3008th Meeting, 93rd Session, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

Good morning, and just to alert you again that my style will always be to send a warning with one, so that everyone sits and has the time to listen. Dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, dear member of civil society, national human rights institution, and secretariat colleague, I call to order the 93rd session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and herewith open its 3008th meeting. I am very pleased to welcome you all to this 93rd session of the Committee, and I would like to note two things. We have suffered collectively, as a committee and as a secretariat, from the cancellation of two sessions in the previous two consecutive years. For me, it feels like we have not met for ages. From February to now, this is very abnormal for the interaction of the committee. I thank all of you for having maintained the interaction, despite all the difficulties, so that we could move on certain issues and deliver, with deliverables as So I would like, before proceeding with the items on our agenda, I would like to give the floor to Mr. Andrea Auri, who is known to all of you, has been in the position of Chief of Groups in Focus Section of the Human Rights Treaty Branch, and he has been I would say, a supporter of our work, but sometimes, unfortunately, with less result. It's not a lack of will on his part, but we were not able to get more from the resources area or the staff support area. So, we are not going to judge him personally about that, but we are going to listen what he has for us for a better future and what are the chances that we have a confirmation for the next session in February? And if not, how are we going to cope with the uncertainty? I mean, all these questions that are not in my script, I'm raising them so that we get ready to listen to him with our ears and eyes. So since we are in a public meeting with live webcasting, I would like to request members to limit any question after the presentation of Mr. Ori to the question that would be of interest to the general public. This is a classical caution. Mr. Ori, you have the floor, please.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and good morning to all the members of the committee, and good to see you all safe and sound in Geneva. Happy to see all the other participants to the opening of the CIDO. With this heavy sword hanging on my head, I hope the principle of not shooting on the messengers, you know, applies. in these instances as well, but thank you for your words and big responsibility as well. So, Madam Chair, distinguished committee members, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the United Nations Secretary General, it is an honor to open the 93rd session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Regret- regrettably, due to the United Nation liquidity crisis, the committee has been able to hold only two session in 2026, rather than the three sessions that are normally scheduled, as a result, this session originally planned for June 2026 is taking place only now. We are therefore particularly pleased that, despite these constraints, you can now convene to continue your essential work, including by holding dialogues with Angola, Cape Verde, Cook Islands, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Paraguay, Republic of Moldova and Togo, and by considering ten lists of issues and questions or lists of issues prior to reporting. five individual communications, a report on follow-up to individual communications, a draft inquiry report, as well as your draft general recommendation number 41 on dismantling gender stereotypes, prejudice and stigma and the unequal power relations that sustains them. We are meeting at a time when the world is becoming increasingly polarized and divided. The treaty bodies are operating in a rapidly changing global and political landscape, one quite different from that when the first treaty body was established over 60 years ago. In the global context, we are facing a climate in which some seek to undermine respect for international law and to promote a retreat from international committees, including in the field of human rights. Against this backdrop, we must continue to promote the importance of the human rights ecosystem and the work of the treaty body system. In a interconnected world, multilateral cooperation and universal human rights monitoring mechanisms are more important than ever. As Treaty Body members, you have all experienced the challenges that are undermining the accessibility, impact and relevance of the system. Sessions have been cut, making planning unpredictable and further complicated by late confirmations of sessions. It is in this context that, on 11 June 2026, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights launched the Global Alliance for Human Rights, a platform designed to strengthen collective action and reconnect human rights with everyday life, public decision-making and the future of our societies. The Global Alliance integrates gender equality as a core pillar across its strategic pathways. Gender equality is specifically embedded within the Human Rights in Action pathway, which seeks to tackle discrimination, eliminate gender-based violence, and elevate the voice of survivors. Initiatives under the Global Alliance apply an explicit age, gender, and diversity lens to counter global pushbacks against women's rights and girls' rights. The framework aims to hold governments accountable for implementation failure regarding gender-based violence and systematic discrimination. Madam Chair, distinguished members, As treaty bodies operate in this challenging global and political landscape, we must continue to emphasize the importance of the human rights ecosystem and the work of the treaty body system. In an interconnected world, multilateral cooperation and universal human rights monitoring mechanisms are more important than ever. As Treaty Body members, you have experienced challenges to the ecosystem accessibility, impact and relevance, cut sessions and late confirmation of sessions and visits, making planning unpredictable. While we are addressing immediate challenges arising from the financial situation, We also need to discuss possible avenues to update and strengthen the treaty body system in the long term. With this in mind, OSCHR has shared a working paper to engage all stakeholders in reform ideas so that together we can co-create the necessary solutions. That paper focuses on three key elements. One is convening the decentralized and cluster dialogues based on the eight-year cycle, number two is a simplifying state party reporting through an integrated and multilingual online report submission platform. And third is strengthening the election of treaty body members through an online application platform to increase transparency and to ensure that experts selected fulfill the highest criteria of experience and competence and independence and impartiality in line with the Addis Ababa guidelines. At the recent meeting of the chairs of the treaty bodies, the chairs concluded that the proposal needed to be discussed by the committees to identify what can be taken forward, what requires further work, and the areas where further information is required. I invite you to consider the practical elements of these proposals, including feasibility and their impact on the right holders, and to put forward your suggestions and constructive comments on the decentralized and cluster dialogues, drawing on your experience in particular with your Fiji technical cooperation session in 2025. For this or any other concrete proposal to work, we need strong commitment from the member states to ensure resources that are adequate, predictable, and match the massive task you have in helping to uphold the normative pillars of the global human rights protection architecture. Madam Chair, distinguished members, moving now to the work of the Human Rights Council, the Council's annual discussion on the integration of a gender perspective throughout the work of the Human Rights Council and that of its mechanism took place on the 29th September 2026 during its 63rd session. It focused on the theme from gender stereotypes to structural discrimination, strengthening the Human Rights Council's response. The two hour panel discussion was chaired by the President of the Human Rights Council, His Excellency Mr. Sidarto and opened by the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Awa Dabo, as well as by Ms. Nariadazi Gumbanzwana, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women. CEDAW, which was chaired by Roder Reddock, was one of the four panelists who made presentations. The panel discussed the effective implementation of states' legal obligation to dismantle gender stereotypes, which are embedded in and reproduced by unequal power relations in patriarchal systems. Your General Recommendation No. 41 on gender stereotypes, which you plan to adopt later in this session, will come at the right time to provide much-needed guidance to States parties implementing those obligations. Madam Chair, distinguished members, I am aware that you have a heavy programme ahead of you for the next four weeks. I therefore conclude by wishing the Committee a successful and productive session. Your expertise, independence and commitment enable the Committee to fulfil important task of ensuring that the rights enshrined in the conventions become a reality for all women and girls worldwide. I thank you for your attention and I'm going to be with you for the next four weeks so we can continue the conversation and find a way of fine-tuning and getting every day better. Thank you. Back to you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Ory. And before giving the floor, I see already flags for my colleagues to pose question, I just want to reiterate to all my colleagues that CDAO features as the most pragmatic committee because we are always willing to test, to go to reform, to understand what's in it for the system. But there is a huge resistance of several other committees, and I'm not saying anything that is not known in the presence of Andrea, for these kinds of experimentation so that we can really find out. Each time we say as chairs that we are open but that things need to be discussed further, we are not really open. We are in a sort of catch-22. I have to be very transparent with all of you and also help the next chair to understand the difficulty. In every area, for the two meetings that I attended, I shared the experience of CDOW, what we are trying to do to improve this, what we are trying to do to harmonize, we are always leading. And if I am not correct, I stand to be corrected by Andrea here. So with this, you don't have to consider yourself as lagging behind. The problem is the system is not moving together in the same direction. So now I open the floor for question, and I give the floor to Mr. Safarov first. Please be also brief if possible.

