Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
Sixty-sixth session
Summary record of the 1499th meeting*
Held at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, on Friday, 3 March 2017, at 3 p.m.
Chair:Ms. Leinarte
Contents
Adoption of the report of the Committee on its sixty-sixth session
Statement by the Chair
Closure of the session
The meeting was called to order at 5.15 p.m.
Adoption of the report of the Committee on its sixty-sixth session (CEDAW/C/DEU/CO/7-8; CEDAW/C/FSM/CO/1-3; CEDAW/C/IRL/CO/6-7; CEDAW/C/JOR/CO/6; CEDAW/C/LKA/CO/8; CEDAW/C/RWA/CO/7-8; CEDAW/C/SLV/CO/8-9; CEDAW/C/UKR/CO/8); and CEDAW/C/2017/I/CRP.1.
Ms. Manalo (Rapporteur) said that she had the honour of introducing the Committee’s draft report, which was contained in document CEDAW/C/2017/I/CRP.1. She drew attention to chapter IV of the draft report concerning the draft concluding observations on the eight State party reports that the Committee had considered during its sixty-sixth session, which were contained in documents CEDAW/C/DEU/CO/7-8; CEDAW/C/FSM/CO/1-3; CEDAW/C/IRL/CO/6-7; CEDAW/C/JOR/CO/6; CEDAW/C/LKA/CO/8; CEDAW/C/RWA/CO/7-8; CEDAW/C/SLV/CO/8-9; and CEDAW/C/UKR/CO/8.
2.The Chair said she took it that the Committee wished to adopt the documents containing the draft concluding observations.
3.It was so decided.
4.Ms. Manalo (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 of the Committee.
5.The Chair said she took it that the Committee wished to adopt the draft report of the Working Group of the Whole.
6.It was so decided.
7.Ms. Manalo drew attention to the provisional agenda for the sixty-seventh session (CEDAW/C/67/1).
8.The Chair said she took it that the Committee wished to adopt the provisional agenda for the sixty-seventh session and the draft report of the Committee as a whole.
9.It was so decided.
10.The draft report of the Committee on its sixty-sixth session as a whole was adopted, subject to finalization by the Rapporteur.
Statement by the Chair
11.The Chair said that, during the session, the Committee had considered eight State party reports, held informal meetings with NGOs and national human rights institutions and attended several lunchtime briefings organized by NGOs, many of them supported by International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific, which had once again made significant contributions to the Committee’s work. 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, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. She was pleased to note that United Nations country teams had submitted their reports through the inter-agency group and that several such teams had either sent representatives or briefed the Committee via videoconference technology.
12.With a view to implementing General Assembly resolution 68/268 on treaty body strengthening, word limits on annexes to State party documentation had been established and a decision had been taken to review the Committee’s reporting guidelines in the light of the Sustainable Development Goals.
13.The Committee’s working group on Sustainable Development Goals had prepared the Committee’s contribution to the high-level political forum on sustainable development, to be held in July 2017, and formulated questions on Sustainable Development Goal indicator 5.1.1, on legal frameworks in place to promote, enforce and monitor equality and non-discrimination on the basis of sex, for inclusion in lists of issues and questions.
14.The first reading of the draft update of general recommendation No. 19 (1992) on violence against women had been finalized, and further amendments had been made to the draft general recommendations on education and disaster-risk reduction in a changing climate.
15.The work carried out by the Rapporteur and alternate Rapporteur on follow-up had resulted in the adoption of nine follow-up assessments during the session. Furthermore, three final decisions on individual communications submitted under the Optional Protocol had been adopted and good progress had been made on a number of confidential inquiry proceedings.
16.As the sixty-sixth session was the first that she had had the honour to chair, she wished to thank the Committee members and her colleagues on the Bureau for the support and advice that they had provided.
Closure of the session
17.Following an exchange of courtesies, the Chair declared the sixty-sixth session closed.
The meeting rose at 5.30 p.m.