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Adequacy of the international legal framework on violence against women 2017, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- In addition, several organizations highlighted that there was a normative gap at the international level and persistent obstacles to the protection of women subjected to gender-based violence, for example the normalization of sexual violence against women or an emphasis on preserving marriages and family rather than addressing men’s impunity for family violence. Concern was expressed about the spiral of fundamentalism and extremism that was currently contributing to exacerbating violence against women.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Adequacy of the international legal framework on violence against women 2017, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- Civil society organizations added that a new treaty could make clear the necessity to ensure consistency across different domestic legal regimes. In some States, domestic violence might be a criminal offence, but it was still intrinsically accepted through other procedures, such as mediation and conciliation in family law proceedings.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Modalities for the establishment of femicides/gender-related killings watch 2016, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- The issue of femicide has received serious attention since the establishment of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur. It is examined systematically during country visits. In 1995, the Special Rapporteur presented a thematic report on violence in the family to the Commission on Human Rights, in which it was highlighted that the dominance of a familial ideology entrenched women's roles as wives and mothers and impeded them from gaining access to non-traditional roles and exposed women who did not fit within or ascribe to traditional sex roles to gender-based hate crimes. The Special Rapporteur emphasized that such an ideology legitimated violence against women, including honour killings and other forms of femicide (see E/CN.4/1999/68). In 2002, the Special Rapporteur presented a thematic report on cultural practices in the family that were violent towards women, referring to honour killings, and noted that those types of crimes were carried out by husbands, fathers, brothers or uncles, sometimes on behalf of tribal councils (see E/CN.4/2002/83). The Special Rapporteur organized an expert meeting on the gender-motivated killing of women in New York in 2011 in order to consolidate and build on national, regional and international expertise with regard to the manifestations and root causes of and State responses to gender-motivated killings of women, discuss policy, legal and institutional challenges at the national, regional and international levels and identify good practices and lessons learned in that regard in various regions (see A/HRC/2016/Add.4). The 2012 thematic report of the Special Rapporteur to the Human Rights Council was focused on the issue of the gender-related killing of women (see A/HRC/20/16).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Modalities for the establishment of femicides/gender-related killings watch 2016, para. 83b
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur recommends the following modalities for the establishment of a national femicide watch and/or observatories on violence against women:] States should systematically collect relevant disaggregated data on all forms of violence against women, in particular on femicide or the gender-related killing of women, which could include the killing of children in this regard. States should disaggregate data on femicide under two broad categories, which could include subcategories in line with their national realities, namely, intimate partner femicide or family-related femicide, based on a relationship between the victim and the perpetrator, and other femicides;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Modalities for the establishment of femicides/gender-related killings watch 2016, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- At the regional level, in Opuz v. Turkey, the European Court of Human Rights decided that Turkey was in breach of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms for failing to protect the applicant and her mother from the violent attacks of her spouse in circumstances that resulted in the murder of the mother.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Modalities for the establishment of femicides/gender-related killings watch 2016, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- UNODC is leading global efforts to improve and compare crime and criminal justice data. Its report, entitled "Global study on homicide 2013", contains a section on interpersonal homicide. The approach of UNODC is that, given the numerous challenges of comprehensively measuring gender-related violence, exploring intimate partner and family-related homicide is one way of gaining a clearer understanding of the killing of women because of gender motives.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Modalities for the establishment of femicides/gender-related killings watch 2016, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- The gender-motivated killing of women is a clear violation of women's rights, including the right to life, freedom from torture and to a life free from violence and discrimination. It is a global phenomenon that takes place in both the private and public spheres and results from, among other things, intimate partner violence, armed conflict, dowry disputes and the protection of family "honour". The gender-motivated killing of women is often the final and most serious consequence of pervasive discrimination, in particular acts of violence.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Modalities for the establishment of femicides/gender-related killings watch 2016, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Research on homicide resulting from intimate partner violence makes clear that, almost without exception, women are at greater risk than men and that the majority of women homicide victims are killed by intimate partners who are men. Studies by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) also confirm that, in many countries, intimate partner or family-related homicide is the major cause of homicide against women and that their homicide rates are much more likely to be driven by this type of violence than by the organized crime-related homicide typology that disproportionately affects men. In 2012, almost half of all women who were murdered worldwide (47 per cent) were killed by a family member or intimate partner, compared with 6 per cent of homicide victims who were men. As with all forms of intimate partner violence, intimate partner femicide is likely to be significantly undetected and underreported. Prosecutions usually do not integrate a gender perspective. There is a clear need to focus on femicide for the purpose of establishing modalities for a national femicide watch and observatories on violence against women.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Modalities for the establishment of femicides/gender-related killings watch 2016, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- The point of departure of UNODC in relation to data on gender-related killings is the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes, endorsed by the Statistical Commission in March 2015 and the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in May 2016. The latter entity established an international statistical standard for data collection, drawn both from administrative records and survey-generated data. The classification adopted does not specify crimes but rather focuses on the motivation behind the crime. In other words, the crime classification framework is based on behavioural descriptions instead of legal codes. Femicide therefore falls under the classification of intentional homicide, namely, unlawful death inflicted upon a person with the intent to cause death or serious injury. Three classification criteria are applied once a particular act of killing is to be classified, which further characterize the intentional homicide and can be used to define it in more detail. These criteria are the situational context, the relationship between victim and perpetrator and the mechanism of killing. Of importance for femicide is that interpersonal homicide, namely, homicide committed by an intimate partner or family member, including a former partner, spouse or family member, other interpersonal homicide (i.e., relating to neighbour or property disputes, revenge-related killings or brawls or mass shootings) and homicide relating to other criminal activities and sociopolitical homicides, fall under the criterion of situational context. Within the additional disaggregation of a relationship between the victim and perpetrator, the intimate partner of a family member and other perpetrators known to the victim and perpetrators unknown to the victim are recorded. Lastly, within the disaggregation of "mechanism of killing", the type of weapon or other means used is recorded.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Vision-setting report 2016, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- Discriminatory laws, in particular discriminatory provisions in constitutions, family laws, nationality laws and penal codes, perpetuate the lower status of women and their oppression in society, thereby fuelling violence against women and girls, given that there is little to deter perpetrators from committing these crimes. or because recourse for victims is inadequate. It is against this backdrop that the prevalent and multiple grave forms of violence by fundamentalist and extremist actors committed in recent times are built. The Special Rapporteur intends to explore the link between these discriminatory laws and violence against women and girls, and to make recommendations for law reforms, in particular with regard to family and penal laws, and other national laws and practices that regulate family relationships and the private sphere, with a view to curtailing violence against women and girls.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Modalities for the establishment of femicides/gender-related killings watch 2016, para. 83h
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur recommends the following modalities for the establishment of a national femicide watch and/or observatories on violence against women:] In every case, the personal information that has been provided by the victims and the family members should be incorporated only into databases with their informed consent with regard to its possible use. This information should be protected in accordance with international standards on the protection of privacy.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Vision-setting report 2016, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- The mandate holder considers that the universal and full acceptance and incorporation by States of both international and regional instruments are crucial for the establishment and improvement of existing national legal frameworks on the elimination of violence against women, including by the elimination of discriminatory family laws and penal laws, also with regard to harmful practices that hinder the enjoyment by women and girls of their rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Modalities for the establishment of femicides/gender-related killings watch 2016, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- The Domestic Violence Fatality Review collects data about all domestic violence-related homicides and suicide deaths in Washington State, United States of America. Community review teams examine the events leading up to these deaths and take an in-depth look at how community systems responded to domestic violence. They identify gaps in laws, policy, practice, training and resources and, on that basis, make policy recommendations to strengthen the community response to domestic violence, increase safety and choices for survivors and their children, hold abusers accountable and prevent violence before it begins. In addition to in-depth case reviews, the project collects data on all domestic violence-related homicide and suicide deaths. Its definition of a domestic violence fatality is specific to intimate partner violence and includes homicides by any current or former intimate partner; friends, family, new partners or police officers killed by abusers in the context of intimate partner abuse; abusers killed by victims, police or someone intervening; and suicides of abusers following a domestic violence homicide or assault. The Review combines information about domestic violence fatalities with other state-wide data sources, including death certificates, court records and census data, to produce a rich analysis on a wide range of issues. Examples of its research and data analysis include the connection between domestic violence history and suicide, the disproportionate rates of domestic violence homicide by race, domestic violence homicide victims' past use of child support enforcement and pregnancy rates among victims killed by intimate partners.