Palestine & the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women: Implications of Ratification security of person, equality before the law, not to be subjected to any form of discrimination, the highest possible level of physical health and the right not to be subjected to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment. It also featured that violence against women constitutes a major violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and that it impairs and nullifies the enjoyment by women of these rights and fundamental freedoms. The UN General Assembly expressed its concern about the long-standing failure to protect and promote these rights and freedoms in relation to violence against women. Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) 19798 In 1967, the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and in 1972 the Commission on the Status of Women began to survey States Parties’ opinions about the form and content of issuing an international instrument concerning women’s rights. In 1974, the Commission began drafting the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The UN General Assembly approved the Convention in 1979 and it entered into force in 1981. The Convention was the culmination of thirty years of work by the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women, a body established in 1946 to monitor the situation of women and to promote women’s rights. The importance of this Convention stems from the fact that it put women’s issues within the goals of the priorities of the UN. It has become part of international human rights law as it emphasized the human element of women’s rights and addressed discrimination exclusively and inclusively with a view to effect genuine change in women’s situations. It set forth solutions and measures that should be taken by the States Parties to eliminate discrimination against women in all fields. This is what the conventions that preceded it had not stated, as each of them addressed a specific aspect of women’s issues. The Convention consists of a list of women’s rights aimed at laying the legal groundwork for the protection of women’s rights. It also recognized the principle of non-discrimination against women as a principle closely linked 8 Rather confusingly, the acronym CEDAW is formally used for both the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Committee to Eliminate Discrimination Against Women. In this discussion, CEDAW and the Convention will be used to refer to the former and the Committee to refer to the latter. 11