Distinguished Chair, Mr. Andrej Ore, colleagues, civil society partners, people who watched us online and in this room, we are facing an interconnected assault on human rights spanning the physical battlefield, the digital frontier, and the UN itself. First, women and girls remain the primary victims of armed conflict. In Sudan, Palestine, Ukraine, DRC, Lebanon, Afghanistan, more than 26 states endure systematic violence and ensure erasure. Second, this vulnerability is actively weaponized online. As digital connectivity grows, AI-driven blackmail has surged. 2026, we have already more than 3.4 million documented online violations, especially using terrifying gaslighting women human rights defenders. through the sexual deepfakes and synthetic files. Third, vital global defense mechanisms are being starved, driven by unpaid state dues. A historic UN financial crisis has forced a 15% budget cut for 2026. Two consecutive years, six UN humanitarian bodies have been forced to cancel their critical third annual sessions. The institutional paralyzes has cut off essential formal dialects with civil society organizations. It has generated a staggering backlog of over 330 state compliances and reports and more than 1,000 individual victim complaints at this moment in United Nations history. By silencing CSOs, freezing these sessions is into country, international community renders global human rights treaty completely ineffective. Only one question is this process will be continuing in 2027. Reforms is good, but it's not structural and matching with reports. And we are waiting for the pushing this process directly for the next years. Thank you very much. Muchas gracias. Pasiba shokhsalon.

Mr. Safarov, I see no other request for the floor. Oh, this is started. By the way, can I ask colleagues who are sitting in the... last row to ensure that I can see them. If you are sitting behind somebody, it is not always easy. Please move your chair a bit in a way that does not deprive you of the view.

Thank you, Chair, and good morning, colleagues and those watching online. I just wanted to commend the notion of us considering other ways of completing and facilitating committee business. I am curious about the proposed changes to online election and nomination processes. I am glad to hear that they will be considering ways to make candidates as well as the committee even more transparent. I do want to register, as I do most sessions, the fact that I think in these current times of egregious attacks on the rights of women and girls, that it is a shame, an actual shame, that this committee has to cut back on its work and on its sessions. And I do believe, while there is a liquidity crisis, there is also a recognition that gender should be a priority. And I don't feel that it's been given the priority that it deserves in the current multilateral system.

