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In March 2018, CEDAW adopted General recommendation No. 37 (2018) on the gender-related dimensions of disaster risk reduction in the context of climate change. The General Recommendation provides guidance to States parties on the implementation of their obligations under the Convention in relation to disaster risk reduction and climate change. The General recommendation recognises that women and girls also face a heightened risk of gender-based violence during and following disasters. In the absence of social protection schemes and in situations in which there is food insecurity combined with impunity for gender-based violence, women and girls are often exposed to sexual violence and exploitation as they attempt to gain access to food and other basic needs for family members and themselves.
On 18 September 2018, CEDAW published its inquiry report into so-called “bride kidnapping” in Kyrgyzstan. CEDAW found that women and girls suffer grave and systematic violations of their human rights due to a culture of abduction, rape and forced marriage. In 2018 and 2019, OHCHR supported the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, in its engagement with CEDAW for the elaboration of a General Recommendation on trafficking in women and girls in the context of global migration. The Special Rapporteur intervened in the context of CEDAW informal consultations in December 2018 and produced a written submission in the context of CEDAW Half-Day of General Discussion in February 2019.
OHCHR is currently engaged in the development of the UN policy on conflict-related sexual violence for peace operations.
In Ukraine, OHCHR jointly with UN Women led the drafting and finalisation of the UN Country Team Submission to the CEDAW Committee. It also participated in the consultations organised CSOs shadow reports to the CEDAW Committee. The Office thereby participated in the confidential briefing of the CEDAW committee, which led to the insertion of some of their recommendations in the Committee concluding observations – followed by the dissemination of the recommendations.
In 2017, OHCHR supported the elaboration by the CEDAW of General recommendation No. 35 on gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19, including through the active participation of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women. Support was also provided for the development of global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration envisaged in the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants (A/71/1) of the General Assembly. Including during the Fifth Informal Thematic Session on “Smuggling of migrants, trafficking in persons and contemporary forms of slavery, held on 5 September 2017 in Vienna. Besides this, the SRVAW campaigned for the inclusion of the human rights aspects of possible victims of trafficking, especially women and children from among migrants and refugees, via high-level bilateral discussions.
OHCHR assisted CEDAW (Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women) and the CRC (Committee on the Rights of the Child) in elaborating joint General Recommendation No. 31/General Comment No. 18 on harmful practices and the update of General Recommendation 19 on violence against women.
OHCHR supported the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences in producing thematic policy recommendations through her reports to the Human Rights Council (HRC) on 20 years of United Nations developments regarding VAW (A/HRC/26/38) and on closing the gap in international human rights law (A/HRC/29/27). Also her reports to the General Assembly on VAW as a barrier to the effective realization of all human rights (A/69/368) and on closing the gap in international human rights law (A/70/209).
OHCHR has continued to support the Human Rights Council’s work on women’s human rights. OHCHR submitted various reports to HRC, including a report on early, child and forced marriages (A/HRC/26/22), a report on sexual and gender-based violence in the context of transitional justice (A/HRC/27/21), and a report on the implementation of the technical guidance on the human rights-based approach to preventable maternal mortality and morbidity (A/HRC/27/20).
In August 2014, OHCHR and UN Women launched the Latin American Protocol for the investigation of Gender-Motivated Killings of women, which provides guidance for investigations to comply with due diligence standards (promoted in Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, and Peru).