Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is an international

International

----International mostly means something that involves more than one country. The term international as a word means involvement of, interaction between or encompassing more than one nation, or generally beyond national boundaries...

convention adopted in 1979 by the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

General Assembly

United Nations General Assembly

For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...

.
Described as an international bill of rights

Bill of rights

A bill of rights is a list of the most important rights of the citizens of a country. The purpose of these bills is to protect those rights against infringement. The term "bill of rights" originates from England, where it referred to the Bill of Rights 1689. Bills of rights may be entrenched or...

for women

Woman

A woman , pl: women is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent...

, it came into force on 3 September 1981. The United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

is the only developed nation that has not ratified the CEDAW. Several countries have ratified the Convention subject to certain declarations, reservations, and objections.

The Convention

The Convention defines discrimination against women in the following terms:

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.

It also establishes an agenda of action for putting an end to sex-based discrimination:

States must take measures to seek to eliminate prejudices and customs based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of one sex or on stereotype

Stereotype

A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...

d role for men and women

Gender role

Gender roles refer to the set of social and behavioral norms that are considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex in the context of a specific culture, which differ widely between cultures and over time...

.

States ratifying the Convention are required to enshrine gender equality

Gender equality

Gender equality is the goal of the equality of the genders, stemming from a belief in the injustice of myriad forms of gender inequality.- Concept :...

into their domestic legislation, repeal all discriminatory provisions in their laws, and enact new provisions to guard against discrimination against women. However, special protection for maternity

Maternity

Maternity or motherhood is the social and legal acknowledgment of the parental relationship between a mother and her child.It is specially related with the protection of the baby and the mother within and after the childbirth.-See also:...

is not regarded as gender discrimination (Article 4). Appropriate measures, including legislation, to suppress all forms of trafficking in women and forced prostitution are also not regarded as gender discrimination (Article 6). Equal opportunity in education for female students is required, and coeducation is encouraged. (Article 10). States ratifying the Convention must also establish tribunals and public institutions to guarantee women effective protection against discrimination, and take steps to eliminate all forms of discrimination practiced against women by individuals, organizations, and enterprises

Business

A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...

(Article 2,(e)).

Members and ratification

The seven UN member states that have not ratified or acceded to the convention are Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

, Palau

Palau

Palau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines and south of Tokyo. In 1978, after three decades as being part of the United Nations trusteeship, Palau chose independence instead of becoming part of the Federated States of Micronesia, a...

, Somalia

Somalia

Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

, Sudan

Sudan

Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...

, South Sudan

South Sudan

South Sudan , officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country located in the Sahel region of northeastern Africa. It is also part of the North Africa UN sub-region. Its current capital is Juba, which is also its largest city; the capital city is planned to be moved to the more...

, Tonga

Tonga

Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...

, and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The United States and Palau have signed it, but not yet ratified it.

The one UN non-member state that had not acceded to the convention is the Holy See

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...

/Vatican City

Vatican City

Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...

.

The Republic of China

Republic of China

The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...

(Taiwan) in 2007 has also ratified the treaty in its legislature, but is unrecognized by the United Nations and is a party to the treaty only unofficially.

The latest state to have acceded the convention was Nauru

Nauru

Nauru , officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country in Micronesia in the South Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kiribati, to the east. Nauru is the world's smallest republic, covering just...

on June 23, 2011.

Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

Convention oversight is the task of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which is made up of 23 experts on women's issues from different UN member states. The Committee meets twice a year to review reports on compliance with the Convention's provisions that the signatory nations are required to submit every four years.

The Committee is one of the eight UN-related human rights treaty bodies.

The Committee's members, described as "experts of high moral standing and competence in the field covered by the Convention", are elected to serve four-year terms in staggered elections held every two years. Its officers are a chairperson, three vice-chairpersons, and a rapporteur. Efforts are made to ensure balanced geographical representation and the inclusion of the world's different forms of civilization and legal systems.

Committee members and experts also attend an annual luncheon, hosted by the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, NY (NGO CSW/NY), where key issues are discusses and the efforts of the committee are honored.

