Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women concludes sixty-seventh session

ROUNDUP

Adopts Concluding Observations on the Reports of Italy, Thailand, Romania, Costa Rica, Montenegro, Barbados, Niger and Nigeria

GENEVA (21 July 2017) - The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women this afternoon concluded its sixty-seventh session after adopting its concluding observations and recommendations on the implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in Italy, Thailand, Romania, Costa Rica, Montenegro, Barbados, Niger and Nigeria.  The Committee also adopted the report of the session and the provisional agenda for the next session. 

The Committee’s concluding observations and recommendations on the eight reports will be available shortly on the webpage of the session.  Press releases on the public meetings in which the reports were considered can be found here.

During the session, in addition to considering the reports of the States parties, the Committee held public informal meetings with non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions to discuss the situation in the countries whose reports were considered.  It also held closed meetings of the Working Group of the Whole.

At the beginning of the closing meeting, Rosario Manalo, Committee Rapporteur, introduced the report of the sixty-seventh session, and a draft report enclosing the concluding observations on the reports of the States parties considered.  The Committee then adopted the session report and concluding observations.  Ms. Manalo further introduced the draft report of the Working Group of the Whole and the provisional agenda for the sixty-eight session, which were then adopted by the Committee.   

Committee Expert Magalys Arocha delivered the closing remarks on behalf of Dalia Leinarte, Committee Chairperson.  Ms. Arocha said that the Committee had considered the reports of eight States parties, adopted concluding observations on those States, and approved the list of issues prior to reporting concerning one State party under the simplified reporting procedure.  The Committee had also held informal meetings with non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions, and also attended several lunchtime briefings organized by civil society.  The Committee was pleased by the high level of engagement of national human rights institutions and local non-governmental organizations.    

One highlight of the session was the adoption of general recommendation No. 35 on gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19, in the presence of Dubravka Simonovic, Special Rapporteur on violence against women.  The adoption of that new landmark general recommendation, 25 years after the adoption of general recommendation No. 19 on violence against women in 1992, had been long awaited by many stakeholders and provided important guidance to States parties on their due diligence and other obligations to prevent and protect women from all forms of gender-based violence, including violence committed in the cyberspace and violent extremism.  

Ms. Arocha also acknowledged the good progress made by the Working Group on the right to education, which enabled the Committee to finalize its first reading of the draft General Recommendation on the right to education of girls and women, as well as by the Working Group on gender-related dimensions of disaster risk reduction in a changing climate in further refining the draft General Recommendation on this topic.   The Committee also endorsed the “Recommendations for addressing women’s human rights in the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration” that had been adopted at an expert meeting hosted by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and UN-Women in November 2016. 

Another highlight of the session was the adoption of the Committee’s findings, comments and recommendations in relation to inquiry No. 2011/2 which would be transmitted to the State party concerned.  The report would remain confidential until the lapse of the six-month period for the State party to submit its observations on the inquiry report.  There was satisfactory progress in implementing General Assembly resolution 68/268 on treaty body strengthening by extending the scope of the Committee’s concluding observations to issues raised in the list of issues in addition to those raised during the dialogue, deciding on enhanced time management during the constructive dialogue, membership of country task forces, designation of country rapporteurs and the inter-sessional adoption of joint statements.  The Committee had also made good progress in its work under the Optional Protocol on individual communications.

The sixty-eight session of the Committee will take place in Geneva from 23 October to 17 November 2017, when the Committee will consider the reports of Burkina Faso, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Guatemala, Israel, Kenya, Kuwait, Monaco, Nauru, Norway, Oman, Paraguay, and Singapore.

__________

For use of the information media; not an official record