The Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women meets with NGOs to discuss strengthening engagement

The Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women this afternoon met with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in order to discuss ways of strengthening NGO engagement with the Committee in the context of its work. The Committee plans to adopt a public statement on its relationship with NGOs during the current session, similar to the statement on its relationship with national human rights institutions adopted in 2008.

NGO speakers raised a number of topics during the discussion, including that there should be a formal space that took into account the risks faced by human rights defenders in coming to provide information to the Committee, as well as the relevance of those interactions. NGOs looked forward to an engaged and expanded participation to ensure that just as women gained from the Committee's work in accessing their human rights, the work and vision of the Committee would be strengthened in bringing the lived realities of women to the Committee. The participation in the Committee process also had the indirect result of strengthening women's movements at the national level and, by actively participating in the review process, NGOs became believers of the Convention, and were able to publicize information on women's rights violations and the Convention on their return home. In a wider context, NGO speakers noted that harmonization of working methods between all treaty bodies would help to improve NGO participation. All treaty bodies should provide for adequate and dedicated time during the formal meeting schedule to hear NGO presentations on the state of human rights in the country under consideration. Other suggestions included that the Committee should bear in mind the importance of the participation of NGOs in connection with the initiation and conduct of confidential inquiries; and that the secretariat should webcast the Committee sessions, as that could increase participation from NGOs from regions such as Africa.

During the subsequent discussion, Committee Members raised a number of questions and issues, including whether the discussion should be extended, not only with regard to NGO interaction in relation to the examination of State reports, but also with regard to the Optional Protocol; the importance of NGOs in the follow-up procedure both for awareness raising and in working with Governments to implement the Committees recommendations; and the fact that NGO recommendations were only reflected in the concluding observations if Experts brought them up during the dialogue with the State party. It was also highlighted that NGOs could help in providing reliable information on grave or systematic violations of rights, and that NGOs could play a significant role in disseminating the Optional Protocol and helping individuals and groups of individuals to formulate complaints and bring them before the Committee.

The Committee also held a minute of silence for the members of the United Nations staff who died in the earthquake in Haiti.

The next meeting of the Committee will be at 10 a.m. on Wednesday 20 January, when it is scheduled to consider the fourth periodic report of Uzbekistan (CEDAW/C/UZB/4).

Statements

NAELA GABR, Committee Chairperson, at the opening of the meeting, noted that this was the second meeting of its kind which the Committee was holding. In 2008, the Committee had met with NGOs to discuss working modalities and issues of cooperation during its fortieth session, and at the time many NGOs had taken the opportunity to raise issues of common interest. Since then, cooperation with NGOs had continued to be extremely fruitful, and the Committee had benefited from the valuable input from national partners. Today, the Committee looked forward to hearing the opinions and suggestions from partners as to how cooperation could be further developed and strengthened in all of the stages of the process. The Committee welcomed NGO reflections on specific ways to strengthen the functions that NGOs regularly took on, and how those could be further developed in, among other topics, the submission of information by NGOs for the State party reporting cycle in advance of and during the review, and how the role of NGOs could be enhanced in the process of implementation of the Committee's concluding observations.

DUBRAVKA SIMONOVIC, Committee Member, outlining the current practice of the Committee with respect to NGOs in the State party report cycle, including the alternative reports for the pre-session Working Group, in advance of consideration of State party reports and lunch briefings, noted that, in 1997, the Committee had adopted decision 16.2, since which time it had the possibility to exchange views with NGOs in the framework of informal meetings, which were held at every session dedicated to that purpose. Written and oral contributions were received, and NGOs were given the possibility of summarizing written contributions and making brief statements, as well as to respond to questions from Committee Members. The Committee also invited NGOs to contribute to the reporting process during the examination of the report, and during the pre-sessional work of the Working Group. The Committee hoped that in the future there would be input from NGOs during the pre-sessional Group and also during the session. NGOs should give clear ideas of what needed to be improved – the rules of procedure, the means of dialogue, and other areas which could be improved and strengthen the implementation of the Convention as a result.

