消除对妇女歧视委员会召开第五十五届会议（部分翻译）

消除对妇女歧视委员会

2013年7月8日

消除对妇女歧视委员会今日上午召开第五十五届会议，听取了人权事务高级专员办事处人权条约司司长易卜拉欣·萨拉马的声明，并通过了议程和此次会议的工作方案。

萨拉马先生表示，委员会主席和旨在增强条约机构系统的政府间进程的共同调解人一道参与讨论，从而在影响会员国的问题上树立起里程碑。这进一步强调了成果应该关注的内容：增强人权保护的原则、独立性、条约机构节约的支出的再投资以及使用现代科技。维也纳+20会议出台了一些以行动为指导的建议，将于秋季提交至人权理事会；英国在八国集团上发起一项倡议，促成了《防止冲突中性暴力宣言》的通过。推动解决妇女权利和性别问题的需要在人权事务高级专员办事处2014-2017年的规划进程中尤为突出。

委员会主席尼科尔·阿梅利汇报了第五十四届和第五十五届会议之间开展的活动，指出她最近访问纽约时与联合国秘书长和联合国妇女署前任负责人进行了会谈。阿梅利女士表示，她也参与了关于条约机构强化进程的讨论，并对减少积压事务、开展关于个人来文的额外工作以及增加使用科技发出呼吁。人权条约机构主席年度会议于2013年5月20日至24日在纽约举行，大会强调了报告日期表应该符合的标准，并发布了一份2015年后发展议程的联合报告，强调发展和所有人权之间的关键联系。

专家向委员会汇报了最新开展的外部活动和项目，包括关于妇女权利问题、公约的作用及其与国家和国际法律的关联的培训、研究、讨论会和研讨会。

委员会将于今日下午3点复会，和国家人权机构与非政府组织举行一场公开非正式会议，讨论本周将接受报告审议的古巴、阿富汗、刚果民主共和国和多美尼加共和国的状况。下周，委员会将审议佛得角、英国和波斯尼亚和黑塞哥维那的报告。

开幕致辞

NICOLE AMELINE, Chairperson of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, said there were now 187 States parties to the Convention and its Optional Protocol; 68 States had accepted the amendment to Article 20 paragraph 1 of the Convention, on the meeting time of the Committee; and there were 104 States parties to its Optional Protocol.  Azerbaijan, Brunei Darussalam and Denmark had submitted reports since the last session.  Following the Committee’s fifty-fourth session and her appointment as Chairperson, Ms. Ameline said she had travelled to New York to participate in the fifty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women and had conveyed the position of the Committee on a proposed legally binding instrument on violence against women.  Ms. Ameline said she had held meetings in New York with the then head of United Nations Women and with the United Nations Secretary-General, whose acknowledgement of a human rights-based approach to development centred on gender equality was truly encouraging. 

The Chairperson said she had also taken part in the meeting of the co-facilitators of the intergovernmental treaty body strengthening process and had explained that the Committee wished to reduce its backlog of reports, expand its work on individual communications and inquiries, and use videoconferencing services.  Ms. Ameline said she had also argued that the treaty bodies needed to be closer to the development agenda and that a stronger gender balance in these bodies should be among the aims of the process.  The annual Meeting of Chairpersons of the Human Rights Treaty Bodies, held in New York from 20-24 May 2013, had emphasized that a structured reporting calendar should meet a number of criteria, among others, predictability, efficient use of resources, and compliance with reporting obligations.  Ms. Ameline also highlighted the adoption by the meeting of a joint statement on the post-2015 development agenda that underlined the critical link between development and the full range of human rights. 

IBRAHIM SALAMA, Director of the Human Rights Treaty Division of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women had been particularly influential in the fifty-seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women and the meetings highlighted by the Chairperson.  As a result, any outcome of the process was to have at its heart key principles of strengthened human rights protection, independence, the reinvestment of any cost savings in the treaty body system, and the use of modern technologies.  The involvement of the Chair in this discussion constituted a landmark moment in terms of its influence on the attitudes of Member States.  The discussions had been based on the documents provided by the treaty bodies and the High Commissioner for Human Rights. 

The Vienna+20 Conference, held from 27-20 June, had produced a number of action-orientated recommendations that would be presented to the Human Rights Council in the autumn.  Updating the Committee about other relevant developments, Mr. Salama noted that the Human Rights Council had held its annual full-day discussion on women’s rights and the Security Council had adopted a resolution on conflict-related sexual violence.  In the context of this year’s G8 meetings, the United Kingdom had launched an initiative that resulted in the adoption of a Declaration on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict.  The need to accommodate for women’s rights and gender issues had come out strongly in the 2014-2017 planning process of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Updates on Experts’ activities

Among the Committee Experts taking part in external activities, PATRICIA PATEN had visited Palestine and Afghanistan to train persons in the justice sector.  PATRICIA SHULZ had been invited to join the Human Rights Council’s annual full-day discussion on women’s rights and thanked colleagues for reacting to her concern that the treaty bodies were not visible in Council.  Ms. Shulz had also attended two training courses at Swiss universities with non-governmental organizations on the role of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. 

NAELA GABR had focused on awareness raising activities with academia and civil society in the Arab and Muslim world in relation to the Convention and had taken part in training for blue helmets on the rights of women and the child.  VIOLETA NEUBAUER attended a meeting with representatives of the United Nations Children's Fund and other treaty bodies on how the agency could make better use of recommendations, and had spoken at a Council of Europe’s session on the Istanbul Convention.  

ISMAT JAHAN had briefed the Belgian Senate on the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and RUTH HALPERIN-KADDARI had taken part in a discussion on the problem of Jewish divorce at New York University.  DUBRAVKA SIMONOVIC had been part of a working group at the Vienna+20 Conference and THEODORA NWANKWO had participated in a training programme to help lawyers develop country-level capacity in the area of reproductive rights in East Africa. 

NOOR AL-JEHANI had contributed to a study and a number of seminars and workshops on the passing of nationality by women in the Gulf region.  AYSE FERIDE ACAR had delivered a seminar to Turkish high court judges on the connection between the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and laws on violence against women in Turkey, and had also attended a meeting on the role of security forces in preventing and responding to violence against women. 

MERIEM BELMIHOUB-ZERDANI said that progress had been made regarding inheritance legislation and representation in many areas of Muslim law, though much remained to be done.  BIANCAMARIA POMERANZI had been invited to speak about the functioning of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to masters-level students in Italy and would also participate in a session on violence against women with the former minister for equal opportunity. 

NAILA HAIDAR expressed concern about women’s capacity to pass on their nationality to their children in the Gulf region.  Regarding the situation of women in Syria, Ms. Haidar also noted that a Syrian women’s network had been launched in Cairo and described her activities in support of women refugees.  HILARY GBEDEMAH had examined the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in comparison to the African Charter, looking at the low uptake rate and at the property rights of spouses.
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