The United Nations and the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women: How Well Has the Organization Fulfilled Its Responsibility?

This article identifies and discusses the two mechanisms established under the United Nations system to protect and promote the equality of women. These two regimes consist of policy prouncements, through the work of the Commission on the Status of Women, and treaties, particularly the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The article reviews and discusses the history and methods of both the policy and treaty-based approaches. The article argues that the two regimes are not mutually exclusive, and that it is in fact necessary to have the two systems operating in tandem as both address different aspects of the UN objective of achieving gender equality. [Descriptors: Applying Human Rights Law - International, International]