Thank you very much. Mrs. Tardes-Bojor. I don't see other flags, so maybe I give back the floor to Mr. Ori to answer these two concerns.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair, and thanks to the two members of the committee for their very relevant and pertinent and timely questions and concerns. I mean, of course, There are some elements of your concerns that they can be addressed directly by us and we do our best to do it. Indeed, in rationalizing the meeting time and using the best as we used to do also in the past, but even more now, the different resources that are not only financial resources, but also the human resources. Don't forget that beside the financial implication, which is impacting the early on the meeting time and the number of sessions, but it's also been a cut on the member of, on our colleagues, which is, you know, an important element for us of consideration in deciding the length and the number of individual case, individual communications, and number of states under reviewed. And in addition to all other core mandated activity, GRs, inquiries and so on has a great impact. And this has an impact on us as well. As I said, I mean, we are kind of the messenger. We are the victims. We are together in this. And we try, really, and the High Commissioner is really aware on that. And the Global Alliance is somehow, you know, kind of a response to that. And as I said in Assure, you know, the gender, gender equality, gender participation, equal participation of women and men in decision making is a priority and is taken into consideration. talking about the digital challenges that we are facing today. And I'm very pleased to see that all the committees, the latest one is the CRC, they are being working on the next GR on AI and children. I know the CITO is working, hasn't yet decided to work on the next GR because we are still finishing the one that we have now, but we are. working and tremendously and putting a lot of energy in supporting a member of the of this committee in having a say on the digital uh challenges in Ai and gender being integrated in every single action so is already part of your concerns you are already taking concrete steps and as you said it Madam chair what I appreciate of these committees and in particular the CDO is the pragmatism, you know, always looking for the best solution within the principles and within the international standards, but always keen and eager to adapt and very dynamic, which makes a pleasure working with you. The online for disposal, online elections is in a way also to response of the challenges faced by state parties you know, complaining on challenges on some on the quality of the work of the or some committees, you know, I'm talking in general. And we are looking at also that level and within our capacity, limited capacity in changing what is written in the in the conventions and the treaties is how we can, you know, pick the best that there are out there, you know, to be represented and working in the committees. And that is quite important. And this has to be based on equal participation, transparency, accountability. Sometimes you are never, you know, using as much as we should the matter of accountability. You know, you are coming, you have been campaigning to be elected. You are accountable for what you're going to do and the energy and the commitments that you have. So we are all, as I used to say, all together in this, and I look forward to continue working and engaging with you on the different three area of work and how to make your job, our work, more effective in this challenging world. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Ory. And I just want to say, I think in the name also of my colleagues, that we understand the dire situation of staff of the United Nations. We have just seen a horrible figure recently of 13,500 staff who have been terminated. So it's not that we are indifferent at all, but I think we are calling also on you and the colleagues of the Secretariat to be more creative in how we can move forward issues that are important for which, as you know, This committee works a lot intercessionally, and colleagues are very productive. So it would be a pity not to build on that together. It's not to push you in any way, not understanding the situation of staff resources, but it's to be together more creative to answer the challenge of the situation. So once more, I want to thank you for being with us, for having accompanied us constantly, and we're happy to know that you'll be with us for the fourth week and probably Some other question may come back, and we will be dealing with them bilaterally. So, with this, I think I can now move to item 2 of our provisional agenda, which is adoption of the agenda and organization of work. You have all received the provisional agenda of the work in document CDOW/C.93/1, dated 5 June 2026. You have to remember that this is the official agenda and not to be confused with the internal schedule of activity, which is confidential and has been sent to you in its last reiteration but will also change during the process of the session. I would like to ask whether the committee agrees to adopt the provisional agenda and organisation of work, as mentioned in that document, as our agenda for the 93rd session. And if there are any no objection to that, we can adopt. No objection? Adopted. And we will therefore now move to agenda item 3 on report on the activities undertaken between the 92nd and 93rd session. It has been very difficult for me to keep track of the number of our sessions, as we are losing sessions. We were supposed to be in the 95th session this time, so we have to also adjust. With your permission, dear colleagues, I will now present the report on my activities undertaken between the 92nd and 93rd sessions. And they look many because it was a long period, that's all. So bear with me a bit. So as I am also joining Mr. Ory in welcoming all of you and also all the participants online and all the NGOs and the NHRI present in this room, I cannot but pause and look at our world today. Around the globe, we are witnessing a convergence of crisis. conflicts, autocratic regimes, unprecedented economic inequalities, and humanity having reached the tipping point of climate change. The consequences of these crises are disproportionately borne by women and girls, and we are also seeing a well-orchestrated backlash against gender equality across regions, the erosion of sexual and reproductive health and rights, shrinking civic space, attacks on women human rights defenders, and rising levels of gender-based violence, both offline and online. In the face of these challenges, your committee is needed more than ever to hold governments accountable, as was earlier said, for women's and girls' equal rights. And we must continue monitoring the implementation of the Convention and protecting the integrity of CEDAW and the other human rights mechanisms in these challenging times. Since our last session, the number of States party having ratified or acceded to the Convention has remained at 189. Similarly, the number of States who have ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention has remained at 116. Estonia being the last one who has ratified. On 29 July 2026, Tajikistan accepted the amendment to Article 20, paragraph 1 of the Convention concerning the Committee's meeting time, bringing the total number of States having accepted the amendment to 84. A total of 126 State Party is required to accept the amendment to bring it into force in accordance with this provision. Sometimes this thing seems to be for me a bit surrealistic. We are talking about country accepting to increase the meeting time of the Committee and we have to report on it, and we are losing the initial meeting time that was given. So it's a bit surrealistic to speak about that. Sorry? Yes, it is two weeks in the Convention. We have reached three weeks because of the work, and now the meeting time is still of actuality when we are losing by erosion the meeting time. I am pleased to inform you that since our last session, Algeria, Bolivia, Grenada, Indonesia, Mongolia, South Africa, and Trinidad and Tobago submitted their periodic reports to the Committee. The total number of States parties having opted out from the simplified reporting procedure since our decision in 2022 to make it the default procedure for the submission of reports, with the possibility for States parties to opt out, the number remains 14. Please let me now introduce my participation in events related to the implementation of women's rights since the last session of the Committee in February 2026. From 8 March to 17 March, I attended the 70th session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York with many of you, where I delivered CEDAW's statement at the opening session. At CSW70, we participated together in several events, but I also highlight one where I was a keynote speaker in Women's Education for Justice: Emerging Trends in Women's Access to Justice, which was organized by the Permanent Mission of Germany. And enhancing women's participation decision making system by implementing general recommendation 40, and the, which was organized by the mission of France, and harnessing the CEDAW convention organized by UN Women. I see this opportunity to say how important it was to be a group of us, CSW, and how forceful our presence, let alone that we had the chance to celebrate also the 45th anniversary of the Convention, which has given also some visibility to the Committee. From 23rd of March to 24th March, together with Mrs. Ego Bamian, I participated in a Cities for CEDAW conference in Cardiff, Wales, which was hosted by the City of Cardiff, where I gave a keynote speech on the application of the CEDAW Convention from global to local. From 1 to 2 April, I attended a conference on the future of women's right, marking the 45th anniversary of the entry into force of the CEDAW Convention and the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Council of Europe Convention. the Istanbul Convention, which was organized by the Dubrovnik Interuniversity Center in Croatia. I participated in a panel. I was very happy to be there with Mrs. Narain, with Mrs. Achar, and with Mrs. Simonovic. So that is also something to cultivate on how we continue to build on each other and on the network of the CEDAW, former CEDAW colleagues. On 29 April, I gave a keynote speech on the key principle of GR40, combating gender stereotypes, taking into account women in all their diversity, at the high-level meeting on the implementation of GR40 and the follow-up to political declaration adopted at CSW70, organized by the Permanent Mission of France and OHCHR in Geneva. From April 2026 to December 2026, I have been appointed as a qualified member and participated in the monthly online meetings of the Gender Equality Advisory Council, GEAC, of the G7 group under the French presidency. The JAIAC will meet in person in November with the President of the French Republic to submit its report. And the theme, as some of you had shared this information, is on the demographic trends and change and women's rights. And that's really a very pertinent theme. From May 5 to 7, I participated in the Regional Conference on Women's Faith Leadership to Prevent Violent Extremism, Peer-to-Peer Learning on Religion and Human Rights, hosted by the OHCHR Regional Office in Dakar, Senegal, where I spoke on the role of women in religion and in combating violent extremism. At the second Asian Women's Forum convened by the Oliy Majlis, that is the Parliament of the Republic of Uzbekistan, in partnership with UN Women in Bukhara from 14 to 15 May, I made a keynote speech on the political participation of women and was very happy to be present with my colleague, Madina, at that very interesting regional event. From 2 to 4 June, Marianne Mikkol as the Committee IPU focal point and I as Chair participated in the Global Conference on Women Parliamentarians held in Belgrade by the Inter-Parliamentary Union. I participated in a panel discussion on unpacking barriers to parity, stereotypes and negative social norms in the spotlight. From 15 June to 19 June, I participated, as was mentioned, in the 38th annual meeting of the Chairperson of the human rights treaty bodies. And as was already alluded to, it focused on the working paper of the High Commissioner on decentralized and clustered dialogue. And earlier, Mr. Ory shared with you the current position of the Group of Chairs. On 29 June, I made an intervention at the Rene Cassin commemoration, which was the in Strasbourg. My speech addressed the interpretation of human rights treaty at the universal and regional levels, and it was an opportunity to present the EDVOW platform as one such mechanism that create the link between the local, the regional, and the universal. And it was extremely well received, including by the chair of the EDVOW platform currently, which is Graveel. On 30 June, also in Strasbourg, I participated in an exchange on mutual jurisprudence and identifying ways to build on each other's work at a meeting between judges of the European Court of Human Rights. I think it was the first time where they met with all treaty bodies' chair or at least representative of them. And Mrs. De Silva de Alves, who is not with us this morning, but will be with us as of Wednesday, participated online in the exchange, also in her capacity as chairperson of the working group on communication, and very much knowledgeable of the jurisprudence. On 9 July, I participated in a meeting of the Gender Advisory Board of the President of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, where I contributed to identifying the priorities for the advisory board. From 23 to 28 August, at the invitation of the All-China Women's Federation and the China Foundation for Human Rights Development, my co-traveller and colleagues, Marina Jarbuzanova and Mu Hong, we visited various gender-based violence and other victim support centres, women entrepreneur initiatives, community centres and the procuratorate of Dongcheng District, Beijing, and it was an amazing and very, very interesting visit, for which we thank again our colleague who has coordinated this visit. Dear colleagues, I know that all of you have been very busy and involved in CDAO-related activities since our last session, and I would now be delighted to hear from you in this regard. In the interest of time management, I would like to request those members asking for the floor to limit their intervention to two minutes. And we know that there is this table that you have received from Jamila on which you can elaborate more in detail, but just please highlight the most important one you want to share with the audience. Lastly, I would like to announce that all public meetings of our 93rd session will be webcast live on UN Web TV. And, you know, concluding, I wish all of us success in our work during this session, which is going to be very demanding, four weeks. But I have to say, four weeks in this room is something different, because this was something I wanted to say at the beginning. We're happy to come back to this room, and we hope to be able to find a way to get the daylight from time to time, because this is what is interesting about the room. We'll see when we can get it with the conference service, who I salute. here, and so I'm open to register your request for intervention. And as I have before me, we'll start with Mrs. Miko. You have the floor, please.

