against Women
Forty-first session
Summary record of the 850th meeting
Held at Headquarters, New York, on Friday, 18 July 2008, at 12.30 p.m.
Chair person:Ms. Šimonović
Contents
Adoption of the report of the Committee on its forty-first session
Provisional agenda for the forty-second session
Statement by the Chairperson
Closure of the session
The meeting was called to order at 12.50 p.m.
Adoption of the report of the Committee on its forty-first session (CEDAW/C/2008/II/L.1; CEDAW/C/FIN/CO/6/CRP.1, ICE/CO/6/CRP.1, LTU/CO/4/CRP.1, NGA/CO/6/CRP.1, SVK/CO/4/CRP.1, UK/CO/6/CRP.1, TZA/CO/6/CRP.1 and YEM/CO/6/CRP.1)
1.Ms. Dairiam, Rapporteur, introduced document CEDAW/C/2008/II/L.1, containing chapters II and III of the Committee’s draft report, together with the conference room papers containing its concluding observations, as amended, on the eight reports by States parties which it had considered during the session, for inclusion in chapter IV of the report.
2.The Chairperson said she took it that the Committee wished to adopt the chapters of the draft report contained in document CEDAW/C/2008/II/L.1 and the conference room papers, as amended, setting out the Committee’s concluding observations on the eight reports by States parties, for inclusion in the report.
3. It was so decided.
4.Ms. Dairiam, Rapporteur, introduced the draft report of the Working Group of the Whole. The report set out the Committee’s decisions 41/I to IV under the heading of matters brought to the attention of States parties (chapter I); it provided details of the Committee’s activities and action taken under agenda item 5 concerning implementation of article 21 of the Convention (chapter VII), agenda item 6 concerning ways and means of expediting the work of the Committee (chapter VI) and agenda item 7 concerning activities under the Optional Protocol (chapter V); and it included the draft provisional agenda for the forty-second session (chapter VIII).
5.The Chairperson said she took it that the Committee wished to adopt the draft report of the Working Group of the Whole for inclusion in the Committee’s draft report.
6. It was so decided.
7. The draft report of the Committee on its forty-first session was adopted as a whole and as amended, subject to finalization by the Rapporteur .
Provisional agenda for the forty-second session
8.Ms. Dairiam, Rapporteur, drew attention to the provisional agenda for the forty-second session, which was to be found in the report of the Working Group of the Whole.
9. The provisional agenda for the forty-second session was adopted.
Statement by the Chairperson
10.The Chairperson said that during the session the Committee had had very successful and constructive dialogues with eight States parties, namely, Finland, Iceland, Lithuania, Nigeria, Slovakia, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United Republic of Tanzania and Yemen, and had adopted concluding observations. It had laid stress, in particular, on the persistence of stereotypes, the gender pay gap, the problems faced by rural women and the need for temporary special measures to accelerate realization of the principle of equality between women and men. The high level of attendance of non-governmental organizations had again made a significant contribution to the Committee’s work. The Committee had also had input from several national human rights institutions, in addition to United Nations funds, programmes and agencies.
11.During the session the Committee had made progress on two general recommendations, one on migrant women and another on article 2 of the Convention, had taken action on matters relating to the Optional Protocol and had reviewed the results of the seventh inter-committee meeting and the twentieth meeting of chairpersons. An exchange of views with States parties to the Convention had offered an excellent opportunity to highlight the Committee’s new Convention-specific reporting guidelines, its statement on national human rights institutions and its policy on overdue reports. The Committee had decided to send reminders with specific timelines for report submission to States parties whose initial reports were five years overdue or whose periodic reports were ten years overdue and to encourage them to take advantage of technical assistance available through the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the Division for the Advancement of Women. A representative of the Division had briefed the Committee on the Secretary-General’s global campaign to end violence against women and on progress towards developing a coordinated database and indicators on violence against women. The Committee had also met with senior officials of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to discuss coordination.
12.The Committee had worked hard to make its concluding observations more concrete and specific and had used subject headings to make them more user-friendly. In addition, it had introduced a follow-up procedure. She urged all non-governmental organizations and United Nations funds, programmes and agencies to make use of the concluding observations as a basis for the next phase of Convention implementation and to give full support to follow-up efforts.
Closure of the session
13.The Chairperson declared the forty-first session closed.