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Core obligations of States parties under article 2 2010, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- The Convention is part of a comprehensive international human rights legal framework directed at ensuring the enjoyment by all of all human rights and at eliminating all forms of discrimination against women on the basis of sex and gender. The Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities contain explicit provisions guaranteeing women equality with men in the enjoyment of the rights they enshrine, while other international human rights treaties, such as the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, are implicitly grounded in the concept of non-discrimination on the basis of sex and gender. The International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions No. 100 (1951) concerning Equal Remuneration for Men and Women Workers for Work of Equal Value, No. 111 (1958) concerning Discrimination in Respect of Employment and Occupation and No. 156 (1981) concerning Equal Opportunities and Equal Treatment for Men and Women Workers: Workers with Family Responsibilities, the Convention against Discrimination in Education, the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, the Cairo Programme of Action and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action also contribute to an international legal regime of equality for women with men and non-discrimination. Likewise, the obligations of States entered into under regional human rights systems are complementary to the universal human rights framework.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Core obligations of States parties under article 2 2010, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Although subject to international law, States primarily exercise territorial jurisdiction. The obligations of States parties apply, however, without discrimination both to citizens and non-citizens, including refugees, asylum-seekers, migrant workers and stateless persons, within their territory or effective control, even if not situated within the territory. States parties are responsible for all their actions affecting human rights, regardless of whether the affected persons are in their territory.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Core obligations of States parties under article 2 2010, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- The policy must identify women within the jurisdiction of the State party (including non-citizen, migrant, refugee, asylum-seeking and stateless women) as the rights-bearers, with particular emphasis on the groups of women who are most marginalized and who may suffer from various forms of intersectional discrimination.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Core obligations of States parties under article 2 2010, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Subparagraphs (a), (f) and (g) establish the obligation of States parties to provide legal protection and to abolish or amend discriminatory laws and regulations as part of the policy of eliminating discrimination against women. States parties must ensure that, through constitutional amendments or by other appropriate legislative means, the principle of equality between women and men and of non-discrimination is enshrined in domestic law with an overriding and enforceable status. They must also enact legislation that prohibits discrimination in all fields of women's lives under the Convention and throughout their lifespan. States parties have an obligation to take steps to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices which constitute discrimination against women. Certain groups of women, including women deprived of their liberty, refugees, asylum- seeking and migrant women, stateless women, lesbian women, disabled women, women victims of trafficking, widows and elderly women, are particularly vulnerable to discrimination through civil and penal laws, regulations and customary law and practices. By ratifying the Convention or acceding to it, States parties undertake to incorporate the Convention into their domestic legal systems or to give it otherwise appropriate legal effect within their domestic legal orders in order to secure the enforceability of its provisions at the national level. The question of direct applicability of the provisions of the Convention at the national level is a question of constitutional law and depends on the status of treaties within the domestic legal order. The Committee takes the view, however, that the rights to non-discrimination and equality in all fields of women's lives throughout their lifespan, as enshrined in the Convention, may receive enhanced protection in those States where the Convention is automatically or through specific incorporation part of the domestic legal order. The Committee urges those States parties in which the Convention does not form part of the domestic legal order to consider incorporation of the Convention to render it part of domestic law, for example through a general law on equality, in order to facilitate the full realization of Convention rights as required by article 2.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Equality in marriage and family relations 1994, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- Migrant women who live and work temporarily in another country should be permitted the same rights as men to have their spouses, partners and children join them.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Men
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 1994
