STATES PARTIES TO CONVENTION ON ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN ELECTS ELEVEN EXPERTS TO SERVE ON MONITORING BODY
Press Release
WOM/901
STATES PARTIES TO CONVENTION ON ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN ELECTS ELEVEN EXPERTS TO SERVE ON MONITORING BODY
19960229 Also Recommends Additional Meetings to Reduce Report BacklogThe States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women this morning elected 11 experts to serve four- year terms on the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, beginning 15 April. The Committee is the monitoring body of the Convention.
The meeting elected by secret ballot five new members and re-elected six current members.
The newly elected members are: Yung-Chung Kim, from the Republic of Korea; Aída González, from Mexico; Anne Lise Ryel, from Norway; Yolanda Ferrer Gómez, from Cuba; and Ayse Feride Acar, from Turkey.
Experts re-elected were Hanna Beate Schöpp-Schilling, from Germany; Silvia Cartwright, from New Zealand; Carlota Bustelo García del Real, from Spain; Ahoua Ouedraogo, from Burkina Faso; Salma Khan, from Bangladesh; and Kongit Sinegiorgis, from Ethiopia.
Also this morning, the States parties adopted, without a vote, a resolution recommending that the General Assembly authorize the Committee to hold two annual sessions of three-weeks duration to reduce the backlog in reports of States parties awaiting review. Also by the text, the States parties recognized the need to introduce that temporary measure until such time as the amendment to article 20, paragraph 1, enters into force.
By that amendment, which will enter into force after ratification by a two-thirds majority of States parties, the duration of the meetings of the Committee would be determined by a meeting of the States parties, subject to the approval of the General Assembly. Mali and Finland have thus far accepted the amendment.
Addressing the meeting on behalf of the Secretary-General, Angela King, Director, Division for the Advancement of Women, said that as the first
States Parties to Women Convention - 1a - Press Release WOM/901 1st Meeting (AM) 29 February 1996
international bill of rights for women, the Convention was an explicit statement on the responsibility of States to eliminate overt forms of discrimination against women, ensuring not just de jure rights for women, but also the de facto enjoyment of those rights. The Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women had urged the eradication of all forms of discrimination against women and had set a goal of universal ratification of the Convention by the year 2000, she added.
At the outset of the meeting, States parties elected by acclamation Kerry Buck (Canada) as Chairperson. The United Republic of Tanzania, Fiji, Lithuania and Colombia were elected Vice-Chairpersons.
The meetings of the States parties to the Convention are scheduled to be held every two years.
Work Programme of States Parties
The States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women met this morning to elect 11 members of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. States parties are also scheduled to consider recommendations of the Committee's fifteenth session (Headquarters, 15 January - 2 February) concerning the duration of its meetings for forthcoming sessions.
The 23-expert Committee is the monitoring body for the implementation of the Convention, the single most authoritative legal document to have emerged from the United Nations Decade for Women (1976-1985). The Convention was adopted by the General Assembly on 18 December 1979 and entered into force on 3 September 1981. Experts serve in the Committee in their personal capacity and are elected for four-year terms.
The 17 experts nominated for today's election and the States parties which have proposed them are as follows: Ayse Feride Acar, from Turkey; Irena Boruta, from Poland; *Carlota Bustelo García del Real, from Spain; *Silvia Cartwright, from New Zealand; Yolanda Ferrer Gómez, from Cuba; Aída González, from Mexico; *Salma Khan, from Bangladesh; Yung-Chung Kim, from Republic of Korea; Awa Léni Nana, from Togo; Raquel Macedo de Sheppard, from Uruguay; Emilienne Ngo Basse, from Cameroon; *Ahoua Ouedraogo, from Burkina Faso; Béatrix Gisèle Ratanga, from Gabon; Anne Lise Ryel, from Norway; *Hanna Beate Schöpp-Schilling, from Germany; *Kongit Sinegiorgis, from Ethiopia; and Mamadou Traore, from Mali. (The asterisk indicates that the expert is currently a member of the Committee.) Biographical information on the candidates is available in documents CEDAW/SP/1996/3 and Add.1.
The 11 members whose terms will expire on 15 April are: Gül Aykor, from Turkey; Carlota Bustelo García del Real, from Spain; Silvia Cartwright, from New Zealand; Liliana Gurdulich de Correa, from Argentina; Evangelina García-Prince, from Venezuela; Salma Khan, from Bangladesh; Pirkko Anneli Mäkinen, from Finland; Elsa Victoria Muñoz-Gómez, from Colombia; Ahoua Ouedraogo, from Burkina Faso; Hanna Beate Schöpp-Schilling, from Germany; and Kongit Sinegiorgis, from Ethiopia.
The 12 members who will continue to serve on the Committee until 15 April 1998 are: Charlotte Abaka, from Ghana; Emna Aouij, from Tunisia; Tendai Ruth Bare, from Zimbabwe; Désirée Patricia Bernard, from Guyana; Miriam Yolanda Estrada Castillo, from Ecuador; Ivanka Corti, from Italy; Aurora Javate de Dios, from the Philippines; Sunaryati Hartono, from Indonesia; Ginko Sato, from Japan; Carmel Shalev, from Israel; Lin Shangzhen, from China; and Mervat Tallawy, from Egypt.
Concerning the duration of Committee sessions, the General Assembly, by resolution 50/202, of 22 December 1995, took note with approval of a proposed amendment to the Convention adopted by the eighth meeting of States parties, held in May 1995. By that amendment, paragraph 1 of article 20 of the Convention would be revised to allow the Committee to meet annually. The duration of the meetings would be determined by the States parties, subject to the approval of the Assembly. The amendment will enter into force after acceptance by a two-thirds majority of States parties.
