CEDAW/C/61/D/24/2009
Annex
Views of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women under article 7 (3) of the Optional Protocol to
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (sixty-first session)
concerning
Communication No. 24/2009*
Submitted by:
X and Y (represented by counsel)
Alleged victims:
The authors
State party:
Georgia
Date of communication:
24 June 2009 (initial submission)
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women ,
established under article 17 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women,
Meeting on 13 July 2015,
Adopts the following:
Views under article 7 (3) of the Optional Protocol
1.
The authors of the communication are Georgian nationals: X, born in 1961, and
her daughter, Y, born in 1990. They claim to be victims of a violation by Georgia of
their rights under articles 1, 2 (b)-2 (f) and 5 (a) of the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. They are represented by counsel. 1
The Optional Protocol entered into force for Georgia on 1 August 2002.
Factual background
2.1 X married a Georgian man in 1987 after being raped by him in July 1987
following a student party; she had been a virgin. According to her, Georgian society
perceives virginity as a young woman’s virtue that is a guarantee of a successful
marriage. X therefore married him because she believed that nobody else would wish
to marry her. Within the marriage, she gave birth to five children, in 1988, 1989, 1990,
__________________
* The following members of the Committee took part in the consideration of the present
communication: Ayse Feride Acar, Gladys Acosta Vargas, Bakhita Al-Dosari, Nicole Ameline,
Malays Arocha Dominguez, Barbara Bailey, Niklas Bruun, Louiza Chalal, Náela Gabr, Hilary
Gbedemah, Nahla Haidar, Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, Yoko Hayashi, Lilian Hofmeister, Ismat Jahan,
Dalia Leinarte, Pramila Patten, Silvia Pimentel, Biancamaria Pomeranzi, Patricia Schulz and
Xiaoqiao Zou.
1
The case was submitted by Elena Fileeva (a Georgian attorney) and the non -governmental
organization “Interights” (London); subsequently, the authors were represented by the European
Human Rights Advocacy Centre (Middlesex University, London).
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