List of issues and questions prior to the submission of the seventh periodic report of Equatorial Guinea *

General

1.Please provide information and statistics, disaggregated by sex, age, nationality, disability, ethnicity, geographical location and socioeconomic background on the current situation of women in the State party, to enable monitoring of the implementation of the Convention. In accordance with the State party’s obligations under articles 1 and 2 of the Convention, and in line with target 5.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals, to end all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere, please indicate how the State party intends to improve the collection and analysis of data pertaining to the areas covered by the Convention, so as to support policymaking, programme development and service delivery and to measure progress towards the implementation of the Convention and the promotion of substantive equality between women and men, including with regard to the specific areas covered in the present document.

Visibility of the Convention

2.Please provide information on the efforts made to give visibility to the Convention and the Committee’s concluding observations, including any awareness-raising campaigns among the general public, including women and girls, about the prohibition of discrimination against women. Please also specify measures taken to provide systematic capacity-building or regular training to judicial and law enforcement personnel and legal practitioners on the application of the Convention and the interpretation of national legislation in the light of the Convention, in court proceedings. Furthermore, please provide updated information on the number of court decisions containing references to provisions of the Convention.

Legislative framework and definition of discrimination

3.Please report on the steps taken:

* Adopted by the pre-sessional working group on 29 October 2024.

(a)To adopt a comprehensive definition of discrimination against women that covers direct and indirect discrimination, including intersecting forms of discrimination, in both the public and private spheres;

(b)To establish a judicial complaint mechanism, specifically for cases of discrimination against women, with adequate human, technical and financial resources;

(c)To make legal remedies and compensation available to women who are subjected to any form of gender-based discrimination, in particular women belonging to ethnic and national minority groups, women with disabilities, older women and women and girls living in rural areas;

(d)To review and reform customary laws to ensure that they are in harmony with domestic legislation, international human rights commitments and the Convention;

(e)To adopt the personal and family code in the State party.

Women’s access to justice

4.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to eliminate discrimination against women and girls in the administration of justice by removing barriers to equal access to justice and reparation and building the capacities of judges, prosecutors, law enforcement officers and lawyers on women’s rights and gender equality;

(b)The availability of affordable, accessible and inclusive access to justice, including quality legal aid, for women seeking justice in the State party and the number of women beneficiaries of such aid over the past five years;

(c)Steps taken to enhance women’s awareness of their rights, referral mechanisms and legal literacy in all areas of the law;

(d)Measures taken to ensure that women who are victims of gender-based violence and discrimination have access to effective redress and to facilitate their access to free legal aid;

(e)Steps taken to ensure that judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officers handle cases of gender-based violence and discrimination against women in a gender-sensitive manner and to expand mandatory capacity-building to judges, prosecutors, lawyers, law enforcement officials and mediators on women’s rights, including their right to access to justice.

National machinery for the advancement of women

5.Please inform the Committee of the results of the implementation of the Multisectoral National Action Plan on the Status of Women and Gender Equality (2005–2015). Please also inform the Committee of the level of implementation of the national gender policy and the human, technical and financial resources allocated to it. Please indicate the measures taken to strengthen the Ministry of Social Affairs and Gender Equality and to ensure that it has adequate human, technical and financial resources. Please provide information on steps taken to establish an efficient monitoring and evaluating mechanism to improve the coordination of gender equality policies at all levels. Please also provide information on measures taken to ensure collaboration with women’s organizations in the national machinery for the advancement of women, as well as steps taken to allow women’s civil society organizations to register and operate independently.

National human rights institution

6.Please inform the Committee of measures taken to establish a national human rights institution, in compliance with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (the Paris Principles) and provide it with sufficient human and financial resources and a broad human rights mandate, including a specific mandate on gender equality.

