Working Group on Discrimination Against Women in Law to Begin Meeting this Summer

By Contributor | February 3, 2011

The UN Office in Geneva recently gave notice that the first session of the new “Working Group on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in Law and Practice” would take place this June. The Human Rights Council established the working group this past October for the purpose of investigating laws that potentially “violate [women’s] human right to be protected against discrimination.”

While the schedule of the working group has yet to be set, national abortion laws may be up for review. The founding text & preparatory documents cited an ECOSOC recommendation from 2009 that advised states to “enact or amend abortion laws to protect women from the effects of clandestine and unsafe abortions; and address the refusal of physicians to perform legal abortions.” The documents also cited a recent statement from the Committee Against Torture that drew attention to legislation that “severely restricts access to voluntary abortion” as a possible form of torture.

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter