The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is a powerful legal instrument for articulating, advocating for, and monitoring women’s human rights. International Women’s Rights Action Watch (IWRAW) offers assistance to women’s rights NGOs in order to help them better advocate at the international level.
Engaging with the CEDAW Committee
Each January and June, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee) holds sessions to monitor the implementation of the treaty. At each session, eight countries that have ratified CEDAW are called upon to report on their progress. Presentations by government representatives are followed by question and answer sessions during which the CEDAW committee can challenge the government’s testimony. Reports by individual NGOs are extremely valuable in this process because they bring country-specific issues to the attention of the CEDAW committee, which can then question the government representative about them.
Supporting NGOs with Shadow Reports
In order for NGOs to make effective use of this system, however, they must know how to submit individual reports, called shadow reports, to the CEDAW committee. This can be a difficult process, and many NGOs lack the knowledge necessary to submit a good shadow report. IWRAW addresses this issue by providing information and guidelines about the process to NGOs.
In order to simplify the shadow report writing process, IWRAW has developed a procedural guide on how to organize a report and convey it to CEDAW. The report writing guide follows an instructive, coaching format and encourages the writer to consider questions of audience, specificity of content and argument. The guide is available on IWRAW’s website, as well as sample shadow reports for NGOs that would benefit from a model. IWRAW also compiles its own shadow reports based on research from a broad number of contacts in each country.
Enhancing Visibility and Impact
In addition to providing support for NGO shadow reports, IWRAW also invites a select number of NGO representatives to attend their country’s CEDAW session at the UN. Organizations generally fund their own travel expenses, but IWRAW is able to assist in some cases. The women who attend a CEDAW session not only heighten their organizations’ visibility but also raise their own individual status and the status of their fellow country women. Upon returning home, the attendee may hold a press conference to present the CEDAW Committee’s recommendations to the public, thereby further expanding the visibility of women’s concerns.
IWRAW was founded in 1985 at the World Conference on Women in Nairobi, Kenya, with the goal of monitoring the implementation of CEDAW. The organization has formed a network of over 5,000 NGOs worldwide that focus on women’s rights. One year before a CEDAW Committee session, the UN announces the eight countries that are to be present at that session. When this information has been released, IWRAW notifies the NGOs within those countries of the upcoming session and offers them flexible assistance in developing a shadow report to present.
