CEDAW Article 17(4)-(6)
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2018/08/04
Article 17
4. Elections of the members of the Committee shall be held at a meeting of States Parties convened by the Secretary-General at United Nations Headquarters. At that meeting, for which two thirds of the States Parties shall constitute a quorum, the persons elected to the Committee shall be those nominees who obtain the largest number of votes and an absolute majority of the votes of the representatives of States Parties present and voting.
5. The members of the Committee shall be elected for a term of four years. However, the terms of nine of the members elected at the first election shall expire at the end of two years; immediately after the first election the names of these nine members shall be chosen by lot by the Chairman of the Committee.
6. The election of the five additional members of the Committee shall be held in accordance with the provisions of paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of this article, following the thirty-fifth ratification or accession. The terms of two of the additional members elected on this occasion shall expire at the end of two years, the names of these two members having been chosen by lot by the Chairman of the Committee.
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979)
In the formation of the Committee, there are stipulations relevant to the internal workings of the Committee to formalize the processes for the Convention. Much or all of Article 17 deals with this minutiae. Within Article 17(4), the stipulation relates to the members of the Committee coming together at the United Nations HQ.
This is to be set forth by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, this is a huge honor for many people. Also, it remains an important show of the import of it. Now, a significant majority at two-thirds must be present at the meeting in order for a quorum to be met, and for the Committee’s meeting to commence.
The individuals with the majority of the votes shall be the ones to be elected to the Committee to represent the Convention’s interests, which makes this not only an international event with a significant majority to even begin but also those who are deemed most qualified become those elected to the Committee.
That is to say, it becomes majoritarian to the core, as is much of the internal operation and external manifestations of the United Nations in many respects. The count is called an absolute majority, or simply those with the most votes get on and those with the least votes do not get on.
Article 17(5) speaks to the term limits of the members who earn the “absolute majority” vote from the rest of the Committee. Of those who earn their rank within the Committee, they become the people who take on the rights and responsibilities of the Committee to represent the Convention for four terms. Each term is four years.
There are some exceptions with the terms of nine members elected within the first election. Those individuals will be expired in their position within two years. The other positions are for four-year terms. A set of four-year terms and the nine who have only two-year terms.
With the first election, the Chairman of the Committee will then select a small group of nine from those elected by the absolute majority to then be able to take on two-year terms, while those not selected will remain the double-length in term at four years for theirs.
Article 17(6) notes five more members of the Committee will operate especially within the constraints of paragraphs 2, 3, and 4 of Article 17. This, apparently, follows the thirty-fifth ratification of the Convention. The twos of two of these extra members will expire as with others at the end of a two-year stint. These two members will be selected by the Chairman of the Committee as well. These remain standard operations or regular procedural processes of the Committee on behalf of the rights enshrined in the Convention.
–One can find similar statements in other documents, conventions, declarations and so on, with the subsequent statements of equality or women’s rights:
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the Preamble, Article 16, and Article 25(2).
- Convention Against Discrimination in Education (1960) in Article 1.
- The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) in Article 3 and Article 13.
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966).
- Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979).
- Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984).
- The Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (1993).
- Beijing Declaration(1995).
- United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000).
- Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (2000).
- The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa or the “Maputo Protocol” (2003).
- Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence or the Istanbul Convention (2011) Article 38 and Article 39.
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