Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women Opens Ninety-Second Session in Geneva

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women this morning opened its ninety-second session, hearing a statement from a representative of the Secretary-General, and adopting its agenda for the session. During the session, the Committee will review the reports of Argentina, the Czech Republic, El Salvador, Iraq, Lesotho, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Viet Nam under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Mahamane Cisse-Gouro, Director of the Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and representative of the Secretary-General, said the Committee was meeting at a very difficult moment for multilateralism and women’s rights.  Around the world, 10 per cent of women lived in extreme poverty; nearly one in eight women aged 15 to 49 suffered from partner violence; and approximately 708 million women were excluded from the labour market by unpaid care work.  At the same time, severe reductions in global aid had forced frontline women’s rights and civil society groups to reduce or close essential services.

Mr. Cisse-Gouro said the world needed to act now. He called on governments, donors, and all partners to urgently renew their commitment to protecting women’s and girls’ human rights, end gender-based violence, and restore essential services.  Together, the international community needed to strive to reverse these trends for the benefit of women and girls worldwide.

Mr. Cisse-Gouro said the Committee’s work had never been more important.  Yet, treaty bodies were facing unprecedented constraints. In 2025, more than 30 per cent of meeting time was lost, and this resulted in the cancellation of State party reviews as well as pre-sessional working groups.  This year, the resource situation was expected to remain extremely challenging.  However, Mr. Cisse-Gouro expressed confidence that through collaboration, innovation and shared commitment, these constraints could be navigated to ensure that the Committee’s essential work of protecting human rights moved forward.

Nahla Haidar, Committee Chairperson, said that she was pleased that the Committee was finally able to meet again, after its October session was cancelled due to the United Nations liquidity crisis.  However, she said the Committee had not stopped working during this hiatus, as it would demonstrate during the session.

Ms. Haidar said the world had changed tremendously since the last session.  She said Committee members needed to show solidarity in their fight for the rights of women and girls, which were under serious threat.  They needed to continue their work to monitor the implementation of the Convention and protect the integrity of the human rights mechanisms for the benefit of all stakeholders.

During the meeting, the Committee adopted the agenda and programme of work of the session, and the Chair and Committee Experts then discussed the activities they had undertaken since the last session.  Jelena Pia-Comella, Committee Rapporteur on follow-up to concluding observations, also briefed the Committee on her work.

The Committee’s ninety-second session is being held from 2 to 20February.  All documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on the session’s webpage.  Meeting summary releases can be found here.  The webcast of the Committee’s public meetings can be accessed via the UN Web TV webpage.

The Committee will next meet with the representatives of national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations of Viet Nam, Iraq, Lithuania and the Netherlands, the States scheduled for review in the first week of the session, at 3 p.m. today, Monday, 2 February.

Opening Statement

MAHAMANE CISSE-GOURO, Director of the Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Representative of the Secretary-General, opening the ninety-second session, expressed regret that the session, originally scheduled for October 2025, was postponed due to the United Nations liquidity crisis, but welcomed that the Committee could now convene to continue its essential work.  This session, that work included dialogues with Argentina, the Czech Republic, El Salvador, Iraq, Lesotho, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Viet Nam, and consideration of eight individual communications; a report on follow-up to individual communications; a women, peace and security addendum to general recommendation 30 on women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations; as well as draft revised rules of procedure.

The Committee was meeting at a very difficult moment for multilateralism and for human rights, including for women’s rights.  Around the world, 10 per cent of women lived in extreme poverty, a figure that had not improved since 2020.  Some 26.1 per cent of women faced food insecurity compared to 24.2 per cent of men – that was 64 million more women than men.  For too many girls, education ended abruptly, with nearly one in five young women married before turning 18.  In addition, one in eight women aged 15 to 49 suffered from partner violence in 2024 alone.  Yet where strong laws, protection systems and support services existed, rates were 2.5 times lower.  Approximately 708 million women were excluded from the labour market by unpaid care work. Women made up only about 29 per cent of the global tech workforce and nearly 28 per cent of women’s jobs were at risk from artificial intelligence, compared to 21 per cent of men’s.

At the same time, severe reductions in global aid had forced frontline women’s rights and civil society groups to reduce or close essential services, including shelters, legal aid, psychosocial support, and prevention programmes for survivors of gender-based violence. Cuts to the World Health Organization and other health programmes had deprived millions of women and girls of access to essential health services, including maternal health services.  Although 676 million women and girls lived within 50 kilometres of deadly conflict in 2024, the highest number in decades, budget cuts had severely impacted populations in need of humanitarian aid, including women and girls.  At the end of June, less than 17 per cent of the 46 billion United States dollars needed to meet global humanitarian needs in 2025 had been received, a 40 per cent drop compared to 2024.

