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Protection of Women from Violence and Discriminati

Thursday, November 4, 2004
In the 25 years since the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was instituted, the world has seen many advances in women’s rights. CEDAW and its Optional Protocol have been ratified or acceded to by 178 countries (including 14 countries in North Africa and the Middle East). However, several countries have issued declarations or reservations that serve to exclude and weaken the domestic applicability of CEDAW.

In its report titled, “Weakening the protection of women from violence in the Middle East and North Africa region,” Amnesty International urges the governments who have issued such declarations to align their domestic laws with international standards and CEDAW in order to ensure women’s rights to protection from violence and discrimination. International law allows countries to declare reservations upon ratification, however, the reservations are not permitted to be contrary to the purpose and goal of the treaty according to Article 28 (2) of CEDAW. Most of the reservations and declarations are closely related to the main objective of the Convention—the elimination of, and protection from, violence and discrimination against women. Amnesty International fears that if these reservations and declarations remain unchanged, women will not be guaranteed protection from violence and discrimination, and the reservations will “undermine [women’s] ability to access justice or obtain redress through national mechanisms.”

Compiled from: Amnesty International, Reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women—Weakening the protection of women from violence in the Middle East and North Africa region, 3 November 2004.

For More Information

For more information, please visit the International Law: Women's Convention section of this website.

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