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Article 3: The equality of rights between men and women - replaces GC No. 4 2000, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- To assess compliance with article 7 of the Covenant, as well as with article 24, which mandates special protection for children, the Committee needs to be provided information on national laws and practice with regard to domestic and other types of violence against women, including rape. It also needs to know whether the State party gives access to safe abortion to women who have become pregnant as a result of rape. The States parties should also provide the Committee with information on measures to prevent forced abortion or forced sterilization. In States parties where the practice of genital mutilation exists information on its extent and on measures to eliminate it should be provided. The information provided by States parties on all these issues should include measures of protection, including legal remedies, for women whose rights under article 7 have been violated.
- Body
- Human Rights Committee
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2000
Paragraph
Article 3: The equality of rights between men and women - replaces GC No. 4 2000, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- States are required to treat men and women equally in regard to marriage in accordance with article 23, which has been elaborated further by general comment No. 19 (1990). Men and women have the right to enter into marriage only with their free and full consent, and States have an obligation to protect the enjoyment of this right on an equal basis. Many factors may prevent women from being able to make the decision to marry freely. One factor relates to the minimum age for marriage. That age should be set by the State on the basis of equal criteria for men and women. These criteria should ensure women's capacity to make an informed and uncoerced decision. A second factor in some States may be that either by statutory or customary law a guardian, who is generally male, consents to the marriage instead of the woman herself, thereby preventing women from exercising a free choice.
- Body
- Human Rights Committee
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2000
Paragraph
Article 3: The equality of rights between men and women - replaces GC No. 4 2000, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Another factor that may affect women's right to marry only when they have given free and full consent is the existence of social attitudes which tend to marginalize women victims of rape and put pressure on them to agree to marriage. A woman's free and full consent to marriage may also be undermined by laws which allow the rapist to have his criminal responsibility extinguished or mitigated if he marries the victim. States parties should indicate whether marrying the victim extinguishes or mitigates criminal responsibility and, in the case in which the victim is a minor, whether the rape reduces the marriageable age of the victim, particularly in societies where rape victims have to endure marginalization from society. A different aspect of the right to marry may be affected when States impose restrictions on remarriage by women that are not imposed on men. Also, the right to choose one's spouse may be restricted by laws or practices that prevent the marriage of a woman of a particular religion to a man who professes no religion or a different religion. States should provide information on these laws and practices and on the measures taken to abolish the laws and eradicate the practices which undermine the right of women to marry only when they have given free and full consent. It should also be noted that equality of treatment with regard to the right to marry implies that polygamy is incompatible with this principle. Polygamy violates the dignity of women. It is an inadmissible discrimination against women. Consequently, it should be definitely abolished wherever it continues to exist.
- Body
- Human Rights Committee
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2000
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".
- 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. 26
- Paragraph text
- States parties should establish a legal requirement of marriage registration and conduct effective awareness-raising activities to that effect. They must provide for implementation through education about the requirements and provide infrastructure to make registration accessible to all persons within their jurisdiction. States parties should provide for establishing proof of marriage by means other than registration where circumstances warrant. The State must protect the rights of women in such marriages, regardless of their registration status.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- The Committee reaffirms paragraph 14 of its general recommendation No. 21, which states that "polygamous marriage contravenes a woman's right to equality with men, and can have such serious emotional and financial consequences for her and her dependants that such marriages ought to be discouraged and prohibited". Since the adoption of this general recommendation, the Committee has consistently noted with concern the persistence of polygamous marriages in many States parties. In its concluding observations, the Committee has pointed to the grave ramifications of polygamy for the human rights and economic well-being of women and their children, and has consistently called for its abolition.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Economic consequences of marriage, family relations and their dissolution 2013, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- States parties should take all legislative and policy measures needed to abolish polygamous marriages. Nevertheless, as stated by the Committee in its general recommendation No. 27, "polygamy is still practised in many States Parties, and many women are in polygamous unions". Accordingly, with regard to women in existing polygamous marriages, States parties should take the necessary measures to ensure the protection of the economic rights of women.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2013
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.
