Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
Seventy-fourth session
Summary record of the 1746th meeting*
Held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, on Friday, 8 November 2019, at 12.35 p.m.
Chair:Ms. Gbedemah
Contents
Provisional agenda for the seventy-fifth session of the Committee
Adoption of the report of the Committee on its seventy-fourth session
Statement by the Chair
Closure of the session
The meeting was called to order at 12.35 p.m.
Provisional agenda for the seventy-fifth session of the Committee
1.The Chair said she took it that the Committee wished to adopt the provisional agenda for its seventy-fifth session.
2. It was so decided.
Adoption of the report of the Committee on its seventy-fourth session ( CEDAW/C/AND/CO/4 ; CEDAW/C/BIH/CO/6 ; CEDAW/C/IRQ/CO/7 ; CEDAW/C/KAZ/CO/5 ; CEDAW/C/KHM/CO/6 ; CEDAW/C/LTU/CO/6 ; and CEDAW/C/SYC/CO/6 )
3.Ms. Nadaraia (Rapporteur) said that she had the honour of introducing the Committee’s draft report, which was contained in informal documents that had been circulated in the meeting room. She wished to draw attention to chapters I to III. Chapter IV concerned the draft concluding observations on the seven State party reports that the Committee had considered during its seventy-fourth session.
4.The Chair said she took it that the Committee wished to adopt those chapters and the draft concluding observations on the reports by States parties considered at the session.
5.Ms. Nadaraia (Rapporteur) said that she wished to introduce the draft report of the Working Group of the Whole, which was contained in chapters VI and VII of the draft report.
6.The Chair said she took it that the Committee wished to adopt the draft report of the Working Group for inclusion in the Committee’s draft report.
7. It was so decided.
8.The Chair said she took it that the Committee wished to adopt the draft report of the Committee as a whole.
9. The draft report of the Committee on its seventy-fourth session, as a whole, was adopted.
Statement by the Chair
10.The Chair said that, during the session, the Committee had considered seven State party reports, adopted concluding observations on those reports, held informal meetings with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and national human rights institutions and attended several lunchtime briefings organized by NGOs. The Committee had been pleased by the high level of engagement of local NGOs and national human rights institutions. The NGOs, many of which had been supported by the International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific under the “global to local” programme, had once again made a significant contribution to the Committee’s work.
11.Thanks were due to the United Nations entities and other intergovernmental bodies that had provided the Committee with detailed information, including the inter-agency group on reporting to the Committee, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. A number of United Nations country teams had submitted their reports through the inter-agency group and three such teams had briefed the Committee via videoconference. The Committee had co-hosted an insightful panel discussion on adolescent girls’ rights as a means of commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the Convention and the thirtieth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Ms. Akizuki and Ms. Eghobamien-Mshelia had participated in a panel discussion, hosted by the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations Office in Geneva, on women’s economic empowerment and the Sustainable Development Goals.
12.The Committee had adopted guidelines on its cooperation with national human rights institutions and on the preparation of periodic reports by States parties in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. The working group on working methods had drafted decisions on the word limit applied to the written answers that States parties submitted in the wake of constructive dialogues and on the rescheduling of coordination meetings of country task forces. The working group on trafficking in women and girls in the context of global migration had made good progress on drafting the general recommendation on that topic and planning regional consultations and expert meetings that would inform the draft.
13.She wished to thank Ms. Nadaraia for her important work as the Rapporteur on follow-up, which had enabled the Committee to adopt eight follow-up assessments, review its follow-up procedure and issue an updated version of that procedure. The Committee had further developed its jurisprudence by adopting an inquiry report on a particularly harmful practice. That report would be transmitted to the State party concerned for comment and would subsequently be published.
14.During the session, the Deputy Executive Director of UN-Women and the Secretary General of the United Nations World Conference on Women had briefed the Committee on the process of review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women (1995). Former Committee member Ruth Halperin-Kaddari had briefed the Committee on her research into domestic violence and child custody issues, in the course of which she had examined the challenges posed by the use of the concept of parental alienation in legal disputes over custody. The Committee had held a fruitful informal meeting with the Human Rights Committee at which issues of common concern had been discussed.
Closure of the session
15.Following an exchange of courtesies, the Chair declared the seventy-fourth session closed.
The meeting rose at 1.10 p.m.