United Nations
Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women
CEDAW/C/GC/32
Distr.: General
14 November 2014
Original: English
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women
General recommendation No. 32 on the gender-related
dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and
statelessness of women
I. Introduction
1.
Through the present general recommendation, the Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women aims to provide authoritative
guidance to States parties on legislative, policy and other appropriate measures to
ensure the implementation of their obligations under the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Optional
Protocol thereto regarding non-discrimination and gender equality relating to
refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women.
2.
The Convention is a dynamic instrument that contributes and adapts itself to
the development of international law. The present general recommendation builds
on the Committee’s earlier general recommendations, including No. 19 on violence
against women, No. 26 on women migrant workers, No. 28 on the core obligations
of States parties under article 2 of the Convention and No. 30 on women in conflict
prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations, as well as on reports of States
parties under the Convention and the Committee’s concluding observations thereon.
It also builds on the Committee’s consideration of individual communications and
its conduct of inquiries under the Optional Protocol.
3.
In section III, the Committee seeks to ensure that gender equality and nondiscrimination obligations are upheld by States parties to the Convention in respect
of women asylum seekers and refugees throughout the displacement cycle, with a
focus on asylum processes. In section IV, the Committee seeks to ensure that gender
equality and non-discrimination principles are upheld by States parties in relation to
women’s right to nationality, including the right to acquire, change or retain their
nationality and to confer their nationality on their children and spouses.
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