COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN DISCUSSES FOLLOW-UP TO WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN

Press Release
WOM/876

COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN DISCUSSES FOLLOW-UP TO WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN

How to implement the Platform for Action adopted last September by the Fourth World Conference on Women was discussed this afternoon by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women which monitors implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

It was suggested that the Platform must become a yardstick as new reporting guidelines for States parties were introduced. The Committee Chairman should talk to Assistant Secretary-General Rosario Green regarding follow-up to the Beijing Conference to avoid duplication and ensure coordination, one of the Committee's 23 experts offered.

Some experts expressed the need for a study on the relationship between the Platform for Action and the Convention. One expert expressed concern at the prospect of having States parties report on the implementation of the Platform considering that many reports were already overdue. She stressed that the Platform should be monitored by the Committee within the framework of the Convention.

The Deputy Director of the Division for the Advancement of Women, Kristen Timothy, said the Commission on the Status of Women was the primary body that would monitor implementation of the Platform for Action. The Platform suggested that the Committee could monitor its implementation by States parties to the Convention within the scope of its mandate. As requested, the Division for the Advancement of Women could provide an analysis of the relationship between the Convention and the Platform for Action.

The Chairman of the Committee, Ivanka Corti of Italy, said follow-up to the Beijing Conference would be taken up in the appropriate working group. While governments were responsible for implementing the Convention and the Platform for Action, the Committee should demonstrate its competence and importance in furthering such implementation.

Women Anti-Discrimination Committee - 1a - Press Release WOM/876 286th Meeting (PM) 15 January 1996

Also this afternoon, the Committee adopted a new procedure whereby its annual report would contain only summary records, and not extensive records of its dialogue. The Committee also constituted its two standing working groups. Working Group I is devoted to suggesting ways and means of expediting the work of the Committee and Working Group II deals with the implementation of article 21 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Article 21 provides that the Committee may make suggestions and general recommendations based on the examination of reports and information received from States parties.

The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 16 January, to consider the combined initial and second periodic reports of Cyprus.

Reports before Committee

The monitoring body of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women met this afternoon to review article 21 of that treaty. The article authorizes the monitoring body, known as the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to issue suggestions and general recommendations on implementing the Convention's provisions, based on the examination of reports and information received from States parties. The Committee is also scheduled this afternoon to review ways and means of expediting its work and to discuss the results of the Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace held last September in Beijing.

Last year, the Committee made proposals on submitting to the Commission on the Status of Women the elements of a draft protocol to the Convention which would allow individual women as well as groups to petition the Committee directly. In 1995, the Commission on the Status of Women recommended to the Economic and Social Council that it begin work on such an optional protocol to allow the right of petition.

Regarding the results of the Fourth World Conference on Women, the Platform for Action adopted there (document A/CONF.177/20) makes several recommendations pertaining to the work of the Committee. Paragraph 127 calls on the Secretary-General to provide the Special Rapporteur on violence against women with all necessary assistance, in particular the staff and resources, to carry out and follow-up on missions, as well as adequate assistance for periodic consultations with the Committee and all treaty bodies.

Paragraph 230(i) of the Beijing Platform for Action urges governments to report on schedule to the Committee regarding implementation of the Convention, following fully the Committee's guidelines and involving non- governmental organizations where appropriate. Paragraph 230(j) calls on governments to enable the Committee to discharge its mandate by allowing for adequate meeting time through broad ratification of the revision adopted by the States parties to the Convention in May 1995 relative to article 20 (on the duration of meetings), and by promoting efficient working methods.

To achieve legal literacy, paragraph 233(a) of the Platform for Action calls on governments and non-governmental organizations, the United Nations and other international organizations to translate, whenever possible, into local and indigenous languages and into alternative formats appropriate for persons with disabilities and persons at lower levels of literacy, and to publicize and disseminate laws and information relating to the equal status and human rights of women, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Women Anti-Discrimination Committee - 4 - Press Release WOM/876 286th Meeting (PM) 15 January 1996

Other relevant paragraphs of the Beijing Platform for Action include paragraphs 322 through 325, which deal directly with the Committee. Paragraph 322 states that the Committee, should, within its mandate, take into account of the Platform for Action when considering the reports submitted by States parties. Paragraph 323 invites States parties to include information in their reports on measures taken to implement the Platform for Action. Paragraph 324 states that the Committee's ability to monitor implementation of the Convention should be strengthened with the provision of human and financial resources within the regular budget of the United Nations, including legal assistance and sufficient meeting time. It also states that the Committee should increase its coordination with other human rights treaty bodies. Paragraph 325 states that other treaty bodies, within their mandate, should also take due account of the implementation of the Platform for Action and ensure the integration of the equal status and human rights of women in their work.

The Committee has before it several reports from specialized agencies of the United Nations on the implementation of the Convention in areas falling within the scope of their activities. These include reports from the World Health Organization (CEDAW/C/1996/3/Add.1); International Labour Organisation (CEDAW/C/1996/3/Add.2); United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (CEDAW/C/1996/3/Add.3); and the Food and Agriculture Organization (CEDAW/C/1996/3/Add.4).

Also before the Committee is the report of the Secretariat on ways and means of expediting the work of the Committee (CEDAW/C/1996/6).

The report includes a list of State parties whose reports could be considered at the subsequent session according to geographical representation. It also includes information on those matters relating to the work of the Committee which were carried over from the previous session. Also in the report is the draft provisional agenda for the Committee's sixteenth session.

In the report, the Secretariat reiterates its proposal that the Committee, while retaining its summary records, discontinue the summaries of presentations made by the representatives of the State party, of the general observations made by the Committee and of all the questions raised and the replies given under each article of the Convention, maintaining only the concluding comments by the Committee.

The report adds that the suggestion, had it been adopted in 1995, would have reduced the size of the Committee's report from 160 to 87 pages. The Committee was the only human rights body to currently maintain both summary records and extensive summary records of the constructive dialogue in its report.

* *** *