The United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women - as other international instruments - was negotiated in an international and multicultural context by diplomats and politicians from a number of countries. It dealt with a highly sensitive issue, the position and role of women in society and in the political decision-making process. The vast number of extensive reservations to the Convention bear witness to the fact that this is possibly one of the most contentious topics at the international level. Few other core universal human rights conventions have attracted a comparable number of reservations. This unique Guide is an attempt to create a picture of the legal--political background to the Convention. Its basic layout follows the style of a classical commentary with annotations to the individual provisions. These annotations draw on documentary sources from the years of preparatory discussions and negotiations (the travaux préparatoires). It primarily covers the genesis of the Convention, i.e. the drafting and negotiating process up to its adoption in 1979. To enhance the Guide's usefulness, a number of more recent documents have been incorporated, for example, the General Recommendations issued by the Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women have been reproduced and references to relevant recommendations have been inserted in the annotations to each provision in question. In addition to this, a number of other documents relative to the interpretation of the Convention have been reproduced in Part III, including lists of ratifications of and reservations to the Convention. Furthermore, lists of relevant global and regional instruments and case law have been compiled.

This unique Guide is an attempt to create a picture of the legal-political background to the Convention. Its basic layout follows the style of a classical commentary with annotations to the individual provisions. These annotations draw on documentary sources from the years of preparatory discussions and negotiations (the travaux preparatoires).

This is the first commentary on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), analyzing the Convention article by article. Each chapter provides an overview of an article's negotiating history, interpretation, and all the relevant case law, including decisions and recommendations by the CEDAW Committee.

The Convention was adopted by the UN's General Assembly in 1979 and entered into force in 1981. It amplifies some of the existing provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Its provisions include obligations for states to pursue policies for eliminating discrimination against women in the areas of government, nationality, access to education and employment opportunities, health care and equality before the law. As of December 2002, the Convention had 170 ratifications.

This publication reproduces the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the nine core international human rights treaties and their optional protocols in a user-friendly format to make them more accessible, in particular to government officials, civil society, human rights defenders, legal practitioners, scholars, individual citizens and others with an interest in human rights norms and standards.

Passed in 2000, the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and subsequent seven Resolutions make up the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda. This agenda is an international policy framework addressing the gender-specific impacts of conflict on women and girls, including protection against sexual and gender-based violence, promotion of women's participation in peace and security processes and support for women's roles as peace builders in the prevention of conflict and rebuilding of societies after conflict. The handbook addresses the concepts and early history behind WPS; international institutions involved with the WPS agenda; the implementation of WPS in conflict prevention and connections between WPS and other UN resolutions and agendas.

This Commentary provides the first comprehensive legal article-by-article analysis of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The Convention is the key international human rights instrument exclusively devoted to persons with disabilities and the centerpiece of international efforts to address inequalities and barriers they encounter to the full enjoyment of human rights. The book discusses the Convention’s position within existing international human rights law and within the framework of the United Nations measures to protect the rights of people with disabilities. Starting with the background of all the Convention’s articles, including the travaux préparatoires, this Commentary examines each provision’s substance and interpretation, and explores the significance of each right, its legal scope and relationship with other international legal norms and principles. A unique contribution also analyzes the Optional Protocol to the Convention. In addition to enriching academic studies of international human rights law, the book provides insights into the practical operation of the Convention’s provisions by assessing the practice of the CRPD Committee, the activities of relevant international and regional human rights bodies in enforcing the rights of persons with disabilities and the contracting parties’ implementation practices. Relevant European Court of Human Rights, the Court of Justice of the European Union and, if appropriate, other regional jurisdictions’ case law, as well as the jurisprudence of domestic courts, are taken into consideration. Contributions from leading scholars and international experts make this book an indispensable resource for lawyers, academics, students, journalists, international organizations, NGOs and other stakeholders wanting to better understand the rights of people with disabilities. Furthermore, it makes a valuable contribution to appraising the impact of the Convention in the legal orders of contracting parties and to charting the way forward in the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities.