Woman of the World - The Optional Protocol to CEDAW

Woman of the World -

Know Your International Human Rights

• Preface
• What are human rights?
• What is the United Nations?
• The UN: Protecting the rights of woman
• What is CEDAW
• Australia's signing of CEDAW
• A guide to the rights in CEDAW
• CEDAW and the Sex Discrimination Act
• The Optional Protocol to CEDAW
• What about Beijing?
• What can you do: The public sphere
• What can you do: Private actions

The Optional Protocol to CEDAW was accepted by the UN General Assembly on 6 October 1999 and opened for signing and ratification by national governments that were parties to CEDAW. Its provisions became operational on 22 December 2000.

The purpose of the CEDAW Optional Protocol is to strengthen the enforcement mechanisms available for the rights within CEDAW. The Protocol provides for complaints to be taken directly to the UN. Although CEDAW represents a strong and valuable statement of women's human rights, it is not always enforced by governments within their domestic legal systems. The rights exist, but they often fail to be enforced.

Complaints procedures such as the Optional Protocol exist under other international Conventions -the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). These optional agreements can be signed and ratified by the national government which is already a party to the original Convention.

The Optional Protocol to CEDAW allows women to bring a complaint about a breach of the rights under CEDAW to the CEDAW Committee. To bring a complaint, it must first be shown that all remedies available through the law in that country have been exhausted. It is important to note that the Optional Protocol does not create new rights, but provides a new enforcement mechanism for existing rights that have been in force since a national government became a party to CEDAW.

Many countries that are parties to CEDAW have established domestic mechanisms to create and enforce the rights within CEDAW. For example, Australia's Sex Discrimination Act embodies many of the rights of CEDAW. However, for the following reasons, the Optional Protocol remains important for all nations, particularly those nations that still have some way to go with respect to implementing the rights of CEDAW domestically.

• The Optional Protocol provides a 'backup' for domestic laws and policies to ensure that they are adequate and effective.
• Domestic laws and policies sometimes have gaps so that some women are not able to exercise or protect their rights - the Optional Protocol ensures that an enforcement mechanism is available.
• In countries with a federalist system, state and federal governments may have separate and independent legislative power. Therefore, the actions of one level of government may be contrary to CEDAW while the other is not. An Optional Protocol would help to ensure that all levels of government in a country find domestic methods to set uniform standards in accordance with CEDAW.
• Governments change, as do systems of power and cultural attitudes. Even though one nation's government may seem supportive of women's rights now, it may not be so in the future. The Optional Protocol provides a mechanism for the ongoing protection of women's rights.
• It is important for nations with good domestic protection for women to become a party to the Optional Protocol to demonstrate leadership for other women from nations with less effective mechanisms.

On 9 February 2001, the CEDAW Optional Protocol had 64 signatories and 15 parties (a party is a country that has ratified, as well as signed, the Optional Protocol). In 2000 Australia's Howard Coalition government announced that it did not intend to sign the Optional Protocol at this stage.

Further information about the CEDAW Optional Protocol is available at the UN website: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/index.html