Abolitionist advocacy at the 90th session and 92nd pre-session of the CEDAW Committee
Advocacy
The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (World Coalition) actively engaged in advocacy during the 90th session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), held in Geneva from February 3 to 21, 2025, to highlight gender-based discrimination in the application of the death penalty in Sri Lanka.
It continued its efforts during the 92nd pre-session (February 24-28), drawing attention to the situation of women facing capital punishment in Iraq, Kenya, and Qatar.
A decisive advocacy effort ahead of Sri Lanka’s review by the CEDAW Committee
During the 90th session, the gender biases in the application of the death penalty in Sri Lanka were underscored in the report submitted by Freedom Collective Trust, Anti Death Penalty Asia Network, Centre for Equality and Justice, The Advocates for Human Rights, and the World Coalition. These issues were also raised during the informal civil society briefing and the advocacy lunch.
Among other points, the report’s signatory organizations emphasized that, despite a de facto moratorium, courts continue to sentence women to death, including for offenses that do not meet the “most serious crimes” threshold under international law. They also noted that gender-based mitigating factors are still too often disregarded.
The CEDAW Committee urges Sri Lanka to abolish the death penalty
The abolitionist movement’s engagement during the 90th session enabled CEDAW experts to address the death penalty issues.
During the constructive dialogue, questions were raised with Sri Lankan representatives regarding judicial training on gender-related mitigating circumstances and the availability of disaggregated data on people under a death sentence (including by gender, age, nationality, ethnicity, and history of gender-based violence).
Following Sri Lanka’s review, the CEDAW Committee reaffirmed its abolitionist stance and expressed concerns over the limited access of women facing capital charges to financial and legal resources for their defense. It recommended the abolition of the death penalty and, in the meantime, the systematic consideration of gender-based mitigating factors in judicial proceedings, such as histories of gender-based violence and economic hardship. The Committee also urged the collection and publication of disaggregated data on the application of the death penalty to women. The full recommendations are available here.
Focus on Iraq, Kenya, and Qatar at the 92nd pre-session of the CEDAW Committee
A delegation of the World Coalition, including representatives from Reprieve, the Kenya Section of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ Kenya), and the World Coalition Secretariat, also travelled to Geneva to participate in the 92nd CEDAW pre-session for the review of Iraq, Kenya, and Qatar.
For this pre-session, abolitionist concerns were raised through reports submitted by the World Coalition and its members (The Advocates for Human Rights, Abolition Death Penalty of Iraq Organization, and the World Coalition for Iraq; The Advocates for Human Rights, The Kenya Human Rights Commission, ICJ Kenya, Reprieve, and the World Coalition for Kenya; The Advocates for Human Rights and the World Coalition for Qatar), as well as during the informal briefing.
The Lists of Issues (LOI) adopted by the pre-session working group address multiple aspects related to the death penalty, questioning States on the transparency of its application, the lack of disaggregated data, and the consideration of gender-based violence in judicial proceedings. The full LOIs are available here.
A key lever to strengthen abolitionist advocacy
By engaging in these sessions, the World Coalition and its members have once again highlighted the links between respect for CEDAW and the abolition of the death penalty. The Committee’s Concluding Observations and the Lists of Issues provide key leverage to strengthen abolition efforts.
