Pre-sessional working group

Seventy-third session

12–16 November 2018

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

Report of the pre-sessional working group

1.It is the practice of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to convene a pre-sessional working group for five days to prepare lists of issues and questions relating to the initial and periodic reports that will be considered by the Committee at one of its upcoming sessions.

2.The Committee decided that the pre-sessional working group for the seventy-third session of the Committee would meet from 12 to 16 November 2018, immediately after the seventy-first session, in order to ensure that sufficient time would be available to States parties to submit their written replies to the lists of issues and questions and to ensure their timely translation.

3.The following experts were designated as members of the pre-sessional working group and attended the session:

Gladys Acosta Vargas

Esther Eghobamien-Mshelia

Lilian Hofmeister

Dalia Leinarte

Bandana Rana

4.The pre-sessional working group elected Ms. Acosta Vargas as its Chair.

5.The pre-sessional working group prepared lists of issues and questions with regard to the reports of Austria, Bahrain, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guyana, Mozambique and Qatar. In that regard, it was guided by Committee decisions 49/IX, 59/4 and 64/2, according to which the Committee decided to limit lists of issues and questions and list of issues prior to reporting to 20 and 25 paragraphs, respectively. However, in practice and exceptionally, some lists contain a maximum of 23 paragraphs.

6.To assist in the preparation of the lists of issues and questions, the pre-sessional working group had at its disposal electronic versions of the reports of the States parties listed above, in addition to the core documents of those States parties, with the exception of the core documents of Bahrain, Côte d’Ivoire, Mozambique and Qatar; the general recommendations adopted by the Committee; draft lists of issues and questions prepared by the secretariat; and other pertinent information, including concluding observations of the Committee and other treaty bodies, as relevant. In preparing the lists, the pre-sessional working group paid particular attention to the States parties’ follow-up to the concluding observations of the Committee on their previous reports.

7.The pre-sessional working group benefited from written and oral information submitted by entities of the United Nations system, non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions with regard to the States parties listed above.

8.The lists of issues and questions adopted by the pre-sessional working group were transmitted to the States parties concerned and are contained in the following documents:

(a)List of issues and questions in relation to the ninth periodic report of Austria (CEDAW/C/AUT/Q/9);

(b)List of issues and questions in relation to the fourth periodic report of Bahrain (CEDAW/C/BHR/Q/4);

(c)List of issues and questions in relation to the ninth periodic report of Cabo Verde (CEDAW/C/CPV/Q/9);

(d)List of issues and questions in relation to the fourth periodic report of Côte d’Ivoire (CEDAW/C/CIV/Q/4);

(e)List of issues and questions in relation to the eighth periodic report of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (CEDAW/C/COD/Q/8);

(f)List of issues and questions in relation to the ninth periodic report of Guyana (CEDAW/C/GUY/Q/9);

(g)List of issues and questions in relation to the combined third to fifth periodic reports of Mozambique (CEDAW/C/MOZ/Q/3-5);

(h)List of issues and questions in relation to the second periodic report of Qatar (CEDAW/C/QAT/Q/2).

9.The lists of issues prior to reporting in relation to the eighth periodic report of the Dominican Republic (CEDAW/C/DOM/QPR/8), the tenth periodic report of Mongolia (CEDAW/C/MNG/QPR/10) and the eighth periodic report of Panama (CEDAW/C/PAN/QPR/8) will be submitted to the Committee for approval at its seventy-second session (18 February–8 March 2019), before being transmitted to the State party.

10.In accordance with Committee decisions 22/IV, 25/II and 31/III, the lists of issues and questions focused on themes addressed by the Convention, as well as on the linkages between relevant themes and target 5.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals. Those themes include the constitutional and legislative framework; access to justice; women and peace and security, where applicable; national machinery for the advancement of women; temporary special measures for the advancement of women; stereotypes and harmful practices; gender-based violence against women and girls, including domestic violence; trafficking in women and exploitation of prostitution; participation of women in political and public life; nationality; education; employment; health; economic and social life; disaster risk reduction and climate change; rural women; the situation of members of disadvantaged groups, such as older women, women with disabilities, women in detention, indigenous women, women belonging to ethnic minority groups, refugee women and migrant women, lesbian, bisexual and transgender women and intersex persons; equality before the law; and equality in marriage and family relations.