The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women

The Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) is a functional commission of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations. It was set up in 1946 and is the most important United Nations body in the area of women’s issues. The UNCSW drafts recommendations and reports for the promotion of women’s rights in the areas of politics, industry, society, social welfare and education and submits these to the Economic and Social Council. The UNCSW thus fulfils an important function in international private law, since, through its work, it is involved in the continuing job of legislating women’s rights.

The UNCSW also supports the process of implementing the four world women’s conferences (1975 in Mexico, 1980 in Copenhagen, 1985 in Nairobi and 1995 in Beijing) and of the special General Assembly in 2000 to review the implementation of the resolutions adopted at the Fourth World Women’s Conference in Beijing.

The UNCSW has 45 members, who are elected by the Economic and Social Council for four years. 13 of them come from the African Group, eleven from the Asian Group, four from the Eastern European Group, nine from the Latin American Group and eight from the group of Western European and other countries. The Federal Republic of Germany was elected to the Commission for a further four years in 2004.

The UNCSW meets once each year for two weeks in New York. At its last meeting, from 27 February to 10 March 2006, the working programme included various resolutions in addition to the two main themes. The main themes of the meeting were “Enhanced participation of women in development: an enabling environment for achieving gender equality and the advancement of women, taking into account, inter alia, the fields of education, health and work” and “Equal participation of women and men in decision-making processes at all levels”. Resolutions were also negotiated on the review of methods of work, the question of the appointment of a special rapporteur on laws that discriminate against women, on women and girl children and HIV/AIDS, on the situation of and assistance to Palestinian women, on women and children taken hostage in armed conflicts and on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan.

In the agreed conclusions on the main theme of “equal participation of women and men in decision-making processes at all levels” the European Union, on the initiative of Germany, also managed to bring in a strong acknowledgement of the CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women), of the importance of gender-sensitive education, targeted training programmes and programmes enabling women and girls to take on decision-making positions, of the just distribution of work in paid employment and the family between women and men and of the role of men and boys in the promotion of gender equality. In the resolution on women and HIV/AIDS, it was possible for the first, on German initiative, to establish the role of older women in care in the context of HIV/AIDS.

You can find the full documentation on the UNCSW, including the final documents, on http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/.


CEDAW Reports and Shadow Reports on Germany:

• Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ): Sixth Report by the Federal Republic of Germany on the United Nations Convention to Eliminate all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), 2007.

• Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women: Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention - Fifth periodic report of States parties: Germany; CEDAW/C/DEU/5, 2003.

• Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention - Fourth periodic report of States parties; Germany; CEDAW/C/DEU/4, 1998.

• Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention – Second and third periodic report of States parties; Germany; CEDAW/C/DEU/2-3, 1996.

• agisra / KOK / Terre des Femmes (Ed.): Shadow Report on the fifth report by the Federal Republic of Germany, 2003.

• For the combined second, third, fouth and fifth report of CEDAW on Gerrmany please see: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/reports.htm#g

CEDAW Summary Records on Germany:

• Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; Fifth periodic report of States parties; Germany

• Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention (continued); Fifth periodic report of Germany (continued)

• Concluding comments: Germany, CEDAW/C/2004/I/CRP.3/Add.6/Rev.1, 2004.

• List of issues and questions with regard to the consideration of periodic reports; Germany, CEDAW/PSWG/2004/I/CRP.1/Add.3, 2004.

• Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention (continued); Second, third and fourth periodic reports of Germany

• Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention (continued); Second, third and fourth periodic reports of Germany (continued)