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- In general recommendation No. 28 (2010) on the core obligations of States parties under article 2 of the Convention, it is indicated that the obligations of States are to respect, protect and fulfil women’s rights to non-discrimination and the enjoyment of de jure and de facto equality. The scope of those obligations in relation to gender-based violence against women occurring in particular contexts is addressed in general recommendation No. 28 and other general recommendations, including general recommendation No. 26 (2008) on women migrant workers; general recommendation No. 27 (2010) on older women and the protection of their human rights; general recommendation No. 30 (2013) on women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations; joint general recommendation No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women/general comment No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (2014) on harmful practices; general recommendation No. 32 (2014) on the gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women; general recommendation No. 33 (2015) on women’s access to justice; and general recommendation No. 34 (2016) on the rights of rural women. Further details on the relevant elements of the general recommendations referred to herein may be found in those recommendations.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- In general recommendation No. 28 and general recommendation No. 33, the Committee confirmed that discrimination against women was inextricably linked to other factors that affected their lives. The Committee, in its jurisprudence, has highlighted the fact that such factors include women’s ethnicity/race, indigenous or minority status, colour, socioeconomic status and/or caste, language, religion or belief, political opinion, national origin, marital status, maternity, parental status, age, urban or rural location, health status, disability, property ownership, being lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex, illiteracy, seeking asylum, being a refugee, internally displaced or stateless, widowhood, migration status, heading households, living with HIV/AIDS, being deprived of liberty, and being in prostitution, as well as trafficking in women, situations of armed conflict, geographical remoteness and the stigmatization of women who fight for their rights, including human rights defenders. Accordingly, because women experience varying and intersecting forms of discrimination, which have an aggravating negative impact, the Committee acknowledges that gender-based violence may affect some women to different degrees, or in different ways, meaning that appropriate legal and policy responses are needed.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- 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.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- In section III, the Committee seeks to ensure that gender equality and non- discrimination 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.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- The scope and purpose of the present general recommendation must be determined in the context of the overall scope and purpose of the Convention, which is to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women in the recognition, enjoyment or exercise of all human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field, irrespective of their marital status. Within this overall scope, the objective of the present general recommendation is to guide States parties on how to address all aspects of their obligations under the Convention and assume their obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of refugee, asylum-seeking and stateless women to non-discrimination and substantive equality, in times of peace, in situations of international and non-international armed conflict and in situations of occupation.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- The Convention, as a gender-specific human rights instrument, covers other rights that are not explicitly mentioned therein, but that have an impact on the achievement of equality of women and men. As such, the Convention provides a gender-sensitive interpretation of human rights law and protects women from sex- and gender-based discrimination with regard to all the human rights contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights instruments. Such application of the Convention was elaborated by the Committee in relation to the prohibition of violence against women as a form of discrimination against women in its general recommendation No. 19, in which it enumerated some of those protected rights, including the right to life and the right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The present general recommendation specifically addresses the application of the Convention to the right to asylum contained in article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the principle of non-refoulement of refugees and asylum seekers in accordance with existing obligations under international refugee and human rights instruments and the right to nationality contained in article 9 of the Convention and the protection against statelessness.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- The Committee has, in previous general recommendations, clarified that articles 1, 2 (f) and 5 (a) of the Convention read together indicate that the Convention covers sex- and gender-based discrimination against women. The Committee has explained that application of the Convention to gender-based discrimination falls under the definition of discrimination contained in article 1, which points out that any distinction, exclusion or restriction which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women of human rights and fundamental freedoms is discrimination. Discrimination against women based on sex and/or gender is often inextricably linked with and compounded by other factors that affect women, such as race, ethnicity, religion or belief, health, age, class, caste, being lesbian, bisexual or transgender and other status. Discrimination on the basis of sex or gender may affect women belonging to such groups to a different degree or in different ways to men. States parties must legally recognize such intersecting forms of discrimination and their compounded negative impact on the women concerned and prohibit them.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- LGBTQI+
