Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women Opens Eighty-Eighth Session

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women this morning opened its eighty-eighth session, hearing a statement from Ibrahim Salama, Chief, Human Rights Treaties Branch, Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and adopting its agenda for the session, during which it will review the reports of Brazil, Estonia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Montenegro, Republic of Korea, Rwanda and Singapore.

Opening the session, Mr. Salama said he was retiring next week. It had been a privilege to work with the Committee. Over the past two decades, he had witnessed the Committee’s contributions to progress on women’s rights, but decades of progress were being reversed.

Mr. Salama quoted the United Nations Secretary-General, who, in his remarks to the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women in March, identified two worrying trends in power relations: that patriarchy was gaining ground, and that new technologies, in particular artificial intelligence, were dominated by men. The Secretary-General called on governments, civil society and the tech industry to help bridge the digital gender divide and join the Global Digital Compact, which would be central to the Summit for the Future in September.

Draft general recommendation 40 on the equal and inclusive representation of women in decision-making systems was a blueprint for addressing the concerns voiced by the Secretary-General, and this work should be commended, Mr Salama said. The general recommendation had generated strong interest among States parties, civil society and academia, as reflected by the 65 submissions received in response to the Committee’s call for comments. Mr. Salama also reported that, in a landmark vote, the Human Rights Council on 4 April adopted for the first time a resolution calling on Member States to combat discrimination, violence and harmful practices against intersex persons.

The Office of the High Commissioner shared the Committee’s concerns about the United Nations' current financial crisis and had done their utmost to ensure the organization of treaty body sessions despite the heavy impact of the liquidity crisis. It was hoped that the third session could be held this year, but this would depend on the forthcoming developments in relation to the liquidity situation. Mr. Salama wished the Committee a productive session.

Ana Peláez Narváez, Chairperson of the Committee, said that, since the last session, the number of States parties that had ratified the Convention had remained at 189. The number of States parties that had accepted the amendment to article 20, paragraph 1 of the Convention concerning the meeting time of the Committee remained at 81. Since the last session, Angola and Thailand had submitted their periodic reports to the Committee.

The Committee adopted the agenda and programme of work of the session, and the Chair and Committee Experts then discussed the activities they had undertaken since the last session.

Nahla Haidar, Committee Rapporteur, introduced the report of the pre-sessional working group for the eighty-eighth session, and Brenda Akia, on behalf of Natasha Stott Despoja, Committee Rapporteur on follow-up to concluding observations, briefed the Committee on the status of the follow-up reports received in response to the Committee’s concluding observations.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women’s eighty-eighth session is being held from 13 May to 31 May. All documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session’s webpage. Meeting summary releases can be found here. The webcast of the Committee’s public meetings can be accessed via the UN Web TV webpage.

The Committee will next meet at 3 p.m. this afternoon with representatives of national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations who will brief about the situation of women in Republic of Korea, Montenegro, Singapore and Estonia, the reports of which will be reviewed this week.

Opening Statement

by the Representative of the Secretary-General

IBRAHIM SALAMA, Chief, Human Rights Treaties Branch, Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said he was retiring next week. It had been a privilege to work with the Committee. Over the past two decades, he had witnessed the Committee’s contributions to progress on women’s rights, but decades of progress were being reversed.

In his remarks to the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women in March, the Secretary-General identified two worrying trends in power relations: that patriarchy was gaining ground, and that new technologies, in particular artificial intelligence, were dominated by men. The Secretary-General called on governments, civil society and the tech industry to help bridge the digital gender divide and join the Global Digital Compact, which would be central to the Summit for the Future in September. Globally, women had less access to land, natural resources and financial assets, and were disproportionately hit by climate change, the debt crisis and food insecurity. Accelerating gender equality by tackling poverty required women’s full representation in governments and financial institutions, budgets and taxes to address the specific needs of women and girls living in poverty, and for governments to recognise the key economic role of unpaid care work. To respond to rising conflicts and crises and their devastating impact on women and girls, the Secretary-General invited Member States to support the proposed New Agenda for Peace, which put women’s leadership and participation at the centre of decision-making.

Draft general recommendation 40 on the equal and inclusive representation of women in decision-making systems was a blueprint for addressing the concerns voiced by the Secretary-General, and this work should be commended. The draft general recommendation recognised that women’s equal and inclusive representation in decision-making was vital to finding solutions to global challenges such as climate change, energy crises, armed conflict, terrorism and democratic backsliding, as well as to addressing new developments, such as the rise of artificial intelligence. The general recommendation had generated strong interest among States parties, civil society and academia, as reflected by the 65 submissions received in response to the Committee’s call for comments. It was positive that the elaboration of the general recommendation had been based on an inclusive and participatory process, including regional consultations in Istanbul, Cairo, Addis Ababa, Barbados and Bogota. The regional consultations were attended by civil society and experts, who discussed the draft general recommendation to ensure its relevance to the needs and priorities of each region.

This year was the thirtieth anniversary of the International Year of the Family. In its resolution 54/17, adopted last October, the Human Rights Council recognised that the objectives of the International Year, especially those relating to family-oriented policies in the areas of poverty, work-family balance and intergenerational issues. The Council decided to convene, at its fifty-seventh session this fall, a panel discussion on the implementation of States’ obligations under relevant provisions of international human rights law on the role of the family in supporting the promotion and protection of human rights of its members, as well as an expert workshop before its fifty-ninth session. In a landmark vote, the Human Rights Council on 4 April adopted for the first time a resolution calling on Member States to combat discrimination, violence and harmful practices against intersex persons. It requested the Office of the High Commissioner to prepare a report and convene a panel discussion at its sixtieth session in September and October 2025 on discriminatory laws and policies, acts of violence and harmful practices against intersex persons. At its upcoming fifty-sixth session, on 28 June, the Human Rights Council would hold its annual full-day discussion on women’s rights.