CARLA COVARRUBIAS, of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), introducing issues of procedure, said the OHCHR secretariat was heavily involved throughout the year in order to facilitate good coordination among NGOs, including national and international bodies. It did that in a number of ways, and before, during and after Committee sessions, including the pre-sessional Working Groups. The cooperation with NGOs and civil society representatives was absolutely excellent. The Committee received information for all countries under review for the sessions, which was extraordinary and was due to the excellent cooperation of civil society across the globe. The secretariat's role in receiving the information was varied. It systematically received information in writing, and went through them to ensure that the information was relevant or the consideration of the Committee. All information was made available to stakeholders on the website, where it was posted by country, and was also made available in Members’ folders. The role was also active in terms of accreditation. An NGO note was also issued, hopefully making the submission of information easier. A number of side events were also coordinated.

YASMIN MASIDI, of International Women's Rights Action Watch Asia-Pacific, said International Women’s Rights Watch Asia-Pacific’s "From Global to Local" programme had been initiated in 1997 to build the capacity of national women's groups to use the Committee's review process as part of their advocacy for women's human rights. The importance of the review process was clear in the unflagging dedication and efforts invested by NGOs taking part in the programme. National women's groups faced many challenges in preparing for the review and in attending the review sessions. The participation of national women's groups strengthened the credibility and relevance of the Convention and the work of the Committee, and the United Nations human rights system in general, as a way for women to claim accountability from their Governments. Women's advocates welcomed this opportunity to remind the Committee that just as its observations gave tools to the women it had acknowledged, so by its silence it weakened their struggles vis-à-vis the State. The Committee should ensure that its work reflected the aspirations of the women whose human rights its was committed to ensuring. There should be a formal space that took into account the risks faced by human rights defenders in coming to provide information to the Committee, as well as the relevance of those interactions. NGOs looked forward to an engaged and expanded participation to ensure that just as women gained from the Committee's work in accessing their human rights, the work and vision of the Committee was strengthened in bringing the lived realities of women to the Committee.

CATHERINE BEVILACQUA, of Amnesty International, said that, although Amnesty had contributed to the consideration of only a few State party reports, it had a keen interest in the work of the Committee. The Committee should benefit from the research and recommendations of the many and diverse NGOs present in Geneva. Harmonization of working methods between all treaty bodies would help to improve NGO participation. All treaty bodies should provide for adequate and dedicated time during the formal meeting schedule to hear NGO presentations on the state of human rights in the country under consideration. NGOs should be given sufficient time to provide the Committee with their recommendations and analysis, and to respond to questions by the Committee Members. The importance of standardization of terminology, the issue of reprisals against those cooperating with treaty bodies, and the link between the treaty bodies and the Universal Periodic Review mechanism should also be considered.

PATRICK MUZENBERG, of the Centre for Civil and Political Rights, said the access of NGOs to human rights forums should be encouraged, particularly the Human Rights Committee. Holding this meeting was a very good initiative, and it should be taken up by other treaty bodies. Webcasting the sessions would also be a very positive step. The secretariat should provide support in obtaining visas. NGOs should strengthen their coordination at the national level to ensure they were represented in front of all treaty bodies. Having the information available on webpages was also important, as it would allow the NGOs to see the commitments entered into by the State Party during the meeting.

CLAIRE BRITSCH, of World Organization against Torture, said more time should be allocated to formal NGO briefings during the sessions themselves so as to encourage a dialogue with all members of the Committee. A public statement on the Committee's relationship with NGOs should also encourage the latter to publicize and disseminate the Convention and its Optional Protocol, its concluding observations, general recommendations and decisions and views on individual communications and inquiries conducted under the Protocol, as well as to monitor the State Party's implementation of the Convention and its Optional Protocol. The importance of NGO contributions to allow the Committee to engage in a consistent and effective follow-up of its recommendations, views and decisions should also be highlighted in the statement. The Committee should bear in mind the importance of the participation of NGOs in connection with the initiation and conduct of confidential inquiries.

MARSHA FREEMAN, of International Women's Rights Action Watch said there was concern about the use of the new reporting guidelines. Committee Members and NGOs should provide information on how those could be better used and understood.

