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10 The Nature and Sc ope of the Convention Hanna Beate Schöpp-Schilling, Germany A historical perspective on women as individual holders of human rights clearly identifies them as latecomers. The adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, 1979; the Convention) and later of its Optional Protocol (1999) was a milestone in the long and arduous process toward this goal. Human rights is one of the three pillars of the United Nations, the other two being the safeguarding and promotion of economic and social development and the maintenance of international security and peace. As UN members, all nations have committed themselves to work together toward these goals. Human rights are inalienable; every human being is born with them. States and their governments do not “grant” rights to their citizens, nor can they take them away with impunity. Rather, it is their duty to respect, protect, and fulfill them.1 Human rights underpin all areas of life and include civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights. It was a victory for the international women’s movement and individual diplomats that, due to their untiring efforts, the basic human rights architecture—the Charter of the United Nations (1945), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948), and the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, 1966) and on Economic , Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR, 1966)—all stipulated women’s equality with men in the exercise and enjoyment of their human rights. All prohibit discrimination on the ground of sex. Why formulate then a separate Convention on the very same norms? As a “specialized” Convention , CEDAW spells out the meaning of the norms of nondiscrimination against women and their formal and substantive equality with men as to all human rights in all areas of their lives. To monitor its implementation, the Convention set up the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (the Committee). THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF THE CONVENTION l 11 The UN Commission on the Status of Women and Its Role for CEDAW Although always in the shadow of the erstwhile UN Commission on Human Rights (CHR), now the UN Council on Human Rights, and never having its work sufficiently recognized within the UN system or by the general public, the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) has been of extreme importance to women since its creation in 1946. Within the context of its mandate to “‘prepare recommendations and reports to the Economic and Social Council [ECOSOC] on promoting women’s rights in political, economic, civil, social and educational fields,’ and to make recommendations ‘on urgent problems requiring immediate attention in the field of women’s rights’” (United Nations 1995d, 13, para. 46), the CSW initiated and conducted numerous studies and programs over the years. It also drafted important conventions on women’s rights, which were later adopted by the UN General Assembly: the Convention on the Political Rights of Women (1952), the Convention on the Nationality of Married Women (1957), and the Convention on Consent to Marriage , Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages (1962). Based on additional work of the CSW, the General Assembly also adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (DEDAW) in 1967, which prepared the way for CEDAW. In addition, the UN General Assembly and various UN specialized agencies have addressed aspects of women’s human rights in other important conventions.2 Despite such efforts it became clear by 1972 that persistent discrimination against women could not be eliminated with the existing treaties alone. Thus in 1972, using the opportunity of its twentyfifth anniversary, the CSW recommended to both ECOSOC and the General Assembly that 1975 should become “International Women’s Year” to remind UN member States that new and increased efforts were needed to deal with the legal and practical manifestations of this phenomenon . Once this recommendation was approved, the CSW set out to formulate its program for the year, which included an international conference to be convened in Mexico City. This First UN World Conference on Women (1975) was a watershed for women worldwide. Its World Plan of Action, endorsed by the majority of the government delegations, called for high priority to be given “to the preparation and adoption of the convention on the elimination of discrimination against women, with effective procedures for its implementation” (United Nations 1976, para. 198), thus reaffirming the 1972 CSW view that a new, legally-binding instrument on women’s...

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