Pre-sessional working group

Eighty-ninth session

Geneva, 19–23 February 2024

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-ninth session would meet from 19 to 23 February 2024, immediately after the eighty-seventh 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:

Hiroko Akizuki

Leticia Bonifaz Alfonzo

Corinne Dettmeijer-Vermeulen

Esther Eghobamien-Mshelia

Genoveva Tisheva

4.The pre-sessional working group elected Ms. Bonifaz Alfonzo as its Chair.

5.The pre-sessional working group prepared lists of issues and questions in relation to the reports of Belize, Chad, the Congo, Nepal and Viet Nam, in addition to lists of issues and questions prior to the submission of the reports of Cyprus and Saint Lucia under the simplified reporting procedure. The pre-sessional working group did not adopt a list of issues and questions prior to the submission of the eighth periodic report of the Bahamas, as initially scheduled, as the State party had informed the Committee that it would submit its report under the traditional 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.

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 core documents of the States parties listed above, with the exception of Belize, Saint Lucia and Viet Nam. It also had at its disposal the reports of the States parties listed above, with the exception of Cyprus and Saint Lucia, 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.

7.The pre-sessional working group benefited from written and oral information submitted by entities of the United Nations system, national human rights institutions 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 combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Belize (CEDAW/C/BLZ/Q/5-6);

(b)List of issues and questions in relation to the fifth periodic report of Chad (CEDAW/C/TCD/Q/5);

(c)List of issues and questions in relation to the eighth periodic report of Congo (CEDAW/C/COG/Q/8);

(d)List of issues and questions prior to the submission of the ninth periodic report of Cyprus (CEDAW/C/CYP/QPR/9);

(e)List of issues and questions in relation to the seventh periodic report of Nepal (CEDAW/C/NPL/Q/7);

(f)List of issues and questions prior to the submission of the combined seventh to eleventh periodic reports of Saint Lucia (CEDAW/C/LCA/QPR/7-11);

(g)List of issues and questions in relation to the ninth periodic report of Viet Nam (CEDAW/C/VNM/Q/9).

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, discriminatory laws and the definition of discrimination against women; the visibility of the Convention; women’s rights and gender equality in relation to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, recovery efforts and global crises; women’s access to justice; national machineries for the advancement of women; national human rights institutions; women human rights defenders; temporary special measures for the advancement of women; stereotypes; harmful practices; gender-based violence against women and girls; female genital mutilation; trafficking in women and girls and exploitation of prostitution; the equal participation of women in political and public life; women and peace and security; nationality; education; employment; women migrant domestic workers; health; economic empowerment and social benefits; rural women; climate change and disaster risk reduction; equality in marriage and family relations; and intersecting forms of discrimination faced by disadvantaged groups of women, such as older women, widows, women living with HIV/AIDS, women with disabilities, Indigenous women, nomadic women, Dalit women, women belonging to ethnic and religious minority groups, women who use drugs, women in detention, internally displaced women, asylum-seeking and refugee women, migrant women and lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex women.