On December 7th and 8th, the Committee of Experts of the Follow-up Mechanism of the Belém do Pará Convention held its XVIII Meeting, which was attended by Nadine Gasman, President of the Conference of States of the Follow-up Mechanism of the Belém do Pará Convention and the Executive Secretary of the CIM, Alejandra Mora.
Leila Linhares Barsted, expert from Brazil, and the experts from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Lucia, Suriname and Venezuela met to address the various issues and priorities of Agenda 2022 and the Fourth Round of Multilateral Evaluation of the MESECVI.
At this meeting, the Committee approved the Report on Child Marriage and Early Union, which details how, despite the fact that the States of the region expressly legislate to prohibit this harmful practice; customs and cultural patterns continue to exist throughout the region that allow and encourage it, putting at risk and permanently affecting the lives and integrity of millions of girls in the region.
The Committee also ratified the importance of the General Recommendation on Consent in Cases of Sexual Violence and agreed to urgently call on States parties to the Convention to combat violence against women and girls in the context of the COVID 19 pandemic; especially to respond to violence suffered by groups of women and girls in situations of greater vulnerability – such as indigenous women and girls, women of African descent, women and girls with disabilities, and migrant women and girls affected by the pandemic and especially by climate change and its impact on the economy.
