Specialized Human Rights Treaties

Alongside the two general covenants, the United Nations developed a series of treaties addressing specific groups or specific abuses. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 and entering into force in 1981, is often described as an international bill of rights for women. It defines discrimination against women broadly and obliges states parties to take concrete measures against it across political, economic, social, and cultural life, and is monitored by the CEDAW Committee. It has attracted more formal reservations than almost any other human rights treaty, many of them entered by states citing conflicts between Article 16, on equality within marriage and the family, and their own religious or customary family law; the United States has signed but never ratified the convention.