Alternative Report Guidelines

When you are unable to get a copy of your government/State party report to the CEDAW Committee, you can still contribute to the reporting process by presenting an Alternative Report to the Committee. This report could be a comprehensive one touching on all the articles of the CEDAW Convention or it could be done on just one or two priority concerns identified through consultation with other women's groups.

Summary of the Guidelines

• What are the problems or issues for women and what evidence is there that these are problems/issues?
• What has contributed to the problem(s)?
• How has the government failed in its obligation to women?
• What articles of the CEDAW Convention have been violated?
• What should the government do to rectify the situation and fulfill its obligation?

Detailed Guidelines

1. What is the context with respect to human rights and democracy in your country?

2. Identify critical issues/problems for women in your country and, to the extent possible, prioritise the issues/problems. You may confine yourself to one issue if you wish.

3. Which article(s) in the Convention can be used to address this issue(s)?

4. What evidence is there of the existence of the problem?

• Prevalence and magnitude of the problem
• Contributing factors - immediate, historical, systemic, etc.
• Effects on women

5. What do you think that the government should be doing to address the problem(s)?

6. What is the government actually doing to address the problem(s)? What are the gaps in government action in relation to the actions you have identified in item 5?

7. What is your analysis of existing government action with regard to:

• Effectiveness of what the government is doing- is there statistics or evidence of the scale or the effectiveness of government action. Does the government monitor its own actions?
• If in your opinion the government's actions are not effective, what are the contributory factors?
  
  • Have the relevant actors been identified?
  • Is there an allocation of adequate resources?
  • Are there laws or policies to mandate the action?
  • Are there institutional arrangements to facilitate the action?
  • Are relevant personnel being trained?
  • Is there a public awareness programme?
  • Is there a plan for support services if needed?

8. For countries presenting periodic reports, what action has the government taken to follow-up on the Concluding Comments made by the CEDAW Committee at the previous review?

9. Has the government involved NGOs in planning for any of the above? Does the government/State party report mention specific commitments and institutional arrangements for the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action that includes accountability to NGOs?

10. What is your analysis of the efficiency or effectiveness of state machinery meant to promote human rights in general and women's rights in particular?

11. What are your recommendations for government action under each of the issue(s) or problem(s) you have identified?

12. When formatting the Alternative Report, please list all your findings and recommendations under the relevant articles of the Convention as far as possible. Recommendations under one issue could be listed under several relevant articles.

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This page was last updated on July 25, 2003

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