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Election of the members of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to replace those whose terms are due to expire on 31 December 2012

The seventeenth meeting of States parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was held on 26 June 2012 at United Nations Headquarters in New York. The purpose of the meeting was to elect individuals to fill the eleven positions on the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women which will become vacant on 31 December 2012.

At the outset of the meeting, Paulette Bethel (Bahamas) from the Latin American and Caribbean Group was elected to serve as its Chair. Yana Boiko (Ukraine) from the Group of Eastern European States, Tanisha Hewanpola (Australia) from the Group of Western European and other States and Fatima Alfeine (Comoros) from the African Group were elected Vice-Chairs.

The individuals elected to fill the eleven positions on the Committee were:

Name	Nationality
Ms. Noor Al -Malki AL-JEHANI	Qatar
Ms. Nicole AMELINE	France
Ms. Barbara BAILEY	Jamaica
Mr. Niklas BRUUN	Finland
Ms. Hilary GBEDEMAH	Ghana
Ms. Nahla HAIDAR	Lebanon
Ms. Dalia LEINARTE	Lithuania
Ms. Theodora Oby NWANKWO	Nigeria
Ms. Silvia PIMENTEL	Brazil
Ms. Xiaoqiao ZOU	China

Two thirds of the States parties constitute a quorum, and the persons elected to the Committee are those nominees who obtained the largest number of votes and an absolute majority of the votes of the representatives of States parties present and voting.

The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women is established under article 17 of the Convention. It is composed of 23 experts who are elected by secret ballot by States parties. The Committee is tasked with the review of the reports of States parties submitted in accordance with article 18 of the Convention. The Optional Protocol to the Convention, which entered into force in December 2000, empowers the Committee to consider communications submitted by individuals or groups of individuals alleging violations of the Convention in States parties to the Convention and the Optional Protocol. The Optional Protocol also entitles the Committee of its own motion to inquire into grave or systematic violations of the Convention in those States parties where this procedure is applicable, in accordance with articles 8 and 10.

Committee members serve in their personal capacities, and not as representatives of the States parties which present their candidature.