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1. There is no specific date proposed. It is proposed that New Zealand lodge an Instrument of Ratification for the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) with the Secretary-General of the United Nations after consideration of the Optional Protocol by the House. No legislation will be necessary to give effect to the Optional Protocol. The Optional Protocol will enter into force once it has been ratified by 10 States. As at 10 December 1999, 24 States had signed the instrument although none had yet ratified.
2. CEDAW was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1979 and entered into force in 1981. New Zealand ratified the Convention in 1986. The Convention requires States to eliminate discrimination against women, to guarantee women’s human rights, and to initiate measures to promote the equality of women. The Convention established the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (the CEDAW Committee) to oversee States’ reports under the Convention. The Convention did not grant the CEDAW Committee powers to receive individual complaints (“communications”) of breaches of the Convention, or the power to initiate investigations into alleged breaches, however. Other key core UN human rights instruments, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (and its First Optional Protocol), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, grant their committees power to investigate human rights abuses, and to receive communications from individuals. Given these precedents, the international community agreed that similar procedures should be put in place to provide women a forum for complaints of violations of the rights guaranteed by CEDAW. This led to negotiations on an Optional Protocol to CEDAW, which concluded in March 1999. The Optional Protocol was adopted by the UN General Assembly in October and opened for signature by states on 10 December 1999.
3. The Optional Protocol will allow individuals or groups of individuals to make communications to the CEDAW Committee claiming violation of rights under the Convention, and the Committee to inquire into the women’s rights situations in instances where there are suspected to be grave or systematic violations of CEDAW. Communications are to be made in writing to the Committee. States then respond, again by submission, and the Committee considers the case. Communications can only be made if domestic legal remedies have been exhausted. Although the Committee’s findings will not be binding on states, they will have considerable moral force.
4. Beyond the ability to lodge communications, the Optional Protocol does not grant additional rights above those acknowledged by CEDAW itself. It seeks to ensure those rights, already guaranteed to New Zealand women by the Government’s ratification of CEDAW, are upheld through the mechanisms of the communication and inquiry procedures. Becoming party to the Optional Protocol would therefore reinforce New Zealand’s existing commitments under the Convention.
5. In addition to reinforcing New Zealand’s domestic commitment to women’s rights, becoming party to the Optional Protocol would also emphasise New Zealand’s support for international human rights mechanisms. New Zealand has a consistent record of being a strong supporter of CEDAW and of women’s rights. Many of the countries that share our approach to human rights have already signed the Optional Protocol, and others are likely to do so.
Advantages
6. Ratifying the Optional Protocol at an early stage would underline New Zealand’s support for women’s human rights, and the United Nations human rights system. It is appropriate for New Zealand, as a principled and committed international citizen, to take this action. Ratification would also enhance New Zealand’s credibility on international human rights issues, useful if New Zealand is to raise concerns about human rights situations in other parts of the globe.
7. As outlined in paragraph 3 above, the entry into force in New Zealand of the Optional Protocol would also add substance to the Government’s existing commitment as a party to CEDAW, giving New Zealand women the ability to make a communication to the Committee should they perceive their rights had been breached (once domestic remedies have been exhausted).
Disadvantages
8. There may be minor fiscal implications arising from the likely need to prepare responses to communications under the Optional Protocol.
9. There are no additional obligations that will be imposed other than the requirement that New Zealand submit responses to communications under the Optional Protocol.
10. As this is an optional instrument, no reservations are allowed.
11. There are no direct economic effects, although should the CEDAW Committee make recommendations as a result of a communication, the Government would need to consider what action is appropriate. Should the Government resolve to act, there might be economic implications.
12. In terms of social and cultural effects, becoming party to the Optional Protocol would reinforce the existing commitment to women’s rights in New Zealand.
13. There are no anticipated environmental effects.
14. The only direct costs will be those associated with responding to communications under the Optional Protocol. These are not anticipated to be significant.
15. There are unlikely to be amendments or additions to the Optional Protocol, as it is itself a protocol to CEDAW.
16. The department(s) with primary jurisdiction over the particular domestic policy area will be chiefly responsible for coordinating and meeting the costs of preparing the Government's response to any communications under the Optional Protocol. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade will be responsible for the formal transmission of responses to the CEDAW Committee. Beyond this, no action is required by the Government to implement the treaty. There is no need for new legislation.
17. The Government has received representations from several non-government women’s groups supporting New Zealand ratification of the Optional Protocol.
18. The Optional Protocol allows a state to denounce the Protocol by written notification to the Secretary General of the United Nations. Denunciation would take effect six months from the date of receipt by the Secretary General of the United Nations (Article 19.1)
