Gambia’s record on women’s rights to face scrutiny by UN committee

GENEVA – The Gambia’s record on women’s rights will be examined by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on Thursday 9 July in meetings that will be webcast live.

The Gambia is one of the 189 States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and so is required to submit regular reports to the Committee of 23 independent experts on how it is implementing the Convention.

The Committee will engage in a dialogue with a delegation from the Gambian Government of on questions relating to the promotion and protection of women’s rights in the country, and will also hear from NGO representatives. The session will take place in Conference Room XVI at Palais des Nations in Geneva from 10:00 - 17:00 (08:00 – 15:00 in The Gambia).  The live webcast can be viewed at http://www.treatybodywebcast.org/. 

Among the possible issues to be discussed are: Women’s access to justice; measures to tackle female genital mutilation and other forms of violence against women; measures to promote women’s participation in political and public life; decriminalization of abortion; support for women living with HIV/AIDS; situation of rural women; incompatibility of customary and personal laws with the Convention, particularly in regard to marriage, divorce and inheritance; measures to combat child and forced marriage