Pre-sessional working group

Eighty-seventh session

30 May–2 June 2023

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 periodic reports that will be considered by the Committee at an upcoming session.

2.The Committee decided that the pre-sessional working group for its eighty-seventh session would meet from 30 May to 2 June 2023, immediately after the eighty-fifth 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.Exceptionally, the pre-sessional working group for the eighty-seventh session of the Committee met for four days, as Monday, 29 May 2023, was an official holiday at the United Nations Office at Geneva.

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

Nicole Ameline

Marion Bethel

Rangita de Silva de Alwis

Esther Eghobamien

Dalia Leinarte

5The pre-sessional working group elected Ms. Bethel as its Chair.

6.The pre-sessional working group prepared lists of issues and questions in relation to the reports of Cuba, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, in addition to lists of issues and questions prior to the submission of the reports of Papua New Guinea, San Marino, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu under the simplified reporting procedure. The pre-sessional working group was guided by Committee decisions 49/IX, 59/IV and 64/II, according to which the Committee decided to limit lists of issues and questions and lists of issues and questions prior to reporting to 20 and 25 paragraphs, respectively. However, in practice and exceptionally, some lists of issues and questions contain a maximum of 23 paragraphs.

7.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 core documents of the States parties listed above, with the exception of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. It also had at its disposal the reports of the States parties listed above, with the exception of Papua New Guinea, San Marino, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu, which will submit their periodic reports in response to the lists of issues and questions prior to reporting. It further had before it the general recommendations adopted by the Committee; draft lists of issues and questions and lists of issues and questions prior to reporting 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, except for San Marino, which had submitted an initial report.

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

9.The lists of issues and questions and lists of issues and questions prior to reporting 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 Cuba (CEDAW/C/CUB/Q/9);

(b)List of issues and questions in relation to the seventh periodic report of Tajikistan (CEDAW/C/TJK/Q/7);

(c)List of issues and questions in relation to the sixth periodic report of Turkmenistan (CEDAW/C/TKM/Q/6);

(d)List of issues and questions prior to the submission of the combined fourth to sixth periodic reports of Papua New Guinea (CEDAW/C/PNG/QPR/4-6);

(e)List of issues and questions prior to the submission of the combined initial to fifth periodic reports of San Marino (CEDAW/C/SMR/QPR/1-5);

(f)List of issues and questions prior to the submission of the combined fourth and fifth periodic reports of Solomon Islands (CEDAW/C/SLB/QPR/4-5);

(g)List of issues and questions prior to the submission of the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Tuvalu (CEDAW/C/TUV/QPR/5-6).

10.In accordance with Committee decisions 22/IV, 25/II and 31/III, the lists of issues and questions were focused on themes addressed by the Convention, as well as on the linkages between relevant themes and the Sustainable Development Goals. Those themes included the constitutional and legislative framework and the definition of discrimination against women; withdrawal of reservations to the Convention; the legal status of the Convention; the visibility of the Convention and the Optional Protocol thereto; women’s rights and gender equality in relation to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, recovery efforts and global crises and challenges, including a new digital revolution; women’s access to justice; women and peace and security; national machineries for the advancement of women; national human rights institutions; temporary special measures for the advancement of women; stereotypes and harmful practices; gender-based violence against women and girls; trafficking in women and girls and exploitation of prostitution; the equal participation of women in political and public life; nationality; birth registration; education; employment and sexual harassment in the workplace; health; economic empowerment and social benefits; climate change and disaster risk reduction; rural women; equality in marriage and family relations; and intersecting forms of discrimination faced by disadvantaged groups of women, such as older women, women living with HIV/AIDS, widows, women heads of household, adolescent mothers, women with disabilities, Indigenous women, women of African descent, women belonging to other ethnic minority groups, women in detention, women human rights defenders, women civil society representatives, unpaid women care workers, internally displaced women, migrant women, asylum-seeking, refugee and stateless women and lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex women.