Text of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the

Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

Text of the Optional Protocol

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Full text of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women (A/RES/54/4)

[ Arabic | Chinese | English | French | Russian | Spanish | German ]

Preamble:

The preamble is the introductory part of the Protocol which sets out the object and purpose of the
Protocol. It refers to the principles of equality and non-discrimination as embodied in the UN Charter,
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other international human rights instruments, including
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. It reaffirms the
determination of States parties which adopt the protocol to ensure the full and equal enjoyment by
women of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and to take effective action to prevent violations
of these rights and freedoms.
Article 1

Establishes that States who become parties to the optional protocol recognise the competence of the
Committee to receive and consider communications under the protocol.

Article 2

Provides a Communications Procedure which allows either individuals or groups of individuals to submit
individual complaints to the Committee. Communications may also be submitted on behalf of individuals
or groups of individuals, with their consent, unless it can be shown why that consent was not received.

Article 3

Establishes that a communication will only be considered by the Committee if it concerns a acountry that
has become party to the protocol. In addition, a communication must be submitted in writing and may
not be anonymous.

Article 4

Stipulates admissibility criteria of communications. Before a complaint is considered, the Committee

must determine that all available domestic remedies have been exhausted and the complaint is not, nor
has been examined by the Committee or has been or is being examined under another procedure of
international investigation or settlement. In addition, a complaint will only be admissible provided the
complaint is compatible with the provisions of the Convention; is not an abuse of the right to submit a
communication; the claimants' allegations can be substantiated, and the facts presented occurred after
the State party ratified the Protocol.

Article 5
After receipt of a communication and prior to its final decision, the Committee has the option of
contacting the State Party with an urgent request that the State Party take steps to protect the alleged
victim or victims from irreparable harm.

Article 6

Establishes the communications procedure. Where a communication has been found admissible, the
Committee will confidentially bring a communication to the attention of the State Party, provided the
complaint has consented to disclosure of their identity to the State Party. The State Party is given six
months to provide a written explanation or statement to the complaint.

Article 7

Outlines the process of complaint consideration. The Committee will examine and consider all
information provided by a complaint in closed meetings. The Committee's views and recommendations
will be transmitted to the parties concerned. The State Party has six months to consider the views of the
Committee and provide a written response, including remedial steps taken. The Committee may request
further information from the State Party, including in subsequent reports.

Article 8

Establishes an inquiry procedure that allows the Committee to initiate a confidential investigation by one
or more of its members where it has received reliable information of grave or systematic violations by a
State Party of rights established in the Convention. Where warranted and with the consent of the State
Party, the Committee may visit the territory of the State Party. Any findings, comments or
recommendations will be transmitted to the State Party concerned, to which it may respond within six
months.

Article 9
Establishes a follow-up procedure for the Committee. After the six-month period referred to in article 8,
the State Party may be invited to provide the Committee with details of any remedial efforts taken
following an inquiry. Details may also be provided in the State Party report to the Committee under
article 18 of the Convention.

Article 10

Provides an opt-out clause. At ratification of the Optional Protocol, a State Party has the option of
refusing to recognize the competence of the Committee to initiate and conduct an inquiry as established
under articles 8 and 9. However, this declaration may be withdrawn at a later time.

Article 11

Requires a State Party to ensure the protection of those submitting communications.

Article 12

A summary of the Committee's activities relating to the Protocol will be included under article 21 of the
Convention.

Article 13

Establishes a requirement that States Parties widely publicize the Convention and its Protocol and
provide access to the views and recommendations of the Committee.

Article 14

Requires the Committee to develop its own rules of procedure when dealing with communications and
inquiries considered in accordance with the Optional Protocol.
Article 15

Governs eligibility for States to sign, ratify or accede to the Protocol. Any State Party that is party to the
Convention may become party to the Protocol.

Article 16

Establishes that a minimum of ten countries must have ratified or acceded to the Protocol before the
Protocol enters into force. The Protocol will enter into force three months after the 10th ratification or
accession.

Article 17

Provides that there shall be no reservations to the Protocol.

Article 18

Establishes procedures for amending the Protocol. Any State Party may suggest amendments to be sent
to the Secretary-General of the United Nations to be communicated to all States Parties to the Protocol.
If requested by a minimum of one-third of States Parties, a conference may be convened to discuss and
vote on any amendments. With the support of a two-thirds majority and the General Assembly, an
amendment comes into force and is binding on States that have accepted the amendments.

