UNITED NATIONS Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women UN UBRARY Committee on the Elimination o-f' Dise.tt~d,7J.33-i;iQn Against(~~en ( CEDAW) Second session · ' CEDAW Distr. GENERAL CEDAW/C/5/Add.l l2 November 1982 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH CONSIDERATION OF REPORTS SUBMITTED BY STATES PARTIES UNDER ARTICLE l8 OF THE CONVENTION Initial reports o-t' States Parties GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC -V.82 34355 Ref. Note SO 3012/8 dated 2/3/1982 from the UN Secretary-General 1. The establishment of a socialist society in the GOR entailed the abolition of those social relations which were based on the exploitation ·and oppression of man by .. manr deprivation of righ~s, and discrimination against ~,omen. At the same time, the r~ots of the opp~ession and exploitation of other peoples and races were destroyed. The Constitution of the Ger-man Democratic Republic p·ro.vide~ for-the principle of equality of the sexes i~ this broader sense, dealing with equal. rights for wo.men not in isolation but in the context of a general prohibition of discriminat_ion. Article 20 of the Constitution reads as follows: "(1) Every citizen o.f the German· Democratic Republic has the ~ame rights and duties, irrespective of .. . nationality, race, philosophy or religious confession, social ~rigin or position. Freedom of conscience and freedom of belief are guaranteed. All citizens are equal before the law. (2) Men and women have equal rights and hav~ the same legal status in all spheres of social, ~tate and personal lif~. The promotion of women, particularly with regard to vocational qua~ification, ~s a t~sk of society and the state." Th~ tasks the Convention on the El~mination_of All For~s of Discrimination Against ~omen has set are not fundamentally new for the GDR. The German Democratic Republic's socialist Cohstitu~ion not only embodies the principle of equality as - 2 -