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The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women is the most important international human rights instrument for the protection of women's rights worldwide. It is, however, also one of the main UN human rights treaties to which the largest number of reservations has been made. As far-reaching reservations to human rights treaties are detrimental to the effective protection of human rights, this gave rise to the debate on the need to apply a reservations system to such treaties that allows for the efficient protection of their integrity. More specifically, it resulted in the severability approach and treaty bodies claiming their competence to assess reservations' compatibility. This article aims to contribute to the academic research on reservations to the CEDAW Convention, by studying the evolution of reservation-making to this human rights treaty from a comparative perspective from its entry into force until the present. Through this analysis, the article aims to identify trends and shifts in this practice over time, allowing for a more detailed assessment of the increasing number of incompatible reservations, the Committee's progress towards a more active approach on reservations, and State's increasing willingness to object to reservations they find incompatible.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women is the most important international human rights instrument for the protection of women's rights worldwide. It is, however, also one of the main UN human rights treaties to which the largest number of reservations has been made. As far-reaching reservations to human rights treaties are detrimental to the effective protection of human rights, this gave rise to the debate on the need to apply a reservations system to such treaties that allows for the efficient protection of their integrity. More specifically, it resulted in the severability approach and treaty bodies claiming their competence to assess reservations' compatibility. This article aims to contribute to the academic research on reservations to the CEDAW Convention, by studying the evolution of reservation-making to this human rights treaty from a comparative perspective from its entry into force until the present. Through this analysis, the article aims to identify trends and shifts in this practice over time, allowing for a more detailed assessment of the increasing number of incompatible reservations, the Committee's progress towards a more active approach on reservations, and State's increasing willingness to object to reservations they find incompatible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article begins by briefly tracing the trajectory of women's human rights discourse starting from the post United Nations period to the present day, within the framework of International law institutions (Kelly, 2005, December: 475; Rampton, 2008 ). It will get insight into the process of reorientation of human rights law through the development of key International instruments that have caused to materialise the concept of women's human rights. The strengths and weaknesses of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women will particularly be highlighted by comparing the Treaty with some of the mainstream human rights instruments. The article will focus on the recent increase in the efforts for gender mainstreaming in the various United Nations' bodies. Finally it will argue that in order for any real progress to be made in terms of eradicating the systemic barriers to gender justice and to eliminate the constructive denial of women's rights, the human rights regime must reconfigure its approaches in addressing the needs of women globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses gender in international and European Law.