Since the eighty-seventh session of the Committee, work to obtain tangible results in the treaty body strengthening process had advanced, included continuing efforts to secure a General Assembly resolution in December 2024. The Office of the High Commissioner had also published two new documents: an analytical summary of States’ preferences on the Office’s Working Paper on the process; and an update of the original Working Paper for the development of a plan to implement the conclusions of the thirty-fourth meeting of the human rights treaty body chairs. The Office of the High Commissioner shared the Committee’s concerns about the United Nations' current financial crisis and had done their utmost to ensure the organization of treaty body sessions despite the heavy impact of the liquidity crisis. Sufficient funding had been secured for all Committees to have their second sessions this year and also for the thirty-sixth annual meeting of Chairpersons to take place in New York during the crucial year of treaty body reform. However, regrettably, they had not been able to secure funds for pre-sessional working groups in connection with the second sessions, which directly affected the Committee’s work. It was hoped that the third session could be held this year, but this would depend on the forthcoming developments in relation to the liquidity situation. The letter that the Chairs and Vice-Chairs sent to the President of the General Assembly at their informal meeting in Madrid represented welcome advocacy work and helped with efforts in this regard. Mr. Salama wished the Committee a productive session.

Questions by Committee Experts

A Committee Expert said the liquidity crisis and its impact on the work of the Committee was concerning. It was important to acknowledge that this was having an impact on human rights and consider how the Committee could continue its work. Hopefully the situation would change next year. The United Nations needed to show its position as a protector of human rights. The Expert thanked Mr. Salama for his work and for presenting his position on human rights.

Another Expert thanked Mr. Salama for his exceptional support to the Committee. The issue of women, peace and conflict prevention required a paradigm shift. There was critical urgency around this subject, with global backsliding around issues of fundamental rights. It was also important to recognise the gap between women and in terms of technology and artificial intelligence, and to rectify this dynamic. The treaty bodies were important, but hugely overburdened. Any cut to their budget could have a major impact.

Another Expert said the Committee did not have the tools to address the issue of artificial intelligence. Was it possible to be linked to the International Telecommunication Union or another mechanism to tackle this problem?

A Committee Expert asked about artificial intelligence. What was the Digital Compact for the Summit of the Future?

Another Expert thanked Mr. Salama for his support of the Committee. Hopefully, the Compact discussed would find footing in the Committee.

Responses by the Representative of the Secretary-General

IBRAHIM SALAMA, Chief, Human Rights Treaties Branch, Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said innovative solutions to the crisis needed to come from relevant expert bodies. The Chairpersons’ meeting had a historical responsibility; it was unity that mattered most. It was crucial to transmit messages and concerns at the Chairpersons’ meeting in New York. Without the involvement of youth and academic hubs, the human rights debate would be disproportionately influenced by right-wing politics, which was why joint action was essential.

ANA PELÁEZ NARVÁEZ, Committee Chairperson, expressed deep gratitude to Mr. Salama for all his work over the years.

The Committee then adopted its agenda and programme of work for the session.

Statements by Committee Experts

ANA PELÁEZ NARVÁEZ, Committee Chairperson, said that since the last session, the number of States parties that had ratified the Convention had remained at 189. The number of States parties that had accepted the amendment to article 20, paragraph 1 of the Convention concerning the meeting time of the Committee remained at 81. She said she was pleased to inform that since the last session, Angola and Thailand had submitted their periodic reports to the Committee. Since making the simplified reporting procedure the default procedure for States parties' reporting to the Committee, 13 States parties had indicated that they wished to opt out and maintain the traditional reporting procedure.

Ms. Peláez Narváez and Committee Experts then discussed the activities they had undertaken since the last session.

NAHLA HAIDAR, Committee Rapporteur, introduced the report of the pre-sessional working group for the eighty-eighth session, which met from 30 October to 3 November 2023 in Geneva. The working group prepared lists of issues and questions in relation to the reports of Lao People's Democratic Republic and Saudi Arabia, in addition to lists of issues and questions prior to the submission of the reports of Ireland, Israel, Mexico and Romania under the simplified reporting procedure. The pre-sessional working group further had before it the general recommendations adopted by the Committee; draft lists of issues and questions and lists of issues prior to reporting prepared by the secretariat; and other pertinent information, including concluding observations of the Committee and other treaty bodies, as relevant.

ANA PELÁEZ NARVÁEZ, Committee Chairperson, said that, in light of the backlog of State party reports pending consideration by the Committee accumulated during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Committee had decided to postpone the consideration of the States parties referred to in the report of the pre-sessional working group to future sessions. The Committee instead decided to, during the present eighty-eighth session, take on report reviews that had been postponed from previous sessions for Brazil, Estonia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Montenegro, Republic of Korea, Rwanda and Singapore.

BRENDA AKIA, on behalf of NATASHA STOTT DESPOJA, Committee Rapporteur on follow-up to concluding observations, briefed the Committee on the status of the follow-up reports received in response to the Committee’s concluding observations. She said that at the end of the eighty-seventh session, follow-up letters outlining the outcome of assessments of follow-up reports were sent to Ecuador, Egypt and Maldives. Reminder letters were sent to Indonesia, the Russian Federation, South Africa and Yemen. A shortened version of the follow-up report received from Sweden exceeded the word limit, and a revised version had not yet been received. For the present session, the Committee had received follow-up reports from the Russian Federation, with a five-month delay and from Uzbekistan, received on time. Reminders regarding follow-up reports should be sent to the Dominican Republic, Gabon, Lebanon, Panama, Peru, Senegal and Uganda.