Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women is an international convention adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly. Consisting of a preamble and 30 articles, it defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination.
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which is made up of 23 experts on women's issues from different UN member states, was established in 1982. The Committee meets twice a year to review reports on compliance with the Convention's provisions that the signatory nations are required to submit every four years.
By ratifying the Optional Protocol, a State recognizes the competence of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to receive and consider complaints from individuals or groups within its jurisdiction. This Protocol entered into force on 22 December 2000 and contains two procedures:
1) Communications procedure allows individual women, or groups of women, to submit claims of violations of rights protected under the Convention to the Committee. The Protocol establishes that in order for individual communications to be admitted for consideration by the Committee, a number of criteria must be met, including those domestic remedies must have been exhausted.
2) The Protocol also creates an inquiry procedure enabling the Committee to initiate inquiries into situations of grave or systematic violations of women’s rights.
In either case, States must be party to the Convention and the Protocol. The Protocol includes an "opt-out clause", allowing States upon ratification or accession to declare that they do not accept the inquiry procedure. Article 17 of the Protocol explicitly provides that no reservations may be entered to its terms.
Full text of the Convention:
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
Related documents:
Combined fourth and fifth periodic report of States parties
Oral Statement to the CEDAW Committee 2010
Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women 14 October 2010
members of the Delegation of the Czech Republic and addition
Summary record of the 956th meeting held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, on Thursday, 14 October 2010, at 10 a.m. and at 3 p.m.
Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women