A Study on Reservations made to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol : How to Guarantee the Effectiveness of Treaties (Part 1)

This paper analyzes the influence of reservations to the effectiveness of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (hereinafter referred as "CEDAW") and the Optional Protocol to this Convention (hereinafter referred as "the Optional Protocol") in guaranteeing women's human rights. Reservations to treaties allow states to join a multilateral treaty when states agree to the object and purpose of the treaty in general but find that some provisions do not comform to their domestic laws, customs, or practices. At the same time, however, reservations pose the danger of tampering with the object and purpose of treaties, especially when it comes to human rights treaties. I analyze the provisions relating to reservations both in CEDAW and the Optional Protocol, comparing those with other major human rights treaties adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. These treaties include the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination of 1965, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment of 1984, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989. While CEDAW follows the "compatibility" principle established in Article 19 (c) of the Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties of 1969, it fails to provide concrete criteria of the compatibility of reservations. Then I go on to analyze reservations made to CEDAW from the perspectives of geographical distribution, settlement of disputes, and the content of the provisions.4KJ00004282749論文Articledepartmental bulletin pape