KRYSTYNA POSUNKINA, of International Women's Rights Action Watch, representing the NGOs of the Global to Local programme, said NGOs were able to provide up-to-date, credible information that served as a check and balance on the information provided by the State. Grassroots organizations were able to offer a unique perspective, and speak to women's realities on the ground, which, in turn, enhanced the quality and relevance of the concluding observations, so that they could truly reflect and respond to women's needs. The participation in the Committee process also had the indirect result of strengthening the women's movement at the national level. By actively participating in the review process, NGOs became believers of the Convention, and were able to publicize information on women's rights violations and the Convention on their return home. However, information on the Convention and the process was often unavailable in national and regional languages. Due to security issues, some type of formal closed meeting with NGOs should be made available. The Committee should also clarify how issues that were brought up during the NGO and State dialogue did or did not make it to the concluding observations.

JULIE DE RIVERO, of Human Rights Watch, said Human Rights Watch also encouraged the use of closed meetings, which would create a closer and more secure atmosphere for civil society activists who often took great risks in making presentations, but it would also provide for a more frank exchange. The Committee should also consider enhancing outreach to non-women's human rights groups, as they could provide interesting inputs and submissions to the Committee's work. On predictability and submission of documents, NGOs in the field should be able to benefit from these and be able to provide the Committee with information in a timely manner.

Committee Experts then raised questions and issues, including whether the discussion should not be extended, not only with regard to NGO interaction relating to the examination of State reports, but also with regard to the Optional Protocol and the important work that the NGO community and civil society organizations could play in its regard; the need to make the inquiry procedure much easier to use and that NGOs could help in providing reliable information on grave or systematic violation of rights; that NGOs could play a significant role in disseminating the Optional Protocol and helping individuals and groups of individuals to formulate complaints and bring them before the Committee; that the contribution of NGOs was important both for the work of the Committee and for the cause of women's rights worldwide; the need for good practices to be identified that NGOs had acquired when interacting with other treaty bodies; the help given by the International Women's Rights Action Watch to other NGOs and that that should serve as a model; the importance of NGOs in the follow-up procedure both for awareness raising and in working with the Government to implement the recommendations; that NGO recommendations were only reflected in the concluding observations if Experts brought them up during the dialogue with the State Party; and that there was a need for greater statistical analysis in the Shadow Reports, and not just narrative points.

Responding to these questions and issues, NGO representatives said, among other things, that geographic representation of NGOs was an important issue, and work needed to be done to ensure the presence of NGOs from all areas of the world. There should be a separate NGO section on the Committee website. NGOs should also be given longer for their discussions with the Committee. With regard to the Optional Protocol, it was not where it could be, despite its potential, but it was hard to get women to use it when there were so many cases which had not been taken in for technical reasons. The problem was not increasing awareness, it was meeting other challenges facing women in access to justice. The threshold for coming before the Committee was high, as women faced so many other obstacles. The Committee should take a feminist approach to the issue of admissibility and exhaustion of remedies and examine the situation further. NGOs stood by the Committee, but asked that there be a much more feminist approach on this issue, and ensure that there be at least a non-adversarial follow-up, ensuring that women could access their human rights in a national context. Speakers further urged webcasting the sessions, as this could increase participation from NGOs from such regions as Africa. NGOs should be able to relay developments in the Committee to national partners. The Committee should explain how it viewed the recommendations of the Inter-Committee Meeting.

In concluding remarks, Ms. Gabr thanked the NGOs for their commitment and dedication, and said she hoped OHCHR would be able to find funds to improve presence of NGOs from other continents. The work of NGOs was important for the Committee. The Committee always began with its traditional questions on the participation of civil society in the preparation of the periodic report, and asked the State party to ensure there was serious and effective interaction between it and NGOs. The Committee would work on a paper on the participation of NGOs, and that would feed into the inter-sessional work and the sessions themselves. Follow-up was key in that regard. The issue of awareness, of making people aware of both the Convention and the Optional Protocol, was key. The Committee would continue along this path, and hoped the results of its deliberations would be useful to ensure more efficient and effective participation of civil society that would help to promote and strengthen the rights of women, in particular women who were, among others, rural women, women in conflict, and older women.
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