The United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women - as other international instruments - was negotiated in an international and multicultural context by diplomats and politicians from a number of countries. It dealt with a highly sensitive issue, the position and role of women in society and in the political decision-making process. The vast number of extensive reservations to the Convention bear witness to the fact that this is possibly one of the most contentious topics at the international level. Few other core universal human rights conventions have attracted a comparable number of reservations. This unique Guide is an attempt to create a picture of the legal--political background to the Convention. Its basic layout follows the style of a classical commentary with annotations to the individual provisions. These annotations draw on documentary sources from the years of preparatory discussions and negotiations (the travaux préparatoires). It primarily covers the genesis of the Convention, i.e. the drafting and negotiating process up to its adoption in 1979. To enhance the Guide's usefulness, a number of more recent documents have been incorporated, for example, the General Recommendations issued by the Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women have been reproduced and references to relevant recommendations have been inserted in the annotations to each provision in question. In addition to this, a number of other documents relative to the interpretation of the Convention have been reproduced in Part III, including lists of ratifications of and reservations to the Convention. Furthermore, lists of relevant global and regional instruments and case law have been compiled.

XV. Conference of senior officials (8-17 June 1950).

The European Convention on Human Rights is undoubtedly the most concrete expression by the Member States of the Council of Europe of their profound belief in the values of democracy, peace & justice and, through them, respect for the rights & fundamental freedoms of persons living in our society. Although this instrument is over forty years old, it has evolved & continues to do so, not only through the case law of the European Commission & Court of Human Rights, but also through the addition of Protocols strengthening the rights & improving the protection mechanism. This revised edition of the 1987 Collected Texts gives lawyers & any other interested persons clear & up-to-date information on all these instruments & on the texts relating to the working of the bodies set up by the Convention. The basic instruments & texts contained in the 1994 Collected Texts (English & French) provide a vital tool for all those working for human rights in Europe.

Note.

This work gathers together for the first time in a single publication the records of the multitude of meetings which, in the context of the newly established United Nations, led to the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide on 9 December 1948. This work will enable academics and practitioners easy access to the Genocide Convention’s travaux préparatoires – an endeavour that has until now proven extremely difficult. This work will be of paramount importance for the international adjudication of the crime of genocide insofar as recourse to the “general rule of interpretation” and the “supplementary means of interpretation” under the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties is concerned.

Travaux Préparatoires of the 2010 amendments to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court on the crime of aggression.