Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women Closes Ninety-Third Session in Geneva

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women today closed its ninety-third session after adopting concluding observations regarding reports on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women submitted by Angola, Cabo Verde, Cook Islands, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Paraguay, Republic of Moldova and Togo, which the Committee reviewed during the session.

The concluding observations adopted by the Committee on the countries under review will soon be available on the session’s webpage.

In concluding remarks, Committee Chairperson Nahla Haidar said that this was the last time that she would make closing remarks in her capacity as Chair of the Committee.  She also noted that this would be the last meeting attended by Committee Experts Hiroko Akizuki, Rhoda Reddock and Genoveva Tisheva, whose terms would end on 31 December this year.  Expert Daphna Hacker, who left Geneva two weeks ago, was also leaving the Committee this year at the end of her term.  They would be sorely missed, she said.

Ms. Haidar thanked all the Committee members wholeheartedly for their collegiality, solidarity and support over the past two years, which enabled her to steer the Committee, sometimes smoothly and sometimes less so, through these difficult times.  During the two years that she had chaired the Committee, it continued delivering on its mandate despite the cancellation of meeting time and the shrinking resources of the Secretariat.  Apart from resource challenges, there had been a rise in armed conflicts around the globe.  Ms. Haidar deplored the high toll these conflicts had taken on women and girls, including in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine.

Ms. Haidar said she was heartened by the Committee’s achievements during the past two years.  Just last week, it adopted its landmark general recommendation 41 on dismantling gender stereotypes, prejudices and stigma and the unequal power relations that sustained them.  This general recommendation shed light on a topic that had so far been underexplored.  Ms. Haidar said the highlight of the session was the public launch of the general recommendation, which was attended by 79 States parties, the Holy See, United Nations Women, the United Nations Population Fund and several non-governmental organizations.  Prior to the launch, the Committee held its biennial informal meeting with States parties, attended by 67 States parties.

In February, Ms. Haidar recalled, the Committee adopted an addendum to general recommendation 30 (2013)on women in conflict prevention, conflict and post-conflict situations in relation to the women, peace and security agenda.  During the past two years, it also adopted an important inquiry report concerning the abduction of girls and women by extremist groups and for ransom, carried out its first-ever confidential online inquiry, and held a regional technical cooperation session in Suva, Fiji in April 2025, which could serve as a blueprint for the current efforts of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to decentralise State party reviews by moving them to regional hubs.

Ms. Haidar reported that, during its ninety-third session, the Committee considered the reports of eight States parties and adopted concluding observations on each.  It also adopted two lists of issues and eight lists of issues prior to reporting that had been finalised by country task forces for the first time.  Further, the Committee held informal meetings with non-governmental organizations from all States reviewed during the session and with two national human rights institutions.  International Women's Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific coordinated the country-specific briefings by non-governmental organizations, which again made significant contributions to the work of the Committee.

The Committee was also grateful, Ms. Haidar said, to United Nations entities and other inter-governmental bodies that provided it with detailed information, including the Inter-Agency Group on Committee Reporting, which contributed reports from United Nations country teams; the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; and the Inter-Parliamentary Union.  Numerous country teams also briefed the Committee via pre-recorded video statements.

Ms. Haidar thanked the Committee’s working group on working method for having made innovative proposals to further enhance the effectiveness of constructive dialogues and follow-up to procedures under the Optional Protocol. She also said she was satisfied that the Committee had adopted a strong statement on climate change during the session. A draft statement on women and political violence was not yet finalised, but there was still time to interact on this excellent text.

Ms. Haidar expressed satisfaction that the Committee had been able to deliver on its core mandates under the Convention and the Optional Protocol during this session.  She thanked the rapporteur and alternate rapporteur on follow-up for supporting the Committee to adopt two follow-up assessments at the session and eight during the intersessional period, with help from other colleagues.

Further, Ms. Haidar thanked the Committee’s working group on communications for the preparation of five decisions on individual communications adopted at the session, and the working group on inquiries for enabling the Committee to complete its first reading of confidential inquiry 2017/3, conducted online.  She also congratulated Committee Expert Ana Peláez Narváez on her concept note and methodology for draft general recommendation 42 on substantive equality and the elimination of intersectional forms of discrimination affecting women and girls in relation to disabilities and thanked her for chairing the newly established working group that would elaborate the general recommendation.

During the session, Ms. Haidar reported, the Committee held important informal meetings with the Special Rapporteur on the rights of women in Africa, Janet Ramatoulie Sallah-Njie, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Morris Tidball-Binz, and United Nations Women.

In closing, Ms. Haidar thanked all those who contributed to the successful session, including Committee members, the Committee secretariat and United Nations staff.  She wished Committee members a restful end of the year and said she looked forward to seeing them again, hopefully for the Committee’s ninety-fourth session in February 2027.

At the beginning of the meeting, Committee Rapporteur Brenda Akia presented the draft report of the session, which contained the draft report of the Working Group of the Whole and the provisional agenda for the ninety-fourth session.  The Committee then adopted the report ad referendum.

Information on the dates of the Committee’s next session and the reports to be reviewed will be published on the Committee’s webpage at a later date.

___________

Produced by the United Nations Information Service in Geneva for use of the media; 
not an official record. English and French versions of our releases are different as they are the product of two separate coverage teams that work independently.

CEDAW/26/25E