Jurisdiction

Must the author(s) of the communications and the alleged victim(s) be nationals of the State party concerned?

There is no requirement that the individual woman or group of individuals who claim to be victims of the violations concerned be citizens or even residents of the State party against whom the communication is being submitted. Refugee, trafficked women and illegal immigrants would all have standing to bring a communication against a State in which they are located. The violation must, however, have occurred at a time when the individual(s) was subject to the jurisdiction of the State party concerned. While in the majority of communications this will mean that the individual, at the time the violation occurred, was physically present within the territory of the state party, this need not necessarily be the case always since international law recognises that a state’s “jurisdiction” is not limited to its territory. This would be so where, for example, a State party commits violations against its women citizens residing in another country or where immigration officials commit violations against a woman who is not legally admitted but seeking entry to the territory of a State party.

Source: Inter-American Institute of Human Rights. Optional Protocol. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. San Jose: 2000. p44