CEDAW Article 25 and Article 26
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2018/08/08
Article 25
1. The present Convention shall be open for signature by all States.
2. The Secretary-General of the United Nations is designated as the depositary of the present Convention.
3. The present Convention is subject to ratification. Instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
4. The present Convention shall be open to accession by all States. Accession shall be effected by the deposit of an instrument of accession with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Article 26
1. A request for the revision of the present Convention may be made at any time by any State Party by means of a notification in writing addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
2. The General Assembly of the United Nations shall decide upon the steps, if any, to be taken in respect of such a request.
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979)
The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women or the Convention provides one basis, among many other bases, to construct a situation for equal rights. The equality of the sexes requires the deliberation of the real-world policies and actions in proportion to the ideals of gender equality.
These stipulations about gender equality come in a number of different manifestations; however, the foundation remains more or less unchanging. This basis and its derivatives form the basis for the movements for equality between men and women and then the rights documents representative of the rights.
Article 25 provides the transparent, democratic, and open foundation of the Convention. Any nation can come forward and become a signatory of the Convention. Becoming a signatory, this makes for a more equitable world; then also, we can observe in hindsight decades down the road that countries unwilling or unable to adhere to the stipulations in the Convention.
The second subsection of Article 25 looks into the Secretary-General role in the current – at that time – instantiation of the Convention or the CEDAW. The role is as the depositary. The “depositary” is the role of trust; something, such as the Convention, has been entrusted to the highest official of the United Nations through the role of the depositary.
Article 25(3) speaks to the ratification. That is, Convention can be ratified by a State, by a member of the United Nations. That makes the signatory bound to the document’s stipulations for gender equality. The instruments for the ratification lie with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
The last subsection of the Convention speaks to the accession of all States. That is, the given power or attainment of a rank, or a position, with the consideration, limitation, and rules regulations of the Convention. It means: you [fill in the nation or “State”] are bound to this document now – hop to.
Article 26 provisions further details on the act of revision to the Convention. The term or phrase used is the “present Convention.” That is to say, the current version, like 2.0 versus 3.0 of a piece of software such as Linux or Windows, of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
The present Convention or the current CEDAW can be requested for revision and, by implication, needs this formal procedure for changes. Of course, as noted in some of the prior articles, the Convention can be edited or altered given the changes, sufficiently reasonable, in the external scientific and technological landscape of the world.
Any country can make a formal request for an alteration of the COnvention through the written notification addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. From this address, the request should specify with some detail the areas in the present Convention and then, let’s call it, the changes wanted for a hoped-for Convention.
Then the General Assembly will then deliberate and make a decision on the request for the change, to make any or none. Not the most exciting portion of the Convention, granted; however, these internal processes provide some foundation upon which to alter the rights landscape of the international rights world for a more equitable national environment over time.
–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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