The status of accession of African States to the convention on the elimination of discrimination against women

Abstract

The principle of equal rights of men and women is affirmed in the charter of the United Nations (promulgated in 1946), as well as in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which dates from 1948). This principle has since been reaffirmed in other international instruments; despite the abundance of instruments, however, discrimination against women remains an enduring and widespread reality. Consequently, it was deemed necessary to establish a distinct instrument for women - the convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). This Convention extends and unifies previous instruments concerned with equal rights of men and women. It came three decades after the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (1948) and was the culmination of painstaking preparations at the level of the Commission on the Status of Women