COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN ENDS SESSION BY ADOPTING OBSERVATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS ARISING FROM EIGHT COUNTRY REPORTS (N.Y.)

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women concluded its work today by adopting observations and recommendations arising from its consideration of eight country reports that it took up during its fifty-second session.

Under consideration during the three-week session were periodic reports submitted by the Governments of Guyana, Indonesia, Bulgaria, Jamaica, Mexico, New Zealand, Samoa and the Bahamas.

In other business, the Committee adopted the draft report of the session, presented by Violet Awori, Rapporteur and expert member from Kenya; the draft report of the Working Group of the Whole, on implementation of article21 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and on action by the Committee on ways and means to expedite its work; and the provisional agenda for its fifty-third session, scheduled for 1—19October2012 in Geneva.

Silvia Pimentel, Committee Chairperson and expert member from Brazil, provided a summary of the work undertaken during the just-concluded session, including the consideration of State parties’ reports, briefings with non-governmental organizations, commemoration of the Committee’s thirtieth anniversary, and meetings with other bodies. Additionally, the Committee had discussed ways to simplify its reporting procedures, continued its review of the general recommendation on the dissolution of marriage and its economic consequences and established two working groups to make general recommendations on climate change and natural disasters, and on the right to education.

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


For information media • not an official record

WOM/1921