INFORMATION SEMINAR "IMPLEMENTING THE CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN : THE ROLE OF PARLIAMENTS AND THEIR MEMBERS" Geneva, 11 October 2007
	Organised jointly by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women.

	The seminar is organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union in cooperation with the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women (UNDAW) and will take place on 11 October 2007 at International Conference Centre Geneva (CICG). It primarily targets members of parliaments of those States parties to the Convention whose reports were considered or will be considered by the CEDAW Committee during the course of 2007 and the beginning of 2008. Its aim is to identify opportunities for strengthening parliament's role both in the reporting process, including preparation and presentation of reports, and in follow-up to the Committee's concluding observations in regard to the reporting State. Various experts, including a member of the CEDAW Committee, a member of the Committee's Secretariat, and members of parliament with experience in this field, will facilitate this information seminar. The afternoon session will focus on article 4 of the Convention: Temporary Special Measures.

 

SESSION DOCUMENTS
	Program [HTML] [PDF]
	Registation Form [PDF]
RELATED SITES AND DOCUMENTS
	The Convention
	United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women Web site
	2006 information seminar
	2005 information seminar
Note: Documents in PDF format require Adobe Acrobat Reader

Updated on 25 September 2007
PROGRAM
THURSDAY, 11 OCTOBER
8:45 - 9:30	Registration
9:30 - 9:45	Welcoming remarks
9:45 - 11:00	Introducing the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and its Optional Protocol -  Why a Convention on discrimination against women? -  Why an Optional Protocol to the Convention? Presentations by: Ms. F. Gaspard, member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women Ms. C. Brautigam, Chief, Women's Rights Section, UN Division for the Advancement of Women The presentations will be followed by a debate
11:00 - 11:15	Coffee break
11:15 - 12:30	Implementing the Convention: the Role of Parliament -  Developing an adequate legislative and oversight framework -  Working with civil society and the media -  Keeping track of progress -  Parliamentary involvement in the CEDAW reporting mechanism Presentations by: Ms. F. Gaspard, member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women A Member of Parliament The presentations will be followed by a debate
12:30 - 14:30	Lunch break
14:30 - 15:45	One aspect of the Convention - Temporary special measures -  Article 4, paragraph 1 of the Convention and general recommendation 25 of the Committee: What are temporary special measures and their purpose? -  Pros and cons -  What are the challenges faced? Presentation by: Ms. F. Gaspard, member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women The presentation will be followed by a debate
15:45 - 17:00	Temporary special measures in practice -  Quotas for women in politics -  Temporary special measures in education, employment, the private sector and other areas Presentation by: Ms Julie Ballington, Programme officer, Gender Partnership Programme, Inter-Parliamentary Union Ms. Christine Brautigam, Chief, Women's Rights Section, UN Division for the Advancement of Women National examples from members of Parliament The presentations will be followed by a debate
17:00 - 17:30	Conclusions and recommendations