Background information
Eleven ESCWA Member States have ratified the Convention, and many have constitutional guarantees granting women equal rights with men. Reports submitted to the Committee demonstrate the efforts that are being made by these States parties to enhance women's status and promote women's rights. However, as is the case world-wide, rights guaranteed in international and domestic law have yet to be translated fully into de facto equality for women in areas such as education, employment, health, participation in public life and decision-making, and in the family. In many instances, comprehensive measures to address violence against women remain to be established.
Goals
The goal of the workshop is to enhance implementation of the Convention by building the capacity of judges and parliamentarians to protect and promote women's rights to equality and non-discrimination.
The expected accomplishments at the end of the workshop include:
- Enhanced understanding of the relevance and applicability of the Convention for the work of judges and parliamentarians;
- Increased awareness and understanding of the steps necessary to enact and interpret laws in accordance with the Convention;
- Increased understanding of the possible harmonization of provisions of the Convention and provisions of Sharia and Islamic jurisprudence (fikh);
- Enhanced awareness of the impact on women's equality of reservations to the Convention, measures to reduce such impact, and possibilities for narrowing and ultimately withdrawing such reservations;
- Increased awareness of obligations of States, under international law, to address violence against women, including in follow-up to the recommendations of the Secretary-General's in-depth study and the General Assembly resolution;
Enhanced understanding of the Optional Protocol and the opportunities provided by it for strengthening women's enjoyment of their human rights, and the role of judges and parliamentarians in this process.
Participants are invited to prepare a short paper based on hislher country specific experience. For more information, kindly refer to section D of the information note.
League of Arab States, Cairo, Egypt
