CEDAW Committee Remains Silent on Sex Selection

By Contributor | August 3, 2011

The CEDAW Committee finished its 49th meeting last week in New York, issuing recommendations to the states parties that are unsurprising to observers: advocating for increased access to legal abortion, contraceptives, fertility treatments, in vitro fertilization, and comprehensive sexuality education for girls and boys (both in and out of school).

Also unsurprising is the Committee’s silence on the practice of sex-selection, despite the fact that three of the eight countries reviewed (Nepal, Korea, and Singapore) are states where the practice is growing. The Committee’s silence mirrors that of this past year’s Commission on the Status of Women, when the Holy See was the only member state to even mention the issue during plenary discussions.

Regardless of the Committee’s relative silence on the issue, sex selection remains a growing problem that is attracting the attention of many in the developed and developing world alike.

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