Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
Eighty-seventh session
Summary record of the 2041st meeting*
Held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, on Tuesday, 6 February 2024, at 10 a.m.
Chair:Ms. Bethel (Vice-Chair)
Contents
Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention (continued)
Combined eighth and ninth periodic report s of Greece
In the absence of Ms. Peláez Narváez, Ms. Bethel (Vice-Chair) took the Chair.
The meeting was called to order at 10 a.m.
Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention (continued)
Combined eighth and ninth periodic reports of Greece (CEDAW/C/GRC/8-9; CEDAW/C/GRC/QPR/8)
At the invitation of the Chair, the delegation of Greece joined the meeting.
Ms. Dimadama (Greece), introducing her country’s combined eighth and ninth periodic reports (CEDAW/C/GRC/8-9), said that significant efforts had been made to promote gender equality through policies informed by the Committee’s previous concluding observations. Progress had been slow, however, and challenges in recent years had included the cumulative effects of the economic and migration crises and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, along with a decreasing population and other demographic challenges. The economic crisis and prolonged austerity measures had disproportionately affected women, who had also been affected significantly by the widening gender gaps and surge in gender-based violence seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Against that backdrop, the Ministry of Social Cohesion and the Family had been created in 2023 with the aim of integrating high-level work on human rights. The General Secretariat for Equality and Human Rights, established under the aegis of Ministry, was responsible for planning, implementing and monitoring gender equality policies in all sectors. The Government’s prioritization of the rights of women and girls was illustrated by the nationwide roll-out of the “Panic Button” application for use in situations of violence against women and the extension of the Gender Equality Label award, which was intended to increase women’s participation in the labour market.
In addition to the National Action Plan on Gender Equality 2021–2025, interministerial cooperation on gender equality had allowed the gender perspective to be incorporated into several other human rights action plans, including plans on the rights of persons with disabilities and of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons. Moreover, the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security aimed to enhance policy coherence and gender mainstreaming in the relevant areas and had been incorporated into ministries’ annual action plans. The National Strategy for Roma Social Inclusion for the period 2021–2030 and its action plan sought to empower Roma women, while the National Recovery and Resilience Plan would promote gender equality through reforms intended to ensure the social inclusion of vulnerable groups and the digital transformation of social protection.
The Government’s significant achievements in bringing about gender equality included the adoption of Law No. 4604/2019 on promoting substantive gender equality, which applied to the public and private sectors, and the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (the Istanbul Convention) and the International Labour Organization Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190). Funding had been secured for a network of facilities that supported victims of gender-based violence and included 44 counselling centres, 20 shelters and a helpline. Free legal aid was provided to victims of domestic violence regardless of income. Gender-based violence and domestic violence were addressed by means of new diagnostic and risk-prevention tools as well as awareness-raising and education activities. A network of accommodation facilities for women victims of violence and their children was being established, and efforts had been made to strengthen the Observatory for Gender Equality, the monitoring mechanism for local and regional policies on violence against women and sectoral policies that were intended to benefit high-risk groups.
To promote women’s equal participation in political decision-making, the Observatory for Gender Equality monitored electoral processes and collected data on candidates. Work was under way to transpose into national law European Union legislation that aimed to increase the number of women on companies’ boards of directors. Women’s participation in the labour market had been boosted inter alia through the implementation of European Union legislation on work-life balance, the upgrading of the Labour Inspectorate to make it an independent authority and the enhancement of the Ombudsman’s supervisory powers. Gender impact assessments had been introduced for all public policies and budgets in order to facilitate gender budgeting.
A task force on the climate crisis and gender, comprising scientists and representatives of local government and civil society, was drafting an action plan that would address the significant effects of climate change on women and contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The action plan would focus on natural disasters and extreme weather events, phenomena that disproportionately affected women.
Ms. Gavouneli (National Commission for Human Rights, Greece) said that, although Greece was among the few countries that had achieved full gender equality in law, such equality had not yet been reached in practice, owing to the slow pace of change in administrative processes. In order to identify and address such shortcomings, the National Commission for Human Rights had drafted a report on the status of women in Greece that would provide a benchmark for future action; the Committee was invited to make suggestions and recommendations prior to the publication of the final version. For the previous decade, Greece had attained the lowest scores in the Gender Equality Index of the European Institute for Gender Equality. That situation could be attributed in part, but not entirely, to the economic crisis, and although there had recently been significant improvements in the areas of health and employment, scores remained deplorably low, for example in relation to women in positions of power. The Commission had therefore launched a media campaign to promote women candidates in three electoral processes in 2023, which had helped to bring about a 5 per cent increase in the number of women elected.
