Inquiry Procedure

Inquiry Procedure

The Inquiry Procedure is a mechanism set up under the Optional Protocol to the CEDAW Convention (OP-CEDAW) through which the CEDAW Committee can issue comments and recommendations on grave or systematic violations of rights in the CEDAW Convention. Alternatively, the CEDAW Committee may decide to initiate an inquiry that addresses grave and systematic violations resulting from the action or inaction of the state party concerned. The Inquiry Procedure is a mechanism that enables the CEDAW Committee to initiate and conduct investigations on large-scale and/or widespread violations of women’s rights occurring within the jurisdiction of a state party.

• • • Grave violations would constitute severe abuses, for example, discrimination against women linked to violations of their rights to life, physical and mental integrity, and security of person. A single violation can be grave in nature and a single act can violate more than one right. The CEDAW Committee may determine that an inquiry into a single grave violation is appropriate on the basis of the facts of a particular situation (for example, 200 single mothers and their children being forcibly evicted from a public housing building).
    • The term ‘systematic’ refers to the scale or prevalence of violations, or to the existence of a scheme or policy directing violations. Therefore, violations not rising to the level of severity implied by the term ‘grave’ may still be the focus of inquiry if a pattern is found to exist, or if abuses are committed pursuant to a scheme or policy. Violations may be systematic in character without being the result of the direct intention of the state party (for example, a government policy promoting population control in rural areas may have resulted in the sterilization of a large group of indigenous women without due consent or information sharing).

The Inquiry Procedure will permit the CEDAW Committee to respond in a more timely way to serious violations that are taking place under the jurisdiction of a state party (for example, the mass rape of women during riots or the disappearance and assassination of women’s rights defenders). It offers a means of addressing situations in which individual communications do not adequately reflect the systematic nature of widespread violations of women’s rights or those of individuals or groups that are unable to submit communications due to practical constraints or because of the fear of reprisals.

In accordance with Article 10 of the OP-CEDAW, states may ‘opt out’ of the Inquiry Procedure at the time of signature, accession, or ratification.

The Inquiry Procedure is set forth in Articles 8 and 9 of the OP-CEDAW. The proceedings under the Inquiry Procedure of the OP-CEDAW can be found in Section XVII of the Rules of Procedure (Rules 76 to 91).

The Inquiry Procedure

• • • • Enables the CEDAW Committee to address systematic and widespread violations;
      • Allows the CEDAW Committee to recommend measures to combat the structural causes of discrimination against women; and
      • Provides the CEDAW Committee with an opportunity to set out a broad range of recommendations to achieve equality between women and men.

The Inquiry Chart

(Source: IWRAW-AP)