The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women this morning opened its eighty-second session, hearing a statement from Mahamane Cissé-Gouro, Director of the Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and adopting its agenda for the session, during which it will review the reports of Portugal, Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Namibia, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Mongolia and Bolivia.
Mr. Cissé-Gouro, Representative of the Secretary-General, welcomed that the Committee had formulated a position paper on the treaty strengthening body process in November last year. He noted that the Human Rights Council would hold two panel discussions this session which focused on the human rights of women. There would be a number of discussions focusing on gender equality and women. There would also be a round table discussion on the root causes of human rights violations and abuses against Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar. This discussion would provide States with an opportunity to propose effective actions to address recommendations made by United Nations bodies, including the Committee’s 2019 concluding observations on Myanmar.
Mr. Cissé-Gouro commended the Committee for its work on mainstreaming women's rights into the Women, Peace and Security Agenda. He noted that the Committee was closely monitoring the impact of two situations of armed conflict on women's rights and their participation in peace processes, reconstruction efforts and transitional justice mechanisms – Ukraine and Afghanistan. In April, the coordinator of the working group on Afghanistan, and the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, carried out a joint technical visit to Afghanistan, to meet with the de facto authorities of working level and key stakeholders, including Afghan women. The visit showed the great motivation of Afghan women and girls to influence the course of the country.
Gladys Acosta Vargas, Chairperson of the Committee, said that since the last session, the number of States parties that had ratified the Convention had remained at 189. In April 2022, Morocco acceded to the Optional Protocol to the Convention, bringing the total number of States parties to 115.
The Committee adopted the agenda and programme of work of the session.
The Chair and Committee Experts then discussed their intersessional activities undertaken since the last session.
The Committee will next meet in public at 3:45 p.m. this afternoon for an informal meeting with non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions concerning the reports of Portugal, Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Namibia, which will be reviewed this week by the Committee.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
