Documents by United Nations Bodies and Agencies

Arrangements and Practices for the Interaction of Non-Governmental Organizations in All Activities of the United Nations System, Report of the Secretary-General, A/53/170, July 10, 1998.

Also know as the 'Sorenson Report', this 1998 publication addresses the participation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) throughout the United Nations system. The activities of non-state actors have become essential to international public life and the United Nations is recognizing this revolution. Topics addressed in this report include current and potential institutional arrangements for NGO participation and NGOs as operational partners. This aspect includes the possibilities of and constraints on NGO participation and the need for clear but flexible guidelines that would bridge the work of NGOs and the UN. The report suggests websites, conferences, newsletters, and diverse regional participation and capacity-building in developing countries could be employed to these ends. [Descriptors: Applying Human Rights Law - International, International]

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Communications Procedures, Fact Sheet No.7, Office of the High Commissioner For Human Rights

This fact sheet provides an overview of the different procedures that are available to bring a communication or complaint before the various human rights organs of the United Nations. Part I of the Fact Sheet discusses complaints under the international human rights treaties. Part II discusses complaints to the Commission of Human Rights and the Commission on the Status of Women. The Fact Sheet also includes a "Model Complaint Form" for use before the Human Rights Committee, the Committee against Torture and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. [Descriptors: Applying Human Rights Law - International, International]

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Government Bodies

Status of Women Canada, Canada and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW): An Overview, Ottawa: Status of Women Canada

This document provides a basic overview of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and of the Convention's Optional Protocol. The Optional Protocol permits individuals or groups to petition the Convention's monitoring committee with respect to alleged treaty violations and also permits the committee to make inquiries with respect to serious violations by States Parties. With respect to individual or group petitions, the document states how a communication (petition) must be made in the Canadian legal system, given existing methods of redress for human rights violations in Canada. [Descriptors: Applying Human Rights Law - Domestic, CEDAW Convention, Canada]

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Government of Canada, Canada's Report to the CEDAW Committee (Fifth Periodic Report of States Parties - Canada), CEDAW/C/CAN/5 (April 9, 2002)

Canada submitted its Fifth Periodic Report to the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) in April 2002. The report was considered by the CEDAW Committee at its 28th Session, 13-31st January, 2003, at U.N. Headquarters in New York. The report outlines Canada's measures to achieve equality for women in accordance with its obligations under the CEDAW Convention. The report is divided into four sections with Part I of the report providing an overview of the situation of women in Canada generally, and Parts II, III & IV containing a review of the measures adopted by the federal, provincial and territorial governments respectively. [Descriptors: Applying Human Rights Law - Domestic, CEDAW Convention, Canada]

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Status of Women Canada, Canada's Response to the UN Questionnaire to Governments on Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (1995) and the Outcome of the Twenty-Third Special Session of the General Assembly (2000), Ottawa: Status of Women Canada

This document is a report prepared as an update on measures taken by the Canadian government to implement the Beijing Platform for Action. It describes steps taken by provincial and federal governments since the adoption of the Platform in 1995 and an analysis of the status of gender equality in Canada according to employment trends and sociological data available. The bulk of the document is devoted to examining federal government measures to address the Platform's areas of concern, including: women and poverty, education and training of women, women and health, violence against women, women and armed conflict, and the human rights of women. The document also describes Canadian mechanisms for advancing women's rights. [Descriptors: Applying Human Rights Law - Domestic, Canada]

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Australian Human Rights Commission, Mechanisms for advancing women's human rights: A guide to using the Optional Protocol to CEDAW and other international complaint mechanisms, (2011)

This guide, published by the Australian Human Rights Commission, is designed to provide practical information for women experiencing violations of their rights, their lawyers and advocates on how to access the Optional Protocol to CEDAW and other international complaint mechanisms. It provides detailed information on CEDAW and its Optional Protocol, including a thorough explanation of the means through which it can be accessed, namely the communication and inquiry procedures. The guide also provides information on other international complaint mechanisms, as well as practical considerations such as seeking legal assistance. The appendices include sample communication procedure forms and inquiries.

Australian Human Rights Commission, Mechanisms for advancing women's human rights: A guide to using the Optional Protocol to CEDAW and other international complaint mechanisms, (2011), online: .