Thank you very much. Can you hear me? Yes, thank you. Dear colleagues, dear NGOs, dear People who are, uh, following us, uh, via, uh, internet. I welcome everybody and wish us a fruitful 93rd session. As my activities interessionally, then I have had very busy time and I don't think that I'm counting everything what I've done, but just picking up some. And in the beginning, I fully agree with our Chair that our committee's participation in the CSW in New York is important, utmost important. So I was there with few and more than few with you. But my five are, in March 25, 27th, I was in Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, to address the CEDAW message at the interparliamentary dialogue to strengthen legislative frameworks to ensure progress on gender equality and gender-based violence. In Ashgabat, there were all Central Asian states and some Eastern European countries, and this conference was very timely, I must say, where I had opportunity to introduce our general April 16th, I was invited as a keynote speaker to Podgorica, Montenegro, where OSCE organized gender equality conference for parliamentarians of the Balkan states. May 20th, I presented the UN CEDAW Committee's views in a webinar as a panelist, "When Treaties Deliver Justice". It was a comparative feminist conversation on the Belem do Para Convention, the Istanbul Convention, and the African Union Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls. Number four, June 4th to 4th, we were with the Chair Nala Haidar in Belgrade, Serbia. I was a moderator of a seminar at IPU Global Conference of Women Parliamentarians, Advancing Parity, Breaking the Barriers of Gender Stereotypes and Negative Social Norms. And finally, number five, August 7th and 8th, I participated as the vice chairperson of our committee at the Opinion Festival in Paide, Estonia, organized by CSOs. of Estonia to deliver the message about gender-based violence against women, including upcoming General Recommendation 41. I thank you very much, and I wish us a very fruitful session. Thank you.

Very much, Mrs. Miko. I would like to give the floor now to Mrs. Akizuki.

Good morning to everyone. I will report only four main activities. The first, on May 22nd, I participated in the 8th anniversary commemorative assembly of the Candidates Gender Equality Act of Japan at the House of Representatives, organized by Association for the Promotion of the Quota System, and I lectured why the political 50/50 parity is necessary. I, of course, explained the GR40. Secondly, on May 29th, I participated in the assembly titled What Happened to the CEDAW Recommendations at the House of Representatives, organized by Optional Protocol CEDAW Action, and I lectured on the evaluation of the sixth basic plan for gender equality of Japan from the perspective of CEDAW recommendations. And thirdly, on June 6th, I participated in the conference titled the UN and United Nations and the Agenda 2026, organized by Japanese Association of International Women's Rights, and then reported on the 91st and the 92nd sessions of CEDAW. And finally but not least, on September 28th and 29th, I was invited to the symposium on legislative reform for women's human rights titled "Legislating Equality: CEDAW and Beyond," organized by Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, SUHAKAM, the Australian High Commission, the Malaysian Bar, and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Gender Equality, and I on the CEDAW Convention and the role of the CEDAW Committee and also participated in several panel discussions. We discussed the definition of discrimination, including intersecting forms of discrimination, or the necessity of comprehensive anti-discrimination law or follow-up items, including child marriage or FGM and so forth. Since I was a country rapporteur for Malaysia, it was my great honour to be invited on this two days intensive panel symposium and I was very deeply moved to the very much enthusiastic Malaysian people. I'm sorry. I was very happy. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Mrs. Akizuki. I would like to give the floor to Mrs. Akia now, please.

Thank you very much, Chair. I'd like to report on only five activities. Last week, I was in Rome and the Vatican City to speak on gender equality and the role of the CEDAW Convention and the CEDAW Committee in advancing equality in the workplace. This Rome and the Vatican event was organized by the International Network of Women Leaders in Rome. I also had an event with the Medicine for Malaria Venture and the RBM Partnership to End Malaria organized for a session that was organized in Geneva in regards to speaking about anti-malarial resistance and why state parties need to address malaria and malaria anti-resistance, resistance to malaria because women and girls are the most impacted. In August, I was in Zimbabwe with Afua Nahaki to speak on sexual and reproductive rights and justice for women and girls. And this event, I spoke about the CEDAW convention and why the new upcoming addendum on health, that was very important for the participants to understand. And then lastly, no, second last, I was at the Centre of Human Rights, University of Pretoria and the People's Tribunal for Women of Afghanistan, at an event organised by both of them to speak about why the CEDAW Committee and partnerships continue to be important in implementing the CEDAW Convention for women and girls in both Africa and also in Afghanistan. And lastly, because of the spirit of intergeneration, Your Excellency, Chair, and your Dean, alongside I, participated together with for the Aga Khan Education Services to speak to 17 year olds, no 17, 18, 19 year olds from three countries, that's Uganda, Nigeria and Canada on the role of the CEDAW convention, but why it's important to have young people join efforts in advancing the CEDAW convention.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mrs. Akian. I give the floor now to Mrs. Rana, please.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It is good to be back together after a long gap. Before I begin on my intersessional activities, I wish to draw the attention of the committee to the recent floods that devastated Nepal and some communities across the border in China. That is a stark reminder that climate-related disasters know no borders and that their impacts are deeply gendered. It makes the implementation of CEDAW GR 37 even more urgent, to put women's rights at the centre of disaster preparedness, response and recovery as the global world discusses the climate impact. I just wanted to draw the committee's attention to my intercessional activities. I too managed to attend the Commission on the Status of Women, and in addition to all the other activities related to women, peace, security, Afghanistan, I just want to mention that I managed straight from the airport to attend the session on access to justice and gender stereotyping, the contribution of CEDAW, organized by various UN agencies, including OHCHR and UN Women and DORA and Switzerland, and I presented the rationale for the objectives of the ongoing process in elaborating general Resolution 41. And then on 26th March, the mission of Singapore here in Geneva invited me to speak as a keynote speaker, coinciding 45 years of CEDAW coming into force and their 30 years of ratifying CEDAW. And as I was the rapporteur of the constructive dialogue, I was asked to reflect on Singapore's strengths and challenges, and I emphasized on the leadership role that Singapore can play in the region to strengthen the CEDAW compliance. Regarding CEDAW General Recommendation 41, this intersessional I have attended a number of series of in-person as well as online consultations regarding General Recommendation 41. 2nd and 3rd April, it was Asia-Pacific regional consultation attended in person. 21st April, Nepal, the civil society organized a national consultation. 22nd April, there was Africa consultation in Nairobi, attended online. 11th, 12th May, UN Women West and Central Africa Regional Office, in collaboration with OSCHR, organized this, which I participated online. And the recent one was on September 2nd, the IPU conference, where I was also asked to share, along with Rhoda, of course, on GR41. So these were activities related to GR41. On 17th April, I was a panelist at the launching of a study report on advancing feminist principles international policies organized by Frederick Ebert Stiftung, which is called FES. April 27 and 30, I attended the Women Deliver conference in Melbourne. I spoke at series of five or six events, but I really want to acknowledge the presence of EDRAW Asia Pacific here and appreciate EDRAW's efforts in bringing the visibility of CEDAW through panel discussions and multilateral hubs, series of them. Just to mention a few, there was a championing CEDAW, what is at stake for gender equality and accountability. We know the problems, now for solutions, navigating gender backlash through CEDAW, no excuses for gender stereotypes, getting to know CEDAW's upcoming GR41. So really, thank you so much, IRO Asia Pacific. There was another multilateral hub which I spoke at, organized by OHCHR Gender Unit, where I shared about treaty body mechanisms. I will not mention the rest. Another one is I accompanied, I was with the UN Women DED in launching Nepal CEDAW roadmap in Nepal when she visited there. There was another event on ICJ online with Thai and Lao lawyers. Then I also was in Rome, Italy to attend the Women, Peace, Security Focal Points Network meeting hosted by government of Italy and Philippines. And then lastly, I attended the first week of the UN General Assembly, where I spoke on a number of events, particularly feminist foreign policy, and then also on Afghanistan, women, peace, justice, and national reconciliation, reiterated CEDAW's commitment to Afghan women. ministerial level side event again on women, peace, security, and the climate summit 2026. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you very much, Ms. Rana. I feel bad about timekeeping because I know there's very important information to be shared, but please bear with me because we have a schedule and we have to abide by it. And I still have a very long list of speakers, and I'm happy to give the floor to Mrs. Tshivana now.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair, I am also very pleased to find again my colleagues, yourself and my colleagues in the committee and the secretariat after a long period, uh, in which we were, uh, actually very… active communicating together on most important issues, I think. So we did what we could. I will just highlight some activities, mostly related with imparting our knowledge on CEDAW and the UN system and its working and importance on students, on younger lawyers. and other students. So first of all, in spring, I had two very important online sessions on technically facilitated gender-based violence. with students from the university and students in journalism and mass communication. And also separately, I had online sessions with students from law faculty, specializing in international law. I think very important. I also, during spring, summer, we organized with the Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation, I'm the chair of, the 10th round of the Women's Human Rights Training Institute, which is conducted in English in Bulgaria. And we have the honor to have managed this initiative on this program, international program, already 20 years. So we will have the 10th round, hopefully, in the next one, two years, and we will have 25 students. lawyers from Europe, but also from all over the world. So I rely on all your also participation. I will be inviting colleagues. And in the framework, just and last to say that in the framework of this institute, we started with four online session on technically facilitated gender-based violence, four sessions in September, but we got large participation of all these lawyers already selected and also we had the honor to have as lecturers our distinguished colleagues Mrs. Esther Egobamian and Mrs. Rangita de Silva de Alwis. So we will be continuing also spreading the knowledge about CEDAW because in this Institute the main issue, the main mechanism studied is really CEDAW and its practice, along with the other mechanisms in the UN system and also regional system. So very good opportunity to continue the program, and I rely on all the support also of you and the CEDAW Committee. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Mrs. Tischeva. I can now give the floor to Mrs. Barreto.

