How to use the inquiry procedure

The inquiry procedure is less formal than the communications procedure in terms of the requirements that should be fulfilled in order to communicate to the Committee the information on the ‘grave or systematic’ violation of women’s human rights under the CEDAW Convention.

There is no specific format that should be used to submit the information – it can be oral or written. Also, there are no restrictions as to who may present the information, which means that it can be also submitted by NGOs and individuals who are not affected by the violation and/or are in no relation with the State Party concerned.   The only requirements are:

-        the State has to be a Party to the Optional Protocol that has not ‘opted-out’ of the inquiry procedure;

-        the information communicated to the Committee has to be reliable.

Although there are no specific rules for submission of the information to CEDAW it is useful to follow the tips listed below in order to answer the Committee’s demand for information necessary to consider the inquiry procedure.

The following guidelines are based on the Resource Guide by IWRAW Asia Pacific “Our rights are not Optional!”, handout 12, p. 85, thus for more information see: http://www.iwraw-ap.org/documents/resourceguide/Our_Rights_Guide.pdf

Information on the author/authors:

-       Although the information may be anonymous, it is better to provide the Committee with contact information of the author of the inquiry, which would help to verify the reliability of the information and – if necessary – to ask for additional information: name of person/organization, address, e-mail, phone/fax numbers.

Information on the inquiry:

-       Argue why the inquiry procedure is the appropriate procedure to address the violation of women’s human rights described in the submitted information;

-       Indicate the State Party responsible for the violation/violations;

-       Indicate the nature of the violation: ‘grave’, ‘systematic’ or ‘grave and systematic’;

-       Provide a brief (one-page) description of the violation/violations and an explanation of why the Committee should initiate the inquiry procedure;

Detailed information on the nature of the alleged violation:

o   Description of the facts, information on the dates, place, harm suffered or to be prevented;

o   Information on the victims and impact of the violation/violations;

o   Information on the alleged perpetrator/perpetrators;

o   Information about actions taken by the victims of the violations, or on their behalf, to obtain remedies, including filing complaints to institutions at national and international level;

o   Information about steps taken by the officials to address the violations, and prevent them from happening in the future;

o   Information on the action or omission of the State to remedy the situation;

o   Additional information supporting the submission, such as statistics, information on the laws and policies and how they affect women’s situation.