Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women opens sixty-sixth session in Geneva

GENEVA (13 February 2017) - The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women this morning opened its sixty-sixth session at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, hearing a statement by Orest Nowosad, Chief of the Groups in Focus Section, Human Rights Treaties Division of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.  The Committee elected its officers, swore in new and re-elected members, and adopted its agenda and programme of work for the session.
 
In his opening statement, Mr. Nowosad referred to the patterns of discrimination against women and girls and the heightened risk of gender-based violence exacerbated by large-scale movement of migrants and refugees around the world, and stressed that it was in such grave times that respect for the principles underlying the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women became all the more relevant and the Committee’s advice to States parties all the more critical.  Linking the 2030 Agenda to the Convention that was nearly universally ratified had a great potential to support States in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals and strengthen their accountability for achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls, he said. 
 
Yoko Hayashi, the outgoing Committee Chairperson, presenting her report on intersessional activities, said that the number of ratifications of the Convention and its Optional Protocol remained at 189 and 106, respectively, and  that four States parties had submitted their periodic reports: Chile, Turkmenistan, Australia, and Mexico.  Ms. Hayashi warmly welcomed new Committee members, and noting that the Committee would soon elect its new Bureau, thanked all for their support during her tenure.
 
The Committee had elected, in a closed meeting, its new Bureau: Dalia Leinarte of Lithuania as the Committee Chairperson; Theodora Oby Nwankwo of Nigeria, Ruth Halperin-Kaddari of Israel, and Magalys Arocha Dominguez of Cuba as Vice-Chairs; and Rosario G. Manalo of the Philippines as Committee Rapporteur.
 
Dalia Leinarte, the newly elected Committee Chairperson, outlined some additional activities the Committee should focus on in the future, including to increase the cooperation with the International Labour Organization, International Organization for Migration, and the World Health Organisation; increase the use of twitter to give more prominence to women’s rights; preparing two new general recommendations; and deepen cooperation with the United Nations Women, particularly in the view of increased prohibitions of abortion.
 
At the beginning of the meeting, new Committee members had made their solemn declaration: Mr. Gunnar Bergby of Norway, Ms. Marion Bether of the Bahamas, Ms. Rosario Manalo of the Philippines,  Ms. Bandana Rana of Nepal, Ms. Wenyan Song of China, and Ms. Aicha Vall Verges of Mauritania.
 
The Committee adopted the provisional agenda and organization of work for the sixty-sixth session, and heard reports on the status of the follow up reports and on the pre-session working group for the sixty-sixth session, as well as updates on the activities conducted by the Committee Experts in the intersessional period.
 
Live webcast of the Committee’s public meetings is available at http://webtv.un.org/
 
During its sixty-sixth session, to be held at the Palais des Nations from 13 February to 3 March, the Committee will consider the reports of Ukraine, Ireland, Jordan, El Salvador, Germany, Sri Lanka, Rwanda and Micronesia.  All the documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties can be found at the session’s webpage.
 
The Committee will reconvene at 3 p.m. this afternoon to hold an informal meeting with non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions with respect to Ukraine, Ireland, Jordan and El Salvador, whose reports the Committee will consider this week.
 
Opening Statement

OREST NOWOSAD, Chief of the Groups in Focus Section, Human Rights Treaties Division of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, recalled that, on taking his oath on 12 December 2016, United Nations Secretary-General Guterres had presented his reform agenda in which key elements were the support to Member States in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the objectives of the Paris Agreement on climate change.  Mr. Guterres further pledged his personal commitment to respect gender parity in all his senior management appointments and to reach full gender parity by the end of his mandate at the Under Secretary-General and Assistant Secretary-General levels, including special representatives and special envoys, said Mr. Nowosad. 
 
Large-scale movements of migrants and refugees around the world added to the challenges that States and the United Nations were facing in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals, said Mr. Nowosad, as such situations of instability exacerbated pre-existing patterns of discrimination against women and girls, exposing them to an increased risk of violations of their human rights.  They were also exposed to higher levels of gender-based violence, such as the use of sexual violence as a tactics of war, early and forced marriage, other harmful practices, and denial of women’s sexual and reproductive health rights.  It was in such grave times that respect for the principles underlying the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women became all the more relevant and the Committee’s advice to State parties all the more critical.  Linking the 2030 Agenda to the Convention that was nearly universally ratified with 189 States parties, had great potential to support States in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals and strengthen their accountability for achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls.
 