At today's meeting, States parties have before them a recommendation of the Committee stating that two three-week sessions are needed annually to alleviate its heavy workload (document CEDAW/SP/1996/4).
In addition, States parties have before them information, provided by the Secretary-General according to article 28 of the Convention, on reservations, declarations, objections and notifications of withdrawal of reservations relating to the Convention (document CEDAW/SP/1996/2).
The 30-article Convention sets standards for countries to improve the conditions under which women live and work. It provides for governments to reshape society in order to guarantee a just distribution of the rights and obligations of men and women. Constitutional, legislative and other measures described in the Convention seek to promote equality through affirmative action, maternity protection, equal education and employment opportunities, and equality before the law, including matrimonial law.
Statement by Representative of Secretary-General
The Secretary-General's representative, ANGELA KING, Director, Division for the Advancement of Women, said that to date 151 States had ratified or acceded to the Convention. As the first international bill of rights for women, the Convention was an explicit statement on the responsibility of States to eliminate overt forms of discrimination against women, ensuring not just de jure rights for women, but also the de facto enjoyment of those rights.
Drawing attention to recommendations adopted by the Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women, she said the Conference had urged the eradication of all forms of discrimination against women and had set a goal of universal ratification of the Convention by the year 2000. Governments had been urged in the Beijing Platform for Action to limit the extent of their reservations to the Convention and to withdraw reservations that were contrary to its object and purpose or otherwise incompatible with international treaty law. The Conference had further recommended that governments should formulate reservations as precisely and as narrowly as possible, and that States parties should include in their reports to the Committee information on measures to implement the Beijing Platform.
Reviewing decisions adopted by the Committee at its fifteenth session, she said that one of the decisions adopted concerned article 20, paragraph 1, on the length and frequency of sessions of the Committee. The Committee had expressed appreciation to States parties for action taken by the Assembly on that question, including the adoption of resolution 50/202. That text had urged States parties to take appropriate measures to ensure that acceptance by two-thirds majority of States parties could be achieved as soon as possible in order for the amendment proposed by the Committee to enter into force. States parties had been advised about the amendment by the United Nations Treaty Section, on 18 January. The Secretary-General had already received the first acceptance of the amendment -- from Mali. (It was later announced that Finland had also accepted the amendment.)
The Committee had urged the appropriate intergovernmental bodies to authorize adequate meeting time to enable it to continue to reduce the backlog
in States parties' reports awaiting review, she said. It had considered that at least two three-week sessions annually, each preceded by a pre-session working group, were needed to alleviate its heavy workload.
Action on Draft Resolution
RAILI LAHNALAMPI (Finland) introduced a draft resolution on the amendment to article 20 paragraph 1 of the Convention (document CEDAW/SP/1996/L.1) on behalf of the sponsors by Australia, Austria, Burkina Faso, Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Namibia, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey.
Under the text's provisions, the States parties would recommend that the General Assembly authorize the Committee to hold two annual sessions of three- weeks duration to reduce the backlog in reports of States parties awaiting review. In addition, the States parties would recognize the need to introduce that temporary measure until such time as the amendment to article 20 paragraph 1 enters into force. The States parties would also reiterate the importance of the Convention, as well as the contribution of the Committee, and would welcome the efforts made by the Committee to improve its procedures and working methods.
Before action, Ms. KING, Director of the Division for the Advancement of Woman, read out a statement on the financial implications of the draft. She said that due to the financial situation of the Organization, $103.9 million in savings were to be achieved in the programme budget during the 1996-1997 biennium. As a result, it was not possible to alter the calendar of conferences to allow for additional meetings for CEDAW during that period. The Assembly, at its fifty-first session, would review the proposal to increase the number of meetings of the Committee, she added.
The resolution was adopted without a vote.
It was later stated for the record by the meeting's Chairperson that Angola, Bangladesh, Belize, Cameroon, Ghana, Guyana, Kenya, New Zealand, Nigeria and Republic of Moldova had joined in co-sponsoring the text.
Election to Committee
The results of the balloting were as follows: number of ballot papers, 138; number of invalid ballots, 0; number of valid ballot papers, 138; abstentions, 0; number of representatives voting, 138; required majority, 70.
Elected were Yung-Chung Kim, Republic of Korea, 104 votes; Aída González, Mexico, 103 votes; Anne Lise Ryel, Norway, 94 votes; Yolanda Ferrer Gómez, Cuba, 93 votes; and Ayse Feride Acar, Turkey, 90 votes.
Re-elected were Hanna Beate Schöpp-Schilling, Germany, 108 votes; Silvia Cartwright, New Zealand, 106 votes; Carlota Bustelo García del Real, Spain, 99 votes; Ahoua Ouedraogo, Burkina Faso, 91 votes; Salma Khan, Bangladesh, 87 votes; and Kongit Sinegiorgis, Ethiopia, 87 votes.
Results for other candidates participating were as follows: Irena Boruta, Poland, 82 votes; Raquel Macedo de Sheppard, Uruguay, 79 votes; Awa Léni Nana, Togo, 62 votes; Emilienne Ngo Basse, Cameroon, 61 votes; Béatrix Gisèle Ratanga, Gabon, 57 votes; and Mamadou Traore, Mali, 36 votes.
States Parties to Anti-Discrimination Convention
The following 151 States have either ratified or acceded to the Convention, which entered into force on 3 September 1981: Albania, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania and Luxembourg.
Also, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Sweden, Tajikistan, Thailand, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zaire, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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