KEY FINDINGS

Laws implemented in response to CEDAW reviews

• Based on our sample of 117 countries, during their last CEDAW reviews between 1997 and 2020, governments implemented or amended 423 laws in response to law-related CEDAW Committee recommendations; this reflects 46% of the total of 919 law-related recommendations the Committee made during those reviews.

• Eighty-five of the 423 laws related specifically to GBV (gender-based poverty); refugee, asylum seeker or migrant status; and/or identifying as LGBTQIA+.

• These 85 laws in 49 countries (see map and methods for complete list of countries) included those that aimed to improve access to health for women experiencing poverty, strengthen access to healthcare for those identifying as LGBTQIA+, streamline sponsorship and visa approvals for refugees to make healthcare more accessible, and strengthen legal protections and remedies to protect women against GBV.

• Most (76%) of the Committee’s law-related recommendations sought to address GBV. The second-highest category was gender-based poverty.

• These 85 laws in 49 countries (see map and methods for complete list of countries) included those that aimed to improve access to health for women experiencing poverty, strengthen access to healthcare for those identifying as LGBTQIA+, streamline sponsorship and visa approvals for refugees to make healthcare more accessible, and strengthen legal protections and remedies to protect women against GBV.

• Overwhelmingly, CEDAW law-related recommendations that governments failed or chose not to implement were anti-GBV laws, including those aimed at:

Preventing and punishing all forms of sexual harassment

Extending the legal grounds for abortion to rape and incest

Prohibiting domestic violence (including marital rape)

• Some laws that governments failed or chose not to implement during their CEDAW review were subsequently implemented. This likely reflects the important role of women’s rights advocates and the role that the CEDAW Committee played in supporting change over time.

Redressing the balance: Using human rights law to improve health for women everywhere

Findings by humanitarian crisis status and income group

• Countries across all income groups implemented similar proportions of the CEDAW Committee’s law-related recommendations, suggesting high-income status does not necessarily lead to a greater capacity or motivation to implement health-promoting laws:

• Countries experiencing a humanitarian crisis implemented 34% of CEDAW law-related recommendations, compared to 53% in non-crisis countries.

The civil society perspective

Shadow reports by CSOs suggest that four common barriers prevent the effective implementation of CEDAW law-related recommendations across each of the four situations of vulnerability:

1) a lack of reliable health and social data,

2) systems issues (including barriers to health access and poorly designed policies, procedures and infrastructure) within legal institutions (the judiciary, legislative bodies and human rights machinery),

3) persistent government inaction and

4) underfunding and resourcing of related health and social services.

CSOs drew attention to health-harming laws in many areas, including inheritance laws, customary law, laws regulating (or failing to regulate) low-income domestic work and laws relating to women living rurally. These laws intersected and compounded the discrimination experienced by women.