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Information from Non-Governmental Organizations

Human Rights Internet, For the Record: A Focus on Canada - Bringing Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Home), Vol. 3 (no date)

This comprehensive report addresses economic, social and cultural rights both on a global level and within Canada. The Canadian section includes information on Government of Canada reports submitted to various United Nations (UN) bodies and the UN responses, including Canada's reports under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the subsequent concerns and recommendations of the UN treaty monitoring body. The report also summarizes reports by the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, with links to the full reports. The second part of the report includes summaries of Canadian legal cases which interpret the international law on economic and social rights. Several of these cases deal specifically with the human rights concerns of women. [Descriptors: Social and Economic Rights, Applying Human Rights Law - Domestic, Canada]

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International Women's Rights Action Watch, New Guidelines for Human Rights Treaty Reporting: Opportunities for Women's Human Rights NGOs, (2009)

This guide, prepared by International Women's Rights Action Watch, provides NGOs who wish to submit shadow reports to CEDAW with information on new opportunities presented by the UNs Harmonized Guidelines for reporting. Under the new structure, reporting State Parties and NGOs can submit a common core document that includes a full account of laws, policies and infrastructure relating to human rights policy and implementation rather than separate, targeted documents prepared for each separate treaty monitoring body. The guide provides practical suggestions on how to prepare a shadow report to CEDAW.

International Women's Rights Action Watch, Producing NGO Shadow Reports to CEDAW: A Procedural Guide (January 2009), online: < http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/iwraw/procedural guide-08.html>.

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International Women's Rights Action Watch, Our Rights are Not Optional: A Resource Guide, International Women's Rights Action Watch - Asia Pacific (2005)

This resource guide seeks to inform readers on the context, intended role and actual text of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), with a specific focus on the Optional Protocol to the Convention (OP-CEDAW). The purpose of the guide is to provide information to enable a more holistic and effective approach to research, training and advocacy around the CEDAW Convention and OP-CEDAW. It includes an overview of CEDAW and OP-CEDAW and then offers practical advice on how the international review mechanism presented by OP-CEDAW functions. Recommendations for improvements to the current system are also included. The final section of the guide explains the ratification process and provides advice for enhancing advocacy and using OP-CEDAW. [Descriptors: CEDAW Convention, Implementing Women's Rights - International, International]

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International Women's Rights Action Watch, Producing NGO Shadow Reports to CEDAW: A Procedural Guide, Revised: June 2003

These procedural and format guidelines are designed to assist nongovermental organization in producing shadow reports during the state reporting process under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The CEDAW Committee reviews shadow reports along with the official government reports when evaluating government efforts to meet the obligations of the CEDAW Convention. This guide includes background information on the state reporting procedure, advice on organizing a shadow report for maximum impact, suggestions for an executive summary, a list of useful materials, and advice on approaching the CEDAW Committee. [Descriptors: Applying Human Rights Law - International, CEDAW Convention, International]

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International Conventions and Declarations

, The Optional Protocol to the Women's Convention, A/RES/54/4, 1999

The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (OP-CEDAW) was adopted by the UN General Assembly on October 6, 1999 and entered into force December 21, 2000. The Optional Protocol provides for two procedures: 1) a communications procedures that allows women to submit claims of violations of rights potected under the Convention to the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women; and 2) an inquiry procedure enabling the Committee to initiate inquiries into situations of grave or systematic violations of women's rights. [Descriptors: Applying Human Rights Law - International, CEDAW Convention, Key Texts, International]

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Other

Organization of American States, Report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on the Status of Women in the Americas, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.100, Doc. 17, October 13, 1998

This report brings together the results of the study conducted by the Special Rapporteur on women's rights as to how member state legislation and practices that affect the rights of women comply with the obligations of equality and nondiscrimination in the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and the American Convention on Human Rights. Chapter I describes the Inter-American human rights system and how it can be used to protect women's rights; Chapter II outlines the methodology and mandate of the study; Chapter III presents the report's findings around a series of core issues pertaining to women's rights in the Americas; Chapter IV sets forth recommendations aimed at remedying discrimination and addressing its consequences. [Descriptors: Applying Human Rights Law - Regional, International - Latin America, International - North America]

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