A/HRC/RES/17/11
promote the empowerment of women and the realization of their human rights through the
creation of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
and through the Secretary-General’s campaign “UNiTE to End Violence against Women”,
Recognizing the adoption of regional instruments relating to the human rights of
women and specifically on violence against women, including the Inter-American
Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women,
the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women
in Africa, the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against
women and domestic violence, the Southern African Development Community Protocol on
Gender and Development and the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against
Women in the ASEAN Region, which strengthen the implementation of international
commitments relating to the human rights of women,
Recognizing also that violence against women and girls persists in every country in
the world as a pervasive violation of the enjoyment of human rights and a major
impediment to achieving gender equality, development, peace and security and
internationally agreed development goals, in particular the Millennium Development Goals,
Underscoring that States have the obligation to promote and protect all human rights
and fundamental freedoms of women and girls,
Underscoring also that the duty of States to exercise due diligence to provide
protection to women and girls who have been subjected to or are at risk of violence
includes using all appropriate means of a legal, political, administrative and social nature to
provide access to justice, health care and support services that respond to their immediate
needs, protect against further harm and continue to address the ongoing consequences of
violence for women and girls, taking into consideration the impact of violence on their
families and communities,
Recalling the inclusion of gender-related crimes and crimes of sexual violence in the
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, as well as the recognition by the ad hoc
international criminal tribunals that rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute a
war crime, a crime against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide or
torture,
Recognizing the importance of the full and equal participation of women and the
involvement of civil society groups, in particular women’s organizations and networks, in
the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies, measures and
programmes relating to the protection of women facing violence as well as the protection
and promotion of the human rights of women,
Concerned that multiple, intersecting and aggravated forms of discrimination against
women and girls increase their vulnerability and undermine their ability to protect
themselves from violence,
1.
Strongly condemns all acts of violence against women and girls, where these
acts are perpetrated by the State, private persons or non-State actors, and calls for the
elimination of all forms of gender-based violence in the family, within the general
community and where perpetrated or condoned by the State, in accordance with the
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, and stresses the need to treat
all forms of violence against women and girls as a criminal offence, punishable by law, and
the duty to provide victims with access to just and effective remedies and specialized
assistance, including medical and psychological assistance, as well as effective counselling;
2.
Stresses that States have the obligation to promote and protect all human
rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls, and must exercise due diligence to
prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of violence against women and
2