ntarisk Gruppes bestyrelse 2021-22,Ligestillingsudvalget 2021-22,Folketingets Tværpolitiske netværk for seksuel og reproduktiv sundhed og rettigheder 2021-22
Mr. Henrik Dam Kristensen
President of the Danish Parliament
Danish Inter-Parliamentary Group
International Department
Folketinget - Christiansborg
DK-1240 - COPENHAGEN K
Denmark
Geneva, 22 April 2022
Dear Mr. President,
I am writing to you regarding your country’s latest periodic report on measures taken
to give effect to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women (CEDAW). This report was considered during the seventy-eighth
virtual session of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women (Geneva, 15 to 25 February 2021).
The Committee has published its concluding observations, which you will find
enclosed and on the CEDAW website. In those observations, the Committee stresses
the crucial role of parliaments in implementing the Convention, and invites your
Parliament to take the necessary steps to facilitate the implementation of the
concluding observations between now and the next reporting period under the
Convention.
I wish to draw your attention to the subjects on which the Committee will require a
progress report within two years. First, in paragraph 11(a), the Committee
recommends consolidating the Danish social model in all parts of the country, as well
as using it as a catalyst to redress long-standing inequalities between women and
men in the context of COVID-19 and placing women and girls at the centre of recovery
strategies. Second, in paragraph 15(b), the Committee calls for the adoption of a
comprehensive definition of discrimination against women, including direct and indirect
discrimination in the public and private spheres as well as intersecting forms of
discrimination. Third, in paragraph 21(a), the Committee recommends that the State
define consent in the new criminal provision on rape, strengthen awareness-raising
and education on the new definition of rape specifically targeting young people, and
introduce the consent-based definition of rape in Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
Finally, in paragraph 35(b), the Committee recommends collecting comprehensive
data on the causes of the high prevalence of suicide, including among girls.
I am sure you will take steps to make the Committee’s concluding observations
available to members of your Parliament and to hold a debate to ensure adequate
parliamentary follow-up. In recent years, the IPU has supported several parliaments in
organizing such follow-up, including parliamentary debates with input from members
of the CEDAW Committee. We would be pleased to extend similar support to your
Parliament should you so wish.
I would be grateful if you could notify me of any follow-up action you take on this
matter. I will certainly keep the CEDAW Committee and the IPU membership informed
of such developments.
Yours sincerely,
Office of the
Secretary General
Martin Chungong
Secretary General
cc: