Role
of the Committee
The primary
function of the CEDAW Committee is to monitor State implementation
of the CEDAW Convention. It does this through the consideration
of reports submitted by State parties. These can take the form
of either initial or periodic reports, or a combination of the
two. After the review of the country concerned, CEDAW Committee
prepares a set of recommendations called the Concluding Comments.
The CEDAW
Commitee also formulates General Recommendations, which are interpretative
comments on specific articles of the CEDAW Convention. These General
Recommendations are one means by which the CEDAW Committee addresses
contemporary issues which the CEDAW Convention does not expressly
mention. There are, to date, 24 General Recommendations.
With the adoption
of the Optional Protocol to CEDAW in December 2000, the CEDAW
Committee has the power to receive complaints by women or on behalf
of groups of women, through the communications procedure. Thus,
States parties which ratify the Optional Protocol to CEDAW could
be said to have granted juridical powers to the CEDAW Committee.
This enables them to function like a Human Rights Court in regards
to the effective implementation of the provisions contained in
the CEDAW Convention. The Optional Protocol to CEDAW also gives
the Committee the power to launch an inquiry into grave and systematic
violations of women's human rights on its own initiative.