Temporary special measures

7.Please provide updated information on any temporary special measures taken by the State party, in accordance with article 4 (1) of the Convention and the Committee’s general recommendation No. 25 (2004) on temporary special measures, to accelerate the realization of the substantive equality of women and men in all areas covered by the Convention in which women are underrepresented or disadvantaged, such as participation in political and public life and employment. Please also provide information on awareness-raising campaigns targeting governmental officials, policymakers, employers and the media on the non-discriminatory nature, value and importance of temporary special measures for national development.

Gender stereotypes and harmful practices

8.Please provide detailed information on measures taken to eliminate discriminatory stereotypes about the roles and responsibilities of women and men in the family and in society, including awareness-raising and educational programmes and media campaigns to convey positive images of women as active participants in economic, social and political life, and the impact of those measures. Please also provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to address discriminatory gender stereotypes and negative portrayals of women, including all forms of objectification of women in the media and advertisements, and the results of those measures;

(b)Efforts made to monitor negative portrayals of women in the media and on social media, as well as in statements by public officials;

(c)Steps taken to mainstream gender equality into education curricula, including measures aimed at capacitating teachers and impact assessments of capacity-building activities on women’s rights and gender equality;

(d)Efforts made to analyse and address gender-based stereotypes as a root cause of gender-based violence against women and measures taken to monitor their impact;

(e)Measures taken to specifically criminalize forced and early marriages, levirate and mistreatment of widows, dowry-related violence and polygamy;

(f)The number of reported cases of, prosecutions and convictions for, and the sentences imposed on the perpetrators of harmful practices, in particular child marriage, disaggregated by relevant factors such as age, Indigenous, migrant or disability status and geographical location.

Gender-based violence against women

9.Please provide information on specific measures taken to address the high incidence of gender-based violence against women in the State party. In particular, please provide information on measures taken:

(a)To enact comprehensive civil and penal legislation addressing the different forms of gender-based violence against women and girls;

(b)To align the definition of rape with international standards, basing it on the lack of freely given consent rather than the use of force, threat or deception, and ensure that it takes into account coercive circumstances;

(c)To specifically criminalize femicide;

(d)To prevent all forms of gender-based violence against women and girls;

(e)To establish specialized mechanisms, including gender-based violence desks in the police, to respond to cases of gender-based violence against women;

(f)To ensure the prosecution, conviction and punishment of perpetrators of gender-based violence against women, including sexual violence and domestic violence;

(g)To provide victims with effective protection, including protection orders, rehabilitation and remedies, including compensation.

10.Please also inform the Committee of measures taken:

(a)To ensure and monitor the response police of the police to complaints about gender-based violence against women and ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted and punished;

(b)To strengthen victim support services, including shelters, for women and girls who are survivors of domestic and other forms of gender-based violence;

(c)To provide targeted, mandatory capacity-building activities on women’s rights and substantive equality between men and women and on the prevention and detection of, and the response to, all forms of gender-based violence, including domestic violence, for law enforcement and judicial officials, health and social workers and other professionals who deal with victims of gender-based violence;

(d)To provide information on the implementation of the new 2022 Penal Code, which includes specific sanctions against gender-based violence, including the resources allocated for its effective implementation;

(e)To enhance the State party’s data collection efforts on the prevalence of different forms of gender-based violence disaggregated by sex, age, type of violence and relationship between the victim and the perpetrator.

Trafficking and exploitation of prostitution

11.Please provide information on measures taken:

(a)To ensure the effective enforcement of Act No. 1/2004;

(b)To increase efforts to investigate, prosecute, convict and punish traffickers under Act No. 1/2004;

(c)To train law enforcement officers, prosecutors and judges on trafficking in human beings and victim-centred approaches;

(d)To strengthen capacity-building for law enforcement officials, social workers and health professionals on the early identification and referral to appropriate services of victims of trafficking and women and girls at risk, in particular migrant women and unaccompanied girls;

(e)To ensure the protection of women and girls who are victims of trafficking and provide them with free and immediate access to temporary residence permits, specialized shelters, medical care, psychosocial counselling, legal aid and rehabilitation and reintegration services, irrespective of their ability or willingness to cooperate with the prosecution authorities.

