The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women today closed its eighty-ninth session after adopting concluding observations on the reports of Benin, Canada, Chile, Cuba, Japan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, New Zealand and Saudi Arabia.
The concluding observations adopted by the Committee on the countries under review will soon be available on the session’s.
In concluding remarks, Committee Chairperson AnaPeláez Narváez said that during the eighty-ninth session, in addition to holding dialogues with States parties, the Committee had held informal meetings withnon-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions. The Committee was grateful to these organizations and to United Nations entities that provided it with detailed information.
Among the highlights of the session,Ms. Peláez Narváezsaid, were the adoption of the Committee’s general recommendation 40 on the equal and inclusive representation of women in decision-making; the formation of the taskforce to address the next general recommendation on gender stereotypes; the decision to dedicate general recommendation 42 to children and women with disabilities; the adoption of a joint statement developed with the Committee on the Rights of the Child and other specialised bodies in defence of the rights of women in Iraq; and the establishment of a working group on women, peace and security, which would build on existing work on this topic in the context of Afghanistan and Ukraine.
A technical event would be held in Fiji in April 2025,Ms. Peláez Narváez said. She thanked stakeholders who were organising the event. She also commended the work of the Committee’s focal points on women, peace and security and self and sex/gender identification, who had submitted an important position paper. The Committee had also worked to strengthen its working methods and addressed gender-based violence against women and particularly cyber violence during the session.
Ms. Peláez Narváezthanked the Committee’s working group on communications for preparing final decisions on individual communications that were adopted during the session. Two communications had been discontinued; one was dismissed, and in the other, it was determined that sexual and reproductive rights were violated. The working group on inquiries also conducted important work, carrying forward several public follow-up assessments and organising country visits and preparing the first reading of a research project that was undertaken during the session. Ms. Peláez Narváez further commended the work of the working group on follow-up, which had adopted six evaluation reports during the session.
Also during the session, Ms. Peláez Narváez reported, the Committee had had meetings with the Deputy Executive Director of United Nations Women and the Director of the Department of Gender Equality within the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and was invited by the Government of France to an event to commemorate the adoption of general recommendation 40. Today, an informal meeting was held with States parties, followed by a meeting to launch general recommendation 40. Special events were also held at the Permanent Missions of the Bahamas and China in honour of outgoing Committee Experts and to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action. The Committee had further been represented at the workshop on experts on care and at the working group on business and human rights of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Ms. Peláez Narváez said her tenure as Chair of the Committee was coming to an end. It had been a great honour to serve as Chair of the Committee for two years. She expressed deep gratitude to each member of the Committee for their support, the Committee’s bureau, whose members had worked together to tackle many challenges, and the members of the Secretariat who supported the Committee’s work. She further expressed thanks to her predecessors in the position of Chair, her personal assistants and her family for their support.
She further expressed thanks to the Committee Experts who were leaving the Committee this year: Rosario G. Manalo (Philippines), Hilary Gbedemah (Ghana), Nicole Ameline (France), Dalia Leinarte (Lithuania), Marion Bethel (Bahamas), Jie Xia (China) and Leticia Bonifaz Alfonzo (Mexico). Their legacies would stay with the Committee.
At the beginning of the meeting, Committee Rapporteur Marion Bethel presented the draft report of the session, which contained the draft report of the working group of the whole and the provisional agenda for the Committee’s ninetieth session. The Committee then adopted the report ad referendum.
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women will hold its ninetieth session from 3 to 21 February 2025, in which it is scheduled to review the reports of Belarus, Belize, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam.
