,

Red Global Cedaw: experiences of construction of shadow reports by feminist social organizations

Last Tuesday, April 26, we participated in the third meeting of the CEDAW Global Network where we shared experiences on the preparation of shadow reports.

“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.

All States that have signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) must submit periodic reports to its Committee to account for compliance with the international obligations assumed with their signature and accession. The civil society organizations of each country, depending on their experience and the work they carry out, can present a “shadow report”, a kind of alternative and complementary report to those presented by the States parties to account for the reality of women that they know first-hand, so that the Committee has the necessary tools to prepare the final recommendations.

In view of the relevance of the participation of organizations in this process, we were invited to participate in the meetings of the CEDAW Global Network, organized by Gloria Ramírez, Coordinator of the UNESCO Chair in Human Rights at UNAM. The objective of this Network is to create a space for convergence, dialogue and discussion around the experiences of elaboration and participation in the formation of CEDAW reports.

From our experience we present and share the process of preparing three reports for CEDAW, all in the framework of the 65th session of the Convention: Tobacco control in Argentina: pending tasks to protect women’s health; Gender violence and public communication policies and Access to natural resources of rural women in the Gran Chaco region of Argentina.

We heard contributions from both the UNESCO Chair in Human Rights at UNAM and civil society organizations from Ecuador, Guatemala, Uruguay and Colombia.

Throughout the meeting we shared experiences by country regarding the challenges of each region, as well as the implementation of the gender perspective in the different areas of the country. The possibility of collaboration agreements with the Chair was explored and we delved into the progress and challenges in reference to gender violence in each country.

In this framework, together with the Global Network and the organizations that make it up, we will continue working to support cooperation in monitoring the implementation of the commitments assumed by the States party to CEDAW, the preparation of shadow reports and the exploration and development of advocacy strategies to collaborate in the guarantee of the human rights of women and diversities and gender-based dissidence.

 

More Information

Contact

Cecilia Bustos Moreschi, cecilia.bustos.moreschi@fundeps.org