In the mini-dissertation, we consider the potential effectiveness of CEDAW in reaching its stated goal of eliminating discrimination against women. We consider and analyse the potential impact of the Convention in the fight against inequality and discrimination against women, and the research examined CEDAW Committee decisions critically to find out its potential impacts and relevance to African women. This mini-dissertation analyses specific forms of discrimination in three selected African states and, found that: (1) women still suffer discrimination in access to education through low female enrolment and, the restriction on particular areas of study, (3) that in employment, women are discriminated against through inequality in payment, restriction of women from some sectors of the economy and; in lower opportunities for women as compared to men, (4) that in relation to politics and public life, women still are discriminated against and; they cannot easily access public office and are, underrepresented in parliament, cabinet and in the private sector, except in Rwanda where women are well represented, (5) that women are discriminated against in access to health care services including reproductive care which is characterized by lower female life expectancy, lower access to health care services especially in rural areas and; high mortality rate amongst female infants, (6) and that women in marriages and families are still not treated equally with men on issues of divorce proceedings, child support, polygamy and early marriage. We discuss and analyse the instruments protecting women against discrimination at the global and regional levels. We illustrated that the instruments effectively protects women against discrimination but were, inadequately implemented or utilised by women. We concluded as follows; (1) that the instruments effectively protected women from discrimination in education, employment, health care services, family and marital life and; in politics and public life. The issue is the implementation of the instruments by states parties and, (2) that in terms of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women, that the problem of reservations by states parties have greatly affected the effectiveness of the Convention. As to the CEDAW Committee jurisprudence, we discovered: (1) that the CEDAW Committee has done enough to protect women against discrimination in all spheres of life with groundbreaking decisions and; all that is required now is proper implementation of decisions, (2) that there are presently no communications to the CEDAW Committee from African women yet, (3) that most communications submitted to the Committee have been declared inadmissible for reasons ranging from non-exhaustion of domestic remedies to the facts occurring prior to the entering into force of the Optional Protocol in the state party complained against and, that most cases were lost on procedural errors, (4) that the Committee is very strong in cases of domestic violence and discrimination in access to health care services. In conclusion, the research identifies a number of weaknesses in the Convention and proposes a range of amendments that would facilities the use of the CEDAW Committee by African women. We also identified the implications of the CEDAW Committee jurisprudence on Africa. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Centre for Human Rights / unrestricted

Women’s rights to safe abortion have become recognized as a human rights imperative, and within the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women(CEDAW), States are obligated to ensure access to abortion. Despite this, abortion laws vary around the world. This suggests that norms of liberalized abortion laws stick better in some contexts than others. This study analyzes and compares norms related to abortion of the Philippines and the Republic of Ireland, in relation to the CEDAW Committee, through the lens of norm translation. The purpose is to explore to what extent the theoretical framework of norm translation can be used to understand how the government in the Philippines and respectively, Ireland, interact with human rights norms of liberalized abortion laws in the context of CEDAW, and if these interactions have produced legislative change. The study uses a qualitative content analysis to examine reports submitted as part of CEDAW’s monitoring procedure. The study concludes that the CEDAW Committees’ ideas on abortion coincide with those supported bythe State Party of the Philippines and Ireland, to some extent; norm translation can describe this to a great extent; norm translation can help us understand how the State Parties’ produce norm consistent measures and policies to a great extent; norm translation cannot describe why humanrights norms of liberalized abortion laws appear to have stuck better in Ireland than in the Philippines.