When a country ratifies a human rights treaty at the global level (United Nations System), it has to periodically submit information to the Committee that oversees the implementation of such Convention. Brazil has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, known as CEDAW. From May 20 to May 24, Brazil's efforts to implement the CEDAW Convention were discussed before the CEDAW Committee. Non-profit organizations and networks have multiple opportunities for advocacy in this process, by submitting shadow reports, doing advocacy work at the Committee meeting in Geneva, and following up on the Committee's recommendations at the national and international levels. 

This time, Tamara Amoroso Gonsalves, a member of CLADEM/Brazil, attended the meetings in Geneva, participating in the opening informal meeting with NGOs on Monday, May 20th, the closed meeting with CEDAW experts on May 22nd, and the formal hearing of Brazil on May 24th. 

On May 20th, CLADEM opened the session dedicated to NGOs with a speech addressing institutional violence in different spheres and levels (including obstetric violence, use of parental alienation and related concepts in family court decisions, inaccessibility of abortion services for victims of sexual violence, child marriage, forced pregnancy in adolescents, and many other issues) that can be seen here:https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1a/k1adxsy879

This advocacy is relevant because it is an opportunity for NGOs to brief the Committee members on relevant issues happening on the ground of the country being reviewed. The Committee experts can then ask questions related to these issues to the State's government and, using both inputs from civil society and official information from the states, the Committee issues recommendations to the State party. Such recommendations seek to support governments in implementing the Convention and advancing human rights at the national level.

Our work as CLADEM was extremely successful as the majority of issues reported on CLADEM's 5 shadow reports (submitted in coalition with multiple other organizations) were contemplated by the questions asked by the CEDAW experts during the Brazilian hearing (https://www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/meeting-summary/2024/05/experts-committee-elimination-discrimination-against-women-1). 

On June 3rd, the CEDAW Committee released its Specific recommendations to Brazil, incorporating the majority of matters presented by civil society during the CEDAW convening in Geneva. The final recommendations can be found here: https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CEDAW%2FC%2FBRA%2FCO%2F8-9&Lang=en 

We highlight the importance of following up on the Committee's recommendations and using them internally to support claims for better public policies and ground strategic litigation.