members cannot create goals which represent values of the poor, conservative, religious, or weak, because few, if any, UN officials/staff are actually from this group for which they claim to represent. In 2016 the candidate nominated from the Nordic countries, Gunnar Bergby, caused controversy, after the Norwegian government had used "radical gender quotas" to nominate him over a 'more qualified' woman, CEDAW expert Anne Hellum whose candidacy had been supported by all the large women's rights NGOs and the research environments in women's law in the Nordic countries as well as the outgoing Nordic committee member Niklas Bruun; as a result Bergby's nomination was 'widely condemned' by women's rights NGOs and experts in all the Nordic countries. Bergby was the third man in a row from the Nordic countries nominated to the committee while no women had been nominated from the Nordic countries since the 1990s; the Norwegian Foreign Ministry told the women's rights NGOs that they refused to nominate a woman as a matter of principle because they wanted a man for the third time due to a need for "men's voices". Law professor at the University of Oslo Cecilia Bailliet stated that the women's rights NGOs in the Nordic countries were "shocked" over the nomination of Bergby over a "more qualified" woman and that Norway had "violated its commitments to gender equality as well as Norwegian law". In 2019 Andorran human rights activist Vanessa Mendoza Cortés presented a case to CEDAW for the decriminalisation of abortion in Andorra and was subsequently taken to court for defamation by the government of Andorra. See also Special Measures for Gender Equality in the United Nations Equal Rights Amendment Gender role Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women EGM: prevention of violence against women and girls Global Implementation Plan to End Violence against Women and Girls Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence Convention on the Political Rights of Women Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 United Nations Development Fund for Women United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 UN Women Women's rights Equality Now References Further reading The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol: Handbook for Parliamentarians, Inter-Parliamentary Union 2003 UN WOMEN "Women, War & Peace" UN WOMEN Singapore Committee – Governance, Peace & Security UN WOMEN "Violence Against Women" External links