A/HRC/41/42
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
Consequently, since that time, the Committee has evolved into an increasingly efficient and
influential monitoring mechanism providing important and far-reaching jurisprudence and
general recommendations on violence against women.
34.
The responsibility for servicing the Committee was transferred in 2008 from the
United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women – now part of the United Nations
Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) – in New York
to OHCHR in Geneva. The decision was perceived as timely as the Committee had just
commenced its work under the framework of the Optional Protocol12 to the Convention,
and the legal expertise provided by the OHCHR Petitions Unit in Geneva was considered
paramount to its successful implementation.13 The transfer was agreed through resolution
62/218 and allowed the Committee to hold two sessions per year in Geneva and one in New
York. 14 The arrangement was followed for a few years, and a subsequent decision was
taken by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to move all sessions to
Geneva. In response to that decision, the Committee adopted a decision that one session per
year should be held in New York, in line with article 20.2 of the Convention. 15 However,
that did not materialize.
35.
The Committee has developed significant jurisprudence under the individual
complaints procedure on violence against women, including two cases relating to
femicide 16 and one case that highlights the stereotypes that continue to exist within the
investigation and prosecution of rape cases.17 Another important decision adopted by the
Committee related to the killing of a child by her father during an unsupervised contact
visit.18 A number of the inquiries conducted by the Committee to date 19 have also addressed
violence against women and have provided important recommendations that are applicable
not only to the States parties concerned, but may also be applied in all cases of a similar
nature and scope.
36.
The mandate of the Special Rapporteur has made significant progress in terms of
standard-setting work on violence against women, including through thematic and country
visit reports and the interpretation of States obligations “within the framework of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and all other international human rights
instruments, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women and the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women” 20
within which the mandate operates. Owing to the progressive interpretation of the
Convention in recent years, the mandate has expanded its recommendations based on the
Committee’s jurisprudence and general recommendations, as well as regional treaties,
including the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of
Violence against Women (the Convention of Belém do Pará); the Maputo Protocol; the
Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and
Domestic Violence (the Istanbul Convention); as well as the work of their respective
monitoring mechanisms.
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
8
Ratified or acceded to by 112 States.
See www.ohchr.org/EN/NEWSEVENTS/Pages/Cedaw.aspx.
See www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/TB/HRTD/LeafletTBS_en.pdf.
Article 20.2. notes that the meetings of the Committee shall normally be held at United Nations
Headquarters or at any other convenient place as determined by the Committee.
See communications No. 6/2005, Fatma Yildirim (deceased) v. Austria (CEDAW/C/39/D/6/2005)
and No. 5/2005, Şahide Goekce (deceased) v. Austria (CEDAW/C/39/D/5/2005).
See communication No. 18/2008, Karen Tayag Vertido v. the Philippines
(CEDAW/C/46/D/18/2008).
See communication No. 47/2012, Angela González Carreño v. Spain (CEDAW/C/58/D/47/2012).
The Supreme Court rendered the Committee’s decision as legally binding.
A database of the inquiries is available at
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/TBSearch.aspx?Lang=en&TreatyID=3&Doc
TypeCategoryID=7.
See Commission on Human Rights resolution 1994/45, para. 7.
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