A/71/398 III. Debate surrounding the adequacy of the legal framework on violence against women: view from international and regional mechanisms 14. In the light of the two reports submitted by her predecessor on the need for a legally binding United Nations convention on violence against women and girls, and keen to follow up on that discussion, the Special Rapporteur decided to invite the regional human rights mechanisms and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to provide their views on the adequacy of the current legal framework on violence against women. 1 The responses received are summarized below. 2 A. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women 15. On the question of the need for a United Nations convention on violence against women, the Committee 3 considers that, although the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women does not explicitly have a provision on gender-based violence against women, its general recommendation No. 19 (1992) on violence against women became a source of and inspiration for various international and regional documents, including the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women. As the Committee’s authoritative interpretative tool, general recommendation No. 19 reflects the Committee’s position that violence against women constitutes gender-based discrimination in the meaning of article 1 of the Convention. Since its adoption in 1992, States parties have not challenged the validity or competence of the recommendation. In both constructive dialogue with States parties and the procedures under the Optional Protocol to the Convention, the Recommendation has been frequently referenced by States parties, Committee members and other stakeholders, including civil society organizations. It should be noted that, under the recommendation in conjunction with articles 1, 2 and 5 of the Convention, redress for alleged violations has been adequately addressed by the Committee. Therefore, it is the Committee’s view that the Convention has a provision on gender-based violence against women in its present form. The Committee also indicates that it is currently working on updating the recommendation through the codification of positive developments that have happened since its adoption and that the updated recommendation will be adopted by the end of 2016. In addition, in the light of the current process of strengthening and reform of the treaty bodies as a whole, the Committee underscores tha t the __________________ 1 2 3 16-16456 The Committee and the following regional mechanisms replied to the questionnaire transmitted by the Special Rapporteur: the group of experts of the Council of Europe on action against violence against women and domestic violence, the Association of Southea st Asian Nations Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children, the Inter American Court of Human Rights, the committee of experts on the follow-up mechanism to the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women, the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa and the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice. The full text of the responses is available from www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/SRWomen/ Pages/InternationalLegalFramework.aspx. The Chair consulted the entire Committee and indicated that her response represented its majority view. 5/24