Journal Citation:
34 GEORGE WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL LAW REVIEW 605-638 (2002).
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (the Women's Convention) has been ratified with reservations by more states than almost any other human rights treaty. This article discusses the reservations regime under international law and explains how such approaches have been used in contemporary multilateral treaties, such as the Women's Convention (Part II). Part II also addresses recent discussions that have take place at the international (the Human Rights Committee) and the regional (the European Court of Human Rights) levels over the effectiveness of the traditional reservations regimes. Part III analyzes traditional and current approaches to this regime, focusing in particular on the Women's Convention and the failure of this reservations system to protect the integrity of the Convention. The article concludes with some suggestions for how the reservations regime can be reviewed in order to ensure the Women's Convention is not undermined.