United Nations

A/C.3/64/L.17
Distr.: Limited 14 October 2009 Original: English

General Assembly

Sixty-fourth session

Third Committee
Agenda item 62 (a) Advancement of women: advancement of women Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden, Turkey and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: draft resolution

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
The General Assembly, Recalling its resolution 62/218 of 22 December 2007 and its previous resolutions on the elimination of discrimination against women, Bearing in mind that one of the purposes of the United Nations, as stated in Articles 1 and 55 of the Charter, is to promote universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction of any kind, including distinction as to sex, Reiterating the need to intensify efforts to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women throughout the world, Affirming that women and men should participate equally in social, economic and political development, should contribute equally to such development and should share equally in improved conditions of life, Recalling the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights on 25 June 1993, 1 in which the Conference reaffirmed that the human rights of women and the girl child were an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights, Acknowledging the need for a comprehensive and integrated approach to the promotion and protection of the human rights of women, which includes the integration of the human rights of women into the mainstream of United Nations activities system-wide,
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A/CONF.157/24 (Part I), chap. III.

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Reaffirming the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 2 and the outcome documents of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly entitled "Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century", 3 in particular those paragraphs concerning the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women 4 and the Optional Protocol thereto, 5 Welcoming the declaration of the Commission on the Status of Women on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, 6 in which the Commission recognized that the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the fulfilment of the obligations under the Convention are mutually reinforcing in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women, Welcoming the decision of the Commission on the Status of Women 7 to hold a commemorative meeting to mark the fifteenth anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in conjunction with the fifty-fourth session of the Commission on the Status of Women, to be held from 1 to 12 March 2010, Recalling that, in the United Nations Millennium Declaration, 8 Heads of State and Government resolved to implement the Convention, and recalling also that the 2005 World Summit Outcome 9 reaffirmed that gender equality and the promotion and protection of the full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all are essential to advance development and peace and security, Recognizing that the equal enjoyment by women of all human rights and fundamental freedoms will promote the realization of the rights of the child, bearing in mind the special needs of girls, and acknowledging the mutual reinforcement of the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child 10 and the Optional Protocols thereto, 11 Noting that 18 December 2009 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the adoption by the General Assembly of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Noting also that 6 October 2009 marked the tenth anniversary of the adoption by the General Assembly of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,
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Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, 4-15 September 1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.13), chap. I, resolution 1, annexes I and II. Resolution S-23/2, annex, and resolution S-23/3, annex. United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1249, No. 20378. Ibid., vol. 2131, No. 20378. See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 2005, Supplement No. 7 and corrigendum (E/2005/27 and Corr.1), chap. I, sect. A; see also Economic and Social Council decision 2005/232. See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 2009, Supplement No. 7. See resolution 55/2. See resolution 60/1. United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1577, No. 27531. Ibid., vols. 2171 and 2173, No. 27531.