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Existing legal standards and practices regarding violence against women in three regional human rights systems and activities being undertaken by civil society regarding the normative gap in international human rights law 2015, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Importantly, in the preamble of the Protocol it is made explicit that positive African values are based on the principles of equality, freedom, dignity, justice, solidarity and democracy. This clarification is important in the area of violence against women, as research indicates that violence, including wife-beating, is considered or perceived to be one of the values of African families in some societies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Closing the gap in international human rights law: lessons from three regional human rights systems on legal standards and practices regarding violence against women 2015, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- In the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, the member States stress the interdependence of rights and introduce unique features, such as the protection of community and group rights, and the imposition of duties on individuals. The Charter was the first human rights instrument to entrench the right to development. Specific references to women are included in the Charter, for example, in article 2, which prohibits discrimination, including on the basis of sex, and article 18 (3), which obliges States to eliminate all discrimination against women and to ensure the protection of the rights of women as stipulated in international declarations and conventions. The Charter incorporates principles related to culture, group rights and respect for the family environment. Article 60 of the Charter mandates the African Commission to draw inspiration from international law in its promotion and protection of human rights. Some scholars have argued that despite having minimal provisions on the rights of women, the Charter by inference imposes a duty on member States to abide by international human rights standards on women's rights. The Charter has been criticized by some for being unrealistic and overambitious, and for ignoring women's human rights, while others have praised it for protecting all human rights, both individual and collective.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Existing legal standards and practices regarding violence against women in three regional human rights systems and activities being undertaken by civil society regarding the normative gap in international human rights law 2015, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- With respect to substantive law, States are required to provide for adequate civil remedies; ensure that all forms of violence against women and domestic violence are criminalized and appropriately punished; and recognize in law that being a family member or ex-spouse of a victim of violence against women and domestic violence is an aggravating circumstance that must be taken into consideration in the determination of the penalty. As regards investigation, prosecution and procedural aspects, States must ensure that all forms of violence against women and domestic violence are appropriately punished; ensure that culture, custom, religion or so-called honour are not accepted as justification for any act of violence; ensure that victims have access to special protection measures during investigation and judicial proceedings; implement risk assessment protocols to enhance the protection of victims; ensure that law enforcement agencies respond promptly to calls for assistance and that they manage dangerous situations adequately; and introduce preventive and protective legislation, including emergency barring orders.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Closing the gap in international human rights law: lessons from three regional human rights systems on legal standards and practices regarding violence against women 2015, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- Importantly, in the preamble of the Protocol it is made explicit that positive African values are based on the principles of equality, freedom, dignity, justice, solidarity and democracy. This clarification is important in the area of violence against women, as research indicates that violence, including wife beating, is considered or perceived to be one of the values of African families in some societies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Closing the gap in international human rights law: lessons from three regional human rights systems on legal standards and practices regarding violence against women 2015, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- With respect to substantive law, States are required: to provide for adequate civil remedies; to ensure that all forms of violence against women and domestic violence are criminalized and appropriately punished; and to recognize in law that being a family member or ex-spouse of a victim of violence against women and domestic violence is an aggravating circumstance that must be taken into consideration in the determination of the penalty. As regards investigation, prosecution and procedural aspects, States must ensure that all forms of violence against women and domestic violence are appropriately punished; ensure that culture, custom, religion or so-called "honour" are not accepted as justification for any act of violence; ensure that victims have access to special protection measures during investigation and judicial proceedings; implement risk assessment protocols to enhance the protection of victims; ensure that law enforcement agencies respond promptly to calls for assistance and that they manage dangerous situations adequately; and introduce preventive and protective legislation, including emergency barring orders.