Women’s presence in the labour market had increased. However, the unemployment rate among women remained high. Many women were engaged in undeclared work practices that confined them to low-paid jobs lacking social benefits and effective protection, where sexual harassment went under-reported and the gender pay gap persisted. It was particularly important to promote a balance between personal and professional life, given that the Government was likely to take action to address a severe birth deficit in the coming decade. In that connection, it was encouraging that large companies were required to provide on-site childcare. Still, there was a need for continued investment in policies that supported women, including those who worked remotely, in entering, re-entering and remaining in the labour market.
Articles 1–6
Ms. Stott Despoja said that the Committee wished to explore the discrepancy between the State party’s commendable adoption of legislation and national action plans for gender equality and their implementation in practice. She would be interested to hear details about the work of the Gender Equality Committees established in each of the State party’s universities.
She would like to know what measures had been taken to ensure that women were aware of their rights under the Convention and of the communications and inquiry procedures under the Optional Protocol. She wondered what measures were taken to ensure that victims of abuse and gender-based violence were appointed legal advisers who were appropriately trained to handle the sensitive and particular nature of such cases. It would be of interest to the Committee to find out how many complaints related to discrimination on the grounds of sex had been received by the Ombudsman in the previous five years and what steps were being taken to ensure that such complaints were actually resolved. The Committee would also like to know how many migrant women and girls had free access to legal representation and what measures were being taken to ensure that migrant women in detention were aware of and able to exercise their legal rights.
Ms. Dimadama (Greece) said that more data were needed to make it possible to draw up more specific policies on gender equality and to improve the visibility of women and girls. A technical assistant from the European Union was helping the Government ensure effective horizontal data collection. While specific observatories monitored various matters, the Government faced the challenge of obtaining data in a timely manner. It was a government priority to collect data from different ministries every month. The Government recognized that more work needed to be done with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society to ensure better representation of women in the Parliament.
A representative of Greece said that the Government was attempting to implement measures to improve the application of quotas and policies concerning women’s political representation in the Parliament. The Observatory for Gender Equality systematically monitored electoral processes to assess women’s representation and to help shape the relevant policies.
A representative of Greece said that a judicial statistics bureau of the Ministry of Justice had been established in July 2022 and collected statistics relating to the application of the law on domestic violence. The statistics covered the number of prosecutions, convictions and appeals, as well as the gender of victims and their relationship with perpetrators.
A representative of Greece said that all the data collected and processed by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum were available on its website. The information included the numbers of women who held residence permits, who were enrolled in integration programmes or applying for asylum and who had been granted international protection. It also included the number of women identified as vulnerable and residing in Greek reception facilities, as well as the numbers of unaccompanied girls.
A representative of Greece said that various legal aid services were available to refugee women, including legal representation and interpreting services provided in cooperation with Bar associations across the country. Between 2022 and January 2024, 45 women victims of violence had received legal aid. Most of those cases involved questions of personal safety and custody of children, and there was one case involving rape. All requests for legal aid had been accepted.
The Ombudsman had received some 500 to 550 complaints of discrimination on the grounds of sex over the previous five years. Most had related to discrimination in the workplace or in the context of the social security scheme, or to sexual harassment. The Ombudsman could investigate cases of discrimination in both the private and public sector and at the conclusion of the investigation was able to ask the authorities to impose sanctions.
A representative of Greece said that the Government was working to ensure maximum visibility of the Convention in the public sphere. The Research Centre for Gender Equality had created online educational material for teachers and students. Capacity-building measures to combat stereotypes contributed to the indirect visibility of the Convention, including measures targeting public sector employees.
A representative of Greece said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs prioritized the visibility of the Convention. Seminars on the topics of gender equality and State obligations under the Convention were organized for the Diplomatic Academy. If Greece was elected as a member of the Security Council, the Government would ensure that gender equality was placed high on the Council’s agenda as the only way to build sustainable peace and security. Efforts had been made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to contribute substantially to the agenda of the Commission on the Status of Women.
A representative of Greece said that a bill aimed at paying all lawyers who had provided legal aid in previous years was soon to be brought to a vote in the Parliament.
A representative of Greece said that two directives had recently been adopted by the European Council and that, once transposed into national law, they would give new powers to the Greek Ombudsman. The National Action Plan on Gender Equality 2021–2025 had evaluation indicators in place and was being monitored by the General Secretariat for Equality and Human Rights.
