Pre-sessional working group

Seventy-fourth session

11–15 March 2019

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

Report of the pre-sessional working group

1.It is the practice of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to convene a pre-sessional working group for five days to prepare lists of issues and questions relating to the initial and periodic reports that will be considered by the Committee at an upcoming session.

2.The Committee decided that the pre-sessional working group for the seventy‑fourth session of the Committee would meet from 11 to 15 March 2019, immediately after the seventy-second session, in order to ensure that sufficient time would be available to States parties to submit their written replies to the lists of issues and questions and to ensure their timely translation.

3.The following experts were designated as members of the pre-sessional working group and attended the session:

Nicole Ameline

Marion Bethel

Nahla Haidar

Dalia Leinarte

Aruna Devi Narain

4.The pre-sessional working group elected Ms. Ameline as its Chair.

5.The pre-sessional working group prepared lists of issues and questions with regard to the reports of Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Lithuania and Seychelles, in addition to lists of issues prior to reporting for Ecuador, Sweden and Uruguay. In that regard, it was guided by Committee decisions 49/IX, 59/4 and 64/2, according to which the Committee decided to limit lists of issues and questions and lists of issues prior to reporting to 20 and 25 paragraphs, respectively. However, in practice and exceptionally, some lists of issues and questions contain a maximum of 23 paragraphs.

6.To assist in the preparation of the lists of issues and questions, the pre-sessional working group had at its disposal electronic versions of the reports and the core documents of the States parties listed above, with the exception of the core documents of Iraq and Seychelles; the general recommendations adopted by the Committee; draft lists of issues and questions prepared by the secretariat; and other pertinent information, including concluding observations of the Committee and other treaty bodies, as relevant. In preparing the lists, the pre-sessional working group paid particular attention to the States parties’ follow-up to the concluding observations of the Committee on their previous reports.

7.The pre-sessional working group benefited from written and oral information submitted by entities of the United Nations system, non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions with regard to the States parties listed above, with the exception of Andorra.

8.The lists of issues and questions and lists of issues prior to reporting adopted by the pre-sessional working group were transmitted to the States parties concerned and are contained in the following documents:

(a)List of issues and questions in relation to the fourth periodic report of Andorra (CEDAW/C/AND/Q/4);

(b)List of issues and questions in relation to the sixth periodic report of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CEDAW/C/BIH/Q/6);

(c)List of issues and questions in relation to the sixth periodic report of Cambodia (CEDAW/C/KHM/Q/6);

(d)List of issues and questions in relation to the seventh periodic report of Iraq (CEDAW/C/IRQ/Q/7);

(e)List of issues and questions in relation to the fifth periodic report of Kazakhstan (CEDAW/C/KAZ/Q/5);

(f)List of issues and questions in relation to the sixth periodic report of Lithuania (CEDAW/C/LTU/Q/6);

(g)List of issues and questions in relation to the sixth periodic report of Seychelles (CEDAW/C/SYC/Q/6);

(h)List of issues and questions prior to the submission of the tenth periodic report of Ecuador (CEDAW/C/ECU/QPR/10);

(i)List of issues and questions prior to the submission of the tenth periodic report of Sweden (CEDAW/C/SWE/QPR/10);

(j)List of issues and questions prior to the submission of the tenth periodic report of Uruguay (CEDAW/C/URY/QPR/10).

9.In accordance with Committee decisions 22/IV, 25/II and 31/III, the lists of issues and questions focused on themes addressed by the Convention, as well as on the linkages between relevant themes and target 5.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals. Those themes include the constitutional and legislative framework; access to justice; women and peace and security, where applicable; national machinery for the advancement of women; national human rights institutions; temporary special measures for the advancement of women; stereotypes and harmful practices; gender‑based violence against women and girls, including domestic violence; trafficking in women and girls and exploitation of prostitution; participation of women in political and public life; nationality; education; employment; health; economic and social life; disaster risk reduction and climate change; rural women; intersecting discrimination faced by women, such as older women, women with disabilities, women in detention, indigenous women, women belonging to ethnic minority groups, refugee women and migrant women, asylum-seeking women, lesbian, bisexual and transgender women and intersex persons; equality before the law; and equality in marriage and family relations.