Thank you, Chair. I'll report on five of my activities. I was pleased to make a presentation on April 22nd, an elaboration of CEDAW GR 41, dismantling gender stereotypes on the unequal power relations that sustain them as part of CEDAW and UN Women regional consultation for Latin America and the Caribbean. On May 8th in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, I made a panel presentation on Africa's entitled Africa's Development Pathways in a Fragmenting World, Accelerating Inclusive Growth. And it was at the third meeting of the UN's High-Level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs. And while there, over two days, I participated in the third meeting of the same High-Level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs. I also made a plenary panel presentation on June 30th entitled Operationalizing Gender Equality Commitments Across Human Rights Treaties, Achieving the SDGs Post-2030 Agenda. And it was part of UN Women expert group meeting on gender equality, the empowerment of all women and girls and their human rights across the sustainable development goals accessing progress towards the implementation of the 2030 agenda. I develop and taught a unit entitled Feminist Political Economy and its relevance examining unequal relations of gender at the Caribbean Institute in Gender and Development Studies at the University of the West Indies and this was for activists and members of the NGO/CSO community across the geographic Caribbean and parts of Central America. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you very much, Mrs. Barito. I would like to give the floor now to Mrs. Reddock, please. Mrs. Reddock, you have the floor.

Thank you very much, Chair. And it's great to be back in this room and this session. I just wanted to note that a lot of my activities related to GR 41, and I attended a number of sessions, virtually or in person, related to the Arab states, the North American consultation, the Latin American and Caribbean, the special CARICOM consultation, which we organized, and the East and Southern Africa consultation. and I think those are very useful in helping to strengthen our process. In addition, I attended the Beijing plus 50 celebrations in Trinidad and Tobago. where I was a presenter on a panel as one of those persons who actually attended the conference in Beijing in 1995. And this was organized by the UNDP Port of Spain office and the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action, Trinidad and Tobago. I also was part of a panel discussion for Sexual Assault Survivors Month in April, and also I, like Eudine, my colleague, I gave a lecture at the Caribbean Institute on Gender and Development on women's movements and gender bureau in the Caribbean, the history of women's movements and gender bureau. Like Kaupena, I participated in the International Parliamentary Union webinar on gender stereotypes on the 2nd of September. And in my home country, Trinidad and Tobago, I gave a lecture to the African Women's Association of Trinidad and Tobago on the 12th of September on the history of women in Trinidad and Tobago. And last week, I made a presentation to the 63rd session of the Human Rights Council, its special session this year on gender stereotypes, and I presented on a panel during that period. Thank you, chair.

Thank you very much, Mrs. Reddock. I would like now to give the floor to Mrs. Pelaez.

Thank you, Madam Chair. At the outset, allow me to congratulate you and all members of the committee on the fantastic work done during the intercessional period. I would like to talk about five activities that I have carried out during this period. First of all, there was the organisation of an annual conference on the trafficking and exploitation of women with disabilities. This was organised in the Spanish Parliament, and the link is available if you wish to view it. Secondly, I took part also on behalf of the Committee in the Judicial School of the General Council of the Judiciary of Spain, so as to present the implementations. and involvement of CEDAW with the Spanish justice system. I'd also like to refer to what I did on behalf of CEDAW during the fifth ministerial feminist foreign policy conference organized from the 2nd and 3rd of June. This committee was invited, and I had the honor to be the committee's representative at that conference. Fourthly, I participated in the 19th meeting of the Conference of States Parties to the CRPD, in particular in light of the upcoming general recommendation No. 42 on women's rights and disability. I'd also like to refer to my recent participation on the 30th of September at a training that UN Women organized. This was an internal training for its technical team about equal participation and gender equality and inclusion of persons with disabilities and human rights. And that is, uh, all I have to say. Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Thank you very much, Mrs. Pelaez. I would like now to give the floor to Mrs. Ego Bamyen.

