Countries: Latvia
Variables: WAM-PRACTICE-1

"The Committee is...concerned: at the fact that discriminatory gender stereotypes and patriarchal and sexist messaging in the media and by politicians, as well as calls for adherence to traditional roles and values for women, persist in the State party...The Committee recommends that the State party: [r]aise awareness among media enterprises of the need to combat gender stereotyping and encourage them to portray positive images of women as active participants in political and economic life, with a particular focus on the most disadvantaged groups of women" (7).

Countries: Latvia
Variables: UVAW-PRACTICE-1

"[There is] absence of a comprehensive law on gender-based violence against women" (7).

Countries: Latvia
Variables: TRAFF-LAW-1

"The Committee welcomes the progress achieved...in particular the adoption of the following…[c]ombating forced prostitution, from 2007 to 2014...[and] amendments to the Criminal Procedure Law aimed at facilitating the involvement of victims, including victims of gender-based violence against women, in criminal proceedings and introducing ex officio prosecution of rape, sexual violence and deliberate slight bodily injury, as well as a new category of 'specially protected victims', including children, victims of sexual or domestic violence or intimate partner violence and victims of trafficking, in 2016" (1, 2). "The State party has not enacted specific legislation on trafficking" (8).

Countries: Latvia
Variables: SEGI-PRACTICE-1

"The general public lacks awareness about the Convention and the Committee’s general recommendations and jurisprudence [and] there is a lack of involvement on the part of civil society, in particular women’s rights organizations, in systematic awareness-raising and training for judges, prosecutors, police officers and other law enforcement officials and lawyers, as well as public institutions, on the implementation of the Convention...The Committee recommends that the State party: Disseminate and give more publicity to the Convention and the Committee’s general recommendations and jurisprudence and raise awareness among women of their rights under the Convention and of the legal remedies available to them to claim those rights; Strengthen capacity-building programmes for judges,...more

Countries: Latvia
Variables: PRN-LAW-1

"The Committee welcomes the progress achieved...in particular the adoption of the following...[a]mendments to the Law on Pornography Restrictions, broadening the definition of child pornography so as to include pornographic performance involving a girl or boy, in 2013" (1-2).

Countries: Latvia
Variables: NGOFW-DATA-3

"The Committee welcomes the international support for the Sustainable Development Goals and calls for the realization of de jure (legal) and de facto (substantive) gender equality, in accordance with the provisions of the Convention, throughout the process of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Committee recalls the importance of Goal 5 and of the mainstreaming of the principles of equality and non-discrimination throughout all 17 Goals. It urges the State party to recognize women as the driving force of the sustainable development of the State party and to adopt relevant policies and strategies to that effect" (3). "[T]he Committee recommends that the State party: adopt a comprehensive gender...more

Countries: Latvia
Variables: DV-PRACTICE-1

"The Committee welcomes the progress achieved...in particular the adoption of the following…[a]mendments to the Law on Social Services and Social Assistance, providing for State-funded social rehabilitation services for adults and children, including refugees and 'persons of alternative status', having suffered violence, including domestic violence, as well as perpetrators of such violence, in 2015" (1-2). "The Committee notes with concern...the inadequate handling of cases of gender-based violence against women, in particular sexual and domestic violence, by the police and investigating authorities, such as failure to interview victims and perpetrators separately, complete investigations or refer cases for criminal prosecution [and] the very low numbers of restraining or separation orders for victims of...more

Countries: Latvia
Variables: DV-LAW-1

"The Committee welcomes the progress achieved...in particular the adoption of the following…[s]trengthening protection against gender-based violence against women and girls, including sexual violence and domestic violence...[and] amendments to the Criminal Procedure Law aimed at facilitating the involvement of victims, including victims of gender-based violence against women, in criminal proceedings and introducing ex officio prosecution of rape, sexual violence and deliberate slight bodily injury, as well as a new category of 'specially protected victims', including children, victims of sexual or domestic violence or intimate partner violence and victims of trafficking, in 2016...[and] amendments to the Law on Social Services and Social Assistance, providing for State-funded social rehabilitation services for adults and...more

Countries: Latvia
Variables: DACH-PRACTICE-3

"The Committee...notes with concern...[t]he limited access, despite the existing universal health coverage system, of women to basic health services, including sexual and reproductive health services and modern contraceptives, in particular for girls and young women, including girls and women in rural areas, Roma girls and women, older women, girls and women with disabilities" (12)."The Committee also welcomes the increase in social benefits for women with disabilities" (13). "Women and girls with disabilities are more vulnerable to gender-based violence, sexual exploitation, institutionalization and the withdrawal of parental rights and suffer from far lower participation levels in education, employment, health, social protection and access to justice as they are not considered specifically...more

Countries: Latvia
Variables: DACH-PRACTICE-1

"The Committee welcomes the State party’s efforts to improve its institutional and policy framework aimed at accelerating the elimination of discrimination against women and promoting gender equality, such as the adoption of the following... [m]aternal and child health improvement plan for the period 2018–2020, in 2017, and the previous plan for the period 2012–2014, in 2011" (2). "The Committee welcomes the fact that the State party’s health-care system is based on the principle of universal coverage. It also welcomes the fact that the State party promotes healthy lifestyles for women and girls...The Committee further welcomes the fact that the State party introduced, in 2019, additional support services for persons, including...more

Countries: Latvia
Variables: TRAFF-LAW-3, LDS-PRACTICE-2, CWC-DATA-4

"Official statistics lead the State party to conclude that it is primarily a country of origin for trafficking in persons, in particular women and girls, whereas there are reports that foreign victims of trafficking have not been recognized as such and have been denied entry into the State party and returned as irregular migrant women" (8).

Countries: Latvia
Variables: CWC-DATA-2

"The Committee notes with concern…[t]he fact that services for victims of gender-based violence are neither inclusive of nor accessible by women from the most disadvantaged groups and are available only in urban areas" (8).

Countries: Latvia
Variables: CONST-LAW-1

"The Committee recognizes the amendments to the legislative framework in the State party aimed at ensuring the equality of women and men and prohibiting gender-based discrimination, including direct and indirect discrimination on various grounds. However, it notes with concern the absence of a comprehensive stand-alone legal definition of discrimination against women and the principle of equality of women and men in the legislative framework and the absence of a comprehensive gender equality law. Reiterating its previous concluding observations (A/59/38, part two, paras. 46 and 52), the Committee recommends that the State party include a definition of discrimination against women, including intersecting forms of discrimination in both the public and private...more

Countries: Latvia
Variables: ATC-DATA-4

"[T]he State party has still not ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention" (4). "The Committee encourages the State party to ratify, as soon as possible, the Optional Protocol to the Convention and to accept the amendment to article 20 (1) of the Convention concerning the meeting time of the Committee" (15).

Countries: Latvia
Variables: AOM-LAW-1

"Under articles 32 and 33 of the Civil Law persons who are 16 years of age may marry with the consent of their parents or guardians if they marry a person of the age of majority" (14).