High-Level Panel Calls for Universal Ratification of Treaties Advancing Rights of Women

6 July 2001





“Advancing the Rights of Women and Children through Treaties” was the theme of a high-level panel discussion convened at United Nations Headquarters yesterday. The event aimed to promote signature or ratification of international treaties that are of particular relevance to the advancement of women's rights.

In his statement to the panel, Hans Corell, Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, announced that a renewed international commitment to the rights of women and children will be the focus of a United Nations treaty signing/ratification event next September, when more than 50 heads of State and Government will gather at the opening of the fifty-sixth session of the General Assembly and the convening of its special session on the 1990 World Summit for Children, 19-21 September. The signing event, scheduled to take place from 19 September to 5 October, will focus on 23 international treaties related to the advancement of the rights of women and children.

The panel, which coincided with the twenty-fifth session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, was chaired by His Excellency Anwarul Chowdhury, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations. Other members of the panel were: Angela E.V. King, Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women; Charlotte Abaka, Chair of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); and Aída Gonzáles Martínez, CEDAW expert. A statement from Mary Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, was delivered by Elissavet Stamatopoulou, Deputy Director, New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

"The rights of women are highlighted this year, and rightly so,” said Mary Robinson in her statement. “Where there are serious human rights situations, we often find that women are doubly at risk. Where the rights of women are well protected, we often find double the benefits, which extend far beyond the women themselves. In calling for the ratification of these treaties, the United Nations is calling for all the civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights of women to be protected and for the contribution of women to their communities to be valued. Clearly, this is something that no society can afford to ignore.”

In her statement before the panel, Angela E.V. King said that treaties have an essential role in defining women's human rights. Their effective and speedy implementation depends on many factors, including an enabling environment that does not tolerate violations of the rights of women.

The centrepiece of the international legal framework for the protection and promotion of women’s rights is, of course, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women”, stated Ms. King. The Convention, often described as the international bill of rights for women, entered into force in 1981. While its universal ratification has not yet been achieved, 168 States from all regions of the world are party to the Convention, the most recent being the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Mauritania, which became party to the instrument in February and May respectively.

"In my opinion, one of the fundamental values of the Convention is the impact that it has had in creating awareness in women about the legitimacy and validity of their rights," said Aída Gonzáles Martínez, speaking from the perspective of Latin America and the Caribbean, the only region to date where full ratification has been achieved. "It also raised women's capacity for living out and publicly expressing their demands for institutions and national mechanisms in order to protect themselves and to serve as forums for expression of their claims in defence of their fundamental human rights."

“A vision of human rights that accommodates the aspirations of women, as well as men, provides a powerful framework and basis that encompasses the full dimensions of all human beings,” said Ms. King. “This complete vision for the respect for human rights must permeate the international legal framework, and through it every legal system and the lives of every woman and every man.”

This year’s treaty signing/ratification event, announced by Mr. Corell, follows last year's commitment by governments to the strengthening of the international rule of law, when in three days, during the Millennium Summit, 187 signatures and 87 ratifications of international treaties were undertaken by 84 States. Encouraged by this record number of treaty actions, the United Nations has decided to hold a similar treaty event annually to present States with a forum to undertake treaty actions in a solemn and high-profile setting.

For further information contact: Laufey Love, (212) 963-3507, Department of Public Information, or Dr. Palitha T.B. Kohona, (212) 963-5048, Office of Legal Affairs.



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