Last Updated: Thursday, 24 October 2019, 17:23 GMT

UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, is often described as an international bill of rights for women. 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.

The Convention defines discrimination against women as "...any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field."  Website: www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/index.htm
Selected filters: Case Law
Filter:
Showing 1-5 of 5 results
R.S.A.A. et al v. Denmark

The Committee makes the following recommendations to the State party: (a) Concerning the author of the communication and her daughters: (i) Reopen their asylum case, taking into account the Committee’s views; (ii) Refrain from forcibly returning them to Jordan, where they would be exposed to a real, personal and foreseeable risk of severe forms of gender-based violence. (b) General: (i) Take all measures necessary to ensure that victims of gender-based forms of persecution who are in need of protection, regardless of their status or residence, are not returned under any circumstance to any country in which their life would be at risk or where they might be subjected to gender-based violence or to torture or ill-treatment; (ii) Ensure that the threshold for accepting asylum applications is measured not against the probability but against the reasonable likelihood that the claimant has a well-founded fear of persecution or that she would be exposed to persecution upon her return; (iii) Ensure that women asylum seekers have timely information on the importance of the first interview and what constitutes relevant information in that context; (iv) Ensure that, whenever necessary, examiners use all the means at their disposal to produce and/or verify the necessary evidence in support of the application, including by seeking and gathering information from reliable governmental and non-governmental sources on human rights in the country of origin, in particular relating to the situation of women and girls, and taking all necessary measures in that regard; (v) Ensure, when interpreting all legally recognized grounds for asylum, the classification of claims for asylum on the basis of gender under the grounds of membership of a particular social group, where necessary, and consider adding sex and/or gender and other status to the list of grounds for refugee status in national asylum legislation;

15 July 2019 | Judicial Body: UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) | Legal Instrument: 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) | Topic(s): Domestic violence - Forced marriage - Gender-based persecution - Women's rights | Countries: Denmark - Jordan - Palestine, State of

M.P.W. v. Canada

13 April 2012 | Judicial Body: UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) | Countries: Canada - Mexico

Guadalupe Herrera Rivera v. Canada

30 November 2011 | Judicial Body: UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) | Countries: Canada - Mexico

Zhen Zhen Zheng v. The Netherlands

Adopted on 27 October 2008.

Display in UN document template Original: ENGLISH

Pursuant to rule 60 (1) (c) of the Committee's rules of procedure, Mr. Cees Flinterman did not participate in the examination of this communication, as he is a national of the State party concerned. The text of one individual opinion (dissenting), signed by Shanthi Dairiam, Violeta Neubauer and Silvia Pimentel (dissenting), is attached to the views.

17 February 2009 | Judicial Body: UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) | Topic(s): Prostitution / Commercial sex work - Trafficking in persons | Countries: China - Netherlands

N.S.F. v. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Display in UN document template Original: ENGLISH

12 June 2007 | Judicial Body: UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) | Topic(s): Deportation / Forcible return - Domestic violence - Exhaustion of domestic remedies - Expulsion - Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) - Single heads of household - Women-at-risk | Countries: Pakistan - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Search Refworld