CEDAW and Sexual Orientation and Gender Identify

Confirmed speakers include:

• Dr Lika Nadaria, CEDAW Committee
• Ms Marion Bethel, CEDAW Committee
• Mr Victor Madrigal-Borloz, United Nations Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

About the workshop

Women’s enjoyment of the substantive rights guaranteed under CEDAW – legal equality, nationality, education, employment, health, economic and social life, rurality, family life, political participation – are inextricably informed and shaped in important ways by their sexual orientation and gender identity.

The CEDAW Committee is widely recognised for its positive practice in recognising how gender-based discrimination against women intersects with and is determined by other axes of identity and circumstances of disadvantage.

The annual survey conducted by the International Lesbian and Gay Association identifies the CEDAW Committee as the human rights treaty body making the most frequent references to sexual orientation and gender identity.

The CEDAW Committee is uniquely and ideally situated to recognise intersectional forms of discrimination against lesbian, bisexual and transgender women, to guide States implementing all appropriate measures to eliminate such discrimination, and to lead the evolutionary development of international human rights law in this area.

This workshop seeks to explore the current and potential activities of the CEDAW Committee on the human rights of lesbian, bisexual and transgender women. It will identify strengths in the CEDAW Committee’s current approach to sexual orientation and gender identity and pinpoint areas for future development.

The workshop aims to make both a theoretical and practical contribution to the interpretation of CEDAW and to the activities of the CEDAW Committee, States, civil society and international organisations.

Format of the workshop

The workshop will involve four sessions over two days, from 2-5pm GMT+1 on June 2nd and 3rd.

The workshop is organised by Dr Meghan Campbell (Birmingham University Law School), Dr Loveday Hodson (Leicester University Law School) and Dr Catherine O’Rourke (Ulster University Transitional Justice Institute).

The workshop is hosted by the Transitional Justice Institute at Ulster University.