Ms. Stott Despoja said that she would like to know how many times the Ombudsman’s recommendations for sanctions had been followed.
A representative of Greece said that information was not available on the number of Ombudsman’s recommendations that had been implemented. Training for staff working directly with asylum-seekers and refugees on gender-based violence and abuse had been designed and implemented in cooperation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Such training was usually provided by the National School of Public Administration and Local Government and was revised every year to ensure that it remained up to date.
Ms. Rana said that she would like to know whether there were any plans to implement measures to improve the State party’s ranking in the Gender Equality Index and how such measures would be assessed. She wondered whether the State party intended to amend Law No. 4604/2019 to include reference to non-binary persons. She would be interested to hear how gender mainstreaming would be integrated as a policy objective within the National Action Plan on Gender Equality 2021–2025 and which entity would coordinate that process. She would appreciate the delegation’s comments on the efficiency of its dual approach, which included both gender mainstreaming and specific policies and measures to promote gender equality.
Welcoming the establishment of the National Council for Gender Equality, she said that she wondered what initiatives the Council had proposed and how they were implemented. The Committee would like to know how many ministries had participated in drawing up the project to create a gender impact assessment, establish gender budgeting and implement related pilot programmes. Had the impact assessment been conducted and, if not, when would it take place? She wished to know how gender responsive budgeting would be applied across programmes and ministries. The Committee would appreciate information on the human, technical and financial resources available to the National Commission for Human Rights.
Ms. Mikko said that she would like to know whether the State party would consider introducing temporary special measures to increase the number of women in the media, the judiciary and cultural, social and other public spheres. She wondered what relevant measures had been introduced in the previous four years and whether any data was available on their implementation. It would be of interest to the Committee to know whether the State party was considering bringing the quota of female staff in corporate governance to 40 per cent, in line with the relevant directive of the European Union. Had any measures already been taken in that regard?
Ms. Dimadama (Greece) said that the Government had been considering how cooperation was ensured among the various national plans related to gender equality. The establishment of the country’s first General Secretariat for Equality and Human Rights had facilitated horizontal work and coordination between government ministries. Going forward, the Government might consider having national action plans that were fewer in number but broader in scope. The Government was working to give the National Council for Gender Equality more visibility. The objective of the Council was to evaluate data on gender equality issues to inform the development of new policies.
A representative of Greece said that the Government had noticed certain inadequacies in the 2019 law aimed at achieving substantive gender equality and that it recognized the need to make amendments. That law had been inspired by the Spanish gender equality law of 2007; the adoption of the Greek version had been delayed due to the country’s financial crisis.
The National Council for Gender Equality, which included representatives of civil society, had played a major role in the drafting of the Gender Equality Action Plan. The administrative authorities needed time and training to adopt the useful tools of gender budgeting and gender impact assessment. As a pilot measure, four ministries were currently receiving technical assistance from the European Union to help them incorporate gender mainstreaming into their policies, and such assistance could hopefully soon be extended to other ministries and local authorities. International experts were also running workshops on gender budgeting and gender impact assessment for the ministries taking part in the pilot programme.
Ms. Dimadama (Greece) said that meetings had been held with NGOs working with the community of lesbian, bisexual and transgender women and intersex persons, with a view to launching a public dialogue on ways to make the law more inclusive.
Ms. Rana said that she wished to know when the National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security had been adopted and launched and whether civil society and women had taken part in its drafting. How would they be involved in its implementation?
A representative of Greece said that National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security had been adopted in December 2023. Nine ministries had been involved in its drafting. An interministerial committee would monitor its implementation, for example by devising indicators based on figures supplied by focal points in the relevant ministries.
A representative of Greece said that the number of women on corporate boards had shown a consistent upward trend over the past three years, reaching 25.5 per cent in 2023. A committee had been set up within the Ministry for Social Cohesion and the Family to guide the implementation, by 2024, of the relevant European Union directive on improving the gender balance among directors of listed companies and related measures, which had been issued in 2022.
Ms. Rana said that she wished to know whether the implementation of Law No. 4531/2018 and amendments to the Criminal Code had resulted in better protection for victims of domestic violence. It would be useful for the Committee to know how many cases had been investigated and prosecuted and how many victims of gender-based violence had benefited from special protection measures. The Committee would like to hear how the State party intended to improve the police force’s effectiveness in combating domestic violence. She would appreciate a description of plans to increase the capacities of social services and information on how accessible such services were to women in rural areas. The Committee would like to know whether Law No. 4531/2018 ensured prosecution specifically for the act of femicide. It would also be grateful for an outline of any measures to strengthen the national capacity to address the needs of women and girls who faced violence during humanitarian disasters and crises.
