UN CEDAW Committee Calls on Egypt to Promote Reproductive Rights

03.03.10 – The Center for Reproductive Rights welcomes the latest concluding observations for Egypt from the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which urged the Egyptian government to protect and promote women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights. The CEDAW Committee’s recommendations closely track the areas of concern raised by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) and the Center in a joint shadow report presented to the Committee when it met in Geneva earlier this year for its 45th session.

After Egypt presented its periodic report to the CEDAW Committee, the experts recommended that the government address issues such as the failure to protect women from sexual violence, inadequate family planning services, insufficient public information on maternal mortality and morbidity, and deficient adolescent sexual and reproductive health services.  In particular, the Committee urged the Egyptian government to expand access to sexual and reproductive health services for women, including rural women. It also advocated to increase access to affordable contraceptive methods, including emergency contraceptives.