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 previous resolutions on the Convention, and taking note of Economic and Social Council resolution 1990/17 of 24 May 1990,

Taking note of resolution 34/6 of 8 March 1990 of the Commission on the Status of Women,

Taking note also of the decisions taken on 6 February 1990 at the Fifth Meeting of States Parties to the Convention,

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 the ratification of and accession to the Convention,

Having considered the report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on its ninth session,

Noting that the Committee agreed, in examining reports, to take due account of the different cultural and socio-economic systems of States parties to the Convention,

Recalling that in article 17, paragraph 9, of the Convention, the Secretary-General is required to provide the necessary staff and facilities for the effective performance of the functions of the Committee,

Recalling also its resolution 44/73 of 8 December 1989 in which, inter alia, it strongly supported the view of the Committee that the Secretary-General should accord higher priority to strengthening support for the Committee,

Welcoming the general recommendations of the Committee contained in its reports on its seventh, eighth and ninth sessions,

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.         Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General and requests him to submit annually to the General Assembly a report on the status of the Convention;

5.         Also takes note of the report of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on its ninth session;

6.         Invites States parties to the Convention to make all possible efforts to submit their initial as well as their second and subsequent periodic reports on the implementation of the Convention, in accordance with article 18 thereof and with the guidelines provided by the Committee, and to co-operate fully with the Committee in the presentation of their reports;

7.         Welcomes the efforts made by the Committee to rationalize its procedures and expedite the consideration of periodic reports and to develop procedures and guidelines for the consideration of second and subsequent periodic reports, and strongly encourages the Committee to continue those efforts;

8.         Welcomes also, in accordance with the Committee's general recommendation No. 11, the initiatives taken to provide regional training courses on the preparation and drafting of reports of States parties for government officials and training and information seminars for States considering acceding to the Convention, and urges the relevant organs and organizations of the United Nations to support such initiatives;

9.         Recognizes the special relevance of the periodic reports of States parties to the Convention to the efforts of the Commission on the Status of Women to review and appraise the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women in those countries;

10.       Requests the Secretary-General to continue his efforts to provide secretariat staff, including legal staff expert in human rights treaty implementation, and technical resources for the effective performance by the Committee of its functions;

11.       Strongly supports the view of the Committee that the Secretary-General should accord higher priority within existing resources to strengthening technical and substantive support for the Committee, in particular to assist in preparatory research;

12.       Requests the Secretary-General to undertake a comprehensive review of the resources available and necessary to ensure adequate support to the Committee and to the effective implementation of all other aspects of the programme on the advancement of women, and to report thereon to the General Assembly at its forty-sixth session;

13.       Welcomes the establishment of a pre-session working group of the Committee to consider second and subsequent periodic reports, which should greatly expedite the work of the Committee, and urges that this practice be continued, within the regular budget allocation;

14.       Requests the Secretary-General to continue to provide for, facilitate and encourage, within existing resources, the dissemination of information relating to the Committee, its recommendations, the Convention and the concept of legal literacy, taking into account the Committee's own recommendations to that end;

15.       Recommends that sessions of the Committee should be scheduled, whenever possible, to allow for the timely transmission of the results of its work to the Commission on the Status of Women, for information, in the same year;

16.       Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its forty-sixth session a report on the implementation of the present resolution, and to transmit the report to the Commission on the Status of Women at its thirty-sixth session.