STATEMENT: Women's Anti-Discrimination Committee Reaffirms Commitment to Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security as Three-Week Session Concludes

Committee Adopts Observations on Seven States Parties; Chair Says Committee Identified Implementation Gaps, Sought Solutions to Persistent Discrimination.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women today reaffirmed its commitment to the spirit of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security and its integral link to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, as it wrapped up its forty-sixth session.

Adopting a statement to mark the tenth anniversary of passage of the Council text, the Committee described 1325 as an important international political recognition that women and gender were relevant to international peace and security. For the first time, the Security Council had addressed the disproportionate and unique impact of armed conflict on women and recognized the under-valued and under-utilized contributions they made to conflict prevention and resolution, peacekeeping and peacebuilding, the Committee said in the statement.

In that light, it urged Member States to put resolution 1325 and the follow-on texts, resolutions 1820 (2008) and 1889 (2009), into practice by initiating, whenever appropriate, international investigation, with particular emphasis on sexual violence. It urged the Security Council to continue to support current efforts to resolve that situation in line with those resolutions.

Furthermore, the Committee stressed the need for a concerted, integrated approach that would place implementation of those texts into a broader framework of implementation of the Women's Convention and its Optional Protocol and called on States parties to enhance collaboration with civil society.

Also during the session, which began on 12 July, the Committee's 23 experts who function in their personal capacity, adopted concluding observations on the compliance of seven States parties with the Women's Convention, whose periodic reports were considered during the meetings: Argentina; Fiji; Russian Federation; Australia; Turkey; Papua New Guinea; and Albania. Consideration of India's exceptional report — originally scheduled for the current session — was deferred until the Committee's next session in October.

The Committee also took a decision on a case under the Optional Protocol, which enables it to consider complaints from individuals or groups within its jurisdiction. The draft report of the session, introduced by Committee Rapporteur Violeta Neubauer, expert from Slovenia, was adopted as amended, as well as the provisional agenda for its forty-seventh session, scheduled for 4 to 22 October, in Geneva.

Committee Chairperson Xiaoqiao Zou of China noted that debate continued on the draft general recommendation on older women, the economic consequences of divorce and article 2 of the Convention related to policy measures.

Ms. Xiaoqiao said the session had been marked by constructive dialogue with States parties, including Papua New Guinea, which had presented its report to the Committee for the first time. States parties had discussed their efforts to revise marriage and family laws, protect women's rights in the labour market, form new educational initiatives for women, eliminate gender discrimination and stereotypes, promote women's participation in public life, and tackle violence against women.

Urging all States parties to discuss the Committee's concluding observations in their respective Parliaments, she said the Committee had identified gaps and challenges and, together with the country's representatives, had sought to identify strategies for future action and to find solutions to the challenges of persistent discrimination.

She noted that the Committee had also met with non-governmental organizations to discuss country-specific recommendations and thematic issues related to its work, as well as with the Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women, the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and the human rights adviser of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).