UN women's rights committee opens session in New York

An expert human rights panel opened a three-week session today at United Nations Headquarters in New York aimed at scrutinizing how women are faring in eight countries - Bhutan, Belarus, Ethiopia, Germany, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait, Nigeria and Nepal.

These nations are all party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which for over two decades has outlawed various forms of gender bias in those countries that ratify the pact.

Addressing today's meeting of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which monitors the treaty's implementation, senior UN officials called the effort central to the realization of the UN's key anti-poverty targets.

Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Jose Antonio Ocampo told the panel's 23 experts that their work would buttress the global drive to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of time-bound targets for achieving progress in the struggle against poverty.

Echoing this view, Angela King, Special Adviser on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women, said the Committee's work is "instrumental" for reaching the MDGs.

"In your constructive dialogue with States parties, you identify key areas of discrimination against women, for example in the fields of education, health and poverty eradication, and you provide clear recommendations for action by individual States parties to elimination such discrimination and ensure equality between women and men," she added.

Often described as the international bill of rights for women, the Convention defines discrimination against women and provides an agenda for national action to end such treatment. The treaty also spells out the basis for realizing equality between men and women through ensuring women's equal access to, and equal opportunities in, political and public life as in education and employment.