OP CEDAW

The Optional Protocol to CEDAW Convention

The Optional Protocol to CEDAW is a treaty that complements the Convention on elimination of all forms of discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and empowers it by establishing two procedures that can be used to address the violations of women’s human rights protected by the Convention – the communications and inquiry procedures.

The OP to CEDAW was adopted by UN General Assembly in October and opened for signatures in December 1999. It came into force in December 2000 after being ratified by 10 countries. As of 28 May 2009, there are 97 State Parties to the Optional Protocol to CEDAW (parties that ratified/accessed the OP).

The communications procedure, established by the Optional Protocol, enables the victims of women’s human rights violations guaranteed by CEDAW – individuals and groups of individuals – to submit a complaint to the CEDAW Committee. However in order to do that the following criteria have to be met:

• the state has to be a party to the Optional Protocol to CEDAW Convention (State Party to OP CEDAW);
• the individuals or groups lodging the complaint should be within the jurisdiction of State Party when the violation occurred;
• the complainant should exhaust the domestic remedies for women whose rights were violated;
• the same matter should not has been examined by CEDAW Committee and should not have been examined or is not being examined under another procedure of international investigation or settlement;
• the facts that are the subject of the communication occurred after the OP Protocol had been ratified by the State Party unless the facts continued after that date.

The inquiry procedure, the second procedure established by the Optional Protocol, enables the CEDAW Committee to initiate and conduct an inquiry after having received the reliable information on the grave or systematic violations by the State Party of rights protected by the CEDAW Convention. It allows the CEDAW Committee to transmit commends and recommendations to the State Party concerned. The investigation under the inquiry procedure should be conducted confidentially and the cooperation of the State Party shall be sought at all stages of the procedure.


More information about the Optional Protocol to CEDAW and how it can be used to counteract the discrimination against women can be found at the websites of:

IWRAW Asia Pacific: http://www.iwraw-ap.org/protocol.htm
Division for the Advancement of Women: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/protocol/

and in the presentations by IWRAW Asia Pacific:
CEDAW and its Optional Protocol,
OP CEDAW cases: an overview

Full text of the Optional Protocol to CEDAW in English and in Russian is available at:
www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/protocol/text.htm