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Equality of rights for women is a basic principle of the United Nations. The
Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations sets as one of the Organization's
central goals the reaffirmation of "faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity
and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women". Article 1
proclaims that one of the purposes of the United Nations is to achieve international
cooperation in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental
freedoms for all without distinction as to, inter alia, sex. By the terms of
the Charter, the first international instrument to refer specifically to human rights and
to the equal rights of men and women, all members of the United Nations are legally bound
to strive towards the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms. The
status of human rights, including the goal of equality between women and men, is thereby
elevated: a matter of ethics becomes a contractual obligation of all Governments and of
the UN.
The International Bill of Human Rights strengthens and extends this emphasis on the
human rights of women. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims the
entitlement of everyone to equality before the law and to the enjoyment of human rights
and fundamental freedoms without distinction of any kind and proceeds to include sex among
the grounds of such impermissible distinction. The International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, both of 1966, which translate the principles of the Declaration into legally
binding form, clearly state that the rights set forth are applicable to all persons
without distinction of any kind and, again, put forth sex as such a ground of
impermissible distinction. In addition, each Covenant specifically binds acceding or
ratifying States to undertake to ensure that women and men have equal right to the
enjoyment of all the rights they establish.
The International Bill of Human Rights, combined with related human rights treaties,
thus lays down a comprehensive set of rights to which all persons, including women, are
entitled. However, the fact of women's humanity proved insufficient to guarantee them the
enjoyment of their internationally agreed rights. Since its establishment, the Commission
on the Status of Women (CSW) has sought to define and elaborate the general guarantees of
non-discrimination in these instruments from a gender perspective. The work of CSW has
resulted in a number of important declarations and conventions that protect and promote
the human rights of women.
Originally established in 1946 as a subcommission of the Commission on Human Rights,
but quickly granted the status of full commission as a result of the pressure exerted by
women's activists, the mandate of the CSW included the preparation of recommendations
relating to urgent problems requiring immediate attention in the field of women's rights
with the object of implementing the principle that men and women should have equal rights,
and the development of proposals to give effect to such recommendations. Between
1949 and 1959, the Commission elaborated the Convention on the Political Rights of Women,
adopted by the General Assembly on 20 December 1952, the Convention on the
Nationality of Married Women, adopted by the Assembly on 29 January 1957, the
Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages
adopted on 7 November 1962, and the Recommendation on Consent to Marriage,
Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages adopted on
1 November 1965. Each of these treaties protected and promoted the rights
of women in areas in which the Commission considered such rights to be particularly
vulnerable. But it was believed that, except in those areas, women's rights were best
protected and promoted by the general human rights treaties.
Although these instruments reflected the growing sophistication of the UN system with
regard to the protection and promotion of women's human rights, the approach they
reflected was fragmentary, as they failed to deal with discrimination against women in a
comprehensive way. In addition, there was concern that the general human rights regime was
not, in fact, working as well as it might to protect and promote the rights of women.
Thus, the General Assembly, on 5 December 1963, adopted its resolution 1921 (XVIII),
in which it requested the Economic and Social Council to invite the CSW to prepare a draft
declaration that would combine in a single instrument international standards articulating
the equal rights of men and women. This process was supported throughout by women
activists within and outside the UN system. Drafting of the declaration, by a committee
selected from within the CSW, began in 1965, with the Declaration on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women ultimately being adopted by the GA on
7 November 1967. Although the Declaration amounted only to a statement of moral
and political intent, without the contractual force of a treaty, its drafting was none the
less a difficult process. Article 6, concerning equality in marriage and the family,
and article 10, relating to employment, proved to be particularly controversial, as
did the question of whether the Declaration should call for the abolition of the customs
and laws perpetuating discrimination or for their modification or change.
The 1960s saw the emergence, in many parts of the world, of a new consciousness of the
patterns of discrimination against women and a rise in the number of organizations
committed to combating the effect of such discrimination. The adverse impact of some
development policies on women also became apparent. In 1972, five years after the adoption
of the Declaration and four years after the introduction of a voluntary reporting system
on the implementation of the Declaration by the Economic and Social Commission, the
CSW considered the possibility of preparing a binding treaty that would give normative
force to the provisions of the Declaration and decided to request the Secretary-General to
call upon UN Member States to transmit their views on such a proposal. The following year,
a working group was appointed to consider the elaboration of such a convention. In 1974,
at its twenty-fifth session and in the light of the report of this working group, the
Commission decided, in principle, to prepare a single, comprehensive and internationally
binding instrument to eliminate discrimination against women. This instrument was to be
prepared without prejudice to any future recommendations that might be made by the United
Nations or its specialized agencies with respect to the preparation of legal instruments
to eliminate discrimination in specific fields.
The text of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women was prepared by working groups within the Commission during 1976 and extensive
deliberations by a working group of the Third Committee of the General Assembly from 1977
to 1979. Drafting work within the Commission was encouraged by the World Plan of Action
for the Implementation of the Objectives of the International Women's Year, adopted by the
World Conference of the International Women's Year held in Mexico City in 1975, which
called for a convention on the elimination of discrimination against women, with effective
procedures for its implementation. Work was also encouraged by the General Assembly which
had urged the Commission on the Status of Women to finish its work by 1976, so that the
Convention would be completed in time for the 1980 Copenhagen mid-decade review conference
(World Conference on the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and
Peace). Although suggestions were made to delay completion of the text for another year,
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was adopted
by the General Assembly in 1979 by votes of 130 to none, with 10 abstentions. In
resolution 34/180, in which the General Assembly adopted the Convention, the Assembly
expressed the hope that the Convention would come into force at an early date and
requested the Secretary-General to present the text of the Convention to the mid-decade
World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women.
At the special ceremony that took place at the Copenhagen Conference on
17 July 1980, 64 States signed the Convention and two States submitted
their instruments of ratification. On 3 September 1981, 30 days after the twentieth
member State had ratified it, the Convention entered into force - faster than any
previous human rights convention had done - thus bringing to a climax United Nations
efforts to codify comprehensively international legal standards for women.
* extracted from Progress achieved in the implementation of the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women: Report by the Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women (A/CONF.177/7).
Published by the United Nations Department of Public Information
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