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Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- The entitlement of women to equality within the family is universally acknowledged, as evidenced by the related general comments of other human rights treaty bodies: Human Rights Committee general comment No. 28, on equality of rights between men and women (in particular paras. 23-27), and general comment No. 19, on protection of the family, the right to marriage and equality of the spouses; and Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights general comment No. 16, on the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights (in particular para. 27), and general comment No. 20, on non-discrimination in economic, social and cultural rights. Important global political documents such as the Beijing Platform for Action and the Millennium Development Goals also refer to equality in the family as a fundamental principle.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Women’s access to justice 2015, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- The presence of plural justice systems can, in itself, limit women's access to justice by perpetuating and reinforcing discriminatory social norms. In many contexts, the availability of multiple avenues for gaining access to justice within plural justice systems notwithstanding, women are unable to effectively exercise a choice of forum. The Committee has observed that, in some States parties in which systems of family and/or personal law based on customs, religion or community norms coexist alongside civil law systems, individual women may not be as familiar with both systems or at liberty to decide which regime applies to them.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- States parties should harmonize personal status and family laws with article 16, in line with general recommendations No. 21 (1994) on equality in marriage and family relations and No. 29 (2013) on the economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution, guarantee that rural women have equal rights in marriage, including to marital property upon divorce or death of their spouse and to maintenance or alimony, and raise awareness of women's rights within marriage in rural areas.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Article 16 provides for equality for women in marriage and family relations, which is something that many rural women do not enjoy owing to discriminatory social norms, practices and laws, plural justice systems where they exist, or the lack of enforcement of relevant laws. Girls from rural communities are at special risk of child and/or forced marriage and early pregnancy. Rural women are also disproportionately affected by polygamy, which severely undermines equality in marriage and family relations.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Marriages may be formed through a variety of customs, ceremonies and rituals that may be sanctioned by the State. Civil marriage is sanctioned solely by the State and is registered. Religious marriage is solemnized through the performance of ritual(s) prescribed by religious law. Customary marriage is undertaken by the performance of ritual(s) prescribed by the customs of the parties' community.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- States parties are obligated to address the sex- and gender-based discriminatory aspects of all the various forms of family and family relationships. In respect of discrimination against women, they must address patriarchal traditions and attitudes and open family law and policy with the same scrutiny that is given to the "public" aspects of individual and community life.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Equality in marriage and family relations 1994, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- An examination of States parties' reports discloses that many countries in their legal systems provide for the rights and responsibilities of married partners by relying on the application of common law principles, religious or customary law, rather than by complying with the principles contained in the Convention. These variations in law and practice relating to marriage have wide-ranging consequences for women, invariably restricting their rights to equal status and responsibility within marriage. Such limitations often result in the husband being accorded the status of head of household and primary decision maker and therefore contravene the provisions of the Convention.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 1994
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- In general recommendation No. 21, paragraph 16, the Committee notes that some State parties "allow marriage to be arranged for payment or preferment", which is a violation of a woman's right to freely choose her spouse. "Payment or preferment" refers to transactions in which cash, goods or livestock are given to the bride or her family by the groom or his family, or when a similar payment is made by the bride or her family to the groom or his family. This practice should not be in any way required in order for a marriage to be valid, and such agreements should not be recognized by the State party as enforceable.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- Inequality in the family underlies all other aspects of discrimination against women and is often justified in the name of ideology, tradition and culture. An examination of the reports of States parties reveals that in many States, the rights and responsibilities of married partners are governed by the principles of civil or common law, religious or customary laws and practices, or some combination of such laws and practices that discriminate against women and do not comply with the principles set out in the Convention.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- Under customary forms of landholding, which may limit individual purchase or transfer and may only be subject to right of use, upon the death of the husband, the wife or wives may be told to leave the land or may be required to marry a brother of the deceased in order to remain on the land. The existence of offspring, or lack of offspring, may be a major factor in such marriage requirements. In some States parties, widows are subject to "property dispossession" or "property grabbing", in which relatives of a deceased husband, claiming customary rights, dispossess the widow and her children from property accumulated during the marriage, including property that is not held according to custom. They remove the widow from the family home and claim all the chattels, then ignore their concomitant customary responsibility to support the widow and children. In some States parties, widows are marginalized or banished to a different community.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- In its 1998 statement on reservations to the Convention, the Committee expressed concern about the number and the nature of reservations. In paragraph 6, it specifically noted that: Articles 2 and 16 are considered by the Committee to be core provisions of the Convention. Although some States parties have withdrawn reservations to those articles, the Committee is particularly concerned at the number and extent of reservations entered to those articles. In respect of article 16, the Committee specifically stated in paragraph 17 that: Neither traditional, religious or cultural practice nor incompatible domestic laws and policies can justify violations of the Convention. The Committee also remains convinced that reservations to article 16, whether lodged for national, traditional, religious or cultural reasons, are incompatible with the Convention and therefore impermissible and should be reviewed and modified or withdrawn.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- Some States parties that recognize polygamous marriages, under either religious or customary law, also provide for civil marriage, monogamous by definition. Where civil marriage is not provided for, women in communities that practice polygamy may have no choice but to enter into a marriage that is at least potentially, if not already, polygamous, regardless of their wishes. The Committee concluded in general recommendation No. 21 that polygamy is contrary to the Convention and must be "discouraged and prohibited".
