Guinea’s record on women’s rights to face scrutiny by UN committee

GENEVA, Switzerland, October 27, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Guinea's record on women's rights will be examined by the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) on Thursday 30 October 2014 in meetings that will be webcast live. Guinea is one of the 188 States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and is required to submit regular reports to the Committee of 23 independent experts on how it is implementing the Convention.

Among the issues likely to be discussed by the Committee and the delegation of the government of Guinea are: impunity for rape and other sexual violence committed on 28 September 2009; safety and protection for victims of sexual violence and witnesses; measures to end harmful practices including early and forced marriages, FGM; progress in prosecution of perpetrators of sexual violence committed between 2007 and 2010; high rate of maternal mortality; obstacles to girls' access to education.

Location: Room XVI, Palais des Nations, Geneva

Time and date: 10:00 – 17:00 (08:00 – 15:00 in Conakry) on 30 October

The webcast of the session will be at http://www.treatybodywebcast.org/.

Guinea's report and a full list of issues that are likely to come up can be found here: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=816&Lang=en

A news conference is scheduled for 7 November at 13:30, Palais des Nations, to discuss CEDAW's concluding observations on Guinea and the other countries being reviewed – Venezuela; Poland; China, China (Hong Kong) and China (Macao); Ghana; Belgium; Brunei Darussalam; and Solomon Islands. The concluding observations will be published on 7 November here: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=816&Lang=en