She wondered whether the State party intended to allocate additional funds for advocacy projects aimed at preventing practices that harmed women and girls, such as female genital mutilation. The delegation was requested to assess the effectiveness of Law No. 4604/2019 and Law No. 4779/2021 in preventing gender stereotyping. Lastly, she would like the delegation to explain what innovative awareness-raising and educational campaigns were conducted to enhance a positive and non-stereotypical portrayal of women and men, irrespective of sexual orientation.
Ms. Dettmeijer-Vermeulen said that she wished to know whether the State party would consider aligning the provisions on the rule of consent in its law on human trafficking with the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. She would like to hear how law enforcement officials and judges were trained to apply the new legislation on trafficking and to ensure the appropriate punishment of offenders within an acceptable time frame. It would be of interest to the Committee to find out how the State party ensured that the identification of victims did not depend on the lodging of a complaint and on the victim’s cooperation in criminal proceedings. How would the State party strengthen the mechanisms for identifying victims of trafficking in camps housing refugees and asylum-seekers, and how did it safeguard them from forced prostitution? The delegation was invited to inform the Committee if victims were informed of their rights, and whether the expertise of the relevant organizations was taken into account during the identification procedure. Was an individualized risk assessment conducted before enforced removal?
She wished to know whether the number of labour inspectors had increased, whether they had sufficient resources and whether they were trained to identify women and girls who were victims of labour exploitation. The Committee would like to hear whether the State party kept track of cases of the early marriage of Roma girls who were subsequently forced to beg or commit crimes. It would like to know what was done to keep Roma girls in school. Lastly, the Committee would appreciate information on the whereabouts of the 500 boys and girls, most of whom were members of the Albanian Roma community, who had been rounded up by the police in Athens before 2004, and who had then disappeared from the Agia Varvara reception centre.
A representative of Greece said that all authorities had a statutory duty to identify trafficking victims. The National Referral Mechanism had a mandate to register cases of actual or presumed victims of human trafficking, regardless of where the offence took place, and it referred those cases to the relevant protection services and maintained a data recording system for monitoring and statistical purposes. It also provided continuous support to front-line professionals and conducted in-person and online training activities for the staff of the asylum services, NGOs and national authorities.
The National Referral Mechanism had investigated 20 cases of human trafficking in 2021, 26 in 2022 and 35 in 2023. In 2022, 91 persons had been sentenced to prison for trafficking, and 23 in 2022, and courts of first instance had convicted 126 persons of human trafficking in 2021, 121 in 2022 and 215 in 2023. Courts of second instance had convicted 42 persons for trafficking in 2021, 112 in 2022 and 77 in 2023. The services provided to victims of trafficking included health care, material assistance, legal counselling and representation, accommodation, interpretation services and psychosocial support. In the case of child victims, a guardian was appointed. In 2020, the National Referral Mechanism had assisted 81 women and 35 girl trafficking victims, most of whom were from African countries.
A representative of Greece said that special services had been established to provide holistic support for the victims of domestic violence and hate speech. The law banning hate speech protected many vulnerable people, and the police were trained to avoid secondary victimization when investigating and prosecuting cases of gender-based violence. Protocols for responding to reports of domestic violence were described in a guide and a manual. The police also cooperated with civil society organizations and various stakeholders to improve investigative procedures. The rise in the number of reported cases was indicative of the fact that investigations had become more thorough.
A representative of Greece said that a special working group had been set up on the protection of victims of trafficking to obtain a comprehensive picture of the situation. The group comprised judges, prosecutors and representatives of the police and the National Centre for Social Solidarity. A circular issued by the prosecutor’s office of the Supreme Court on the identification of victims of human trafficking further strengthened their rights. The Ministry of Justice had arranged training for judicial officers on the rights of victims of criminal acts. The special working group had produced a concise guide to the rights of victims of trafficking. A law passed in March 2023 provided for the appointment of special judicial investigators in the courts of first instance in Athens and Thessaloniki to investigate cases of human trafficking, crimes against sexual freedom, the economic exploitation of citizens of third countries and related crimes.
