Committee on the elimination of Discrimination against Women considers Ethiopia’s Report.
M2 PRESSWIRE-February 22, 2019-: Committee on the elimination of Discrimination against Women considers Ethiopia’s Report
(C)1994-2019 M2 COMMUNICATIONS
RDATE:22022019
GENEVA, Switzerland -- The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women today considered the eighth periodic report of Ethiopia on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
Hilary Gbedemah, Committee Chairperson, said that the delegation of Ethiopia was unable to come to Geneva due to costs and would engage in the dialogue via video conference.
Yoseph Kassaye, Deputy Permanent Representative of Ethiopia to the United Nations Office at Geneva, reiterated the commitment and readiness of Ethiopia to engage constructively with the Committee.
A member of the delegation introduced the report on behalf of Semegn Wube, State Minister, Ministry of Women, Children and Youth of Ethiopia, noting that the dialogue was taking place at a time of remarkable reforms and progress in the country. All political prisoners and detainees had been released and the law on civil society had been repealed. The women's development and change strategy focused on enhancing the participation of women in political, economic, cultural and social life, and the country had committed to eliminating child marriage by 2025. The strategic plan for the elimination of violence against women and children was in place, as was the special investigative unit within the police to investigate crimes of gender-based violence, special sexual violence courts, and one stop service centres for victims of violence. Despite all the efforts and investments, deep rooted cultural values and traditions perpetuating gender stereotypes still prevailed and held women back. Still, Ethiopia remained committed to the goals of gender equality and women's advancement.
In the dialogue that followed, the Committee welcomed the progress that Ethiopia had made in advancing gender equality and women's rights, the sharp increase in women's participation in political and public life, gender parity in the cabinet, and the civil society organizations proclamation of 2019 which had widened the space for non-governmental organizations, including those working on women's rights and gender equality. Experts urged Ethiopia to review its laws from a gender perspective and adopt a comprehensive law on gender-based violence that would include all forms of violence against women, including gang rape, acid attacks, and marital rape. Despite the legislation on countering gender stereotypes, women continued to suffer all forms of sexual and gender-based violence, and were victims of harmful traditional practices. Of particular concern was the very high rate of child marriage which stood at 58 per cent. Ethiopia had made important strides in reducing maternal mortality but regional disparities in access to health remained, Experts said. They raised the issue of the high number of out-of-school refugee children, girls in particular, and gender-based violence in refugee camps.
In conclusion, Ethiopia thanked the Committee and said that additional information would be sent within 48 hours.
The Chair, in her concluding remarks, commended Ethiopia for its efforts and encouraged it to take measures to address the Committee's concluding observations.
The delegation of Ethiopia consisted of representatives of the Ministry of Women, Children and Youth, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education, Federal Attorney General, Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, and the Permanent Mission of Ethiopia to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
The Committee will issue the concluding observations on the report of Ethiopia at the end of its seventy-second session on 8 March. Those, and other documents relating to the Committee's work, including reports submitted by States parties, can be found on thesession's webpage.
The webcast of the Committee's public meetings can be accessed athttp://webtv.un.org/.
The Committee will reconvene on Friday, 22 February at 10 a.m. to hold a half-day general discussion on trafficking in women and girls in the context of global migration. At 3 p.m., it will examine the report of Myanmar under the exceptional reportingprocedure on the situation of Rohingya women and girls in northern Rakhine state (CEDAW/C/MMR/4-5/Add.1).
Report
The Committee is considering the eighth periodic report of Ethiopia (CEDAW/C/ETH/8).
Opening Remarks
HILARY GBEDEMAH,Committee Chairperson, said that unfortunately, the delegation of Ethiopia was unable to come to Geneva due to costs and would engage in the dialogue via video conference. The Chair thanked the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa for having made the necessary arrangements.
YOSEPH KASSAYE,Deputy Permanent Representative of Ethiopia to the United Nations Office at Geneva, said that the Ethiopian delegation could not come to Geneva, but would engage with the Committee via video conference from Addis Ababa. This demonstrated both the commitment and readiness of Ethiopia to engage constructively and timely with the Committee and share the enormous work done and efforts made to implement its human rights obligations.
Presentation of the Report
A member of the delegation, speaking on behalf of SEMEGN WUBE,State Minister, Ministry of Women, Children and Youth of Ethiopia, remarked that the dialogue was taking place at a time of remarkable reforms and progress in terms of opening up of human rights and democratic space in the country, which benefitted women. Ethiopia was one of the few countries in the world which had achieved gender parity in the cabinet, and women held the positions of Prime Minister and the President of the Supreme Court. All political prisoners and detainees had been released, and for the first time in a long while, there were no detained journalists, while the restrictions on the right to freedom of expression had been lifted. Major reforms were ongoing in the justice sector with the Legal Reform Council which had started the reform of the laws that had been criticized as severely restricting the civic and democratic space. The law on civil society had already been repealed. Ethiopia was a country in transition, therefore there were challenges, in particular the impact of the conflict and the displacement of large numbers of people across the country. The Government was taking measures to support internally displaced persons, with a focus on the special needs of women and children.
Turning to the report, the delegate said that the women's development and change strategy focused on enhancing the participation of women in political, economic, cultural and social life. The national strategy on harmful traditional practices was based on three pillars of prevention, protection and provision of services and was focused on child marriage, female genital mutilation, and abduction. Ethiopia had committed to eliminating child marriage by 2025 and had prepared a road map for the implementation of this goal 2019-2023. A coordinating body for the implementation of...
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