Thank you very much, Chair. Like colleagues, I'm really delighted to be back here, and I will speak on a number of activities, not all of them. First is the CSW, which I also was privileged to be there. And at that CSW, I was able to participate as a panelist on several events, largely focusing on digital technologies and the role and centrality of CEDAW to achieving accountability in a digital and I was also at the Cities for CEDAW Global Coalition Award where Los Angeles was given the award, a city with a population of 30 million people able to transform development through implementation of CEDAW at the city level. I was also, following that, we were together with the Chair to launch the first City for CEDAW in Europe, which was Cardiff, and it was a very successful event where the team was from convention to a city for CEDAW and there I spoke as a keynote speaker on CEDAW as a catalyst for sustainable economic growth. for a city and for a region. Also, following on that, worked with the Global Cities for SDO hub here in Geneva to launch the Global Cities for SDO model with mayors, cities, and regional local government chairmen and mayors from across many countries around the world. Um, I also had the privilege, um, to participate at the UN Digital Week, uh, being one of the attending the UN, uh, AI for Global Good. AI for Good Global Summit, which was organized by ITU, UN Women, and I spoke at the high-level debate, talking about centrality of the Convention to accountability and inclusive governance in a digital age. And we're also able to organize a joint workshop at the World Summit on the Information Society Forum here in Geneva, jointly with the working group on discrimination against women and girls, which CHR, BTEC, UN Women and ITU on CEDAW accountability standards in AI governance and digital value chains. That was here in Geneva. I also participated in the International Day of the African Woman, which was organized by the government agency, the Ministry of Budget and the University of Abuja. And I was able to, I was a keynote speaker talking about context of CEDAW and women's rights protection in achieving the SDGs across Africa. I had the privilege to also contribute to the to the first review of a draft resolution on gender and AI, HRC 63, which was jointly organized by stakeholders, Armenia, Mexico, Switzerland, and the Gender Champions Group, UN Women, and ITU, where we brainstormed on a draft resolution on women and girls' rights in the digital and AI era. I also was able to speak at the Power of the Purse, it was a global conference organized by an NGO, Women of Worth, and I spoke on proper financial and economic growth, management, finance that is in line with CEDAW principles and provisions and women's rights, economic rights protection. Lastly, I spoke, I participated, I wasn't a speaker, but I was able to participate at the ITU Digital at UNGA 2026 event on human-centric cities in the age of AI, connectivity, inclusion, and opportunity for all. And that was a very enlightening session to show how inclusion and implementation of CEDAW principles and rights can actually be upheld across sectors, tourism, hospitality, building, construction, architecture in the AI industry. I'll stop here for now. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you very much. I mean, I know that many of you have done much more than you reported on, but let us try to be brief because again, we have some other items before 11:30, and then we have the UN agency coming to visit. So I would like now, if possible, to give the floor to Mrs. Staudisporra. Please, then Mrs. Toledo-Vasquez, this is the list prepared by Jacob, so I'm following what is in front of my eyes. If it doesn't follow the, yeah, please go ahead.

Thank you, Chair. I will use this as an opportunity to make some acknowledgements. I will assume my intersessional activities can be taken as read. A few shout outs, if you like. I also want to acknowledge the largest non-UN women's conference in the world, Women Deliver, that was hosted by the state of Victoria, and also acknowledge, as Ms. Bandana Rana has done, the work of IROR in that it was an absolute privilege to be a part of panels that highlighted, gave visibility to the work of CEDAW. I also want to acknowledge organisations that work on, well, who were part of International Humanitarian Day activities, and in particular, what a privilege it was to be a part of ActionAid's work in Australia, a feminist-focused organisation that deals with disaster risk and preparedness, and is more essential than ever, given some of the awful things that we've seen happen as a consequence of climate change. and through you, Chair, to Ms. Rana, I also want to add my condolences and support to the people of Nepal. I want to thank the organizers, in particular, Elizabeth Cafferty, for the work on the Global Partnership for Education. It was an honor to be able to witness some of their work at UNGA this year. I also want to thank the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, the the representative on sexual violence in conflict, Ms. Pramila Patten, for being kind enough to spend time with me during the UNGA activities in order to discuss some of the issues in which I'm involved, including sexual violence in the military. We're conducting an inquiry into that in Australia. And just on the issue of education, might I add, and I think we've had some interesting information today, including from colleagues like Genoveva, about access to education at all levels and how critical that is. Can I just put on record how important it is that women and girls are safe in education? Whether that is at university or reception level in any parts of the world, we know that rape on campus is not restricted to one institution. On that note, I will table my intercessional activities. Thank you, Chair. The Hon.

JAS: Thank you very much Please, Mrs. Toledo-Vasquez.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I'd also like to congratulate all my colleagues on how active we've been and how we made the most of the fact that there was no June session to do more during the intercessional period. I, for my part, took part in a number of activities, including discussions, meetings, and high-level panels at the international level and regional level. In the context of the last CSW session, I took part in a way that focused on gender-based violence, including the high-level meeting on violence against women and girls, which was organized by UN Women, and a meeting on women in prison, including those who are criminalized in the context of organized crime. In May, I took part as an expert in a meeting on femicide and a high-level network of action with a gender perspective. This was organized by UN Women in June during the biannual panel on women's rights of the Human Rights Council session. I also took part on a panel which was on preventing violence against women and girls and on femicide. I also took part in a work of the Group of Friends for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls. This was organized by UN Women in September. I also had the honour of joining my GRULAC colleagues in a meeting about our upcoming general recommendation 41, and in June I took part on a panel which was focused on the death penalty, and my contribution was bringing a women's perspective, a gender perspective linked to the death penalty. I also took part in a meeting on reproductive violence, and this was a consultation that was organized by UNFPA. Alongside these activities, I have been in constant dialogue with United Nations entities and regional mechanisms, including civil society, academia, and other experts, and I have been striving to bring the Committee's perspective to all their discussions. Thank you.

Thank you very, very much. I would like to give the floor now to Mrs. Elshukairi. Please, you have the floor.

Apologies, a message from the interpreters, there is no.

Arabic booth for this meeting.

No Arabic? I'll try. No problem. I'll try to do it in English. No problem. I'll try to do it in English.

All public meeting, we are promised to have Arabic as fourth language. So can we make sure that for the rest of public meeting and that is addressed to the booth and to the interpreter, we do have Arabic, please. For this now intervention, maybe if you can sum it up a bit in English. Thank you very much, and I'm sorry about that.

