Pre-session working group

Thirty-ninth session

23 July-10 August 2007

List of issues and questions with regard to the consideration of periodic reports

Guinea

1.The pre-session working group examined the combined fourth, fifth and sixth periodic report of Guinea (CEDAW/C/GIN/4-6).

General

2.Please provide information on the process of preparing the report. This information should indicate which government departments were involved and the nature and extent of their participation, whether consultations were held with non‑governmental organizations and whether the report was adopted by the Government and presented to the National Assembly.

3.The Committee’s guidelines for periodic reports (see HRI/GEN/2/Rev.1/Add.2, sect. E) suggest that in general, subsequent periodic reports should focus on the period between the consideration of their previous report and the presentation of the current report. The combined fourth, fifth and sixth periodic report of Guinea is dated December 2002, but it was submitted only in 2005. Please explain the delay in the submission.

4.The Committee requested the wide dissemination in Guinea of the concluding comments on the combined initial, second and third periodic report of Guinea. Please provide information about what has been done to make governmental administrators and politicians aware of the steps that have been taken towards achieving de jure and de facto equality of women and what remains to be done.

5.The report contains limited statistical data disaggregated by sex on the situation of women in areas covered by the Convention, and in comparison to men. Please provide information on the status of data collection in the country in general, and to what extent such data collection takes place on a sex-disaggregated basis. Please indicate how the Government intends to improve the collection of data disaggregated by sex pertaining to the areas of the Convention so as to support policymaking and programme development and to measure progress towards implementation of the Convention.

Constitutional, legislative and institutional framework and status of the Convention

6.The report mentions that “the provisions of the Convention may be invoked before the courts” and that “judges are required in their judgments to apply prevailing laws, which include the Convention”. Kindly provide information on cases, if any, where the Convention has been directly invoked in, or used by, domestic courts.

7.The report mentions the creation of national and regional CEDAW monitoring committees. Please describe the mandates of these committees, and their impact on the protection and promotion of women’s human rights.

8.Please provide information about progress to date in the implementation, including availability of resources, of the Gender and Development Framework Programme, results achieved and the main actors involved in its implementation.

Violence against women

9.The Committee, in its previous concluding comments called on the Government to assign the issue of violence against women a high priority; to enact legislation on domestic violence as soon as possible, and ensure that female victims of violence have immediate means of redress and protection. The Committee also recommended gender training for all public officials, in particular law-enforcement officials and the judiciary, as well as health workers, to educate them about all forms of violence against women and girls. The report is silent on the question of violence against women. Please provide information on measures taken in response to the Committee’s requests, including results achieved.

Trafficking

10.The report does not provide any indication of the prevalence of trafficking in women and girls. The Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences mentions that “girls are trafficked within the country, as well as internationally, for the sex trade and illegal labour” and that “trafficking in persons from rural areas to urban centres is increasingly recognized as a problem in the country” (see E/CN.4/2003/75/Add.1, para. 303). What measures has the Government undertaken to assess the extent of the problem of trafficking in women and girls and trends over time, as well as to combat this phenomenon?

Participation in political and public life and decision-making

11.Please provide statistical information on the participation of women, compared to men, at all levels of the Government, as well as of Parliament and the Judiciary, and trends over time.

12.The Committee, in its previous concluding comments, recommended that the Government use temporary special measures to increase the number of women in decision-making at all levels and in all areas and that it strengthen its efforts to promote women to positions of power by organizing special training programmes for women and by conducting awareness-raising campaigns on the importance of women’s participation in decision-making at all levels. In the light of article 4, paragraph 1, of the Convention, and the Committee’s general recommendations 23 and 25, please indicate the measures taken in response to this request, and the results achieved.

Stereotypes; and education

13.Please provide further information about the implementation of the National Strategic Plan to Combat Female Genital Mutilation and the Operational Plan of Action against Female Genital Mutilation, including how their implementation is monitored. Has there been a decrease in the extent of female genital mutilation since the Government began its efforts to prevent it? Please provide data, if any, in this regard.

