COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN CONCLUDES ITS SEVENTY-FOURTH SESSION

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women concluded this morning its seventy-fourth session, during which it reviewed the reports of Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Lithuania and Seychelles on the implementation of 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 countries considered during the session will be available on the session’s webpage shortly. Meetings coverage releases on the public meetings in which the reports were considered are available on the webpage of the United Nations Office at Geneva, while webcasts of the Committee’s public meetings can be accessed here.

The Committee adopted its report for the session, presented by Committee Rapporteur Lia Nadaraia, as well as the provisional agenda for the seventy-fifth session.

In her concluding remarks, Hilary Gbedemah, Committee Chair, said the Committee had adopted concluding observations on the seven reports and held meetings with civil society, national human rights institutions, United Nations entities and other inter-governmental bodies. Committee Experts had also co-hosted an insightful panel discussion on “Paving the way for adolescent girls’ rights: Integrating an age and gender perspective in policy and law”, organized by Plan International, to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the thirtieth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Committee had adopted two important guidance notes during this session, one on the cooperation between the Committee and national human rights institutions, and another one on the preparation of periodic reports by States parties in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Committee Experts had also made good progress in its work under the Optional Protocol on individual communications: it had adopted four final decisions. Also under the Optional Protocol, Experts had been able to further develop the Committee’s jurisprudence by adopting an inquiry report on a particularly harmful practice, which would be transmitted to the State party concerned for observations within six months, after which the report would be published.

The Committee’s seventy-fifth session is scheduled to take place in Geneva from 10 to 24 February 2020, during which the Committee will examine the reports of Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Eritrea, Kiribati, Latvia, Pakistan, Republic of Moldova and Zimbabwe.


For use of the information media; not an official record


CEDAW19.036E