The Independent Commission for Human Rights
experts is (4) years starting from the first day of January of the year
that follows their election. In the event that a member resigns his post
before the end of his \ her term, his \ her State Party would be notified
to nominate another person to fill in the vacancy for the rest of the term.
The Secretary-General would refer the name of the person selected with
his\her resume to the Committee for approval. It is then that the States
Parties would be informed of the change. CEDAW’s Committee undertakes
the task of watching over and activating the provisions of the Convention
through:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Consideration of the national reports;
Presenting final observations about the periodic national reports;
Issuing general recommendations;
Considering individual complaints;
Investigation.
Mechanisms of Accession to CEDAW 1979
Due to its membership in the UN, the State of Palestine should commence
taking the necessary steps to accede to international human rights
conventions and declarations, including CEDAW, based on the provision
of Palestinian Basic Law, which calls for signing and ratifying both regional
and international conventions and declarations safeguarding human
rights and freedoms, and thus making them binding.9
CEDAW is the most significant international convention in the field of
women’s rights because it is inclusive of all women’s rights and aims to
eliminate All Forms of gender-based discrimination. It was drafted and
adopted with a view to recognizing and safeguarding women’s rights and
achieve equality between men and women in private and public life; this
was in addition to ensuring monitoring mechanisms for the States Parties
through the submission of periodic country reports on the status of
women’s rights. Apart from that, it provides States with enough room to
present their reservations concerning the Convention and the possibility
of withdrawing these reservations.
The 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties regulates the position
9
Article (12), Palestinian Basic Law.
16