UN Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women to review Japan, Iceland, Sweden, Mongolia, Czech Republic, Vanuatu, Haiti, Tanzania

GENEVA (9 February 2016)  – The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)  is meeting in Geneva from 15 February to 4 March to review women’s rights in the following countries:  Japan (16 Feb); Iceland (17 Feb); Sweden (18 Feb); Mongolia (19 Feb); Czech Republic (23 Feb); Vanuatu (24 Feb); Haiti (25 Feb); Tanzania (26 Feb).

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 (Japan in Room XVIII). Live webcasts of these meetings can be viewed on http://www.treatybodywebcast.org/. 

CEDAW’s findings, officially termed concluding observations, on the countries reviewed, will be published on Monday 7 March here:
http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=1007&Lang=en. The Committee is set to hold a news conference to discuss its findings on 7 March at 13:30 Geneva time, Press Room 1, Palais des Nations.
ENDS

Media requests: Liz Throssell +41 (0) 22 917 9466/ +41 79 752 0488 ethrossell@ohchr.org

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

Background
CEDAW members are independent human rights experts drawn from around the world, who 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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