Translated into English, Madam Chair, distinguished colleagues, NGOs representative, at the opening of the 93rd session, I'm pleased to briefly highlight some of the activities in which I have participated since our previous session, as well as development relevant to women's rights in Oman. As part of my work with the Working group on draft general recommendation number 41 on gender stereotypes. I participated virtually in the religion consultation held in Cairo in April 2026 with experts from the MENA region. This provided an opportunity to capture regional views and experiences and contribute them to the development of the draft general recommendation. I also represented the committee, on behalf of the chair, at the regional workshop on women's economic rights, unpaid care and domestic work, and marital property, which was held on 19 and 20 May 2026. It was organised by Musawah Center in partnership with the UN Women Regional Office for Arab States. I presented a paper entitled "Recognizing Women's Unpaid Contribution as a Basis for their Rights to Marital Assets" at CEDAW's perspective, focusing on the importance of recognizing the economic value of unpaid work when addressing women's economic rights and rights to marital assets. At the national level, in following on the Committee's concluding observations, on Oman's fourth periodic report, particularly paragraph 21 and 22 concerning the Oman Human Rights Commission and its alignment with the Paris Principles 2026 witnessed that assurance of royal decree recognizing the commissions, the new framework strengthened its administrative and financial independence, and provide for appropriate representation of women. I participated in a consultation organized by the Commission with civil society, United Nations offices, experts and academics, where I emphasized the importance of linking the Commission's indicators with gender equality and women's empowerment, thereby strengthening the monitoring of progress and identifying areas that may require further support and development in the line of the CEDAW. With regard to women's political participation, and in following up on the Committee's CoP's particular paragraph 25 and 26 concerning temporary special measures and quotas to increase women representations in political and public life and decision-making, the Oman Human Rights Commission also recommended temporary special measures, including the allocation of seats for women in the Shura Council, which is Parliament, In June 2026, a royal decree allocated 11 additional seats for women in the Shura Council in Oman, one seat for each governorate, while maintaining women's rights to compete for the general seats. This represents a practical step towards strengthening women's substantive political participation in Oman. Finally, in my capacity as the focal point of climate change for the Committee, I was entrusted by the Chair on behalf of the Committee to review the initial gender action plan under the enhanced Lima Work Programme on Gender, provide strategic recommendations, and ensure its alignment with CEDAW in the context of preparation for COP30 in Brazil. The review focused on integrating gender equality into climate action and strengthening women's participation and access to technology, innovation and artificial intelligence. At the national level, almost 700,000 real money, approximately $1.8 million, was approved in 2026 to support initiatives strengthening rural women's productivity, adaptation to climate change, and their access to technology and innovation. In addition, 100,000 Omani, approximately 260,000 US dollar, was allocated for green energy technologies supporting rural women alongside 19 entrepreneurship and innovation projects in Oman. In October, a specialized forum, while we are here, a specialized forum on artificial intelligence technologies supporting rural women's enterprises will be held in Muscat, bringing together approximately 150 women from different governance of Oman. Thank you, and I look forward to continuing our work together during this session to translate our CEDAW commitments into tangible results for women and girls. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mrs. Al Shukairi. I would like to give the floor now to Mrs. Gonzalez Herrero. You have the floor.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would also like to recognise the work that you and other members of the committee have done throughout this period. I was able to take part in some 15 activities, and in one group where I was invited, I was not able to participate because of all the blockades imposed against my country because of the United States, and this has limited connectivity and mobility, and this has had an impact on my work. From all of these activities, I'd just like to mention a couple. One of them was related to the work that I have been doing with Mexico in follow-up to the recommendations made to Mexico. In this case, I was the rapporteur, and I was invited to the meeting for the 30th anniversary under the aegis of UNESCO at the Autonomous University in Mexico, and I was able to give some follow-up to the recommendation through a number of activities. Then in June, I attended an event in Panama about child marriages, early marriages and forced marriages, about developing guidelines that we're preparing for Parliament in the fight against this harmful practice and bearing in mind that the committee is well appraised of this matter. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And you have all our sympathy because of the issues related to connectivity and mobility in Cuba. Thank you very much. I'd like to give the floor now to Mr. Safarov.

Please. I join to all our colleagues about the world, especially natural disasters and the humanitarian aid which need to be done, especially for the countries, especially for Nepal and China on these issues. And at the same time, I will give some small points about my participation. I have more than 25 activities, but I will give only eight of them. First of all, one of the main is creating special regional organization as a woman council in a SICA. as long as building measures in Asia, in Azerbaijan, new regional organization of women's rights, which will be working between the Asia countries and it will be on social issues, it will be on economic issues, health issues, including the same time. And I participate in the concept, not the preparation of the statute of the document and final declaration of the adoption and creation of this organization. The next point, I participate in the preparations and declaration of adopting a special 28 years of the working special central authority on women's rights in Azerbaijan, which already we are waiting that it will be for the next year, so it will be anniversaries. And we're preparing the new action plans, especially on the implementation, sustainable development and family, women and children policy, especially in Azerbaijan. Third one is a one major where I make the speech is a third forum on social progress in media space where we including a special formats, which is saying about false information, protecting women from blackmail case and different issues. And high level, one more time, I was invited for the Bosnia from UN Women and including by the CEDAW Committee as an expert, participate in online virtual conference, which including especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina, high-level policy dialogue on launch event, especially on roadmap of parity from international standards of political advantages for the gender equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Next one is the implementation and creating a new system, ehygukshonas.com, especially for the lawyers using illegal services, legal data, international law, case law, and especially including our GRs and our recommendations and our optional protocol in this online section, which including several language, not just Azerbaijan, English and Russian language at the same time, which will be online service for the lawyers and the scientific researchers. Next one is about the conference on training for the safe sport program for national sport federations. I make presentation as it was provided by National Olympic Committee and European Olympic Committee, which including prevention of supporting gender equality, prevention of sexual harassment in sport and different actions. Training on the safe, transparent, digital environment, protection of vulnerable groups, especially. which including my speech, especially on the side. And the last one, I participate as a trainer and including as a preparation of the training on enhancing the digital skills of gender focal points, which including several points, a cyber forward towards the security digital future, effective and safe use of artificial intelligence tools, artificial intelligence application, opportunity, risk, and responsible use, especially for the gender focal points using in the ministries and in the regional level internal insurgencies. Thank you very much.

Mr. Safarov, I'd like to give the floor to Mrs. Schlappi now, please.

Thank you very much. Happy to be back here among all of you who were also active since February. I must say that CEDAW has been on my mind almost every time since February. Just, I won't go to everything, but just mention three things. At the invitation of the OSCE chairmanship, which is Switzerland for the moment, I participated to a permanent council meeting in Vienna, where all OSCE participating states are represented. To commemorate the International Women's Day, I focused in my intervention on the contribution of CEDAW and the binding obligations of states to eliminate gender discrimination particularly in the area of security. Secondly, I was also in New York for the CSW session. I think it was a very interesting session. It was very good for networking. We are part of a bigger architecture and we have to be aware of that. I contributed actively to several events, particularly in the area of access to justice, which was one of the issues on the agenda of CSW. And I think CEDAW has very much to show and to be visible on that. And just to say, I will be very interested in preparing for the next year's participation as well. Thirdly, I was invited to a hearing of the preparatory commission of the Swiss Parliament on a planned reform of the procedural laws. And I was asked for my opinion on how to deal with UN treaty bodies' views in individual communications, how to deal with these views in the Swiss legal system. So there is a lot of discussion going on, and I could contribute. There are a lot of events I participated in. I will spare you the list, but I will, of course, also give it in a written form. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mrs. Schlappi. I give the floor now to Mrs. Jarubushynova.