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Bearing in mind the recommendation of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women that national reports should contain information on the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, in accordance with paragraph 323 of the Platform, Having considered the reports of the Committee on its fortieth, 12 forty-first,12 forty-second 13 and forty-third13 sessions, Expressing deep concern at the great number of reports that are still overdue, in particular initial reports, which constitutes an obstacle to the full implementation of the Convention, Welcomes the report of the Secretary-General on the status of the 1. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; 14 Also welcomes the growing number of States parties to the Convention,4 2. which now stands at one hundred and eighty-six, while expressing disappointment that universal ratification of the Convention was not achieved by 2000, and urges all States that have not yet ratified or acceded to the Convention to do so; Further welcomes the growing number of States parties to the Optional 3. Protocol to the Convention,5 which now stands at ninety-eight, and urges other States parties to the Convention to consider signing and ratifying or acceding to the Optional Protocol; Urges States parties to comply fully with their obligations under the 4. Convention and the Optional Protocol thereto and to take into consideration the concluding observations as well as the general recommendations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, including the most recent one, general recommendation No. 26 on women migrant workers; 15 Encourages all relevant entities of the United Nations system, within 5. their mandates, as well as Governments and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, in particular women's organizations, as appropriate, to strengthen assistance to States parties, upon their request, in implementing the Convention; Notes that some States parties have modified their reservations, expresses 6. satisfaction that some reservations have been withdrawn, and urges States parties to limit the extent of any reservations that they lodge to the Convention, to formulate any such reservations as precisely and as narrowly as possible, to ensure that no reservations are incompatible with the object and purpose of the Convention, to review their reservations regularly with a view to withdrawing them and to withdraw reservations that are contrary to the object and purpose of the Convention; Welcomes the adoption by the Committee of treaty-specific reporting 7. guidelines, 16 which must be applied in conjunction with the harmonized reporting guidelines on a common core document; 17
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Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-third Session, Supplement No. 38 (A/63/38). Ibid., Sixty-fourth Session, Supplement No. 38 (A/64/38). A/62/290. See Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-fourth Session, Supplement No. 38 (A/64/38), part one, annex I. See Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-third Session, Supplement No. 38 (A/63/38), part one, annex I. See HRI/GEN/2/Rev.5.

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8. Recalls the great number of overdue reports, in particular initial reports, and urges States parties to the Convention to make every possible effort to submit their reports on the implementation of the Convention in a timely manner, in accordance with article 18 thereof; Also recalls its resolution 50/202 of 22 December 1995, in which it took 9. note with approval of the amendment to article 20, paragraph 1, of the Convention, which has yet to enter into force, and urges States parties to the Convention that have not yet done so to accept the amendment; 10. Strongly urges States parties to the Convention to take appropriate measures so that acceptance of the amendment to article 20, paragraph 1, of the Convention by a two-thirds majority of States parties can be reached as soon as possible and the amendment can enter into force; 11. Expresses its appreciation for the efforts made by the Committee to improve the efficiency of its working methods, and welcomes the decision by the Committee to introduce a procedure to enhance the follow-up of the implementation of its recommendations; 12. Welcomes the gradual alleviation of the backlog of reports awaiting consideration by the Committee; 13. Encourages the Secretariat to extend further technical assistance to States parties, upon their request, to strengthen their capacity in the preparation of reports, in particular initial reports, and invites Governments to contribute to those efforts; 14. Invites States parties to make use of the technical assistance provided by the Secretariat to facilitate the preparation of reports, in particular initial reports; 15. Encourages the continued participation of members of the Committee in inter-committee meetings and meetings of persons chairing the human rights treaty bodies, including those on methods of work relating to the State reporting system; 16. Encourages the Committee, within its mandate, to continue to contribute to the efforts to strengthen cooperation and coordination between the treaty bodies, and welcomes as a positive example the establishment of a joint working group of the Committee and the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and in this regard invites the Committee to consider other informal cooperative initiatives; 17. Requests the Secretary-General, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 54/4 of 6 October 1999, to provide the resources, including staff and facilities, necessary for the effective functioning of the Committee within its full mandate, including as set out in the Optional Protocol to the Convention; 18. Urges Governments, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to disseminate the Convention and the Optional Protocol thereto; 19. Encourages States parties to disseminate the concluding comments adopted in relation to the consideration of their reports, as well as the general recommendations of the Committee; 20. Encourages States parties to the Convention and all relevant entities of the United Nations system to continue to build women's knowledge and

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understanding of and capacity to utilize human rights instruments, in particular the Convention and the Optional Protocol thereto; 21. Urges the specialized agencies, at the invitation of the Committee, to submit reports on the implementation of the Convention in areas falling within the scope of their activities; 22. Welcomes the contribution of non-governmental organizations and national human rights institutions to the work of the Committee; 23. Invites the Chairperson of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to address and to engage in an interactive dialogue with the General Assembly at its sixty-fifth and sixty-sixth sessions under the item on the advancement of women; 24. Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its sixty-sixth session a report on the status of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the implementation of the present resolution.

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