COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN CONCLUDES FIFTY-SEVENTH SESSION

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women today concluded its fifty-seventh session and adopted its concluding observations and recommendations on the reports of Bahrain, Cameroon, Qatar, Kazakhstan, Iraq, Sierra Leone and Finland on how these countries implement the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

The Committee's concluding observations and recommendations on the seven reports are available on the Committee's website.

Nicole Ameline, Committee Chairperson, in closing remarks, said that in addition to the consideration of the reports of the seven States parties, she was delighted that the Committee had adopted a statement on the post-2015 development agenda and the elimination of discrimination against women, and a statement on sexual and reproductive rights. The Committee also reviewed information received from States parties under the follow-up procedure, adopting one inadmissibility decision and two Views finding violations, one in a rape case and the other one in a case concerning discriminatory legislation on maternity benefits. The Committee also continued to discuss the draft general recommendation on gender related dimensions of refugee status, asylum and statelessness and also made progress on other draft general recommendations which were discussed by the respective Working Groups.

The 23 expert members of the Committee, serving in their personal capacities, monitor States parties' compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, often described as an international bill of rights for women. Adopted by the General Assembly in 1979, the treaty consists of a preamble and 30 articles, and prescribes national action to end discrimination against women.

The fifty-eighth session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women will be held from 30 June to 18 July 2014, in Geneva, when it will consider the reports of Central African Republic, Georgia, India, Lithuania, Mauritania, Peru, Swaziland and Syria.

To learn more about the Committee on the Elimination of the Discrimination against Women, visit: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/

To arrange an interview with a Committee member, please contact Jakob Schneider (+41 22 917 9301 / jschneider@ohchr.org)

For more information and other media requests, please contact Liz Throssell (+41 (0) 22 917 9434/ +41 (0) 79 752 0488) ethrossell@ohchr.org


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For use of the information media; not an official record

CEDAW14/002E