OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO WOMEN"S CONVENTION TO BE OPENED FOR SIGNATURE

Press Release
HR/4446

OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO WOMEN’S CONVENTION TO BE OPENED FOR SIGNATURE

Secretary-General to Speak at Panel Discussion Following Signing Ceremony on 10 December

NEW YORK, 7 December (DPI) -- On the last Human Rights Day of the twentieth century, 10 December, States parties to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women will take a major step forward in realizing their commitments to women's human rights by participating in a signing ceremony of the Optional Protocol to the Convention. The noon-time ceremony will take place at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Following the signing ceremony, Secretary-General Kofi Annan will open a panel discussion on the Optional Protocol at 3 p.m. in the Economic and Social Council Chamber. Among the panellists are Bacre Waly Ndiaye, Director of the New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; Aída González Martínez, Chairperson of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women; Aloisia Wörgetter, who chaired the working group of the Commission on the Status of Women which prepared the Optional Protocol; the Honourable Justice Sujata Manohar, former Judge, Supreme Court of India; and Fauziya Kassindja of Equality Now, an international human rights non-governmental organization that focuses on the promotion and protection of women's rights. Angela E.V. King, Assistant Secretary- General and Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, will moderate the panel.

A briefing for journalists on the Optional Protocol will be held in room 226 just prior to the signing ceremony on 10 December, at 11 a.m. The briefing will be given by Ms. King, Mr. Ndiaye, and Ms. González Martínez.

Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 6 October, the Optional Protocol is a legal instrument which will enable women victims of sex discrimination to submit complaints to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the treaty body established under the Convention. By accepting the Optional Protocol, a State would recognize the competence of the Committee to receive and consider complaints from individuals or groups of individuals within its jurisdiction in cases where they have exhausted domestic remedies.

The Optional Protocol also creates an inquiry procedure enabling the Committee to initiate inquiries into situations of grave or systematic violations of women's rights. Although the Optional Protocol includes an "opt-out clause", allowing States upon ratification or accession to declare that they do not accept

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the inquiry procedure, it explicitly provides that no reservations may be entered to its terms.

Human Rights Day, observed annually around the world, marks the anniversary of the adoption by the General Assembly of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The Universal Declaration makes clear that the rights it elaborates are available to women and men alike. The special events for this year's observance of Human Rights Day illustrate the important link between the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the adoption of the Optional Protocol, a landmark decision by the General Assembly for achieving women's human rights. A joint statement will be issued by Ms. King and Mary Robinson, High Commissioner for Human Rights, drawing attention to the Optional Protocol and its significance to women everywhere.

There are currently 165 States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The Optional Protocol will enter into force three months after 10 States parties to the Convention have ratified or acceded to it. Upon its entry into force, the Optional Protocol will put the Convention, which was adopted 20 years ago, on an equal footing with other international human rights instruments having individual complaints procedures, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and the Convention against Torture and other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

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For further information, contact Elisabeth Ruzicka-Dempsey, Development and Human Rights Section, Department of Public Information, tel.: (212) 963-1742; e-mail: .