Participation in political and public life

12.Please provide information on measures, including temporary special measures in line with article 4 (1) of the Convention and the Committee’s general recommendation No. 25 and general recommendation No. 40 (2024) on the equal and inclusive representation of women in decision-making systems, such as electoral quotas and the accelerated recruitment of women to the public service, to increase the participation of women in political and public life at the national and local levels, in particular at the decision-making levels, with a view to reaching parity, along with disaggregated data on the number of women participating in diplomatic missions, the judiciary, the police and all other sectors. Please also provide information on the measures taken to promote women’s leadership and provide campaign financing and training for women candidates on election campaigning and negotiation skills.

Nationality

13.Please provide information on measures taken to ensure that Equatoguinean women may transmit their nationality to their foreign spouses under the same conditions as Equatoguinean men.

Education

14.Please provide information on the following:

(a)Measures taken by the State party to remove all barriers faced by women and girls in accessing education, including the amendment of the General Education Act, which allows pregnant girls to be expelled from schools;

(b)Enrolment rates at all levels of education among girls and women, disaggregated by location in urban or rural area and by Indigenous origin, disability status and migrant or refugee status;

(c)The school dropout rate among girls for the past five years; please also indicate how the State party addresses school dropout due to gender stereotypes, poverty and sexual harassment in school, teenage pregnancies and early marriages and the stigma attached thereto;

(d)Measures taken to address gender-based violence against women and girls in the school environment.

15.Please also provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to ensure mandatory, comprehensive, age-appropriate sexuality education and education on reproductive health and rights at all levels of education, including on responsible sexual behaviour and modern contraceptives;

(b)Women’s career choices, disaggregated by age and location in urban or rural area, and measures taken to encourage women and girls to choose non-traditional fields of study, such as information and communications technologies and science, technology, engineering and mathematics;

(c)Measures to address gender stereotypes in curricula and textbooks and measures taken by the State party to remove all barriers faced by women and girls in accessing education.

Employment

16.Please provide detailed information on the situation of women in the field of employment, including the types of legal, social and other services and protections available to women who work in the formal and the informal sectors. Please also indicate the measures taken:

(a)To combat pregnancy- and maternity-based discrimination in recruitment processes and sexual harassment in the workplace and strengthen accountability mechanisms;

(b)To enforce the principle of equal pay for work of equal value to eliminate the gender pay gap, address horizontal and vertical segregation in the labour market and increase women’s representation in decision-making positions, including in the private sector;

(c)To promote equal sharing of household and childcare responsibilities between women and men, including by ensuring adequate maternity benefits, paid parental leave, paternity leave and pension benefits for women who do not work because they care for children or other dependent persons;

(d)To extend labour protection to women working in the informal economy and facilitate their transition to the formal economy.

Health

17.Please provide information on:

(a)Measures taken to ensure access to comprehensive, accessible and affordable healthcare, including in rural and remote areas;

(b)Measures taken to raise awareness about modern forms of contraception and ensure access to safe and affordable contraceptives for women and adolescent girls, in particular in rural and remote areas;

(c)Measures taken to prevent maternal and neonatal mortality and protect women during childbirth, in particular to address obstetric violence, and to strengthen capacity-building programmes for medical practitioners. Please also provide information on specific measures taken to ensure regular monitoring of the treatment of patients in healthcare centres and hospitals;

(d)The incidence of unsafe abortions and their impact on women’s health, including maternal mortality ratios;

(e)Steps taken to ensure access to abortion and post-abortion care in line with the provisions of the Convention on non-discrimination and the autonomy of women and girls;

(f)Measures taken to address the persistent discrimination against and stigmatization of women living with HIV/AIDS and to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS. Please also provide data on the number of new HIV diagnoses among girls and women in the State party and indicate whether a gender perspective has been integrated into existing programmes to combat HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

Economic empowerment of women

18.Please provide information on steps taken to ensure gender-responsive programming in poverty and food insecurity reduction strategies and the meaningful participation of women, including women belonging to disadvantaged groups, in the formulation and development of poverty reduction and eradication strategies and social safety nets for women working in the informal sector. Please provide statistical data disaggregated by age, disability status, ethnicity, location, socioeconomic status and other gender-relevant indicators on poverty levels among women, in particular groups of women in vulnerable situations.

