ASTANA – Kazakh diplomat Madina Dzharbusynova has been elected to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) for 2025-2028 during the 23rd meeting of states parties at UN headquarters in New York, reported the Kazakh Foreign Ministry’s press service on June 7.
Madina Dzharbusynova. Photo credit: Gov.kz.
Previously none of the Central Asian countries were represented in CEDAW.
“Among Central Asian countries, Kazakhstan is a leader in progress in gender equality. Kazakhstan improved its position and rose 18 places to 62nd place in the Global Gender Gap Index 2023, which was developed to assess gender equality among 146 countries,” reads the release.
Along with Kazakhstan, representatives of 20 states applied for 11 seats in CEDAW – Andorra, Australia, Barbados, Burundi, Cameroon, Chile, China, Georgia, Guatemala, Great Britain, Lebanon, Mozambique, Nepal, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Oman, Switzerland, Togo, Uruguay, and Zimbabwe.
Born in 1954 in Almaty, Dzharbusynova graduated from the Kazakh Ablai Khan University of International Relations and World Languages with a degree in pedagogy. She previously held various positions in the Foreign Ministry. In 2014, she took up her position serving as Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Special Representative for Combating Human Trafficking.
CEDAW is a body of independent experts monitoring the implementation of their obligations by states parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, adopted in 1979. The committee consists of 23 women’s rights experts from around the world. Countries that have become parties to the treaty are required to submit reports to the committee on the implementation of relevant rights once every four years. During its sessions, the committee examines the reports of each state party and submits its views and recommendations in the form of concluding observations. Kazakhstan joined this international document in 1998.