- 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. 42
- Paragraph text
- States parties should provide for separating the principles and procedure dissolving the marriage relationship from those relating to the economic aspects of the dissolution. Free legal aid should be provided to women who do not have the means to pay for court costs and attorney fees, so as to ensure that no woman is forced to forgo her economic rights to obtain a divorce.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- 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.
- 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
Equality in marriage and family relations 1994, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- States parties' reports also disclose that polygamy is practised in a number of countries. Polygamous marriage contravenes a woman's right to equality with men, and can have such serious emotional and financial consequences for her and her dependants that such marriages ought to be discouraged and prohibited. The Committee notes with concern that some States parties, whose constitutions guarantee equal rights, permit polygamous marriage in accordance with personal or customary law. This violates the constitutional rights of women, and breaches the provisions of article 5 (a) of the Convention.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 1994
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.
- 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
Equality in marriage and family relations 1994, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- In the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights, held at Vienna from 14 to 25 June 1993, States are urged to repeal existing laws and regulations and to remove customs and practices which discriminate against and cause harm to the girl child. Article 16 (2) and the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child preclude States parties from permitting or giving validity to a marriage between persons who have not attained their majority. In the context of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, "a child means every human being below the age of 18 years unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier". Notwithstanding this definition, and bearing in mind the provisions of the Vienna Declaration, the Committee considers that the minimum age for marriage should be 18 years for both man and woman. When men and women marry, they assume important responsibilities. Consequently, marriage should not be permitted before they have attained full maturity and capacity to act. According to the World Health Organization, when minors, particularly girls, marry and have children, their health can be adversely affected and their education is impeded. As a result their economic autonomy is restricted.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 1994
Paragraph
Equality in marriage and family relations 1994, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- Many of these countries hold a belief in the patriarchal structure of a family which places a father, husband or son in a favourable position. In some countries where fundamentalist or other extremist views or economic hardships have encouraged a return to old values and traditions, women's place in the family has deteriorated sharply. In others, where it has been recognized that a modern society depends for its economic advance and for the general good of the community on involving all adults equally, regardless of gender, these taboos and reactionary or extremist ideas have progressively been discouraged.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 1994
Paragraph
Female circumcision 1990, para. (a) i
- Paragraph text
- [Recommends to States parties:] That States parties take appropriate and effective measures with a view to eradicating the practice of female circumcision. Such measures could include: The collection and dissemination by universities, medical or nursing associations, national women's organizations or other bodies of basic data about such traditional practices;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 1990
Paragraph
Female circumcision 1990, para. (a) ii
- Paragraph text
- [Recommends to States parties:] That States parties take appropriate and effective measures with a view to eradicating the practice of female circumcision. Such measures could include: The support of women's organizations at the national and local levels working for the elimination of female circumcision and other practices harmful to women;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 1990
Paragraph
Female circumcision 1990, para. (a) iii
- Paragraph text
- [Recommends to States parties:] That States parties take appropriate and effective measures with a view to eradicating the practice of female circumcision. Such measures could include: The encouragement of politicians, professionals, religious and community leaders at all levels including the media and the arts to cooperate in influencing attitudes towards the eradication of female circumcision;
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 1990
Paragraph
Female circumcision 1990, para. (c)
- Paragraph text
- [Recommends to States parties:] That States parties invite assistance, information and advice from the appropriate organizations of the United Nations system to support and assist efforts being deployed to eliminate harmful traditional practices;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 1990
Paragraph
Female circumcision 1990, para. (d)
- Paragraph text
- [Recommends to States parties:] That States parties include in their reports to the Committee under articles 10 and 12 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women information about measures taken to eliminate female circumcision.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 1990
Paragraph
Female circumcision 1990, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- Concerned about the continuation of the practice of female circumcision and other traditional practices harmful to the health of women,
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 1990
Paragraph
Female circumcision 1990, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- Noting with satisfaction that Governments, where such practices exist, national women's organizations, non-governmental organizations, specialized agencies, such as the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund, as well as the Commission on Human Rights and its Submission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, remain seized of the issue having particularly recognized that such traditional practices as female circumcision have serious health and other consequences for women and children,
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 1990
Paragraph
