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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
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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) | Document type: Case Law | 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

List of issues and questions in relation to the combined second, third and fourth periodic reports of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

15 March 2017 | Publisher: UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) | Document type: Country Reports

List of issues and questions in relation to the seventh periodic report of Burkina Faso

13 March 2017 | Publisher: UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) | Document type: Country Reports

List of issues and questions in relation to the combined eighth and ninth periodic reports of Guatemala

13 March 2017 | Publisher: UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) | Document type: Country Reports

List of issues and questions in relation to the eighth periodic report of Kenya

13 March 2017 | Publisher: UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) | Document type: Country Reports

List of issues and questions in relation to the ninth periodic report of Norway

13 March 2017 | Publisher: UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) | Document type: Country Reports

Concluding observations on the combined seventh and eighth periodic reports of Germany

9 March 2017 | Publisher: UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) | Document type: Concluding Observations

Concluding observations on the combined sixth and seventh periodic reports of Ireland

9 March 2017 | Publisher: UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) | Document type: Concluding Observations

Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report of Jordan

9 March 2017 | Publisher: UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) | Document type: Concluding Observations

Concluding observations on the combined initial to third periodic reports of the Federated States of Micronesia

9 March 2017 | Publisher: UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) | Document type: Concluding Observations

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