Thirteenth session (1981)
General comment No. 4: Article 3 (Equal right of men and women
to the enjoyment of all civil and political rights)
1.
Article 3 of the Covenant requiring, as it does, States parties to ensure the equal right of
men and women to the enjoyment of all civil and political rights provided for in the Covenant, has
been insufficiently dealt with in a considerable number of States reports and has raised a number of
concerns, two of which may be highlighted.
2.
Firstly, article 3, as articles 2 (1) and 26 insofar as those articles primarily deal with the
prevention of discrimination on a number of grounds, among which sex is one, requires not only
measures of protection but also affirmative action designed to ensure the positive enjoyment of
rights. This cannot be done simply by enacting laws. Hence, more information has generally been
required regarding the role of women in practice with a view to ascertaining what measures, in
addition to purely legislative measures of protection, have been or are being taken to give effect to
the precise and positive obligations under article 3 and to ascertain what progress is being made or
what factors or difficulties are being met in this regard.
3.
Secondly, the positive obligation undertaken by States parties under that article may itself
have an inevitable impact on legislation or administrative measures specifically designed to regulate
matters other than those dealt with in the Covenant but which may adversely affect rights
recognized in the Covenant. One example, among others, is the degree to which immigration laws
which distinguish between a male and a female citizen may or may not adversely affect the scope of
the right of the woman to marriage to non-citizens or to hold public office.
4.
The Committee, therefore, considers that it might assist States parties if special attention
were given to a review by specially appointed bodies or institutions of laws or measures which
inherently draw a distinction between men and women insofar as those laws or measures adversely
affect the rights provided for in the Covenant and, secondly, that States parties should give specific
information in their reports about all measures, legislative or otherwise, designed to implement
their undertaking under this article.
5.
The Committee considers that it might help the States parties in implementing this
obligation, if more use could be made of existing means of international cooperation with a view to
exchanging experience and organizing assistance in solving the practical problems connected with
the insurance of equal rights for men and women.
1