Analysis

The Optional Protocol of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was adopted by the General Assembly in 1999, and obliges signatory States to recognize the competence of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to receive and consider complaints expressed by individuals or organized groups of civil society, this constitutes a powerful accountability mechanism concerning acts of discrimination against women, in comparison to the existing mechanism of presenting regular reports.

The vast majority of Caribbean countries and a minority of Latin American ones have neither signed nor ratified the Protocol.

Argentina and Colombia were the most recent countries in the region to ratify the Protocal, both in 2007.

Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as two of the only three Caribbean countries that have ratified it, were the penultimate to do so in 2006.

For their part, Chile, Cuba and El Salvador signed the Optional Protocol between 1999 and 2001, but until today have not ratified it.

Puerto Rico, Honduras and Nicaragua are the only Latin American countries among the 20 who have not yet even signed the Protocol.