Rural women

19.With reference to the Committee’s general recommendation No. 34 (2016) on the rights of rural women, please indicate measures taken to improve access for rural women and girls to basic services, including healthcare and family planning services, water, reliable electricity, education, formal employment, social protection, justice, land and credit. Please provide information on the strengthening of women’s literacy programmes and on measures taken to facilitate access to vocational education and training for women in rural areas. Please also provide information on measures taken to increase access to land for rural women and access for such women to loans and income-generating opportunities, including alternative income-generating opportunities. Please further provide information on measures taken to increase access to education, employment and social protection in both the formal and the informal economy.

Disadvantaged groups of women

20.In view of the intersecting forms of discrimination faced by disadvantaged groups of women, please provide information on the situation of older women, women with disabilities, migrant women, rural women, women in detention and lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex women. Please indicate the measures taken to ensure that women belonging to disadvantaged groups have access to healthcare services, social benefits, education, employment and the opportunity to participate in political and public life.

Women with disabilities

21.Please provide updated information on measures taken to include women and girls with disabilities in all policies and strategies to promote equal opportunities for women and men, in particular with regard to accessible and inclusive education, employment, access to justice, protection against violence and access to sexual and reproductive healthcare services and poverty reduction programmes. Please report on how free and informed consent is ensured for women with disabilities prior to any medical treatment and on any existing exceptions to that universal right; please indicate measures adopted to protect women with disabilities living in institutions from violence and abuse and to eliminate practices involving physical and mechanical restraints. Please provide information on restrictions on legal capacity. Please indicate any temporary special measures, including quotas, taken by the State party to increase the number of women with disabilities employed in the public service and the private sector and enrolled in higher education institutions.

Climate change

22.In view of the Committee’s general recommendation No. 37 (2018) on the gender-related dimensions of disaster risk reduction in the context of climate change, please provide information on the involvement of women in the formulation and implementation of legislation, policies and strategies on climate change, disaster response and disaster risk reduction and post-disaster management. Please also provide information on measures taken to mainstream a gender perspective into national disaster risk reduction management and relief and recovery strategies. Please further provide information, including statistical data, on the impact of climate change and natural disasters on women and girls in the State party. Please provide information on measures taken by the State party to increase the utilization of renewable and clean energy by women.

Marriage and family relations

23.Please indicate whether the State party has revised the draft personal and family code and the bill on customary marriages with a view to eliminating possible inconsistencies and overlap between them and ensuring that they prohibit polygamy, raise the minimum age of marriage for women to 18 years, guarantee equal inheritance and succession rights to women and recognize the full legal capacity of women. Please also indicate what legislative and other measures are in place to ensure that domestic violence is taken into consideration in judicial decisions on custody and visitation rights and conduct training and awareness-raising activities for judges, mediators, lawyers, youth welfare officers and members of law enforcement agencies and local executive bodies to ensure that they are aware of the rights of women and children and of their own role in protecting victims of domestic violence and comply with provisions protecting women’s rights.

Data collection

24.Please provide information on the steps taken to enhance data collection systems to ensure the collection of data disaggregated by sex, age, disability status, ethnicity, geographical location and socioeconomic status to assess the realization of the substantive equality of women and men in all areas covered by the Convention.

Additional information

25.Please provide any additional information deemed relevant with regard to legislative, policy, administrative and other measures taken to implement the provisions of the Convention. Such measures may include recent laws, developments, plans and programmes and ratifications of human rights instruments, as well as any other information that the State party considers relevant. Please also provide information on the measures taken to integrate a gender perspective into all efforts aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Please note that, further to the issues raised in the present document, the State party will be expected, during the dialogue, to respond to additional questions relating to areas covered by the Convention.