Thank you, dear Chair. I During this intersessional period, I participated in a number of events at the national and regional central Asian level, and the national activities, I think, were triggered by the upcoming tomorrow's report of my country to CEDAW, so there were different discussions on eradication of discrimination in general, on gender-based violence, and women, peace, and security, because of the adoption of the second national action plan. I will not speak about these activities as they are reflected in my table. I just want to highlight my participation at the CSW 70 and one event there, which I have to organize, which I moderated and where I spoke. This is a side event organized by UNEP, UNDP, Mission of Kazakhstan with the support of the government of Sweden on gender responsive governance in critical mineral sector and I'm sure you will Uh, share my opinion of the importance of the, uh, topic for many, uh, countries, and the, the discussion was very, uh, interesting with interesting recommendations and outcomes. I also participated at the second Asian Global Forum in Bukhara, mentioned by our dear Chair, where I spoke at one of the sessions on the issues of women, peace and security issues in the context of climate change. And just one more event, I will not speak about China trip, which was very productive and interesting, thank you. for organization to all China Women Federation and to our dear colleague Hong Mu. I will just, the last event I'd like to mention is the round table which took place just two weeks ago in Skopje, North Macedonia. It's the roundtable organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union. I replaced Marianna or Genevieve there and spoke on two topics, on our General Recommendation No. 40 and the upcoming General Recommendation No. 41. And, well, The CDO's engagement was highly appreciated by the partners and by the participants of the event. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very, very much. We still have one or two issues before we invite our UN agency colleague for a private meeting. However, I really would like to highlight from all the wealth of the information shared that we need to focus in this session What are we going to do on disaster risk reduction and climate change concretely? That's one point. Second point, what are we going to do? I'm not just throwing this like food for thought because we have to start thinking about it. This session, we can't leave Geneva without having something on this topic in particular. Because don't forget that our GR is named disaster risk reduction in the context of climate change. So it's really at the heart of all what we are witnessing and for which we feel sometimes we are helpless, but we're not. The second area that I think I heard you loud and clear speak about it, it's also humanitarian assistance in the context of conflict. Again, we say time and time again, but then we don't have any particular thing that can get out of the session. So I flag this because it came in different incarnation. The third one is gender and AI, but also gender business sector in general and all the work that has been spearheaded by Esther. We need to have something that can be visible, that makes us seen on the map. And the fourth area that I also heard you speaking about implicitly, it's the intergenerational. What are we going to do, you know, leaving the legacy to the next, to those young people who are now committed and moving. So keep these four heading, maybe I forgot some other, but it is what I received from you when you've given your feedback, that we need to discuss informally and formally and come back with what can be done. With this, I would like us to go back to the agenda item 4, which is the consideration of reports submitted by States Party under Article 18. As you know, the pre-session working group for the 93rd session was cancelled due to the liquidity crisis. The members who had been nominated to serve on the pre-session working group, they met informally online, and I have to again thank everyone for giving their time informally online for so many activities. on 10 and 13, from 10 to 13 June 2025, respectively, to prepare the list of issues of Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Kazakhstan, Paraguay and Republic of Moldova, as well as list of issues adopted by the Committee at its 91st session, which was held in 16 June to 4 July 2025. Yes, this was the last one we had in July. So of those list of issues, the Committee will consider the reports of Angola, Kazakhstan, Paraguay, and the Republic of Moldova at the present session. In addition, it will consider the reports of Cabo Verde, Cooks Island, Kenya, and Togo. So on the issue of item 5 as well, on the follow-up to the consideration of reports submitted by states, I'd like to hear from the Mrs. Pia Conella in the absence of the alternate rapporteur. She will be briefing us on the follow-up reports submitted by state party under Article 18. And so I would like to give her the floor. Mrs. Pia Comella, you have the floor briefly, if possible. Thank you.

Good morning. Thank you very much indeed, Madam Chair. As rapporteur for follow-up on concluding observations, And on item 5 of our agenda, on the report on follow-up to concluding observations, regarding the reports submitted by States Parties under Article 18 of our Convention, it is my honour to inform the Committee of the state of follow-up reports received in response to concluding observations of the Committee. at the end of the 92nd session, follow-up letters describing the results of assessments of follow-up reports were sent to Germany, Bhutan, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Slovenia, Tunisia, Ukraine and Uruguay. Reminders were sent to Albania, China, Spain, France, Iceland, Jamaica, Malawi, Nicaragua, Philippines, Timor-Leste, Sao Tome and Principe, and Venezuela, whose follow-up reports should have been examined at the 98th session but which had not yet been received. Following the 92/4 decision of the Committee, eight follow-up reports were assessed in June and July 2026 during the intercessional period. On 3 August 2026, follow-up letters describing the results of assessments were transmitted to Albania, Spain, France, Iceland, Philippines, Slovakia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. During the intersessional period, as well, reminders were also sent to the Central African Republic, to Djibouti, to Greece, to Italy, to Niger, to Oman and to the DRC, whose follow-up reports should have been examined at the 93rd session but were not yet received. the alternate rapporteur on follow-up, and myself would very much like to thank the country rapporteurs for their valuable contributions to the intercessional preparation of the eight evaluations, the follow-up evaluations that were done in June and July, particularly for Albania and Slovakia, Ms. Miko, for Spain, Ms. Haka, for France, Ms. Kruin-depmeijer, for Iceland and Turkmenistan, Mr. Elvan Seferov, For the Philippines, Ms. Hiroko Akizuki. And for Tajikistan, Ms. Rangita Dasawa Dayawas. For this session, Madam Chair, the Committee will consider the follow-up reports for Estonia, received a month in advance, and the Republic of Korea, received on time. I would invite the country rapporteurs concerned to assist with the evaluation of the follow-up reports for Estonia, Ms. Genoveva Tishova, and for the Republic of Korea, Ms. Sarengita de Silva de Azevedo. The draft evaluations of follow-up will be communicated to the country rapporteurs today. on 5 October, prior to discussion in plenary, which is planned for Tuesday, 20 October 2026, 30 to 1:00 pm. Moreover, reminders regarding the submission of follow-up reports should be sent to Brazil, Malaysia and Rwanda. Firstly, Madam Chairperson, the alternative rapporteur and myself would once again like to extend our sincere thanks to Ms. Alejandra Alvite, as well as to the whole team within the Secretariat for their professionalism, their unwavering professionalism that they have demonstrated over the past two years. Thank you very much indeed for your attention, Madam Chair.

Thank you hugely, Ms. Peconella. through you, we would also like to thank your colleague, the alternate rapporteur who is not with us this morning, but who will be joining us at the end of the week or beginning of next week. We would also like to thank colleagues from the Secretariat who have enabled this activity to take place despite the lack of session and you have still managed to ensure continuity, you have still managed to produce high quality documents, so we thank you very warmly indeed.

I would like just to say that we will be meeting this afternoon from 3:00 to 5:00 with an informal meeting with the non-governmental organization and national human rights institution, of which we are very happy. And now we will have to convene in an, in an, this afternoon will be a public meeting. Now we have to convene an informal meeting with United Nations entities and other intergovernmental bodies in a closed meeting. And therefore we would like to give five minutes of break to switch from public to private. Five minutes of break. Thank you very much and see you this afternoon.