The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) was ratified by the Singapore Government in 1995. The Singapore Government has recently concluded the review of its third periodic report by the CEDAW Committee. Non-governmental organisations, the Association of Women for Action & Research (AWARE) and the Singapore Council for Women's Organisations (SCWO) submitted their own Shadow Reports for this review. The CEDAW Committee has issued its Concluding Comments for Singapore and it reflects both the positive work of the government and areas of concern where further action is needed to bring the situation in line with international human rights standards

IPS is hosting a forum to:

• Raise awareness of the CEDAW Convention
• Discuss the areas of concern that have been raised by the CEDAW Committee's Concluding Comments and the NGO Shadow Reports
• Explore with other stakeholders, the possibility of creating greater impetus for gender mainstreaming in all segments of Singapore society.

The forum will feature an introduction to CEDAW by Ms Anamah Tan, a Singaporean member of the CEDAW Committee, as well as a presentation on the NGO Shadow Report. This, it is hoped, will lead to an open forum responding to issues raised. Two specific issues that would benefit from broader input would be first, how the current practices and laws governing the Muslim community today can be better harmonised with articles 2 and 16 of CEDAW, and second, how CEDAW can help to add impetus to bringing greater inclusion of women in all sectors, and certainly at the highest echelons of our society.

• The CEDAW Principles by IWRAW Asia Pacific
• Summary Records of the meeting *803rd and 804th (Scroll down to
  Singapore and the links to these documents are there)
• AWARE's Executive Summary of the CEDAW Shadow Report
• MCYS Third Periodic Report to the UN Committee on CEDAW in Nov 2004.
• Syariah Court Singapore on divorce and inheritance matters
• Information on Faraid (Muslim Inheritance Law)
• Contestations between Fariad and Letter of Wishes

Anamah Tan
An outstanding women's rights activist, renowned family lawyer and skilled negotiator, Anamah Tan has close to 30 years of extensive experience in advancing the rights and status of women in Singapore, throughout the region and internationally. Tan is currently President of the International Council of Women (ICW), a 119-year old world body headquartered in Paris. Since 2005, Tan has been a member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which meets three times a year to examine reports from member states of the United Nations who are signatories to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Braema Mathiaparanam
Ms Braema Mathiaparanam is currently a Visiting Research Fellow and Gender Studies Programme Co-ordinator at the Institute of South East Asian Studies. She did her Masters by Research at Nanyang Technology University on a Psychoanalytic Approach into the Literature of Toni Morrison, an African-American writer and Nobel Laureate. Ms Braema is also the President of Transient Workers Count Too (TWC 2), an advocacy and research group that look into the issues of migrant workers. She is also the past President of the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) and the Vice-President of Action for Aids. She is also with the Singapore Children's Society. The award-winning former journalist worked for the Straits Times as their Community Correspondent. She is also a former teacher and has served two terms as a Nominated Member of Parliament and was AWARE's nominee to Parliament.

For more information, please contact Ms Natalie Tay at tel: 6516 8389 or email: