Reservation As a Means of Reconciliation: A Comparative Analysis of the CEDAW and the Fundamental Tenets of the Vatican as Church and State
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RESERVATION AS A MEANS OF RECONCILIATION: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE
CEDAW AND THE FUNDAMENTAL TENETS OF THE VATICAN AS CHURCH AND STATE
I. INTRODUCTION
By Marjorie Newell*
The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women was
adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly.' The Convention or CEDAW was
enforced as an international treaty after ratification by its twentieth party in 1981.2 Broadly
speaking, the CEDAW is a human rights treaty which aims at realizing equality between women
and men through ensuring women's equal access to and equal opportunities in, political and public
life.,3 As of 2015, 189 parties had ratified or acceded to the CEDAW.4 The Holy See, the
sovereign body of the Roman Catholic Church, is not a party to the Convention.5
This Note analyzes the CEDAW's intersection with the Vatican City State, Holy See, and
Roman Catholic Church in order to ultimately illustrate that because of the Holy See's unique
relationship to the Church, it cannot comport with the entirety of the CEDAW and maintain its
religiosity simultaneously. That is, as a party of the CEDAW, the Holy See cannot fully achieve
CEDAW's objectives because fundamental tenets of the Roman Catholic Church prohibit it.
However, the incompatibility of the Holy See and the CEDAW is not absolute. Rather,
*J.D. candidate, May 2016. B.A., Indiana University, 2013. The author would like to thank the Indiana International
and Comparative Law Review's Volume 25 Executive Board for seeing enough potential to select this Note for
publication.
I THE U.N. CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN: A
COMMENTARY 6-7 (Marsha A. Freeman, et al. eds., 1st ed. 2012).
2 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Dec. 18, 1979, 1249 U.N.T.S. 14.
3 U.N. Entity for Gend. Equal. & the Empowerment of Women, CEDAW: Overview of the Convention, U.N. WOMEN,
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/ [https://perma.cc/4BL7-JZ2X] (last visited Mar. 23, 2015).
4 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, UNITED NATIONS TREATY
COLLECTION, https://treaties.un.org/pages/viewdetails. aspx?src=treaty&mtdsg-no=iv-8&chapter=4&lang=en
[http://perma.cc/KWK9-Z28R] (last visited Mar. 23, 2015).
5 Freeman, supra note 1, at 551.; Holy See, U.S. DEP'T OF STATE,
http://www.state.gov/outofdate/bgn/holysee/73816.htm [http://perma.cc/6A27-VZYJ] (last visited Mar. 23, 2015);
UNITED NATIONS TREATY COLLECTION, supra note 4.
http://dx.doi.org/10.18060/7909.0040](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/iicl26&div=13&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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