As of January 2011, the members are:

Name	State	Term Expires
Silvia Pimentel (Chairperson)	Brazil	2012
Victoria Popescu (Vice-Chairperson)	Kingdom of Romania	2012
Zohra Rasekh (Vice-Chairperson)	Afghanistan	2012
Nicole Ameline Nicole Ameline Nicole Ameline is a member of the National Assembly of France. She represents the Calvados department, and is a member of the Union for a Popular Movement.-References:... (Vice-Chairperson)	Early Modern France	2012
Violet Tsisiga Awori (Rapporteur)	Kenya	2012
Magalys Arocha Dominguez	Cuba	2012
Barbara Evelyn Bailey	Jamaica	2012
Niklas Bruun	Finland	2012
Indira Jaising Indira Jaising Indira Jaising is a leftist Indian lawyer. She went to school in Mumbai and graduated in Bangalore, before getting her degree in law in 1962. Jaising became the second woman to be designated as a Senior Advocate by the High Court of Bombay in 1986 .She became the first woman to be appointed...	India	2012
Soledad Murillo de la Vega	Spain	2012
Zou Xiaoqiao	Mainland China	2012
Ayse Feride Acar	Turkey	2014
Olinda Bareiro-Bobadilla	Paraguay	2014
Meriem Belmihoub-Zerdani	Algeria	2014
Naela Mohamed Gabr	Egypt	2014
Ruth Halperin-Kaddari	Israel	2014
Yoko Hayashi	Japan	2014
Ismat Jahan Ismat Jahan Ismat Jahan is the Ambassador of Bangladesh to Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Communities.From 2007 to 2009, she was the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations....	Bangladesh	2014
Violeta Neubauer	Slovenia	2014
Pramila Patten	Mauritius	2014
Maria Helena Lopes de Jesus Pires		2014
Patricia Schulz	Switzerland	2014
Dubravka Šimonović	Independent State of Croatia	2014

Optional Protocol

The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women is an international treaty which establishes complaint and inquiry mechanisms for the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women...

is a side-agreement to the Convention which allows its parties to recognise the competence of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to consider complaints from individuals.

The Optional Protocol was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 6 October 1999 and entered into force on 22 December 2000. Currently it has 79 signatories and 103 parties.

Controversy

In an article in Moment Magazine in February 2011, Paula Kweskin, in discussing so-called “honor” killings taking place in the Palestinian Authority, writes that two-thirds of all murders in the Palestinian Authority and Gaza are “honor” killings. These crimes go unpunished and laws grant impunity to those who kill based on “family honor.” In interviews and press releases on their websites, many NGOs, including Badil, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, and the Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling, have decried “honor” killings and the lack of legal protection for Palestinian women; yet these NGOs are silent when given a forum at CEDAW to address these problems.

The CEDAW has been controversial for statements seen by a number of states and NGOs as promoting Western-style radical feminism

Radical feminism

Radical feminism is a current theoretical perspective within feminism that focuses on the theory of patriarchy as a system of power that organizes society into a complex of relationships based on an assumption that "male supremacy" oppresses women...

. Often referenced is a 2000 report which said that in Belarus

Belarus

Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

, "the Committee is concerned by the continuing prevalence of sex-role stereotypes and by the reintroduction of such symbols as a Mothers' Day and a Mothers' Award, which it sees as encouraging women's traditional roles." Other controversial positions of CEDAW include supporting the decriminalization of prostitution in specific countries, criticizing Slovenia because only 30% of children are in daycare, and pressuring numerous states to decriminalize abortion. Other requests are seen by groups as a backdoor to forcing states parties to adopt an Equal Rights Amendment

Equal Rights Amendment

The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and, in 1923, it was introduced in the Congress for the first time...

or comparable national legislation, which is seen as a violation of the CEDAW treaty mandate and the sovereignty of states parties. Australian and (defunct) New Zealand anti-feminist groups voiced similar concerns in the early eighties.

More recently, the controversy concerning CEDAW has centered around the question of easy access to abortion and contraception. According to C-FAM (the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute

Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute

The Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute is "a non-partisan, non-profit research institute dedicated to reestablishing a proper understanding of international law, protecting national sovereignty and the dignity of the human person." Its leaders have participated in every major UN social...

), at UN meetings officials pressed the delegation from Colombia to liberalize its abortion laws and to inaugurate campaigns encouraging contraceptive use and "reproductive health awareness".

External links

CEDAW site
Convention text
List of parties
CEDAW 2010, the website of the CEDAW Task Force of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

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