Optional Protocol to CEDAW Adopted!

In June 1993, governments met in Vienna for the World Conference on Human Rights and agreed that "the Commission on the Status of Women and the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women should quickly examine the possibility of introducing the right of petition through the preparation of an Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)" (The Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, Paragraph 40).

On March 12, 1999 the 43rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women adopted an Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The Optional Protocol contains two procedures: a communications procedure allowing individual women, or groups of women, to submit claims of violations of rights set forth in the Convention to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women; and an inquiry procedure enabling the Committee to initiate inquiries into situations of grave or systematic violations of women's rights. In either case, the governments involved must be a party to the Protocol in order for these procedures to be used.

The Commission on the Status of Women submitted a resolution recommending the Protocol to the Economic and Social Council for approval and submission to the General Assembly for adoption later this year. It is hoped that this adoption will coincide with the 20th Anniversary of CEDAW on December 19, 1999 and should be open for signature, ratification and accession in 2000. At this point, women whose governments have ratified CEDAW can begin to push for adoption of the Optional Protocol. For more information on advocacy strategies contact the Women's Caucus for Gender Justice at ph: (1-212)697-7741; fax: (1-212)973-0332; e-mail: iccwomen@igc.org.

The text of the Optional Protocol and the resolution accompanying can be found at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/protocol/adopted.htm.