Professor Niklas Bruun appointed to UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
Niklas Bruun, Professor at the University of Helsinki, was appointed member of the UN Committee monitoring the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) at an election held yesterday, 30 July, in New York.
The election of Bruun was confirmed after the first election round and he came fourth, gaining 137 votes.
18 Members stood as candidates out of the 23 Members of the Committee and 11 were elected for the four-year term starting on 1 January 2009. The Members of the Committee work as independent experts and they have to show competence in the field of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
Professor Bruun, supported by all Nordic countries, has wide-range experience in international law, labour law and equality issues. He was Chairman of the Equality Board in 1999-2008, Chairperson of the Committee for a revision of the Gender Equality Act in 2000-2002 and he is Member of the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association.
The former Finnish Member of CEDAW was Pirkko Mäkinen in 1993-1996. Other UN bodies responsible for Conventions don’t have Finnish members at the moment.
More information: Anu-Eerika Viljanen, Unit for Human Rights Policy, tel. +358 9 1605 5583, and Professor Niklas Bruun, tel. +358 50 599 6801
Press release 271/2008
31 July, 2008
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