The world needed to act now.  The Office of the High Commissioner called on governments, donors, and all partners to urgently renew their commitment to protecting women’s and girls’ human rights, end gender-based violence, and restore essential services.  Together, the international community needed to strive to reverse these trends for the benefit of women and girls worldwide.

In this regard, the Office was committed to building global partnerships to advance human rights.  In the coming months, the High Commissioner would launch the Global Alliance for Human Rights, a large-scale, long-term initiative to put human rights back at the heart of political leadership, public debate and everyday life.  The Global Alliance would bring together governments, civil society, youth, artists, scientists, businesses, philanthropic organizations, and the entire United Nations system to strengthen the global human rights ecosystem.

Mr. Cisse-Gouro said the Committee’s work had never been more important.  Yet, treaty bodies were facing unprecedented constraints.  In 2025, more than 30 per cent of meeting time was lost, and this caused major delays, resulted in the cancellation of State party reviews as well as pre-sessional working groups, and, coupled with a decrease in State party reports received in 2025, had serious consequences for the functioning of the treaty body system.  This year, the resource situation was expected to remain extremely challenging, with further cuts in both post and non-post resources.  This meant less meeting time, reduced conference services, fewer deliverables, and, ultimately, less impact.

The High Commissioner had consistently warned that, if this trend continued, the system risked reaching a breaking point.  He was calling for innovative ideas and solutions, including in connection with the UN80 Initiative.  This challenge was addressed as an issue of high importance at the Chairpersons’ informal meeting in early December 2025 and would be a topic for their formal annual meeting in June 2026.  The Office was doing its utmost to support the Committee and other treaty bodies.  Mr. Cisse-Gouro expressed confidence that through collaboration, innovation, and shared commitment, these constraints could be navigated to ensure that the essential work of protecting human rights moved forward.

Mr. Cisse-Gouro expressed sincere appreciation to the Committee for its achievements during this difficult period.  Thanks to its online work before the session, one list of issues and nine lists of issues prior to reporting had been prepared for formal adoption at this session.  The Committee’s dedication ensured that its work continued during the second half of 2025, despite the challenges faced.

Mr. Cisse-Gouro then presented the upcoming work of the Human Rights Council relevant to women’s rights, including the Council’s annual high-level panel on human rights mainstreaming, to be held during the sixty-first session on 23 February 2026, which would focus on the theme “The role of new and emerging technologies in preventing and eliminating female genital mutilation”; and the annual full-day discussion on the human rights of women, to be held at the sixty-second session in June and July, which would include a panel focusing on domestic violence and another on women’s participation and representation in public decision-making, including in international affairs.

Mr. Cisse-Gouro concluded by wishing the Committee a successful session.  Despite the many challenges, he said, the Committee’s dedication and commitment make it possible to continue its essential work on behalf of women and girls around the world.

Questions by Committee Experts

A Committee Expert said that today, civil society organizations faced a challenging situation.  For some countries under review in this session, no national civil society organizations were able to engage in in-person dialogue with the Committee.  There was no tomorrow for human rights without these organizations.  How would their participation in dialogues with the Committee be supported?  What activities were being conducted related to the conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine?  How could digitisation be used to address the United Nations liquidity crisis?

Another Committee Expert said that there were egregious violations of the rights of women and girls taking place around the world. She asked whether the Office of the High Commissioner could guarantee that the Committee could hold at least a second session this year, so that it could work further to address these violations.

One Committee Expert asked about the extent to which the Global Alliance referred to by Mr. Cisse-Gouro would benefit the treaty bodies.

Responses by the Representative of the Secretary-General

MAHAMANE CISSE-GOURO, Director of the Human Rights Council and Treaty Mechanisms Division, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Representative of the Secretary-General, said the Office shared the Committee’s frustration.  It would leave no stone unturned in its efforts to address the liquidity crisis.  Its staff were exhausted, and Member States were not paying their dues.  The Office had sent a letter to Member States explaining these issues.  It was currently unable to confirm that the Committee’s second session would be held, but its aim was for it to be able to hold three sessions in a year.

