Passport to Equality

Adopted in December 1979 by the UN General Assembly in its resolution 34/180, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) came into force the 3rd of September 1981 after 20 countries had ratified the document. Its Optional Protocol, adopted in December 1999, gives women or group of women the right to submit to the UN Committee responsible for CEDAW individual complaints concerning violations of the Convention by their Governments.

The Passport to Equality is a pocket-sized publication that presents, explains and reproduces CEDAW in the form of a personal passport. The purpose of the Passport is to make women and men all over the world aware of the existence of the Convention. The new edition is available in English, French and Spanish.