BACKGROUND RELEASE
13 January 2011

Reports of Bangladesh, Belarus, Israel, Kenya, Lichtenstein, Sri Lanka and South Africa to be Reviewed

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, the Committee charged with ensuring that 186 States parties meet their obligations under a treaty that requires them to eliminate discrimination against women, opens its forty-eighth session next week at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The three-week session is scheduled to run from 17 January to 4 February 2011.

States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women legally commit themselves to ending all forms of discrimination against women, be they of a political, economic, social, cultural, civil or other form. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, a 23-person expert body established to monitor compliance with the treaty, will be considering State party reports required under the Convention to assess to what extent each State is meeting its obligations, and making recommendations aimed at implementation of the provisions of the Convention.

At this session, the Committee will review the reports of Bangladesh, Belarus, Israel, Kenya, Lichtenstein, South Africa and Sri Lanka on the legislative, judicial, administrative and other measures they have adopted in order to implement their obligations under the Convention and other progress made in that respect.

At the opening meeting, the Committee will adopt its agenda and programme of work and hear a report by the Chairperson on activities undertaken during the period between sessions. The Committee will also swear in five new members who were elected in 2010 and whose two-year terms begin in January 2011. Committee members will also discuss implementation of articles 21 and 22 of the Convention as well as ways and means of expediting the work of the Committee.

The Committee and each of the seven States parties presenting reports will have the opportunity to interact in a constructive dialogue on women's enjoyment of their human rights in that country. The outcome of that dialogue is the Committee's concluding observations, which recognize progress a State has made in implementing the Convention, detail the Committee's concerns about gaps in implementation or insufficient compliance with the provisions of the Convention, and contain recommendations on measures that should be taken by the State to achieve more complete and consistent application of the Convention. The Committee encourages wide dissemination of its concluding observations, which are made available on the CEDAW webpage (http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CEDAW/Pages/CEDAWIndex.aspx) at the close of each session.

During the session, in addition to the consideration of country reports, the Committee will also consider cases under the Optional Protocol to the Convention. States parties to the Optional Protocol recognize the competence of the Committee to receive and consider communications submitted by or on behalf of individuals, under the jurisdiction of the State party, claiming to be victims of violations set forth in the Convention. The Optional Protocol entered into force on 22 December 2000 and currently has 100 States parties.

The Committee will also further consider general recommendations on the economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution as well as violence against women in armed conflict and post conflict situations. The Committee will also consider reports and information received under its follow-up procedure to concluding observations.

Representatives of non-governmental organizations can submit their own reports and present information to the Committee. Non-governmental organizations will have the opportunity to address the Committee on Monday, 17 January and Monday, 24 January in the afternoon. National human rights institutions may also present reports to the Committee and address it orally during the meetings convened on those days. Those reports are made available on the Committee's Web page for its forty-eighth session at http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=345&Lang=en.

In addition to these reports, the provisional agenda for the forty-eighth session, which includes background documents for the session, including the reports of States parties and supplementary information, can be found online at the address referenced above.

All seven of the States parties presenting reports under the Convention during this session have previously come before the Committee, which subsequently issued concluding observations on them. The Committee considered the fifth periodic report of Bangladesh on 9 July 2004 and issued its concluding observations in document CEDAW/C/BGD/CO/31. The Committee considered the combined fourth to sixth periodic report of Belarus on 23 January 2004 and issued its concluding observations in document CEDAW/C/BLR/CO/6. It heard the third periodic report of Israel on 6 July 2005 and published concluding observations in document CEDAW/C/ISR/CO/3. The Committee reviewed the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Kenya on 27 July 2007 and issued concluding observations in document CEDAW/C/KEN/CO/6. Lichtenstein presented its second and third periodic reports to the Committee on 26 July 2007 and concluding observations were published in document CEDAW/C/LIE/CO/3. Sri Lanka presented its combined third and fourth periodic reports on 28 January 2002 and the Committee issued its concluding observations in document CEDAW/C/LKA/CO/4. The Committee considered the initial report of South Africa on 24 and 29 June 1998 and issued concluding observations in document CEDAW/C/ZAF/CO/1.

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 18 December 1979, and entered into force on 3 September 1981. Often described as an international bill of rights for women, the Convention contains a preamble and 30 articles in which it defines discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination. Since its entry into force, the Convention has achieved near-universal acceptance, with 186 States parties.