The Global Alliance was an initiative that aimed to bring the issue of human rights back to the table.  It was open to everyone, not only Member States, but also civil society.  A concept note on the initiative was being finalised and would be shared with the Committee before the end of the session in various languages.  The Office counted on the Committee to play a role in mobilising the initiative.

Digitisation and artificial intelligence could change the way the treaty bodies worked, but this required resources.  The Office was preparing a paper with ideas on strengthening the treaty body system, taking into consideration the current dire financial situation, that included digitisation measures.  It would keep the Committee informed of progress in this regard.

Statements by Committee Experts

NAHLA HAIDAR, Committee Chairperson, said she was pleased that the Committee was finally able to meet again, after its October session was cancelled due to the United Nations liquidity crisis.  The Committee had not stopped working during this hiatus, however, as it would demonstrate during the session.  The world had changed tremendously since the last session. Committee members needed to show solidarity in their fight for the rights of women and girls, which were under serious threat.  As times were challenging, the Committee needed to continue its work to monitor the implementation of the Convention and protect the integrity of the human rights mechanisms for the benefit of all stakeholders.

This year was the forty-fifth anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention.  Ms. Haidar expressed regret that Mr. Cisse-Gouro had not addressed this in his opening remarks; it would be addressed at the Commission on the Status of Women.

The Committee called on the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to consider its proposals for responding to the liquidity crisis seriously.  In particular, she called for staff to be assigned to the Committee’s secretariat that was commensurate with the effort being undertaken by the Committee. Committee members were doing significant work in their unpaid functions, including between sessions and in preparing the women, peace and security addendum to general recommendation 30, and needed support.

Turning to formal matters, Ms. Haidar said that, since the last session, the number of States parties that had ratified the Convention had remained at 189.  On 17 July 2025, Estonia accepted the amendment to article 20, paragraph 1, of the Convention concerning the Committee’s meeting time, bringing the total number of States parties having accepted the amendment to 83.  A total of 126 States parties to the Convention were currently required to accept the amendment for it to enter into force.  Also on 17 July 2025, Estonia acceded to the Optional Protocol to the Convention, bringing the number of States parties to the Optional Protocol to 116.

She said she was pleased to inform that since the last session, Bangladesh, Egypt, Israel, Malta, Mauritius, the Russian Federation and Zambia had submitted their periodic reports to the Committee.  Since the simplified reporting procedure was made the default procedure for States parties' reporting to the Committee in 2022, 14 States parties had indicated that they wished to opt out and maintain the traditional reporting procedure.

The Committee then adopted its agenda and programme of work for the session, and Ms. Haidar and Committee Experts discussed the activities they had undertaken since the last session.

NAHLA HAIDAR, Committee Chairperson, said that, as the pre-sessional working groups for the ninety-third and ninety-fourth sessions were cancelled due to the liquidity crisis, the members who had been nominated to serve on these pre-sessional working groups met informally online from 10 to 13 June and from 27 to 31 October 2025, respectively, to prepare lists of issues and lists of issues prior to reporting to be formally adopted by the Committee at its ninety-first and ninety-second sessions.  During this session, the Committee would formally adopt the list of issues for Cook Islands, as well as lists of issues prior to reporting for Brunei Darussalam, Cameroon, Croatia, Eswatini, India, Liberia, Madagascar, Sierra Leone and Vanuatu.

JELENA PIA-COMELLA, Committee Rapporteur on follow-up to concluding observations, briefed the Committee on the status of the follow-up reports received in response to the Committee’s concluding observations.  She said that at the end of the Committee’s ninety-first session, follow-up letters outlining the outcomes of assessments of follow-up reports were sent to Armenia, Bahrain, Finland, Georgia, Mongolia, Namibia, Norway and the United Arab Emirates.  Reminders were sent to Costa Rica, Hungary and Mauritania, as their follow-up reports were scheduled for consideration at the ninety-first session but had not been received.

For the present session, the Committee would consider follow-up reports from Guatemala, Germany, Slovenia and Uruguay, all of which were received on time; Bhutan, received one month late; Costa Rica and Tunisia, received more than two months late; Hungary and Ukraine, received five months late; and Honduras, received six months late.  Reminders regarding the submission of follow-up reports would be sent to Albania, China, Spain, France, Iceland, Jamaica, Malawi, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Sao Tome and Principe, Timor-Leste and Venezuela.  Further, the Committee would proceed with reviewing the report on the monitoring procedure for the period 2023 to 2025, prepared by the Rapporteur on monitoring and the Alternate Rapporteur on monitoring.

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CEDAW.26.01E

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