Rural Women, Land and CEDAW

The norms enshrined within the Convention for the Elimination of All the Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) are at the heart of ILC's work on Women’s Land Rights. CEDAW is a key tool for advancing women’s rights at local and national level, both through monitoring its implementation and using it as a platform for advocating women’s rights.

The CEDAW convention is an important achievement and one of the most-ratified UN conventions - however, it is also one of the conventions to which states have entered the most reservations. CEDAW's guarantees of equal rights for women in the family have been challenged in particular, with many states curtailing women's rights to child custody or inheritance, and separate status codes, influenced by religious and traditional authorities are often used to regulate such matters.

The Convention is in fact the only international treaty specifically focused on preventing discrimination against women and explicitly dealing with rural women and their rights (Art. 14). CEDAW not only covers civil and political rights, but also draws attention to the economic, social and cultural dimension of discrimination.

In 2004, FAO, IFAD and ILC jointly published the report “Rural Women’s Access to Land and Property in Selected Countries. Progress Towards Achieving the Aims of Articles 14, 15 and 16 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women”. The report provides an historical background to CEDAW (1979) and its Optional Protocol (1999) as well as an overview on land issues as reflected in the reports submitted by State Parties.

Civil society organisations (CSOs) can engage significantly with CEDAW through “shadow reporting”. To facilitate such reporting, ILC has produced an Infonote and Q&A on how to use CEDAW as an advocacy tool, providing basic information on how to access the CEDAW Committee and encouraging country-level alliances for monitoring.

In 2010, the ILC Secretariat decided to update information contained in the 2004 publication, so as to have a new basis to work more closely with and through CEDAW at national level. The update gives more visibility to the CEDAW Committee’s Concluding Observations and, accordingly, also to the CSOs’ shadow reports feeding them. This inclusion offers a more critical and comprehensive, if preliminary, overview of the situation of rural women in selected countries.

Additional resources:

Participation in ICESCR and CEDAW Reporting Processes. Some useful guidelines from IWRAW Asia-Pacific and ESCR-Net, for writing on women's economic, social and cultural rights in shadow/alternative reports (2010).
Civil Society section at OHCHR. Civil society actors play a fundamental role in contributing to the protection and the promotion of human rights. Through this website, you can sign up to the contact list of the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights and stay informed about human rights activities in the UN system.
General recommendation n. 28 on the core obligations of States Parties to CEDAW. The general recommendation (2010) calls on States to devote "resources to ensuring that human rights and women's non-governmental organisations are well informed, adequately consulted and generally able to play an active role" in policy.
A Thematic study of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on discrimination against women, in law and practice, and how the issue is addressed throughout the United Nations Human Rights System, presented at the Human Rights Council in 2010.
CEDAW South Asia. A website built to facilitate the advancement of the implementation of CEDAW in South Asia by making resources dedicated to the region available more widely.
Statement on the Committe on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on its relationship with NGOs. An official statement from the CEDAW Committee (45th session) addressing the role of NGOs in the CEDAW reporting process.
Recognising Rights Promoting Progress. The Global Impact of CEDAW. A report from the International Centre for Research on Women on how CEDAW ratification and implementation have led to concrete changes in the lives of women.
Human Rights Theme Maps. On this website, you can find world maps clearly identifying States Parties and Signatories of international human rights treaties. in the case of CEDAW, you can also find info on the OP and the acceptance of the inquiry procedure [Java required].
Mechanisms for advancing women's human rights: A guide to using the Optional Protocol to CEDAW and other international complaint mechanisms. This resource, from the Australian Human Rights Commission, is intended for advocates and lawyers who can assist women to use international complaint mechanisms.
Simple Guide to the UN treaty bodies - this guide provides an overview of the UN human rights treaty system and its functions to support effective engagement with treaty bodies (including CEDAW).
Website on the Optional Protocol to CEDAW - this hub for material for advocates, academics, lawyers, and students, brings together all OP decisions and inquiry findings (by country, subject matter, decision type, and year). It provides summaries and links to original submissions, information on how to use the OP, and a list of resources. Soon to come are guest posts from women's rights experts.

Rural Women, Land and CEDAW

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