Article 19

Provides for a State Party to withdraw from the Protocol by written notification to the Secretary-General.
Withdrawal will not impact any communications submitted prior to the effective date of withdrawal.
Article 20

States that the Secretary-General of the United Nations shall inforrn States of signatures, ratifications
and accessions, the date the Protocol comes into force and any amendments and withdrawals.

Article 21

Provides that the Protocol will be deposited in the United Nations archives, made available in Arabic,
Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish and sent to all States Parties by the Secretary General.

he Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted in
1979 by the UN General Assembly, is often described as an international bill of rights for women.
Consisting of a preamble and 30 articles, it defines what constitutes discrimination against women and
sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination.

The Convention defines discrimination against women as "...any distinction, exclusion or restriction
made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition,
enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and
women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or
any other field."

By accepting the Convention, States commit themselves to undertake a series of measures to end
discrimination against women in all forms, including:

to incorporate the principle of equality of men and women in their legal system, abolish all
discriminatory laws and adopt appropriate ones prohibiting discrimination against women;

to establish tribunals and other public institutions to ensure the effective protection of women against
discrimination; and

to ensure elimination of all acts of discrimination against women by persons, organizations or

enterprises.

CD Rom on 25 years of work of the Committee

CD Rom on 25 years of work of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has
been released.

>> Read the press release

>>View the CD Rom contents

25 Years of the CEDAW Committee

The Committee celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary on the opening day of its thirty-ninth session -
Monday, 23 July 2007, 11.15 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Conference Room 3, UNHQ, New York.

>> Read more

CEDAW Sessions

CEDAW 40th Session

will be held from 14 January - 1 February 2008

CEDAW 41st Session

will be held from 30 June - 18 July 2008

CEDAW 39th Session

was held from 23 July - 10 August 2007

The Convention provides the basis for realizing equality between women and men through ensuring
women's equal access to, and equal opportunities in, political and public life -- including the right to vote
and to stand for election -- as well as education, health and employment. States parties agree to take all
appropriate measures, including legislation and temporary special measures, so that women can enjoy
all their human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The Convention is the only human rights treaty which affirms the reproductive rights of women and
targets culture and tradition as influential forces shaping gender roles and family relations. It affirms
women's rights to acquire, change or retain their nationality and the nationality of their children. States
parties also agree to take appropriate measures against all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of
women.

Countries that have ratified or acceded to the Convention are legally bound to put its provisions into
practice. They are also committed to submit national reports, at least every four years, on measures they
have taken to comply with their treaty obligations.

Short History of CEDAW Convention

Equality of rights for women is a basic principle of the United Nations. The Preamble to the Charter of
the United Nations sets as one of the Organization's central goals the reaffirmation of "faith in
fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and
women". Article 1 proclaims that one of the purposes of the United Nations is to achieve international
cooperation in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for
all without distinction as to, inter alia, sex. By the terms of the Charter, the first international instrument
to refer specifically to human rights and to the equal rights of men and women, all members of the
United Nations are legally bound to strive towards the full realization of all human rights and
fundamental freedoms. The status of human rights, including the goal of equality between women and
men, is thereby elevated: a matter of ethics becomes a contractual obligation of all Governments and of
the UN.

The International Bill of Human Rights strengthens and extends this emphasis on the human rights of
women. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims the entitlement of everyone to equality
before the law and to the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms without distinction of
any kind and proceeds to include sex among the grounds of such impermissible distinction. The
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights, both of 1966, which translate the principles of the Declaration into legally binding
form, clearly state that the rights set forth are applicable to all persons without distinction of any kind
and, again, put forth sex as such a ground of impermissible distinction. In addition, each Covenant
specifically binds acceding or ratifying States to undertake to ensure that women and men have equal
right to the enjoyment of all the rights they establish.

The International Bill of Human Rights, combined with related human rights treaties, thus lays down a
comprehensive set of rights to which all persons, including women, are entitled. However, the fact of
women's humanity proved insufficient to guarantee them the enjoyment of their internationally agreed
rights. Since its establishment, the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) has sought to define and
elaborate the general guarantees of non-discrimination in these instruments from a gender perspective.
The work of CSW has resulted in a number of important declarations and conventions that protect and
promote the human rights of women.

