Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

52nd session (9 to 27 July 2012) New York

The plenary session will take place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York in Conference Room 3 NLB (North Lawn Building).

All observers wishing to attend the above session must be duly registered. 

Representatives of non-governmental organizations wishing to attend the session should register online and follow the instructions for registration (http://goo.gl/apKom), as well as fill-out and submit the “Application for Ground Pass” (http://goo.gl/I6396). 

All other observers should fill-out the Conference Registration Form in full (http://goo.gl/I6396) and send it by e-mail to the Secretary of CEDAW at cedaw@ohchr.org. This form must include all information in Section 1 including the permanent address (home address) as well as the address and phone number where the applicant will be staying in New York.  Section 3 must also be filled-out and shall include the full title of the national human rights institution, university or other affiliate (under “Name of Company”), address and telephone number. Section 2 shall remain blank.  The form must also be signed and dated.  

To receive the ground pass, all applicants, in addition to sending the form by e-mail to cedaw@ohchr.org, are required to bring the signed original of the Application for Ground Pass, a valid national passport or government issued photo ID bearing a photograph, and appear in person at United Nations Pass and Identification Unit, located at 801 United Nations Plaza at the corner of 1st Avenue and East 45th Street. The office hours are 9.00 am to 4.30 pm, Monday through Friday. Please note that applicants must bring their passports (or government issued photo ID) every time they wish to enter UN premises.   

All requests for registration should reach OHCHR two weeks in advance of the session at the latest, i.e., by 25 June 2012. Applicants who submit forms that are illegible, incomplete or after the deadline may not be registered. Please note that OHCHR will not provide letters of invitation to observers to attend CEDAW sessions for the purposes of obtaining visas. In addition, OHCHR is unable to assist with travel and/or accommodation costs relating thereto.

The Committee, in reviewing reports submitted by States parties, accepts submissions by non-governmental organizations on the implementation of the Convention by reporting States. All submissions should arrive two weeks prior to the beginning of the session to the Secretariat of the Committee, i.e., no later than 25 June 2012.  Organizations that wish to submit information to the Committee may do so by submitting such submissions by e-mail to cedaw@ohchr.orgin pdf format indicating whether or not the materials may be published on the CEDAW website for public information purposes and also in hard copy to:

NGO Documents for CEDAW Meeting
c/o OHCHR/Gaynel Curry (Ms.)
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
New York Office - Room DC1 - 511
One United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017

Telephone: (+1) 212 963 5931
Fax: (+1) 212 963 4097

Representatives of non-governmental organizations may also provide information orally on the States parties under consideration directly to the Committee at informal meetings scheduled for this purpose. Non-governmental organizations wishing to make oral interventions at these meetings must contact IWRAW Asia Pacific at iwraw-ap@iwraw-ap.org or iwraw_ap@yahoo.com, or the Secretary of CEDAW.

In addition, the text of the oral intervention must be provided to the Secretariat in advance of the meetings for interpretation purposes. Participants making oral interventions must bring with them 35 copies of their statements for distribution to the Committee experts and interpreters.

General documentation:

Statements:

Please note that A C E F R S refer to the availability of documents in the official United Nations languages, which are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

Report of the Pre-session Working Group for the 52nd session - CEDAW/C/PSWG/52/1 - A C E F R S