Home » Optional Protocol to CEDAW » Communications procedure » How to use the communications procedure and prepare the communication
How to use the communications procedure and prepare the communication
The communications procedure includes:
- submitting the complaint;
- the decision of the CEDAW Committee on the admissibility/inadmissibility of the communication;
- the steps taken by the Committee as follow-up of its decision on admissibility.
The information provided below refers to the first step of the procedure - to submitting the complaint:
- If you plan to use the communications procedure make sure that:
▪ the State that has violated your rights protected by the CEDAW Convention or the rights of the victim/victims that you are acting on behalf of, has ratified or acceded the Optional Protocol to CEDAW;
▪ the facts that are subject to the communication occurred after the Optional Protocol entered into force for the State Party concerned. The only exception is where those facts (the discrimination/violation) continued after that date although they had started before it;
▪ the victim/victims of the violations of the women’s rights that you plan to represent in the communication to the CEDAW Committee have given you her/their consent, unless you can justify why you are proceeding without it. This might be the case where the victim is unable to consent because of the lack of legal capacity, serious illness or other important reasons. Also, if the communication is submitted on behalf of a large group of victims it may be unrealistic to get consent from each of them. In some cases the victims may fear giving their consent because of the risk of ill-treatment or other retaliatory acts;
▪ all available remedies at the national level have been exhausted. The CEDAW Committee may waive this requirement if it can be justified that the process is unreasonably prolonged or unlikely to bring effective relief;
▪ the same matter has not been examined by CEDAW Committee or has not been or is not being examined under another procedure of international investigation or settlement;
▪ the communication you submit is not anonymous.
- While working on the communication be sure to:
▪ Prepare it in writing;
▪ Link the facts that occurred and are the subject of the communication to the rights protected by the CEDAW Convention;
▪ Present the information pointing to discrimination based on sex or gender;
▪ Provide the CEDAW Committee with all necessary information. Although there is no obligatory format for filing a complaint the model form available at the address below might be helpful: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/opmodelform.html
Please note that the secretariat of the CEDAW Committee has been transferred to Geneva and the complaints should be sent to:
Petitions Team Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights United Nations Office at Geneva 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Fax:+ 41 22 917 9022
(particularly for urgent matters)
▪ Submit the communication in one of the working languages of the Committee (English, Russian, French, Spanish, Chinese or Arabic);
▪ If possible, supplement your communication with additional information or supportive evidence to better explain the issues presented in the complaint (e.g. the violation, situation of the victim/victims). In this case other forms than written documents may be used;
▪ Provide the CEDAW Committee with information on the remedies that you seek. The victims of the women’s rights violation may ask for redress, such as financial compensation, but also for adequate measures to be implemented by the State in order to eliminate the factors that allowed the discrimination to take place.
This toolkit was prepared by KARAT Coalition thanks to the support of OXFAM Novib.
KARAT wishes to thank our partner IWRAW Asia Pacific for sharing with us its expertise and materials. Special thanks go to Lisa Pusey for her input and comments as well as to Karolina Siudak for her contribution to the text.
