WOMEN’S ANTI-DISCRIMINATION COMMITTEE TO MEET FROM 10 TO 28 JANUARY

Will Examine Reports of Algeria, Croatia, Gabon, Italy,

Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Paraguay, Samoa, Turkey

NEW YORK, 7 January (UN Department of Public Information) -- The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women will convene its thirty-second session on Monday, 10 January, at UN Headquarters to examine the reports of the following eight States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW):  Algeria, Croatia, Gabon, Italy, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Paraguay, Samoa and Turkey.

During this session the Committee will provide feedback to the eight reporting countries recognizing their progress in implementing CEDAW principles, as well as highlighting concerns and proposing recommendations on how to address challenges in applying the Convention more widely and consistently.

The Committee will also continue its work under the Optional Protocol to the Convention, which provides for a petition and an inquiry procedure regarding violations of the rights of women in States parties to the Convention.

The Convention, which currently has 179 States parties, requires them to eliminate discrimination against women in the enjoyment of all rights -- political, economic, social, cultural, civil and any other field.  Seventy of these States are also party to the Optional Protocol, providing a significant incentive to intensify their efforts to eliminate and prevent discrimination against women in law and in practice.

Representatives of non-governmental organizations can submit alternative, or shadow NGO reports and present information to the CEDAW Committee members.  Non-governmental organizations will have the opportunity to address the CEDAW Committee on Monday, 10 January (regarding Algeria, Gabon and Paraguay) and on Monday, 17 January (regarding Croatia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Turkey, Samoa and Italy).

The provisional agenda, other background documents for the thirty-second session, including the reports of the eight States parties and information on CEDAW, can be found online at:  www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/32sess.

Committee Membership

Current members of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women are as follows:  Magalys Arocha Dominguez (Cuba), Meriem Belmihoub-Zerdani (Algeria), Dorcas Coker-Appiah (Ghana), Mary Shanthi Dairiam (Malaysia), Cornelis Flinterman (Netherlands), Naela Mohamed Gabr (Egypt), Françoise Gaspard (France), Huguette Bokpe Gnacadja (Benin), Salma Khan (Bangladesh), Tiziana Maiolo (Italy), Rosario G. Manalo (Philippines), Krisztina Morvai (Hungary), Pramila Patten (Mauritius), Silvia Pimentel (Brazil), Victoria Popescu (Romania), Fumiko Saiga (Japan), Hanna Beate Schöpp-Schilling (Germany), Heisoo Shin (Republic of Korea), Glenda P. Simms (Jamaica), Dubravka Šimonovic (Croatia), Anamah Tan (Singapore), Maria Regina Tavares da Silva (Portugal) and Zou Xiaoqiao (China).

For further information please contact: Renata Sivacolundhu, Focal Point for Women’s Issues, Development Section, United Nations Department of Public Information, tel.:  +1 212 963 2932, e-mail: sivacolundhu@un.org.

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