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- In the context of asylum, refugee status, nationality and statelessness, the obligation to respect requires that States parties refrain from engaging in any act of discrimination against women that directly or indirectly results in the denial of the equal enjoyment of their rights with men and ensure that State authorities, officials, agents, institutions and other actors acting on behalf of the State act in conformity with that obligation. States parties also have a due-diligence obligation to take the legislative and other measures necessary to prevent and investigate acts of discrimination against women that are perpetrated by non-State actors, to prosecute and adequately punish perpetrators of such acts and to provide reparations to women who are victims of discrimination. The obligation to protect requires States parties to, among other things, take all appropriate measures to ensure that State and private actors do not unlawfully infringe on the rights of women. The obligation to fulfil encompasses the obligation of States parties to facilitate access to and provide for the full realization of women's rights. It also requires States parties to promote de facto or substantive equality with men through all appropriate means, including through specific and effective policies and programmes aimed at improving the position of women and achieving such equality, including, where appropriate, through the adoption of temporary special measures in accordance with article 4 (1) of the Convention and general recommendation No. 25.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- Given that the Convention applies at every stage of the displacement cycle, it serves to prohibit sex- and gender-based discrimination at every stage: during the refugee status determination procedure, throughout the return or resettlement process and throughout the integration process for women who have been granted asylum. It also applies to processes of statelessness determination and to processes relating to women acquiring, retaining or changing their nationality or conferring their nationality on their children and spouses.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- While noting that the definition of a refugee under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees provides criteria for the determination of refugee status in relation to persons who are explicitly covered under the Convention, the Committee notes that the present general recommendation covers all women in need of international protection under the Convention and seeks to apply the protection of the Convention to all women in the context of refugee status and asylum. However, the criteria provided by the definition of the word "refugee" in the 1951 Convention are important for the identification of women in need of international protection. At the same time, the Committee notes that regional refugee instruments and national laws have accepted and also expanded upon the definition given in the 1951 Convention to cover a range of persons in need of international protection for reasons of, variously, international or internal/non-international armed conflict and occupation, events seriously disturbing public order, serious human rights violations or generalized violence.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- The Committee notes that asylum seekers seek international protection on the basis that they cannot return to their country of origin because they have a well- founded fear of persecution or are at risk of being ill-treated or subjected to other serious harm. It also notes that under article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees the reasons for persecution must be linked to one of the five grounds listed therein: race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. Gender-related persecution is absent from the text. The present general recommendation is intended to ensure that States parties apply a gender perspective when interpreting all five grounds, use gender as a factor in recognizing membership of a particular social group for purposes of granting refugee status under the 1951 Convention and further introduce other grounds of persecution, namely sex and/or gender, into national legislation and policies relating to refugees and asylum seekers. It should be noted that, in other international, national and regional contexts, asylum is also provided to persons who cannot be returned to their countries of origin owing to, among other things, threats to their lives or torture or inhuman or degrading treatment. Those forms of complementary protection are also covered herein.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- There are many reasons why women are compelled to leave their homes and seek asylum in other countries. In addition to aggravated or cumulative forms of discrimination against women amounting to persecution, women experience violations of their rights throughout the displacement cycle. The Committee recognizes that displacement arising from armed conflict, gender-related persecution and other serious human rights violations that affect women compounds existing challenges to the elimination of discrimination against women. It also recognizes the persistence of other forms of exploitation concomitant with displacement, such as trafficking for purposes of sexual or labour exploitation, slavery and servitude. The Committee therefore reiterates the obligation of States parties to treat women with dignity and to respect, protect and fulfil their rights under the Convention at each stage of the displacement cycle, as well as in the enjoyment of durable solutions, including integration and/or resettlement in receiving States and/or voluntary repatriation to their State of origin.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Gender-related claims to asylum may intersect with other proscribed grounds of discrimination, including age, race, ethnicity/nationality, religion, health, class, caste, being lesbian, bisexual or transgender and other status. The Committee is concerned that many asylum systems continue to treat the claims of women through the lens of male experiences, which can result in their claims to refugee status not being properly assessed or being rejected. Even though gender is not specifically referenced in the definition of a refugee given in the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, it can influence or dictate the type of persecution or harm suffered by women and the reasons for such treatment. The definition in the 1951 Convention, properly interpreted, covers gender-related claims to refugee status. It must be emphasized that asylum procedures that do not take into account the special situation or needs of women can impede a comprehensive determination of their claims. For example, asylum authorities may interview only the male "head of household", may not provide same-sex interviewers and interpreters to allow women to present their claims in a safe and gender-sensitive environment or may interview women asylum seekers in the presence of their husbands or male family members who may in fact be the source or sources of their complaints.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- LGBTQI+