Turning to the treaty bodies strengthening process, Mr. Nowosad noted that the Secretary-General’s report of August 2016 had showed that the measures taken under General Assembly resolution 68/268 had allowed the treaty body system to address some of its most pressing challenges.  Later this year, the General Assembly would decide on granting the necessary resources for the amended meeting time in 2018-2018, which might see a return to the 14 weeks of meeting time for the Committee, as a result of a reduction of the backlog margin.  The December 2016 meeting of the Security Council on the “Synergy between the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Security Council resolution on Women, Peace and Security” was unprecedented, said Mr. Nowosad, as it was the first time that a member of a treaty body - Ms. Pramila Patten – had addressed the Security Council. 
 
The General Assembly had adopted in December 2016 a number of resolutions of interest to the Committee, while its resolution on child, early and forced marriage revered to the Convention and recalled the human rights obligations of States to prevent and eliminate this practice.  The General Assembly had also reaffirmed the mandate of the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity when it had rejected on four occasions, proposals to defer consideration of, and action on, Human Rights Council resolution 32/2 which had created the mandate.
 
In closing, Mr. Nowosad noted that the Committee would elect a new Bureau today, and thanked the ongoing Chair, Ms. Hayashi and the Bureau which had served with her.
 
Adoption of the Agenda and Organization of Work and the Report of the Chairperson

The Committee adopted the provisional agenda and organization of work for the sixty-sixth session.

YOKO HAYASHI, Chairperson of the Committee, presenting her report on the activities undertaken since the last session, said that since the last session there had been no additional ratification of the Convention or its Optional Protocol, meaning that the number of States parties remained at 189 and 106, respectively.  The number of States parties having accepted the amendment to article 20, paragraph 1 on the Convention concerning the meeting time of the Committee remained at 71.  The Chairperson recalled that in order for this amendment to enter into force, the acceptance by 126 States parties to the Convention was required.  Four States parties had submitted their periodic reports since the beginning of the last session: Chile, Turkmenistan, Australia, and Mexico.
 
Turning to her inter-sessional activities, Ms. Hayashi said that she and another Committee member had attended the World Assembly for Women hosted by Japan in December 2016, where they had briefed on General Recommendation N°30 on women, conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations.  The Chair and other Committee members had also taken part in the second Expert Group Meeting hosted by the Centre for Women, Peace and Security at the London School of Economics, where the updating of the Committee’s General Recommendation N°19 on violence against women had been discussed.  Ms. Hayashi warmly welcomed new Committee members, and noting that the Committee would soon elect its new Chair and officers, thanked all for their support during her tenure.   
 
Committee Experts then provided an update on their activities during the intersessional period.
 
Election of the Bureau

The Committee had elected, in a closed meeting, its new Bureau:
 
Dalia Leinarte of Lithuania, representing the Eastern European region, was elected as Committee’s new Chairperson.
 
Ms. Theodora Oby Nwankwo of Nigeria, representing the African region;  Ms. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari of Israel, representing the Western European region; and Ms. Magalys Arocha Dominguez of Cuba, representing the Latin America and the Caribbean region, were elected as new Vice-Chairs, while the Committee had elected Ms. Rosario G. Manalo of the Philippines, representing the Asia-Pacific region was elected as the Rapporteur.
 
DALIA LEINARTE, Committee Chairperson, thanked the outgoing Chairperson Ms. Hayashi and all Committee members for their support, and outlined some of additional activities the Committee should focus on in the future, including to increase the cooperation with the International Labour Organization, International Organization for Migration, and the World Health Organisation, to brief the Committee on new discussions, issues and standards in their respective fields.  Another suggestion entailed the increased use of Twitter to give more prominence to women’s rights.  The Committee should focus on preparing two new general recommendations and deepen cooperation with the United Nations Women, particularly in the view of increased prohibitions of abortion.
 
Pre-sessional Working Group Report and the Follow-up

HILARY GBEDEMAH, Committee Expert and the Rapporteur on Follow-up, briefed the Committee on the pre-sessional working group and said that it had prepared lists of issues with regard to reports of El Salvador, Germany, Jordan, Micronesia, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, and Ukraine, and had also adopted, on a pilot basis, list of issues prior to reporting for Israel, which was scheduled for review at the sixty-eighth session.  In preparing lists of issues, the pre-sessional working group had benefitted from oral and written information by entities and specialized agencies of the United Nations System, non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions.
 
Ms. Gbedemah also briefed on the status of follow-up reports received from States parties in reply to the Committee’s concluding observations, and said that during the previous session, she had met with representatives of Comoros.  Follow-up letter outlining the outcome of assessment of follow-up reports had been sent to Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Qatar, Serbia and Zimbabwe.  First reminders regarding an overdue follow-up report had been sent to India, Lithuania, Mauritania and Swaziland, and a second reminder had been sent to Benin.  The Committee had received follow-up reports from Andorra with a 12-month delay, from Belgium on time, from Cameroon with a nine-month delay, from the Dominican Republic with a 14-month delay, and from Georgia and Iraq on time.

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