Introduction
Considering rising atrocities and discrimination against women,
the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW),
after more than thirty years of work, prepared ‘The Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW).’ The CEDAW was adopted by the United Nations
General Assembly (UNGA) on 18th December 1979, however, it
came into force as an international treaty on 3rd September
1981. Today, around 189 countries have ratified CEDAW & 165 have
ratified CEDAW-OP (Optional Protocol).
The work of the CSW has been instrumental in bringing to light
all the areas in which women have been denied equality with
men. These efforts for the advancement of women have resulted
in several declarations and conventions, of which the CEDAW is
the central and most comprehensive document. The text of the
CEDAW was prepared by working groups of CSW during 1976 and
extensive deliberations by a working group of the Third Committee
of the General Assembly from 1977 to 1979. The drafting of the
CEDAW declaration was also encouraged by the implementation
of the recommendations of the World Conference of the
International Women’s Year held in Mexico City in 1975 by the
World Action Plan. Therefore, the CEDAW document was adopted
by the UNGA under resolution 34/180, to codify comprehensively
international legal standards for women.
The spirit of the CEDAW is rooted in the goals of the United
Nations: to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the
dignity, and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men
and women. The CEDAW spells out the meaning of equality and
how it can be achieved. In doing so, the CEDAW establishes not
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only an international bill of rights for women, but also an agenda
for action by countries to guarantee the enjoyment of those rights.
The Convention consists of a preamble and 30 articles. In its
preamble, the CEDAW explicitly acknowledges that “extensive
discrimination against women continues to exist”, and emphasizes
that such discrimination “violates the principles of equality
of rights and respect for human dignity”. In its approach, the
Convention covers three dimensions of the situation of women. In
addition, and unlike other human rights treaties, the CEDAW is also
concerned with the dimension of human reproduction as well as
with the impact of cultural factors on gender relations.
At least every four years, the States Parties are expected to submit
a national report to the Committee, indicating the measures they
have adopted to give effect to the provisions of the CEDAW. During
its annual session, the Committee members discuss these reports
with the Government representatives and explore with them areas
for further action by the specific country.
India ratified CEDAW on 9th July, 1993 committing a national
agenda for the State Parties to end discrimination against women
in India. However, India has not yet ratified the Optional Protocol to
CEDAW. The CEDAW Committee considered the combined fourth
and fifth periodic reports of India on 2nd July, 2014, during its 58th
session.
Objective of the Study
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is mandated
under Section 12(f) of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 “to