Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
Seventy-ninth session
Summary record of the 1810th meeting*
Held via videoconference on Thursday, 1 July 2021, at 5 p.m. Central European Summer Time
Chair:Ms. Acosta Vargas
Contents
Provisional agenda for the eightieth session of the Committee
Adoption of the report of the Committee on its seventy-ninth session
Statement by the Chair
Closure of the session
The meeting was called to order at. 5.40 p.m.
Provisional agenda for the eightieth session of the Committee
The Chair said she took it that the Committee wished to adopt the provisional agenda for its eightieth session.
It was so decided.
Adoption of the report of the Committee on its seventy-ninth session
Ms. Narain (Rapporteur) said that she had the honour of introducing the Committee’s draft report, which was contained in informal documents that had been circulated electronically. She wished to draw attention to chapters II and III.
The Chair said she took it that the Committee wished to adopt those chapters.
It was so decided.
Ms. Narain (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.
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.
It was so decided.
The Chair said she took it that the Committee wished to adopt the draft report of the Committee as a whole.
It was so decided.
The draft report of the Committee on its seventy-ninth session, as a whole, was adopted.
Statement by the Chair
The Chair said that, owing to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the Committee had been required to hold online meetings. As the current conditions would have made it difficult to conduct fruitful interactive dialogues with States parties, the Committee had decided to postpone consideration of the eight State party reports that had initially been scheduled for the session. However, thanks to the members’ perseverance, the Committee had been able to make progress on other mandated activities so as to ensure that women and girls were not left unprotected.
On 24 June, the Committee had held a day of general discussion on the rights of indigenous women and girls that had focused on two themes: the different forms of discrimination affecting indigenous women; and their right to participate in political and public life. Representatives of 14 States parties and 21 civil society organizations had contributed to the discussion, which had also been enriched by the 70 written submissions received by the Committee.
She was pleased to note that the Committee had adopted a statement on the withdrawal of Turkey from the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence and a statement on children born of violence during conflicts and their mothers, to be issued jointly by the Committee and the Committee on the Rights of the Child. She commended the Committee’s new Rapporteur on reprisals, Ms. Leinarte, and her deputy, Ms. Bonifaz Alfonzo, for having drawn up guidelines on how the Committee should respond to reports of reprisals and acts of discrimination directed at persons and organizations that cooperated with the Committee. In addition, thanks were due to Ms. Chalal for her work as the Rapporteur on follow-up, which had enabled the Committee to adopt 12 follow-up assessments.
Gratitude was due to the Working Group on Working Methods for having updated the Committee’s working methods to reflect recent changes in practice. The Working Group had also prepared important decisions restricting online sessions to a maximum of two weeks and establishing that online interactive dialogues should be held only in exceptional circumstances. It had also considered ways of reducing the backlog of State party reports that had yet to be reviewed. The working group on gender-based violence against women had made good progress in drafting a document on different forms of gender-based violence for inclusion in the draft guidance note for States parties on the implementation of the Convention obligations referred to in general recommendation No. 35 (2017) on gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 (1992).
Under the Optional Protocol, the Committee had adopted two final decisions on individual communications and had decided to dismiss another inquiry submission because the threshold of a systematic and grave violation had not been reached. The Committee had had interesting exchanges with the outgoing Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences. It had also held discussions with the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights, among other civil society organizations.
Closure of the session
After the customary exchange of courtesies, the Chair declared the seventy-ninth session closed.
The meeting rose at 5.50 p.m.