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The 47th session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (the Committee) concluded on Friday 22 October with the adoption of two new general recommendations – no. 27 on 'older women and protection of their human rights' which acknowledges that 'age is one of the grounds on which women suffer multiple forms of discrimination' and no. 28 on the 'Core Obligations of States Parties under Article 2.'
During the session, discrimination against older women was a recurring theme, particularly during the examinations of the reports of Uganda and Burkina Faso. The general recommendation highlights maltreatment, lack of access to services, unequal resource allocation and distribution as the main discriminatory practices older women face.
General recommendation no. 28 clarifies that 'discrimination of women based on sex and gender is inextricably linked with other factors that affect women, such as race, ethnicity, religion or belief, health, status, age, class, caste, and sexual orientation and gender identity.' It highlights that States have to condemn 'all forms of discrimination, including forms that are not explicitly mentioned in the Convention or that may be emerging' and elaborates on the State obligation to adopt policies to this end. In this regard, the general recommendation calls on States to devote resources 'to ensuring that human rights and women's non-governmental organizations are well-informed, adequately consulted and generally able to play an active role in the initial and subsequent development of the policy.' Furthermore, it acknowledges the important role of civil society in the development of State policies for the elimination of discrimination against women. The general recommendations acknowledgment that sexual orientation is a prohibited ground of discrimination is particularly important and in line with a similar conclusion by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its General Comment no. 20 on non-discrimination.
The broad scope of Article 2 was highlighted by many Committee members during the session and the issues of sexual orientation was brought up with Uganda, where special emphasis was placed on the rights of lesbian, bisexual and transgender women and women with disabilities.
In other developments, it was disappointing that the Committee did not follow up its request to India for a country visit in the concluding observations on that country. This request was made during the review of the exceptional report on India regarding issues related to the impact of the 2002 Gujarat massacre on women. This exceptional report was due to be reviewed at the Committee's 46th session in New York however at the request of State it was rescheduled. The Committee deemed at the outset that the Government had failed to fulfil its obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women. Committee members were unrelenting in calling for just reparation to and rehabilitation of victims as well as an end to impunity. Additionally, the Committee was unimpressed with the delegation's attempts to downplay the massacre by calling it a 'sporadic incidence of violence,' and hence underestimating the extent of damage and suffering caused. |