The Convention defines discrimination against women as "... any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field". By accepting the Convention, States commit themselves to undertake a series of measures to end discrimination against women in all forms, including by incorporating the principle of equality of men and women in their legal system; abolishing all discriminatory laws and adopting appropriate ones prohibiting discrimination against women; establishing tribunals and other public institutions to ensure the effective protection of women against discrimination; and ensuring elimination of all acts of discrimination against women by persons, organizations or enterprises.

Optional Protocol to the Convention

On 22 December 2000, the Optional Protocol to the Convention entered into force, by which States parties recognize the competence of the Committee to receive and consider communications submitted by individuals or groups of individuals claiming to be victims of a violation of their rights under the Convention.

To date, 100 of the Convention's 186 States parties have also accepted the Optional Protocol. Before the Committee will consider a complaint, it first must establish its admissibility under the terms of the Optional Protocol. The Optional Protocol also enables the Committee, upon the fulfilment of certain criteria, to undertake inquiries into possible grave or systematic violations of women's rights. Three of the States parties to the Protocol have chosen not to accept the Committee's inquiry competence.

Membership

The Committee is made up of 23 experts of high moral standing and recognized competence in the field of women's rights. Members are nominated and elected by the States parties and serve in their personal capacity. Five new members will be formally inducted at the 48th session. The new members are: Ms. Ayse Feride Acar (Turkey), Ms. Olindia Bareiro-Bobadilla (Paraguay), Ms. Ismat Jahan (Bangladesh), Ms. Maria Helena Lopes de Jesus Pires (Timor-Leste) and Ms. Patricia Schulz (Switzerland).

The new members will be joining the following existing members: Nicole Ameline (France); Magalys Arocha Dominguez (Cuba); Violet Tsisiga Awori (Kenya); Barbara Evelyn Bailey (Jamaica); Meriem Belmihoub-Zerdani (Algeria); Niklas Bruun (Finland); Naela Mohamed Gabr (Egypt); Ruth Halperin-Kaddari (Israel); Yoko Hayashi (Japan); Indira Jaising (India); Soledad Murillo de la Vega (Spain); Violeta Neubauer (Slovenia); Pramila Patten (Mauritius); Silvia Pimentel (Brazil); Victoria Popescu (Romania); Zohra Rasekh (Afghanistan); Dubravka Šimonoviæ (Croatia); and Xiaoqiao Zou (China).

The following members’ terms expired on 31 December 2010: Ferdous Ara Begum (Bangladesh); Saisuree Chutikul (Thailand); Dorcas Coker-Appiah (Ghana); and Cornelis Flinterman (Netherlands).

Tentative Timetable for Consideration of Reports

Following is a tentative timetable for the consideration of reports from States parties to the Convention during this session:

Monday, 17 January

10 a.m. Opening of Session

3 p.m. Meeting with non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions

Tuesday, 18 January

10 a.m. Israel: fourth and fifth periodic reports (CEDAW/C/ISR/4-5)

3 p.m. Israel (continued)

Wednesday, 19 January

10 a.m. Kenya: seventh periodic report (CEDAW/C/KEN/7)

3 p.m. Kenya (continued)

Thursday, 20 January

10 a.m. Lichtenstein: fourth periodic report (CEDAW/C/LIE/4)

3 p.m. Lichtenstein (continued)

Friday, 21 January

10 a.m. South Africa: combined second to fourth periodic report (CEDAW/C/ZAF/2-4)

3 p.m. South Africa (continued)

Monday, 24 January

3 p.m. Meeting with non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions

Tuesday, 25 January

10 a.m. Bangladesh: combined sixth and seventh periodic report (CEDAW/C/BGD/6-7)

3 p.m. Bangladesh (continued)

Wednesday, 26 January

10 a.m. Sri Lanka: combined fifth to seventh periodic report (CEDAW/C/LKA/5-7)

3 p.m. Sri Lanka (continued)

Thursday, 27 January

10 a.m. Belarus: seventh periodic report (CEDAW/C/BLR/7)

3 p.m. Belarus (continued)

Friday, 4 February

4 p.m. Adoption of the report of the Committee on its forty-eighth session; public closing

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For use of the information media; not an official record