14.The report mentions that both female illiteracy and girls’ school dropout rates have been reduced, but does not contain current statistical data or trends over time. Please provide recent statistical data, disaggregated by sex and by rural and urban areas, showing overall literacy, enrolment and retention rates of girls at all levels of education, as well as trends over time.

15.The report refers to plans, programmes and strategies towards the achievement of gender equality in education. Please provide updated information about their implementation, and results achieved.

Health

16.The report provides detailed information about the State party’s policies, plans and programmes, as well as objectives in the field of health. However, this information is not always disaggregated by sex, nor does it give clear indication whether goals are being achieved for women and men, and how implementation is monitored. Please provide concrete information, differentiated by urban and rural areas, about results achieved for improving women’s health in the areas described in the report. Please also provide data on women’s access to health facilities.

17.Please provide information about measures taken to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic, especially preventive measures (see the Committee’s previous concluding comments). Please indicate what treatment is available to women living with HIV/AIDS, and describe the financial support available for such efforts and from what sources.

Employment, rural women, access to property and poverty

18.The report refers to the poverty reduction strategy paper. Please indicate how this instrument, and the Government’s efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, integrate a gender perspective and contribute to the implementation of the Convention. Please also give an assessment of the results achieved so far for women in the implementation of this strategy.

19.Please indicate what measures are in place to support women in the informal sector, and low-income and poor women, particularly in rural areas, in gaining access to markets and technology. What policies are in place to support women’s self-help groups that provide services to women entrepreneurs in rural and urban areas?

20.In its previous concluding comments, the Committee expressed concern about the situation of rural women and urged the Government to ensure that rural women benefit from the policies and programmes adopted in all spheres, and that rural women have equal participation in decision-making and access to health services and credit facilities. Kindly describe the measures taken or planned by the Government and provide a detailed timeline to implement the recommendations adopted by the Committee in this regard.

21.Although the law recognizes women’s equal inheritance and property rights, the report acknowledges that in practice, there are problems with a widow’s succession to her husband’s estate, a problem that is particularly noticeable in the case of a childless widow. When it comes to real property, for example, there is a mistaken notion that it reverts by law to the boys. How does the Government intend to raise the awareness of women and the general public about women’s rights in matters of succession and inheritance so as to ensure in practice that women can claim their rights in accordance with the Convention, which the State party ratified without reservations?

Marriage and family relations

22.While the report refers to revisions and amendments to the Civil Code and to the Code of Persons and the Family, it is not clear which amendments have already entered into force. Kindly provide further information about amendments that have entered into force since the consideration of the previous report in 2001 and the compliance of the amended codes with the provisions of the Convention. Please also provide an assessment of the effectiveness of these amended laws. In particular, please clarify whether under the relevant code the husband is still considered to be the head of the family and is able to determine the location of the family domicile; if the birth of a child has still to be declared by the father if not by the doctors and nurses or others present during the childbirth; if children after seven years are still in the custody of the father unless there is a special agreement between the parties. Please also indicate if widows without children are still subject to discrimination, and if preference is given to an uncle of a child over the mother if the father is incapacitated and unable to exercise his parental authority.

23.Does the Government of Guinea envisage bringing the minimum age of marriage in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women?

Nationality

24.The report indicates that the Civil Code contains certain provisions that discriminate against women, in particular the fact that a legitimate child born of a Guinean father automatically acquires the father’s nationality. Please provide updated information on whether the draft amendments to the Civil Code that repeal such discriminatory provisions are already in force.

Refugee and internally displaced women

25.Please provide information about refugee and internally displaced women in the country, their economic and social situation, and measures in place to support them. Has the Government received any assistance for such women from the United Nations system or other donors?

Optional Protocol and Amendment to article 20, paragraph 1

26.Please indicate any progress made with respect to ratification of/accession to the Optional Protocol to the Convention. Please also describe progress towards acceptance of the amendment to article 20, paragraph 1, of the Convention.