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Registration of marriage protects the rights of spouses with regard to property issues upon dissolution of the marriage by death or divorce. The Convention obligates States parties to establish and fully implement a system of marriage registration. However, many States parties lack either a legal requirement of marriage registration or implementation of existing registration requirements, and in such instances individuals should not be penalized for failure to register, including where lack of education and infrastructure makes registration difficult.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- [States parties are obligated to adopt laws of intestate succession that comply with the principles of the Convention. Such laws should ensure:] That customary succession to use rights or title to land cannot be conditioned on forced marriage to a deceased spouse's brother (levirate marriage) or any other person, or on the existence or absence of minor children of the marriage.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Equality in marriage and family relations 1994, para. Article 16.1f
- Paragraph text
- [Article 16] [States parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations and in particular shall ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women:] The same rights and responsibilities with regard to guardianship, wardship, trusteeship and adoption of children, or similar institutions where these concepts exist in national legislation; in all cases the interests of the children shall be paramount;
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 1994
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- States parties should guarantee equality between women and men in their constitutions and should eliminate any constitutional exemptions that would serve to protect or preserve discriminatory laws and practices with regard to family relations.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Vulnerabilities of children to sale, trafficking and other forms of exploitation in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis 2017, para. 82a
- Paragraph text
- [In terms of durable solutions, States, in cooperation with United Nations agencies and programmes, international organizations, host countries and civil society organizations, should:] Ensure that child victims have the right to receive long-term care and protection, including full access to health care, psychosocial support, social services, education, vocational training and life skills education. In consultation with the child and in coordination with the local child welfare systems, an individual plan should be adopted, and arrangements need to be found that favour family- and community-based solutions;
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- Some legal regimes require the wife or her family to return to the husband or his family any economic benefits in the form of payment or preferment, or other such payments that were an element of marriage formation, and do not impose equal economic requirements on a divorcing husband. States parties should eliminate any procedural requirement for payments to obtain a divorce that does not apply equally to husbands and wives.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- Many States parties, by law or custom, deny widows equality with widowers in respect of inheritance, leaving them vulnerable economically upon the death of a spouse. Some legal systems formally provide widows with other means of economic security, such as through support payments from male relatives or from the estate of the deceased. However, in practice, these obligations may not be enforced.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Some States parties have multiple legal systems in which different personal status laws apply to individuals on the basis of identity factors such as ethnicity or religion. Some, but not all, of these States parties also have a civil legal code that may apply in prescribed circumstances or by choice of the parties. In some States, however, individuals may have no choice as to the application of identity-based personal status laws.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Equality in marriage and family relations 1994, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- The Committee has noted with alarm the number of States parties which have entered reservations to the whole or part of article 16, especially when a reservation has also been entered to article 2, claiming that compliance may conflict with a commonly held vision of the family based, inter alia, on cultural or religious beliefs or on the country's economic or political status.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 1994
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- When States parties provide for the possibility of making private contractual arrangements with respect to the distribution of marital and other property following the dissolution of marriage, they should take measures to guarantee non-discrimination, respect public order, prevent the abuse of unequal bargaining power and protect each spouse from abuse of power in making such contracts. These protective measures may include requiring that such agreements be written or subject to other formal requirements and providing for retroactive invalidation or for financial or other remedies if the contract is found to be abusive.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Most laws, customs and practices relating to the financial consequences of marriage dissolution can be broadly classified into two categories: distribution of property and maintenance after divorce or separation. Property distribution and post-dissolution maintenance regimes often favour husbands regardless of whether laws appear neutral, owing to gendered assumptions relating to the classification of marital property subject to division, insufficient recognition of non-financial contributions, women's lack of legal capacity to manage property and gendered family roles. In addition, laws, customs and practices relating to the post-dissolution use of the family home and chattels clearly have an impact on women's post dissolution economic status.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Women may be barred from claiming property rights for lack of recognized capacity to own or manage property, or the property regime may not recognize property accumulated during the marriage as subject to division between the parties. Interrupted education and employment histories and childcare responsibilities frequently prevent women from establishing a path to paid employment (opportunity cost) sufficient to support their post-dissolution family. These social and economic factors also prevent women living under a regime of separate property from increasing their individual property during marriage.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should provide for equal formal and de facto legal capacity to own and manage property. To achieve both formal and substantive equality with respect to property rights upon the dissolution of marriage, States parties are strongly encouraged to provide for:] Equality within the property regimes available to couples (community property, separate property, hybrid), the right to choose property regime, and an understanding of the consequences of each regime.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should provide for equal formal and de facto legal capacity to own and manage property. To achieve both formal and substantive equality with respect to property rights upon the dissolution of marriage, States parties are strongly encouraged to provide for:] Inclusion of the present-value computation of deferred compensation, pension or other post-dissolution payments resulting from contributions made during the marriage, such as life insurance policies, as part of the marital property subject to division.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should provide for equal formal and de facto legal capacity to own and manage property. To achieve both formal and substantive equality with respect to property rights upon the dissolution of marriage, States parties are strongly encouraged to provide for:] Valuation of non-financial contributions to marital property subject to division, including household and family care, lost economic opportunity and tangible or intangible contributions to either spouse's career development and other economic activity and to the development of his or her human capital.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Equality in marriage and family relations 1994, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Reports of States parties should include comment on the legal or customary provisions relating to inheritance laws as they affect the status of women as provided in the Convention and in Economic and Social Council resolution 884D (XXXIV), in which the Council recommended that States ensure that men and women in the same degree of relationship to a deceased are entitled to equal shares in the estate and to equal rank in the order of succession. That provision has not been generally implemented.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 1994
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should provide for equal formal and de facto legal capacity to own and manage property. To achieve both formal and substantive equality with respect to property rights upon the dissolution of marriage, States parties are strongly encouraged to provide for:] Recognition of use rights in property related to livelihood or compensation in order to provide for replacement of property-related livelihood.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- Survivorship rights to social security payments (pensions and disability payments) and in contributory pension systems play a large role in States parties in which couples pay significant sums into those systems during the relationship. States parties are obligated to provide for equality between men and women in terms of spousal and survivorship benefits from social security and pension systems.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph