The Impact of Recommendations

In ratifying the CEDAW Convention and OP-CEDAW, States parties have already assumed legal obligations to remedy violations of rights enshrined in the former. The CEDAW Committee is not a judicial body, however, and its views are of a recommendatory rather than obligatory character. That said, although not legally enforceable within the jurisdiction of States parties, recommendations of the CEDAW Committee are nonetheless authoritative and highly persuasive in character.

Recommendations from the CEDAW Committee are valuable tools for influencing the recognition, promotion and realisation of women's rights at all levels: legal, political and practical.