Israeli achievement at the UN - Third term on CEDAW 26 Jun 2014
Israeli Missions Around The World MFA UN-Internatl Orgs Issues Israeli achievement at the UN - Third term on CEDAW 26 Jun 2014

Israeli achievement at the UN - Third term on CEDAW

  • 7/2/2014
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    Professor Ruth Halperin-Kaddari was elected on June 26, 2014 for an unprecedented third term as an expert on the UN Committee on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), winning the support of 128 states.
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    Professor Ruth Halperin-Kaddari Professor Ruth Halperin-Kaddari Copyright: Yanai Yechiel
     
     
    Prof. Halperin-Kaddari's election was the fruit of an effective diplomatic campaign, spearheaded, among others, by the International Organizations Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with the Israeli Mission to the United Nations in Geneva.

    Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman congratulated Prof. Halperin-Kaddari on her impressive achievement.

    CEDAW is widely regarded as one of the UN's most important human rights organs, enjoying exceptional prestige in the field of women's rights and equality. The committee's work this year will include reviewing reports on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women from the Central African Republic, Georgia, India, Lithuania, Mauritania, Peru, Swaziland, and Syria.


    Prof. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, who earned her LL.M and J.S.D. at Yale Law School, is a leading expert in Israel in the fields of family law and feminist jurisdprudence. She teaches at Bar-Ilan University Faculty of Law, and is the Establishing Director of the Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women at Bar-Ilan. She served for five years (2003-2008) as the Chair of the Advisory Committee to the Authority for the Advancement of Women at the Prime Minister's Office.

    She wrote Israel's three periodic reports to CEDAW, and is the author of numerous articles in Israel and abroad on family law, legal pluralism, feminism and halacha (Jewish law), and more. Her book Women in Israel: A State of Their Own was published in 2004, and has since become core reading in courses on gender in the Middle East and Israeli society.

    In July 2007 Prof. Halperin-Kaddari was awarded the US State Department International Award for Woman of Courage, and in 2010 was named Woman of the Year in Law by the Israeli Bar Association Central District.

    In June 2006, Prof. Halperin-Kaddari was elected to serve as a member on the expert committee on the UN Committee on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and was elected to serve for a term as vice-chair in January 2009. As an expert on family law, Prof. Halperin-Kaddari initiated the process of drafting new General Recommendation on the Economic Consequences of Family Relations and their Dissolution, and was appointed Chair of the Working Group to draft this general recommendation, which was unanimously adopted in February 2013.