The Steering Committee of Bridging the gap-II supports the candidature of Ana Peláez to the CEDAW Committee
Ana Peláez Narváez, an internationally renowned blind woman and current member of the Steering Committee of our European Project Bridging the Gap II, is nominated by Spain to serve on the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee). The nomination is in response to calls from disability organisations through the Spanish Committee of Representatives of Persons with Disabilities (CERMI), with the endorsement of the International Disability Alliance (IDA).
The CEDAW Committee is the body charged with overseeing states parties’ implementation of the United Nations Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women and it is composed of 23 independent experts from different countries worldwide. The elections to the 12 positions which become vacant this year will be held at United Nations headquarters in New York on June 7th 2018, and the representatives from the 189 States Parties to CEDAW will have the right to vote.
Bridging the Gap II reckons that the nomination is a historic opportunity for women with disabilities to become visible within the United Nations body responsible for combatting discrimination against women, reaffirming their identity as part of the population of women and expanding disability beyond the CRPD Committee, something which until now has never been achieved. In this respect, it is worth bearing in mind that, according to UN Women, an estimated one in five women in the world lives with a disability (a population of over 600 million women and girls with disabilities).
After serving for two terms on the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, focusing efforts especially on women and girls with disabilities, we believe that Ana is the best person to join the CEDAW Committee as an active member from the very outset.
We the representatives of the SC members of Bridging the Gap II (FIIAPP – Spanish Cooperation, the Austrian Development Agency, the Spanish Agency for the Development Cooperation, the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, the European Disability Forum and the International Disability and Development Consortium) are committed to the full inclusion of women with disabilities, and for this reason we support the nomination to the CEDAW Committee of Ana Peláez Narváez.
The Steering Committee Members of Bridging the Gap II
