CEDAW/C/NZL/CO/7 older women, including their reported higher degrees of stress, anxiety and depression as well as their resulting higher numbers of displacement and unemployment. 36. The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Provide in its next report data and information on the situation of women with disabilities, rural women, older women and women from ethnic minority groups, including with regard to their access to education, employment and healthcare services; (b) Ensure that the ongoing welfare reforms do not discriminate against disadvantaged groups of women and that an independent evaluation of their gendered impact is made; (c) Ensure the gender mainstreaming of policies relating to the process of recovery from the 2011 earthquake, and engage in analysis of their gender impact by using data disaggregated by sex, age, ethnicity and other status. Discrimination against women in marriage and family relations 37. The Committee is concerned about reports of forced marriages among migrant communities and regrets that there is no legislation to prohibit underage and forced marriages. The Committee is further concerned that the rights of migrant women in terms of family law, particularly forced marriages, polygamy and dowry-related violence have not been sufficiently addressed in law and practice and that girls as young as 16 years could marry with parental consent, 38. The Committee recommends that the State party: (a) Revise the legal minimum age of marriage to 18 years without any exceptions for parental consent; and (b) Introduce legal measures to prohibit underage and forced marriages and promote measures to protect women harmed by polygamy and dowry-related violence. Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 39. The Committee urges the State party, in the implementation of its obligations under the Convention, to fully utilize the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which reinforce the provisions of the Convention, and requests the State party to include information thereon in its next periodic report. Millennium Development Goals 40. The Committee emphasizes that full and effective implementation of the Convention is indispensable for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. It calls for the integration of a gender perspective and an explicit reflection of the provisions of the Convention in all efforts aimed at the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and requests the State party to include information thereon in its next periodic report. Dissemination 41. The Committee requests the wide dissemination in New Zealand of the present concluding observations in order to make the people, government officials, politicians, parliamentarians and women’s and human rights organizations, aware of the steps that have been taken to ensure the de jure and de facto equality of women, as well as the further steps that are required in this regard. The Committee requests the State 10

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