Leonie McGuire NSW

WOMEN’S REFUGES (ART. 2,3, 5 & 13 CEDAW)

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) began as a Declaration, becoming a treaty as CEDAW in 1979. Signed by Australia in 1980, ratified in 1983, the Optional Protocol entered into in 2009, CEDAW became part of Australian law as the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, with CEDAW as a Schedule to that Act. Country performance in embracing the provisions of the treaty is regularly reviewed by the CEDAW Committee established under Article 17.

With Australia’s review pending in 2024, in May 2023 CEDAW Hearings were held over three days at UNSW Sydney by an independent ad hoc panel comprising Associate Professor Dr Helen Pringle, Kerry Heubel, Mary Kerr, Bashi Kumar and Dr Jocelynne A. Scutt (chair). The panel heard from witnesses around Australia speaking on law and justice, services, and economic, social, political and cultural disparities facing women in contemporary Australia. Witness presentations to the CEDAW Hearings appear here, and a Report drawing upon their evidence will form a submission to the CEDAW Committee for Australia’s review.

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