Female circumcision 1990, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- Noting with interest the study of the Special Rapporteur on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children, as well as the study of the Special Working Group on Traditional Practices,
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 1990
Paragraph
Female circumcision 1990, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- Convinced that the important action that is being taken by women and by all interested groups needs to be supported and encouraged by Governments,
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 1990
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Violations of women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights, such as forced sterilization, forced abortion, forced pregnancy, criminalization of abortion, denial or delay of safe abortion and/or post-abortion care, forced continuation of pregnancy, and abuse and mistreatment of women and girls seeking sexual and reproductive health information, goods and services, are forms of gender-based violence that, depending on the circumstances, may amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 29c (i)
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following legislative measures:] Repeal, including in customary, religious and indigenous laws, all legal provisions that are discriminatory against women and thereby enshrine, encourage, facilitate, justify or tolerate any form of gender-based violence. In particular, repeal the following: Provisions that allow, tolerate or condone forms of gender-based violence against women, including child or forced marriage and other harmful practices, provisions allowing medical procedures to be performed on women with disabilities without their informed consent and provisions that criminalize abortion, being lesbian, bisexual or transgender, women in prostitution and adultery, or any other criminal provisions that affect women disproportionally, including those resulting in the discriminatory application of the death penalty to women;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- LGBTQI+
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19 2017, para. 29c (ii)
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties implement the following legislative measures:] Repeal, including in customary, religious and indigenous laws, all legal provisions that are discriminatory against women and thereby enshrine, encourage, facilitate, justify or tolerate any form of gender-based violence. In particular, repeal the following: Discriminatory evidentiary rules and procedures, including procedures allowing for the deprivation of women’s liberty to protect them from violence, practices focused on “virginity” and legal defences or mitigating factors based on culture, religion or male privilege, such as the defence of so-called “honour”, traditional apologies, pardons from the families of victims/survivors or the subsequent marriage of the victim/survivor of sexual assault to the perpetrator, procedures that result in the harshest penalties, including stoning, lashing and death, often being reserved for women and judicial practices that disregard a history of gender-based violence to the detriment of women defendants;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Gender-related forms of persecution are forms of persecution that are directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affect women disproportionately. The Committee observes that understanding the way in which women's rights are violated is critical to the identification of those forms of persecution. The Committee notes that violence against women that is a prohibited form of discrimination against women is one of the major forms of persecution experienced by women in the context of refugee status and asylum. Such violence, just as other gender-related forms of persecution, may breach specific provisions of the Convention. Such forms are recognized as legitimate grounds for international protection in law and in practice. They may include the threat of female genital mutilation, forced/early marriage, threat of violence and/or so-called "honour crimes", trafficking in women, acid attacks, rape and other forms of sexual assault, serious forms of domestic violence, the imposition of the death penalty or other physical punishments existing in discriminatory justice systems, forced sterilization, political or religious persecution for holding feminist or other views and the persecutory consequences of failing to conform to gender-prescribed social norms and mores or for claiming their rights under the Convention.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 1
- Paragraph text
- The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child contain legally binding obligations that relate both in general and specifically to the elimination of harmful practices. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child have consistently drawn attention to those practices affecting women and children, primarily girls, in the execution of their monitoring mandates. It is by virtue of that overlapping mandate and the shared commitment to prevent, respond to and eliminate harmful practices, wherever and in whichever form they occur, that the Committees decided to develop the present joint general recommendation/general comment.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- The Committees acknowledge that harmful practices affect adult women, both directly and/or owing to the long-term impact of practices to which they were subjected as girls. The present joint general recommendation/general comment therefore further elaborates on the obligations of States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women with regard to the relevant provisions for the elimination of harmful practices that affect the rights of women.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Harmful practices (joint General Recommendation with CEDAW) 2014, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- The present joint general recommendation/general comment should be read in conjunction with the relevant general recommendations and general comments issued by the Committees, in particular general recommendation No. 19 on violence against women, of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and general comment No. 8 on the right of the child to protection from corporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment and general comment No. 13 on the right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence, of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. The content of general recommendation No. 14 on female circumcision, of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, is updated by the present joint general recommendation/general comment.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph