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The right to education (Art. 13) 1999, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- The Committee notes that since the General Assembly adopted the Covenant in 1966, other international instruments have further elaborated the objectives to which education should be directed. Accordingly, the Committee takes the view that States parties are required to ensure that education conforms to the aims and objectives identified in article 13 (1), as interpreted in the light of the World Declaration on Education for All (Jomtien, Thailand, 1990) (art. 1), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (art. 29 (1)), the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (Part I, para. 33 and Part II, para. 80), and the Plan of Action for the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education (para. 2). While all these texts closely correspond to article 13 (1) of the Covenant, they also include elements which are not expressly provided for in article 13 (1), such as specific references to gender equality and respect for the environment. These new elements are implicit in, and reflect a contemporary interpretation of article 13 (1). The Committee obtains support for this point of view from the widespread endorsement that the previously mentioned texts have received from all regions of the world.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Environment
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 1999
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women 2014, para. 51
- Paragraph text
- The Convention is a significant tool in international efforts to prevent and reduce statelessness because it particularly affects women and girls with regard to nationality rights. The Convention requires full protection of women's equality in nationality matters. Nationality is the legal bond between a person and a State and is critical to ensuring full participation in society. Nationality is also essential to guaranteeing the exercise and enjoyment of other rights, including the right to enter and reside permanently in the territory of a State and to return to that State from abroad. Article 9 of the Convention is therefore essential to the enjoyment of the full range of human rights by women. While human rights are to be enjoyed by everyone, regardless of nationality status, in practice nationality is frequently a prerequisite for the enjoyment of basic human rights. Without nationality, girls and women are subject to compounded discrimination as women and as non-nationals or stateless persons.
- 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
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration are part of the broader security sector reform framework and among the first security initiatives put in place in post-conflict and transition periods. This notwithstanding, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes are rarely developed or implemented in coordination with security sector reform initiatives. This lack of coordination often undermines women's rights, such as when amnesties are granted in order to facilitate the reintegration into security sector positions of ex-combatants who have committed gender-based violations. Women are also excluded from positions within newly formed security sector institutions owing to a lack of planning and coordination in security sector reform and disarmament, demobilization and reintegration initiatives. Inadequate vetting processes further impede gender-sensitive security sector reform, which is key to developing non-discriminatory, gender-responsive security sector institutions that address the security needs of women and girls, including disadvantaged groups.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Amending article 20 of the Convention 1995, para. N/A
- Paragraph text
- Considering that the articles of the Convention address the fundamental human rights of women in all aspects of their daily lives and in all areas of society and the State,
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 1995
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s access to justice 2015, para. 68a
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] The Committee recommends that States parties:Ratify the Optional Protocol;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Women
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women and health 1999, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Women have the right to be fully informed, by properly trained personnel, of their options in agreeing to treatment or research, including likely benefits and potential adverse effects of proposed procedures and available alternatives.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 1999
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
State obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the context of business activities 2017, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- Following the adoption of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, many States or regional organizations have adopted action plans on business and human rights. This is a welcome development, particularly if such action plans set specific and concrete targets, allocate responsibilities across actors, and define the time frame and necessary means for their adoption. Action plans on business and human rights should incorporate human rights principles, including effective and meaningful participation, non-discrimination and gender equality, and accountability and transparency. Progress in implementing such action plans should be monitored, and such plans should place equal emphasis on all categories of human rights, including economic, social and cultural rights. As regards the requirement of participation in the design of such plans, the Committee recalls the fundamental role that national human rights institutions and civil society organizations can and should play in achieving the full realization of Covenant rights in the context of business activities.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence 2011, para. 11f
- Paragraph text
- [The present general comment seeks:] To highlight the need for all States parties to move quickly to fulfil their obligations under article 19.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Treatment of Unaccompanied and Separated Children Outside Their Country of Origin 2005, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- When assessing refugee claims of unaccompanied or separated children, States shall take into account the development of, and formative relationship between, international human rights and refugee law, including positions developed by UNHCR in exercising its supervisory functions under the 1951 Refugee Convention. In particular, the refugee definition in that Convention must be interpreted in an age and gender-sensitive manner, taking into account the particular motives for, and forms and manifestations of, persecution experienced by children. Persecution of kin; under-age recruitment; trafficking of children for prostitution; and sexual exploitation or subjection to female genital mutilation, are some of the child-specific forms and manifestations of persecution which may justify the granting of refugee status if such acts are related to one of the 1951 Refugee Convention grounds. States should, therefore, give utmost attention to such child-specific forms and manifestations of persecution as well as gender-based violence in national refugee status-determination procedures.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Harmful Practices
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2005
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Treatment of Unaccompanied and Separated Children Outside Their Country of Origin 2005, para. 31 (i)
- Paragraph text
- [The best interests of the child must also be a guiding principle for determining the priority of protection needs and the chronology of measures to be applied in respect of unaccompanied and separated children. This necessary initial assessment process, in particular, entails the following:] Prioritized identification of a child as separated or unaccompanied immediately upon arrival at ports of entry or as soon as their presence in the country becomes known to the authorities (art. 8). Such identification measures include age assessment and should not only take into account the physical appearance of the individual, but also his or her psychological maturity. Moreover, the assessment must be conducted in a scientific, safe, child and gender-sensitive and fair manner, avoiding any risk of violation of the physical integrity of the child; giving due respect to human dignity; and, in the event of remaining uncertainty, should accord the individual the benefit of the doubt such that if there is a possibility that the individual is a child, she or he should be treated as such;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2005
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence 2011, para. 72b
- Paragraph text
- [Elements to be mainstreamed into national coordinating frameworks. The following elements need to be mainstreamed across the measures (legislative, administrative, social and educational) and stages of intervention (from prevention through to recovery and reintegration):] The gender dimensions of violence against children. States parties should ensure that policies and measures take into account the different risks facing girls and boys in respect of various forms of violence in various settings. States should address all forms of gender discrimination as part of a comprehensive violence-prevention strategy. This includes addressing gender-based stereotypes, power imbalances, inequalities and discrimination which support and perpetuate the use of violence and coercion in the home, in school and educational settings, in communities, in the workplace, in institutions and in society more broadly. Men and boys must be actively encouraged as strategic partners and allies, and along with women and girls, must be provided with opportunities to increase their respect for one another and their understanding of how to stop gender discrimination and its violent manifestations;
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Children
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence 2011, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- The following two articles of the Convention also have all-embracing relevance which gives them particular significance for the implementation of article 19.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence 2011, para. 41j
- Paragraph text
- [State parties that have not yet done so must:] Establish and support an independent national institution of children's rights.
- Body
- Committee on the Rights of the Child
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 89
- Paragraph text
- For example, many migrant women workers in developed countries are employed in agriculture and often face serious violations of their human rights, including violence, exploitation and denial of access to services, including health care. In addition, the move to industrial farming in many developed countries has tended to marginalize small farmers, having a disproportionate impact on rural women. There is therefore a need to facilitate and support alternative and gender responsive agricultural development programmes that enable small-scale women producers to participate in and benefit from agriculture and rural development. In addition, while rural communities in developed countries may often be well connected to social services and have access to transportation infrastructure, water, sanitation, technology, education and health-care systems, among others, the situation is not equal across all rural communities. In many places, such access is noticeably lacking, and women living within those rural communities experience not only the deprivation of such rights but also an increased burden of care work as a result. This holds particularly true in peripheral or remote rural communities, including indigenous ones, which are isolated and tend to have higher levels of poverty.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Poverty
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 36a
- Paragraph text
- [Right to participate in and benefit from rural development (art. 14, para. 2 (a))] [States parties should establish enabling institutional, legal and policy frameworks to ensure that rural development, agricultural and water policies, including with respect to forestry, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture, are gender-responsive and have adequate budgets. States parties should ensure:] The integration and mainstreaming of a gender perspective in all agricultural and rural development policies, strategies, plans (including operational plans) and programmes, enabling rural women to act and be visible as stakeholders, decision makers and beneficiaries, in line with the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication, general recommendation No. 23 (1997) on political and public life and the Sustainable Development Goals. States parties should ensure that those policies, strategies, plans and programmes have evidence-based monitoring and clear evaluation frameworks;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 2
- Paragraph text
- Article 14 is the only provision in an international human rights treaty that specifically pertains to rural women. However, all rights under the Convention apply to rural women, and article 14 must be interpreted in the context of the Convention as a whole. When reporting, States parties should address all articles that have bearing on the enjoyment of rights by rural women and girls. Accordingly, the present general recommendation explores the links between article 14 and other Convention provisions. As many of the Sustainable Development Goals address the situation of rural women and provide an important opportunity to advance both process and outcome indicators, the specific intent of the present general recommendation is to provide guidance to States parties on the implementation of their obligations with respect to rural women. While general recommendation No. 34 focuses on rural women in developing countries, some of its components also pertain to the situation of rural women in developed countries. It is recognized that rural women, even in developed countries, suffer discrimination and challenges in various areas, including economic empowerment, participation in political and public life, access to services and the labour exploitation of rural migrant women workers.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 52f
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should further ensure rural women's rights to employment by:] Providing social security to rural women, including in cases of sickness or invalidity;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 52d
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should further ensure rural women's rights to employment by:] Protecting the rights of rural women workers to bargain collectively to ensure decent working conditions;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 52b
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should further ensure rural women's rights to employment by:] Expanding opportunities for rural women to run businesses and other enterprises, including through microcredit facilities;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- States parties should specifically promote rural women's access to technical knowledge on food harvesting techniques, preservation, storage, processing, packaging, marketing and entrepreneurship.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Food & Nutrition
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Rights of rural women 2016, para. 43i
- Paragraph text
- [States parties should protect the right of rural girls and women to education, and ensure that:] Adult literacy programmes are provided for women in rural areas;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s access to justice 2015, para. 65d
- Paragraph text
- [Many countries have made reservations to:] Article 16, which indicates that States parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s access to justice 2015, para. 60d
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Provide national human rights institutions and ombudsperson offices with adequate resources and support to conduct research.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s access to justice 2015, para. 60b
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Provide national human rights institutions with a broad mandate and the authority to consider complaints regarding women's human rights;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s access to justice 2015, para. 60a (ii)
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] [Take steps:] To ensure that the composition and activities of those institutions are gender-sensitive;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s access to justice 2015, para. 58a
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Inform women of their rights to use mediation, conciliation, arbitration and collaborative dispute resolution;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women’s access to justice 2015, para. 56b
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee recommends that States parties:] Provide for independent monitoring and review of the decisions of specialized judicial and quasi-judicial mechanisms;
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations 2013, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- When conflict comes to an end, society is confronted with the complex task of dealing with the past, which involves the need to hold human rights violators accountable for their actions, putting an end to impunity, restoring the rule of law and addressing all the needs of survivors through the provision of justice accompanied by reparations. Challenges relating to access to justice are especially aggravated and acute in conflict and post-conflict situations because formal justice systems may no longer exist or function with any level of efficiency or effectiveness. Existing justice systems may often be more likely to violate women's rights than to protect them, which can deter victims from seeking justice. All barriers faced by women in gaining access to justice before the national courts prior to the conflict, such as legal, procedural, institutional, social and practical barriers, in addition to entrenched gender discrimination, are exacerbated during conflict, persist during the post-conflict period and operate alongside the breakdown of the police and judicial structures to deny or hinder women's access to justice.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph