Pre-sessional working group

Ninety-second session

Geneva, 24–28 February 2025

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 upcoming sessions.

2.The Committee decided that the pre-sessional working group for its ninety-second session would meet from 24 to 28 February 2025, immediately after the ninetieth 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:

Brenda Akia

Hiroko Akizuki

Violet Eudine Barriteau

Daphna Hacker

Elgun Safarov

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

5.The pre-sessional working group prepared lists of issues and questions in relation to the reports of Iraq, Kenya, Lithuania and Togo, in addition to lists of issues and questions prior to the submission of the reports of Austria, Dominica and Qatar 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.

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 Dominica. It also had at its disposal the reports of the States parties listed above, with the exception of Austria, Dominica and Qatar, 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.

8.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 eighth periodic report of Iraq (CEDAW/C/IRQ/Q/8);

(b)List of issues and questions in relation to the ninth periodic report of Kenya (CEDAW/C/KEN/Q/9);

(c)List of issues and questions in relation to the seventh periodic report of Lithuania (CEDAW/C/LTU/Q/7);

(d)List of issues and questions in relation to the combined eighth to tenth periodic reports of Togo (CEDAW/C/TGO/Q/8-10);

(e)List of issues and questions prior to the submission of the tenth periodic report of Austria (CEDAW/C/AUT/QPR/10);

(f)List of issues and questions prior to the submission of the combined eighth to eleventh periodic reports of Dominica (CEDAW/C/DMA/QPR/8-11);

(g)List of issues and questions prior to the submission of the third periodic reports of Qatar (CEDAW/C/QAT/QPR/3).

9.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, the Optional Protocol thereto and the general recommendations of the Committee; reservations to the Convention; the ratification of the Optional Protocol to 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; civil society organizations and women human rights defenders; temporary special measures for the advancement of women; stereotypes; 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; women and peace and security; nationality; education; employment; sexual harassment in the workplace; health; economic empowerment; economic and social benefits; women’s and girls’ access to technology and artificial intelligence; the participation of women in sports; rural women; climate change and disaster risk reduction; equality in marriage and family relations; data collection and analysis; and intersecting forms of discrimination faced by disadvantaged groups of women, such as older women, women with disabilities, Indigenous women, women belonging to ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, including Roma women, women in detention, women with HIV/AIDS, internally displaced women, refugee and asylum-seeking women, migrant women, including women migrant workers, and lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex women.