedaw

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