A representative of Greece said that, to prevent the trafficking of migrant and refugee women, in the period 2020-2022 the identification and reception services had provided training sessions for their staff and health professionals on the reception of vulnerable persons and on human trafficking. The National Referral Mechanism monitored all stages of the reception of victims of human trafficking. A programme for the integration of the migrant population into the labour market, formulated by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum, had been implemented since 2022. It covered the care of vulnerable groups and assistance to facilitate their contacts with the authorities, as well as the prevention and combating of human trafficking through improved training of professionals. Victims were given vocational training. A glossary of trafficking terms had been translated into several languages. Vocational training had also been provided to over 50 women to enable professionals working in the field to understand the various aspects of trafficking and identify cases as early as possible. A department for the protection of victims of trafficking would be set up at the newly established General Secretariat for Vulnerable Persons and Institutional Protection, at the Ministry of Migration and Asylum.
The National Emergency Response Mechanism for Unaccompanied Minors was an example of good practice. Its purpose was to take action proactively to prevent unaccompanied children from being trafficked for sexual or labour exploitation or being forced into crime, as well as to provide support and protection to child victims of trafficking. Gender-sensitive safeguards had been built into the asylum procedure.
A representative of Greece said that there was no indication of any links between human trafficking and the early marriage of Roma girls. Such early marriage was not recognized under the law. Early marriage among Roma girls was a serious issue, which the Government was trying to tackle by empowering Roma women and integrating them into the labour force and by educating Roma girls. One effective means of keeping Roma girls in school was by making the payment of a variety of social benefits to their parents dependent on their attendance. Dropout rates had decreased since that measure had been introduced. One of the most important measures to support women victims of violence that had been launched during the COVID-19 pandemic was the provision of a guaranteed minimum income.
A representative of Greece said that, in 2023, four training workshops had been organized to improve the way labour inspectors and police officers dealt with cases of human trafficking. The workshops had covered topics such as indicators for identifying potential cases of human trafficking and guidelines for cooperation among the law enforcement authorities. Inspections had been carried out at seven checkpoints to detect illegal migrants, undeclared work and companies operating illegally, and nationwide inspections had been carried out by mixed inspection teams in joint action days against human trafficking. The Labour Inspectorate had started operating as an independent authority in 2022, and there had been a 13 per cent increase in the number of inspections conducted in comparison with the previous year. The Government was in the process of ratifying the Protocol of 2014 to the International Labour Organization Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29).
A representative of Greece said that, among the foreign minors who had been arrested for begging, those who were under 14 years of age had been taken to the Agia Varvara reception centre if their parents were not in Greece or had not come forward to care for them, for example owing to their own irregular status in the country. Preliminary investigations had been conducted to establish whether those minors were the victims of any offences, and the findings had been submitted to the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Ms. Stott Despoja said that she would be grateful if the delegation could provide specific statistics on the number of child marriages in Greece. While Greek law did not recognize child marriages, it seemed that the country’s dual judicial system, which allowed families to opt for the application of sharia law, was contributing to the continuation of the practice of child marriage. She wondered whether the State party would reconsider its application of the dual judicial system.
A representative of Greece said that sharia law was applied only to certain family and inheritance matters among the minority Muslim population and did not apply to the conclusion of marriages. A recent presidential decree had specifically harmonized the conditions for the conclusion of marriages among the minority Muslim population with the general provisions of the Civil Code.
Articles 7–9
Ms. Mikko said that she would like to know whether the State party had continued the Gender Public Debate project or similar initiatives beyond 2021 and what the gendered breakdown of workshop participants was. She would welcome information on the status of the electoral law’s parity principle for parliamentary candidate lists. She wondered if the State party intended to amend the electoral law to promote gender parity and the visibility of women in politics, such as by adopting a zipper system, which would require parties to alternate between female and male candidates on their lists. Did the State party have initiatives in place to increase the number of women parliamentarians?
It would be of interest to the Committee to receive updated statistics on the number of female judges, officials in the justice system and court auditors and to hear about any plans or quotas in place to increase the numbers of women in the justice system. Data on the number of female officers in the police and defence forces and on the number of female ambassadors would also be welcome. Lastly, she wondered whether the State party intended to adopt a feminist foreign policy.
Ms. Xia said that it would be useful to know whether the State party planned to standardize the system for identifying and registering the nationality of refugees and migrants in the country. She wondered how stateless women and girls who did not have legal or habitual residence in the European Union could obtain access to legal aid. The Committee would like to receive information on the measures taken by the State party to help migrant and refugee women and girls gain access to education, employment, health care and other services and to provide interpretation for stateless women who did not speak Greek so that they could benefit from facilities such as shelters, crisis intervention centres and maternity hospitals.
She invited the delegation to inform the Committee whether the State party intended to ratify the European Convention on Nationality in the near future. It would also be of interest to the Committee to know whether the children of stateless persons born in the State party were automatically granted Greek citizenship and whether the State party had taken any measures to protect the rights of such children.
Ms. Dimadama (Greece) said that specific initiatives were carried out to encourage more women to participate in elections. Noting that the President was a woman, she said it was important to have more female role models in high-level positions to raise the visibility of women in public office.
A representative of Greece said that, while the Gender Public Debate project had ended in 2021, the Government had adopted a series of other initiatives to address the diverse barriers hindering women’s participation in the political sphere. It had organized projects aimed at identifying and addressing sexism and was conducting awareness campaigns to combat sexism in political life. It also empowered female candidates by running workshops that served to develop their skills and expand their networks. A further set of initiatives had been designed to promote a work-life balance, such as the adoption of the Labour Reform Act, the development of care structures for children and other dependents and the creation of the Gender Equality Label for companies. There were also policies promoting the equal representation of women in the labour market. A leadership academy had been created to enhance the ability of women to assume leadership positions.
A representative of Greece said that the President and the Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Court were both women, as was the President of the Council of State.
A representative of Greece said that at the central service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, out of 81 heads of directorates and units, 43 were men and 41 were women. In the Foreign Service, out of 135 heads of mission, 94 were men and 41 were women. The Ministry took a gender-responsive, rather than feminist, approach to developing its foreign policy.
Ms. Dimadama (Greece) said that 72 per cent of judges in the Greek judiciary were women.
A representative of Greece said that the National School of Judges provided initial and in-service training to judges and prosecutors. Since 2022, initial training had been mandatory and included topics such as human rights, family law, gender-based violence and domestic violence. The local Bar associations also offered training for attorneys on the subject of gender-based violence.
A representative of Greece said that, although his country had not ratified the European Convention on Nationality, it was a State party to the United Nations Convention relating the Status of Stateless Persons and had filed no reservations, and it firmly supported the principle that every person should have at least one nationality at birth. The Greek legal framework therefore included provisions that on the basis of jus soli prevented statelessness or facilitated the naturalization of stateless persons.
A representative of Greece said that the asylum procedure included a nationality assessment, including for stateless individuals. About 70 applications for international protection were lodged by stateless persons each year, and over 300 stateless women had so far been granted refugee status. Refugee status, the most common status granted to stateless persons, provided them with access to the labour market and other benefits.
Ms. Mikko said that, in the light of the lack of equal representation of women in the Parliament, she would emphasize the value of implementing an alternating system for political parties’ candidate lists to accelerate progress towards gender parity.
Ms. Bonifaz Alfonzo said that she would like to know whether the State party had taken steps to lift restrictions on the right to vote of women with disabilities.
Articles 10–14
Ms. Gbedemah said that she would appreciate a response from the State party on how it assessed the impact of Law No. 4604/20219, beyond measuring school completion rates. She wondered whether scholarships had continued to be granted to female students studying information and communications technologies and whether the State party planned to extend such scholarships to other subjects. It would be of interest to the Committee to learn whether any support had been provided to scholarship recipients in finding paid employment following the competition of postgraduate studies and whether any further temporary special measures were being considered.
It would be useful to hear what steps the State party was taking to ensure that the recommendations made by university Gender Equality Committees were being implemented. She would be interested to know which aspects of human rights tended to feature most frequently in learners’ pictorial representations of human rights, which aspects were lacking and how the State party intended to respond to those gaps. How did the State party empower girls to build leadership skills in school, for instance by ensuring that they could assume the role of school prefects? She would welcome a response from the State party on whether it had considered, in the country’s sex education classes, addressing certain aspects of human rights, such as questions related to power. Were any programmes in place to ensure sanitary products were available in schools to combat period poverty?
The Committee would like to find out how many of the 240 positions for Islamic religion teachers were held by women and how the State party intended to collaborate with the Muslim community to ensure that Islamic religious teaching was successful. It would be useful to know whether refugees were provided with psychosocial support, whether a lack of documentation prevented refugees from attending school and how the issue of transport to school was addressed. Lastly, she wished to know how the State party planned to promote bilingual education in schools.
The meeting rose at 1 p.m.