Like other UN Conventions CEDAW is closely linked to many other UN treaties and committees, and particularly with others dealing with women's equality.
The Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has a particularly close relationship with the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women. This declaration was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1994 to strengthen CEDAW in respect of the threat to women's human rights arising from gendered violence.
Since 1994 the UN Commission on Human Rights has supported the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences. Their mandate includes collecting information and reports; recommending measures and ways to remedy its consequences; and work closely with others in the UN human rights framework to help highlight human rights violations affecting women across all UN work.
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is a functional commission of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) that is dedicated to gender equality and advancement of women. Established in 1946, it was the work of CSW that helped lead to the development of CEDAW, and the two continue to be closely linked. Since 1975 CSW has been responsible for organizing and following up on a series of the world conferences on women, the last one in Beijing (1995).
At the Beijing world conference on women in 1995, twelve critical areas of concern were identified in relation to women's equality. The Beijing Platform for Action addresses these concerns through a series of action plans and reviews. The next big review, known as Beijing +15 will take place in March 2010 in New York.