This volume is the fully revised and updated version of the first comprehensive commentary on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol. It reflects the developments during the decade following the publication of the first edition in 2012, which has also seen a notable rise in individual complaints (more than 85), ten new General Recommendations, and six new inquiry procedures as well as numerous statements, partly in conjunction with other UN human rights bodies. The Convention is a key international human rights instrument and the only one exclusively addressed to women. It has been described as the United Nations' 'landmark treaty in the struggle for women's rights'. At a time when the backlash against women's human rights and the concept of gender-based discrimination is increasingly challenged by governments and powerful societal actors, the Commentary is an important instrument to hold all state powers to account on their international obligations under the Convention. The Commentary analyses the interpretation of the Convention through the work of its monitoring body, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. It comprises detailed analyses of the Preamble and each article of the Convention and of the Optional Protocol, including a separate chapter on the cross-cutting substantive issue of violence against women. The sources relied on are the treaty language and the general recommendations, concluding observations, and case law under the Optional Protocol (individual complaints and inquiries), through which the Committee has interpreted and applied the Convention. Each chapter is self-contained, but the Commentary is conceived of as an integral whole. The book also includes an introduction which provides an overview of the Convention and its embedding in the international law of human rights as well as the most recent challenges to women's human rights worldwide.

This volume is the first comprehensive commentary on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol. The Convention is a key international human rights instrument and the only one exclusively addressed to women. It has been described as the United Nations' 'landmark treaty in the struggle for women's rights'. The Commentary describes the application of the Convention through the work of its monitoring body, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. It comprises detailed analyses of the Preamble and each article of the Convention and of the Optional Protocol. It also includes a separate chapter on the cross-cutting substantive issue of violence against women. The sources relied on are the treaty language and the general recommendations, concluding observations and case law under the Optional Protocol, through which the Committee has interpreted and applied the Convention. Each chapter is self-contained but the Commentary is conceived of as an integral whole. The book also includes an Introduction which provides an overview of the Convention and its embedding in the international law of human rights.

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.