Individual Complaints
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has considered eleven complaints against seven countries since the Optional Protocol came into force, on subjects such as domestic violence, division of property, forced sterilization and parental leave. Six complaints were rejected for lack of jurisdiction or because the complainants had not exhausted all domestic remedies. The other five decisions are summarised below:
In 2005, in the case of A.T. v. Hungary, the Committee ruled that Hungary had violated numerous articles of the Convention by failing to adequately protect women against domestic violence. It recommended that the complainant be immediately protected from her abusive former partner, and that Hungary improve its handling of domestic violence cases and immediately adopt the Committee's previous recommendation for a law allowing protection and exclusion orders. The recommendations were implemented by the time of Hungary's sixth periodic report to the Committee in 2006.
In 2006, in the case of Dung Thi Thuy Nguyen v. The Netherlands, the Committee expressed concerns about aspects of parental leave provisions in The Netherlands. It recommended the Dutch government collect further information on the number of women combining part-time salaried employment with self-employment, and review the law if this revealed that a significant number of women were disadvantaged.
In 2006, in the case of A.S. vs Hungary, the Committee ruled that the forced sterilization of a Roma woman in Hungary violated the Convention. It recommended compensating the complainant for the breach of her rights, a full review of legislation surrounding informed consent in cases of sterilisation to ensure it complied with international human rights standards, and ongoing monitoring of Hungarian medical facilities to ensure that any changes were put into practice.
In 2007, in the cases of Şahide Goekce (deceased) v. Austria and Fatma Yildirim (deceased) v. Austria, the Committee ruled that the Austrian government was failing to protect women from domestic violence. It recommended strengthening the implementation and monitoring of existing domestic violence laws and greater training for police.
Read more about this topic: Optional Protocol To The Convention On The Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women
Famous quotes containing the words individual and/or complaints:
“The concept of a person is logically prior to that of an individual consciousness. The concept of a person is not to be analysed as that of an animated body or an embodied anima.”
—Sir Peter Frederick Strawson (b. 1919)
“A strange age of the world this, when empires, kingdoms, and republics come a-begging to a private man’s door, and utter their complaints at his elbow! I cannot take up a newspaper but I find that some wretched government or other, hard pushed and on its last legs, is interceding with me, the reader, to vote for it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)