Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly

The General Assembly,

Bearing in mind that one of the purposes of the United Nations, as stated in Articles 1 and 55 of the Charter, is to promote universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction of any kind, including distinction as to sex,

Affirming that women and men should participate equally in social, economic and political development, should contribute equally to such development and should share equally in improved conditions of life,

Recalling its resolution 34/180 of 18 December 1979, by which it adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,

Recalling also its resolutions 35/140 of 11 December 1980, 36/131 of 14 December 1981, 37/64 of 3 December 1982, 38/109 of 16 December 1983, 39/130 of 14 December 1984, 40/39 of 29 November 1985 and 41/108 of 4 December 1986,

Aware of the important contribution that the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women can make to eliminating all forms of discrimination against women and to achieving legal and de facto equality between women and men,

Noting the emphasis placed by the World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace on ratification of and accession to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,

Having considered the report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on its sixth session, notably general recommendations 2, 3 and 4 on ways and means of implementing article 21 of the Convention,

1.         Welcomes the ratification of or accession to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women by an increasing number of Member States;

2.         Urges all States that have not yet ratified or acceded to the Convention to do so as soon as possible;

3.         Emphasizes the importance of the strictest compliance by States parties with their obligations under the Convention;

4.         Requests the Secretary-General to submit annually to the General Assembly a report on the status of the Convention;

5.         Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on the status of the Convention;

6.         Takes note of the report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on its sixth session;

7.         Urges States parties to make all possible efforts to submit their initial reports on the implementation of the Convention in accordance with article 18 thereof and with the guidelines of the Committee;

8.         Takes note of the views on the report of the Committee expressed by delegations at the first regular session of 1987 of the Economic and Social Council;

9.         Decides that no action be taken on decision 4 adopted by the Committee and requests the Committee to review that decision, taking into account the views expressed by delegations at the first regular session of 1987 of the Economic and Social Council and in the Third Committee of the General Assembly at its forty-second session;

10.       Takes note of the general recommendations adopted by the Committee pursuant to the discussions at its sixth session on ways and means of implementing article 21 of the Convention;

11.       Notes with concern the account by the Committee of the present constraints within which it operates with regard to the backlog of reports awaiting consideration and encourages the Committee to intensify its discussion on ways and means of dealing with this problem, including possible adjustment of the reporting system, and to formulate in an appropriate way suggestions to that effect for consideration by the Economic and Social Council and by the General Assembly at its forty-third session;

12.       Welcomes the efforts made by the Committee to rationalize its procedures and expedite the consideration of periodic reports, and encourages the Committee to continue its endeavours to those ends;

13.       Decides, on an exceptional basis, that the Committee may hold no more than eight additional meetings during its session in 1988 in order to advance consideration of reports already submitted to the Committee;

14.       Invites the Committee and the States parties to consider the question of holding future sessions of the Committee at Vienna, taking into account the recommendation of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions and all relevant factors;

15.       Requests the Secretary-General to make every effort to ensure adequate servicing within existing resources for the effective functioning of the Committee;

16.       Also requests the Secretary-General, within existing resources and drawing in particular on funds available to the Department of Public Information of the Secretariat to provide, facilitate and encourage public information activities relating to the Committee and the Convention, giving priority to the dissemination of the Convention in the official languages of the United Nations;

17.       Further requests the Secretary-General to transmit the report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to the Commission on the Status of Women for information.