THE ROLE OF CEDAW COMMITTEE

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THE ROLE OF CEDAW (COMMITTEE)

• CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF
  DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN

PRESENTER Dr Maretha de Waal
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INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT

• 1947 Human Rights Declaration
• 1966 The International Convention on the
  Political Rights of Women and the Convention on
  the Nationality of Married Women became the
• Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination
  Against Women (1967)
• CEDAW was adopted by General Assembly of the
  United Nations on 18 December 1979

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SIGNIFICANCE OF CEDAW
1967 Declaration stated in a single legal
instrument the international standards
articulated the equal rights of women and
men Declaration is not a treaty although a
declaration has moral and political force, it
does not create binding obligations for
States CEDAW brought to a climax UN efforts
during the Decade for Women to codify
comprehensively international legal standards for
women (adopted at Copenhagen World Conference for
Women) Existing international human rights
instruments have been largely insufficient to
guarantee the protection of womens human rights
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CEDAW APPROACH
Important note CEDAW requires progressive
rather than immediate implementation Ratificatio
n demonstrates commitment 1st report due within
one year after entry Thereafter at least every 4
years and further whenever the Committee so
requests
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CEDAW COMMITTEE
Comprises of 23 experts, elected by secret ballot
from a list of persons of high moral standing
and competence in the field covered by the
Convention (Article 17), nominated by State
Parties. Members serve 4 year terms. Members
serve in their individual capacity and not as
delegates or representatives of the state.
Consideration is given to geographical
distribution, representation of different forms
of civilisation and principal legal system. A
total of 104 experts have served as members of
the Committee since 1982. The officers of the
Committee consist of a Chairperson, three
Vice-Chairpersons and a Rapporteur.
Office-bearers serve for two year terms and are
eligible for re-election provided that the
principle of rotation is upheld. Meetings were
initially held in Vienna, then New York, and now
Geneva, serviced by the Centre for Human
Rights.
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CEDAW COMMITTEE (CONT.)

• Duties Consider country reports make
  suggestions and general recommendations based on
  reports direct suggestions to organs of the UN.
• The Convention obliges states to report, and
  welcomes inputs from NGOs, but makes no explicit
  provision for NGO input.
• States present their reports at public meetings ,
  and are required to answer questions.
• States may be requested to submit exceptional
  reports, e.g. Rwanda, Serbia, Croatia,
  Herzegovina

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ENFORCEMENT MECHANISMS

• CEDAW is binding on the national level
• Country reports to reflect progress and
  challenges / obstacles
• Reports are submitted to the Secretary General of
  the UN, who forwards it to the CEDAW committee
• The Vienna Declaration recommended an optional
  protocol the right to petition the Committee
  where there was a violation of the Conventions
  provisions. This would entitle the CEDAW
  Commission to initiate an investigation of
  complaints of gross or systematic violations of
  the Convention

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OBJECTIVES OF REPORTING

• To achieve a comprehensive review of national
  legislation, administrative roles and procedures
  and practices
• To ensure that State Parties conduct monitoring
  and are aware of the situation of women
• To provide State Parties with a basis for
  elaboration
• To permit public scrutiny of government policies
  and to encourage involvement from various sectors
  of society in the formulation and review of
  policies
• To provide a baseline against which progress can
  be measured
• To enable states to develop a better
  understanding of issues
• To identify the most appropriate means to assist
  states.

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MONITORING PROCESS

• Independent groups and organisations to monitor
  implementation, can assist the government in
  preparing periodic reports in dialogue with the
  government.
• They can comment on or criticise the official
  report or they can prepare an independent
  shadow report on implementation.
• They can monitor the consideration of the reports
  by the CEDAW Committee.
• Independent organisations can use the framework
  for monitoring even of their government are not
  signatories.

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MONITORING OF RESERVATIONS

• States may ratify with subject to reservation
  (exclusion of a specific article)
• substantive recommendations, e.g. Article 2
• CEDAW committee monitors even the Articles that
  have been resevered by States

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PREPARATION OF REPORTS

• Guidelines for Part I Core document, general
  information regarding the State
• Part II Specific information regarding eat
  Article in the Convention
• Constitutional, legislative and other measures
• Developments
• Progress
• De facto position and de jure position of women
• Any restrictions or limitations imposed by law,
  practice or tradition
• Reporting in terms of General Recommendation 19
  Gender-based violence against women, and General
  Recommendation 21 Equality in Marriage and
  Family Relations (cross-cutting issues)
• Requires reporting in terms of specific
  punitive, rehabilitative, preventative and
  protective measures by States to fulfil this
  obligation

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PRESENTATION OF REPORTS BEFORE CEDAW
CEDAW committee always requests information on
the involvement of NGOs in preparation of the
report, translation into local languages CEDAW
committee provides concluding remarks on the
report, representing the collective view of the
committee CEDAW also considers information
available in the UN system, as well as national
and international NGOs, such as Amnesty
International , Womens Rights Action Watch etc.
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ROLE OF THE RAPPORTEUR

• The Committee usually invites eight States
  parties to present their reports at each
  three-week session. In making the selection, the
  Committee gives preference to reports that have
  been pending for the longest time, prioritizes
  initial reports and considers a balance of
  reports in terms of geographic and other factors.
  
• The Committee designates from among its members a
  country rapporteur for the report(s) of each
  State party. The Committee has adopted guidelines
  on the role and function of the country
  rapporteur. The country rapporteurs
  responsibilities pertain to the following three
  phases of the consideration of reports
• the preparation of a draft list of issues and
  questions for the pre-session working group
• consideration of the report(s) of the State
  party, in particular the identification of issues
  and priorities to be raised during the
  constructive dialogue and
• the preparation of draft concluding comments.
• All experts participate in the three stages of
  the consideration of a report, while the country
  rapporteur facilitates and coordinates the
  process.

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Example South Africa

• State ratified CEDAW in 1995
• In 1993 Parliament adopted the General Law Fourth
  Amendment Act which removed all traces of
  legislative discrimination against women so as to
  enable South Africa to ratify CEDAW
• In 1993 South Africa also acceded to the
  Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age
  for Marriage and Registration of Marriages of
  1962
• The SA Constitution requires courts to consider
  international human rights instruments in their
  application of the Bill of Rights in the
  Constitution however, a court is not confined
  to international human tights treaties (e.g.
  Rastafarian use of cannabis for religious
  purposes vs. the states obligations to suppress
  drug abuse)
• Case example positive duty on the state to
  protect an individual whose life was at risk from
  the criminal acts of another individual (Minister
  of Safety and Security v Carmichele)

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SOUTH AFRICA

• South Africa signed the CEDAW Convention on 29
  January 1993 and ratified it without reservation
  on 15 December 1995. It entered into force 30
  days later, that is 15 January 1996.
• 1st report submitted 14 January 1997 (baseline)
• Not submitted 2nd report (due 2001), 3rd report
  (due 2005) and 4th (due 2009).
• A comprehensive report was submitted in 2008,
  covering the backlog (1998 2008). Report has
  not been presented (scheduled for 2010)

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Thank you!