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- According to those human rights provisions, no asylum seeker or refugee is to be expelled or returned (refoulé) in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his or her life or freedom or the right to be free from torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment would be threatened.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- The Committee notes that the Convention, as an instrument to prevent discrimination against women, contains no explicit provision on non-refoulement. In the framework of its work on individual communications under the Optional Protocol, the Committee has had to address States parties' objections to the effect that the Committee has no competence to deal with cases submitted on behalf of asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected at the national level but who claim that they would be exposed to the risk of sexual and/or gender-based violence and persecution if forcibly returned to their country of origin. In reply, the Committee has noted, among other things, that, under international human rights law, the non-refoulement principle imposes a duty on States to refrain from returning a person to a jurisdiction in which he or she may face serious violations of human rights, notably arbitrary deprivation of life or torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In addition, the Committee recalls that civil and political rights and freedoms, including the right to life and the right not to be subjected to torture or ill-treatment, are implicitly covered by the Convention, and thus States parties are under the obligation not to extradite, deport, expel or otherwise remove a person from their territory to the territory of another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that there is a real risk of irreparable harm.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- The Committee further considers that, under article 2 (d) of the Convention, States parties undertake to refrain from engaging in any act or practice of discrimination against women and to ensure that public authorities and institutions act in conformity with that obligation. That duty encompasses the obligation of States parties to protect women from being exposed to a real, personal and foreseeable risk of serious forms of discrimination against women, including gender-based violence, irrespective of whether such consequences would take place outside the territorial boundaries of the sending State party: if a State party takes a decision relating to a person within its jurisdiction, and the necessary and foreseeable consequence is that the person's basic rights under the Convention will be seriously at risk in another jurisdiction, the State party itself may be in violation of the Convention. The foreseeability of the consequence would mean that there was a present violation by the State party, even though the consequence would not occur until later.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- The Committee is therefore of the view that States parties have an obligation to ensure that no woman will be expelled or returned to another State where her life, physical integrity, liberty and security of person would be threatened, or where she would risk suffering serious forms of discrimination, including serious forms of gender-based persecution or gender-based violence. What amounts to serious forms of discrimination against women, including gender-based violence, will depend on the circumstances of each case.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Articles 1-3, 5 (a) and 15 establish an obligation on States parties to ensure that women are not discriminated against during the entire asylum process, beginning from the moment of arrival at the borders. Women asylum seekers are entitled to have their rights under the Convention respected; they are entitled to be treated in a non-discriminatory manner and with respect and dignity at all times during the asylum procedure and thereafter, including through the process of finding durable solutions once asylum status has been recognized by the receiving State. The receiving State has a responsibility towards women granted asylum status when it comes to helping them to, among other things, find proper accommodation, training and/or job opportunities, providing legal, medical, psychosocial support for victims of trauma and offering language classes and other measures facilitating their integration. In addition, women asylum seekers whose asylum applications are denied should be granted dignified and non-discriminatory return processes.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Article 2 (c) of the Convention requires that State asylum procedures allow women's claims to asylum to be presented and assessed on the basis of equality in a fair, impartial and timely manner. A gender-sensitive approach should be applied at every stage of the asylum process. This means that women's claims to asylum should be determined by an asylum system that is informed, in all aspects of its policy and operations, by a thorough understanding of the particular forms of discrimination or persecution and human rights abuses that women experience on grounds of gender or sex. Owing to shame, stigma or trauma, some women may be reluctant to disclose or identify the true extent of the persecution that they have suffered or fear. Account needs to be taken of the fact that they may continue to fear persons in authority or rejection and/or reprisals from their family and/or community. In any event, they should be entitled to appeal against first-instance asylum decisions.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- In addition, articles 2, 15 (1) and 16 require States parties to recognize that women may present independent claims to asylum. In this respect, their claims may also be based on fears relating to their children. For example, claims to refugee status may arise from a fear that their daughters will suffer female genital mutilation, be forced into marriage or be subjected to severe community ostracism and exclusion for being girls. The child's protection claim should also be considered on its own merits in a child-sensitive manner in the best interests of the child. Once the principal claimant is recognized as a refugee, other members of the family should normally also be recognized as refugees ("derivative status").
