Check against delivery
and Albanians. The Committee urged the Government to develop a general policy to address
the particular needs of immigrant and migrant women with regard to their protection, health,
employment and educational needs. The Government was requested to assess the situation of
all minority women with a view to ensuring adequate support for them.
In the case of China, in the light of the diversity of the country and its population, the
Committee requested information on ethnic minorities particularly the Uyghur and Tibetan
peoples and a breakdown of information by provinces and autonomous regions.
The focus of the Committee has been very much on the economic, social and cultural rights of
minority women. Economic, social and cultural rights have a particular significance for minority
women because as a group, they are disproportionately affected by poverty, and by social and
cultural marginalization. Women’s poverty is a central manifestation, and a direct result of
women’s lesser social, economic and political power. In turn, women’s poverty reinforces their
subordination, and constrains their enjoyment of every other right.
To ensure that all women enjoy the benefits of their economic, social and cultural rights,
specific measures are needed to address the ways in which women are differently affected in
their enjoyment of a right as a result of the intersection of discrimination based on sex with
discrimination based on other characteristics.
States parties have the obligation of to pursue by all appropriate means and without delay a
policy of eliminating discrimination against women and the policy must be comprehensive in
that it should apply to all fields of life, including those which are not explicitly mentioned in the
text of the Convention. In General Recommendation No 28 on core obligations under Article 2,
the Committee spelt out that the policy must identify women within the jurisdiction of the
State party as the rights-bearers, with particular emphasis on the groups of women who are
most marginalized and who may suffer from various forms of intersectional discrimination.
The Committee also stressed that the words “without delay” make it clear that the obligation
of States parties to pursue their policy, by all appropriate means, is of an immediate nature.
This language is unqualified, and does not allow for any delayed or purposely chosen
incremental implementation of the obligations that States assume upon ratification of or
accession to the Convention. The delay therefore cannot be justified on any grounds, including
political, social, cultural, religious, economic, resource or other considerations or constraints
within the State.