Originally established in 1946 as a subcommission of the Commission on Human Rights, but quickly
granted the status of full commission as a result of the pressure exerted by women's activists, the
mandate of the CSW included the preparation of recommendations relating to urgent problems
requiring immediate attention in the field of women's rights with the object of implementing the
principle that men and women should have equal rights, and the development of proposals to give effect
to such recommendations. Between 1949 and 1959, the Commission elaborated the Convention on the
Political Rights of Women, adopted by the General Assembly on 20 December 1952, the Convention on
the Nationality of Married Women, adopted by the Assembly on 29 January 1957, the Convention on
Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages adopted on 7 November
1962, and the Recommendation on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of
Marriages adopted on 1 November 1965. Each of these treaties protected and promoted the rights of
women in areas in which the Commission considered such rights to be particularly vulnerable. But it was
believed that, except in those areas, women's rights were best protected and promoted by the general
human rights treaties.
Although these instruments reflected the growing sophistication of the UN system with regard to the
protection and promotion of women's human rights, the approach they reflected was fragmentary, as
they failed to deal with discrimination against women in a comprehensive way. In addition, there was
concern that the general human rights regime was not, in fact, working as well as it might to protect and
promote the rights of women. Thus, the General Assembly, on 5 December 1963, adopted its resolution
1921 (XVIII), in which it requested the Economic and Social Council to invite the CSW to prepare a draft
declaration that would combine in a single instrument international standards articulating the equal
rights of men and women. This process was supported throughout by women activists within and
outside the UN system. Drafting of the declaration, by a committee selected from within the CSW, began
in 1965, with the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women ultimately being
adopted by the GA on 7 November 1967. Although the Declaration amounted only to a statement of
moral and political intent, without the contractual force of a treaty, its drafting was none the less a
difficult process. Article 6, concerning equality in marriage and the family, and article 10, relating to
employment, proved to be particularly controversial, as did the question of whether the Declaration
should call for the abolition of the customs and laws perpetuating discrimination or for their
modification or change.

The 1960s saw the emergence, in many parts of the world, of a new consciousness of the patterns of
discrimination against women and a rise in the number of organizations committed to combating the
effect of such discrimination. The adverse impact of some development policies on women also became
apparent. In 1972, five years after the adoption of the Declaration and four years after the introduction
of a voluntary reporting system on the implementation of the Declaration by the Economic and Social
Commission, the CSW considered the possibility of preparing a binding treaty that would give normative
force to the provisions of the Declaration and decided to request the Secretary-General to call upon UN
Member States to transmit their views on such a proposal. The following year, a working group was
appointed to consider the elaboration of such a convention. In 1974, at its twenty-fifth session and in the
light of the report of this working group, the Commission decided, in principle, to prepare a single,
comprehensive and internationally binding instrument to eliminate discrimination against women. This
instrument was to be prepared without prejudice to any future recommendations that might be made
by the United Nations or its specialized agencies with respect to the preparation of legal instruments to
eliminate discrimination in specific fields.

The text of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was
prepared by working groups within the Commission during 1976 and extensive deliberations by a
working group of the Third Committee of the General Assembly from 1977 to 1979. Drafting work within
the Commission was encouraged by the World Plan of Action for the Implementation of the Objectives
of the International Women's Year, adopted by the World Conference of the International Women's Year
held in Mexico City in 1975, which called for a convention on the elimination of discrimination against
women, with effective procedures for its implementation. Work was also encouraged by the General
Assembly which had urged the Commission on the Status of Women to finish its work by 1976, so that
the Convention would be completed in time for the 1980 Copenhagen mid-decade review conference
(World Conference on the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace).
Although suggestions were made to delay completion of the text for another year, the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was adopted by the General Assembly in 1979
by votes of 130 to none, with 10 abstentions. In resolution 34/180, in which the General Assembly
adopted the Convention, the Assembly expressed the hope that the Convention would come into force
at an early date and requested the Secretary-General to present the text of the Convention to the mid-
decade World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women.

At the special ceremony that took place at the Copenhagen Conference on 17 July 1980, 64 States signed
the Convention and two States submitted their instruments of ratification. On 3 September 1981, 30
days after the twentieth member State had ratified it, the Convention entered into force - faster than any
previous human rights convention had done - thus bringing to a climax United Nations efforts to codify
comprehensively international legal standards for women.

* extracted from Progress achieved in the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women: Report by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women (A/CONF.177/7).

Published by the United Nations Department of Public Information

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