Summary

On July 30, 2008, 11 vacancies on the Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) will be filled through a vote by secret ballot involving representatives of the governments that have ratified the CEDAW Convention. The CEDAW Convention is the only United Nations human rights treaty that addresses issues related to sex and gender discrimination. There is some concern that conservative states might do their best to ensure that partial experts are elected to the Committee because they do not want the CEDAW Committee to be too progressive, particularly regarding issues around culture, religion and reproductive and sexual rights.

Action

IGLHRC is asking our human rights colleagues to strongly recommend three feminist experts who have been very active in their regions as well as in international women's movements. They are Silvia Pimentel from Brazil, Shanthi Dairiam from Malaysia, and Indira Jaising from India. Ms. Pimentel and Ms. Dairiam are current members of the Committee seeking re-election. Ms. Jaising is a new candidate. Click here to view the candidates’ resumes.

Even if a nominee is not from your region, please send via email or fax, an expression of support to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Women's Institute in your country, as well as to your country’s mission in New York.

Please act now to ensure that your governments have enough time (before July 30, 2008) to send their letters of support for Ms. Pimentel, Ms. Dairiam and Ms. Jaising. A copy of the request to your government should be sent to the government mission of Brazil, Malaysia and India. Contact information for these missions is provided in the sample letter in this Action Alert along with the resumes of the candidates we are asking you to support.

Please feel free to use the letter enclosed below as a sample and adapt it as you choose. Please also send copies of your letter to the following:

Permanent Mission of Brazil to the United Nations

747 Third Avenue, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10017-2803
Telephone: (212) 372-2600, 832-6868
Telefax: (212) 371-5716
E-mail: delbrasonu@delbrasonu.org
Website: www.un.int/brazil
Permanent Representative: H.E. Ms. Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti,
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations

235 East 43rd Street, New York, NY 10017
Telephone: (212) 490-9660/9661/9662/9663/9664/9665
Telefax: (212) 490-9656/9658
E-mail: india@un.int, indiaun@prodigy.net
Permanent Representative: H.E. Mr. Nirupam Sen, Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

Permanent Mission of Malaysia to the United Nations

313 East 43rd Street, New York, NY 10017
Telephone: (212) 986-6310
Telefax: (212) 490-8576
E-mail: malaysia@un.int
Permanent Representative: H.E. Mr. Hamidon Bin Ali, Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary

Sample Letter

Background

The Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is a 23-member treaty body that monitors the compliance of states that have ratified the CEDAW Convention—which first came into effect in 1981 and is now ratified by 185 countries. The 30 Articles of the Convention cover a broad spectrum of issues relating to women’s recognition, enjoyment and/or exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms in political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other arena. Governments that have signed on to the CEDAW Convention come before the CEDAW Committee for review of their commitments to “embody the principle of the equality of men and women”—in other words, for taking specific measures to protect and promote women’s right to equality in society.

Members of the CEDAW Committee are elected by representatives of governments that have signed on to the CEDAW Convention. Each Committee member serves a four-year term (officers hold two-year terms) and is eligible for re-election. Although elected by governments, Committee members are expected to be independent experts with the ability and commitment to hold governments accountable to women and to support the role played by women’s non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in defending women’s rights.

The terms of 11 of the current CEDAW Committee members will end in 2008, and on July 30, representatives of states parties will vote by secret ballot to fill these vacancies. The newly elected members will serve from January 2009 to December 2012.

The CEDAW Convention is the only United Nations human rights treaty that addresses issues related to sex and gender discrimination. It is crucial to support candidates who will be accountable to and defend the human rights of women globally and remain impartial, independent experts committed to the spirit of the CEDAW Convention of equality for all women.

According to the International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific (IWRAW-AP), “Conservative states might do their best to ensure that partial experts are elected to the Committee [because] they do not want the CEDAW Committee to be too progressive, particularly regarding issues around culture, religion as well as reproductive and sexual rights. Some States [also] feel the Committee's review process ‘shames’ them in the international arena.” IWRAW-AP helps women’s NGOs use the CEDAW Convention as a tool “for applying international human rights standards at the national level”—for instance, for political participation, to address armed conflict and violence against women, to fight for reproductive rights, etc.

As IWRAW-AP notes, “Women's groups and women's rights advocates globally want independent experts from all over the world to be elected to the Committee so that they can ensure that the CEDAW Committee process continues to strengthen national efforts towards the realization of women's rights.” Ms. Pimentel, Ms. Dairiam and Ms. Jaising have the respect locally, regionally and internationally for their commitment to and insights about the human rights of all women.