The
Inquiry Procedure
The Inquiry
Procedure is a mechanism set-up under the Optional Protocol
to the CEDAW Convention (OP-CEDAW), through which the CEDAW
Committee can issue comments and recommendations on grave or
systematic violations of rights contained in the CEDAW Convention.
Alternatively, the CEDAW Committee may decide to initiate an
inquiry that addresses grave and systematic violations resulting
from acts or omission by the States party concerned. The Inquiry
Procedure is a mechanism that enables the CEDAW Committee to
initiate and conduct investigations on large-scale or/and widespread
violations of women's rights occurring within the jurisdiction
of a States party.
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Grave
violations would constitute severe abuses, for example, discrimination
against women linked to violations of their rights to life,
physical and mental integrity, and security of person. A single
violation can be grave in nature and a single act can violate
more than one right. The CEDAW Committee may determine that
an inquiry into a single grave violation is appropriate on
the basis of the facts in a particular situation (e.g. two
hundred single mothers and their children being forcibly evicted
from a public housing building).
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The
term 'systematic' refers to the scale or prevalence of violations,
or to existence of scheme or policy directing violations.
Therefore violations not rising to the level of severity implied
by 'grave' may still be the focus of inquiry if there is pattern,
or abuses are committed pursuant to a scheme or policy. Violations
may be systematic in character without resulting from the
direct intention of the States party (e.g. a government policy
promoting population control in rural areas may have resulted
in the sterilisation of a large group of indigenous women
without due consent or information).
The Inquiry
Procedure will permit the CEDAW Committee to respond in a more
timely way to serious violations that are in progress under
the jurisdiction of a States party (e.g. the mass rape of women
during riots or the disappearance and assassination of women's
rights defenders.) It offers a means of addressing situations
in which individual communications do not adequately reflect
the systematic nature of widespread violations of women's rights
or individuals or groups that are unable to submit communications
due to practical constraints or fear of reprisals.
| In
accordance to Article 10 of the OP-CEDAW, States may "opt-out"
of the Inquiry Procedure at the time of signature, accession
or ratification.
The
Inquiry Procedure is set forth in Articles
8 and 9 of the OP-CEDAW. The proceedings under the
Inquiry Procedure of the OP-CEDAW can be found in Section
XVII of the Rules or Procedure
(Rules 76 to 91).
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The Inquiry
Procedure:
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Enables
the CEDAW Committee to address systematic and widespread violations;
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Allows
the CEDAW Committee to recommend measures to combat the structural
causes of discrimination against women; and
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Provides
the CEDAW Committee with an opportunity to set out a broad
range of recommendations to achieve equality between women
and men.
Source:
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women and its Optional Protocol. Handbook for Parliamentarians.
(UN, 2003) and Optional Protocol: Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (Inter-American
Institute of Human Rights, 2000)
This
page was last updated on November 1, 2003
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