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Harm perpetrated against women and girls is often at the hands of non-State actors, including family members, neighbours or society more generally. In such cases, article 2 (e) of the Convention requires that States parties assume their due diligence obligation and ensure that women are effectively protected from harm that may be inflicted by non-State actors. It does not suffice to strive for vertical gender equality of the individual woman vis-à-vis public authorities; States must also work to secure non-discrimination at the horizontal level, even within the family. Harm perpetrated by non-State actors is persecution where the State is unable or unwilling to prevent such harm or protect the claimant because of discriminatory governmental policies or practices.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- The Committee is aware that, in cases in which persecution is perpetrated by non-State actors, receiving States have advanced the option of internal flight alternative, according to which a person is not at risk of persecution by non-State actors if he or she is relocated to a safe place within the State of origin. The Committee recalls that articles 2 (d) and (e) of the Convention require that States parties ensure that women are protected against discrimination generated by non-State actors and, in the context of a refugee woman, it observes that the essence of refugee status is to provide effective protection to the refugee woman. It also notes that, should the internal flight alternative be considered by receiving States, the option should be subject to strict requirements, such as the woman's ability to travel to the area concerned and gain admittance and settle there. States should also take into account gender-related aspects and risks in the assessment as to whether internal relocation is permissible. Difficulties faced by women in relocating to other parts of their countries of origin can include legal, cultural and/or social restrictions or prohibitions on women travelling or living alone, practical realities such as problems of securing accommodation, childcare and economic survival without family or community support, and risk of harassment and exploitation, including sexual exploitation and violence.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- The Committee acknowledges that, as a matter of international law, the authorities of the country of origin are primarily responsible for providing protection to the citizens, including ensuring that women enjoy their rights under the Convention, and that it is only when such protection is not available that international protection is invoked to protect the basic human rights that are seriously at risk. However, the Committee notes that the fact that a woman asylum seeker has not sought the protection of the State or made a complaint to the authorities before her departure from her country of origin should not prejudice her asylum claim, especially where violence against women is tolerated or there is a pattern of failure in responding to women's complaints of abuse. It would not be realistic to require her to have sought protection in advance of her flight. She may also lack confidence in the justice system and access to justice or fear abuse, harassment or retaliation for making such complaints.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- In line with the Convention, States parties are required to take proactive measures to ensure that the legally recognized grounds of persecution, including those enumerated in the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group and political opinion), are given a gender-sensitive interpretation. In addition, gender may be used as a factor in recognizing membership of a particular social group or indeed as an identifying characteristic of such a group for purposes of granting refugee status under the 1951 Convention. States parties are also encouraged to add sex and or gender as an additional ground for refugee status in their national legislation.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- The Committee notes that women's claims to asylum are regularly classified under the "social group" ground in the definition of a refugee, which may reinforce the stereotyped notions of women as dependent victims. Article 5 of the Convention requires States parties to assess women's claims to asylum without prejudices and stereotyped notions of women that are based on the inferiority or superiority of either sex. Gender stereotyping affects the right of women to a fair and just asylum process and the asylum authorities must take precautions not to create standards that are based on preconceived notions of gender-based violence and persecution.28 In addition, women are active agents who play important roles as political leaders, members of Governments or opposition groups, journalists, human rights defenders and activists, lawyers and judges, among others. They are targeted on account of their political opinions and/or activities, including the expression of women's rights. Accordingly, article 7 of the Convention requires States parties to take action to realize equality for women in political and public life. It may therefore be appropriate that women bring claims to asylum on gender-related persecution grounds or political, religious, racial and ethnic grounds, including in situations in which they were compelled to flee their country of origin owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or serious civil strife.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph