Additional Resources

last updated 31 May 2013

Additional Resources on the Complaint Procedure

The text of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women provides additional information on the complaint procedure.

Further explanations of the United Nations complaint procedures are available on the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) website (individual communications) and in the OHCHR publication Working with the United National Human Rights Programme: A Handbook for Civil Society.

Additional Resources on the Reporting Procedure

UN Fact Sheet No.22 (2007) has information about Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the State reporting system.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women webpage includes text of the Convention and Optional Protocol, status of ratification, reservations and declarations, general recommendations, and the calendar of sessions, which includes State party reports, lists of issues, and NGO shadow reports.

The International Women's Rights Action Watch (IWRAW), a U.S.-based NGO, has created a procedural guide for advocates, Producing Shadow Reports to the CEDAW Committee (2009). The U.S.-based Center for Reproductive Rights has also published several guides for advocates, including Bringing Rights to Bear Anew: 2008 Update, whichprovides a comprehensive examination of how each treaty body addresses specific women’s rights, and Step-by-Step Guide (2004), which guides advocates through the work of the UN treaty bodies and the role advocates can play at each step.

Additional information on writing and using shadow reports strategically, as well as a sample of past NGO reports, can be found in the Human Rights Reporting section of this website.

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