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Existing legal standards and practices regarding violence against women in three regional human rights systems and activities being undertaken by civil society regarding the normative gap in international human rights law 2015, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- In the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, the member States stress the interdependence of rights and introduce unique features, such as the protection of community and group rights, and the imposition of duties on individuals. The Charter was the first human rights instrument to entrench the right to development. Specific references to women are included in the Charter, for example, in article 2, which prohibits discrimination, including on the basis of sex, and article 18 (3), which obliges States to eliminate all discrimination against women and to ensure the protection of the rights of women as stipulated in international declarations and conventions. The Charter incorporates principles related to culture, group rights and respect for the family environment. Article 60 of the Charter mandates the African Commission to draw inspiration from international law in its promotion and protection of human rights. Some scholars have argued that despite having minimal provisions on the rights of women, the Charter by inference imposes a duty on member States to abide by international human rights standards on women's rights. The Charter has been criticized by some for being unrealistic and overambitious and for ignoring women's human rights, while others have praised it for protecting all human rights, both individual and collective.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Violence against women as a barrier to the effective realization of all human rights 2014, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- For a long time, traditional human rights advocacy viewed gender-based violence through a public versus private lens, where States are responsible only for violence committed against women in the public sphere. This flawed understanding of gender-based violence ignores the reality that violence crosses the public and private domains and ranges from intimate and interpersonal violence to structural, systematic and institutional forms of violence. In more recent times, there has been greater acceptance that the State has a responsibility for violence occurring in the cultural, social or family life, as such violence does have an impact on the ability of women to exercise their full citizenship rights. It is argued that women are full agents that are at once sexual, civil, political, economic, social and cultural beings, and that States must recognize women as such to guarantee their full and equal citizenship rights. Thus a more holistic examination of root causes, including potential economic and social remedies for rights violations, is necessary.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Violence against women as a barrier to the effective realization of all human rights 2014, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Violence violates women's rights to equality and non-discrimination on the basis of their sex and gender and to liberty and security of the person, and the right not to be subjected to torture, cruel or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. It also impedes women's right to equality within the family. The experience or threat of violence makes many women reluctant to leave their homes, which deprives them of their rights to take part in the political, economic, social and cultural life of their community. This in turn precludes women from exercising their right to vote and hold public office, to work, to education, to a secure livelihood and to access to justice and to health.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Violence against women: Twenty years of developments to combat violence against women 2014, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- The annual thematic reports produced between 1994 and 2003 were closely aligned to conceptual developments of the objectives set in the resolution by which the mandate was established. Those reports focused on different manifestations of violence, its causes and consequences, including violence in the family; in the community; perpetrated or condoned by the State, including in times of armed conflict; and violence in the transnational arena. The reports expanded the scope of the mandate to consider the intersection and continuum of violence in the private and public spheres, with a particular focus on race, ethnicity, culture, migration, trafficking and economic empowerment. The mandate holders highlighted how traditional law and order approaches to violence, coupled with ineffective and discriminatory policing and gender-biased court and sentencing processes, prevent women from accessing justice and obtaining effective redress.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Violence against women as a barrier to the effective realization of all human rights 2014, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- A brief analysis of the mandates and principles of organizations associated with engaging men and boys in efforts to counter violence against women reveals a series of internal contradictions that compromise the understanding of the foundational principles linked to women's human rights. This is reflected in several ways, including the reaffirmation of patriarchal norms of men as protectors and, by extension, women as victims; the reinstatement of the family as the principal referent for analysis; the depoliticization of the understanding of both gender equality and gendered violence; the reinforcement of the public-private dichotomy; the instrumentalization of arguments for the elimination of violence against women; the conceptual confusion over men, masculinity and gendered roles; and the justifications and contradictions in the shift to men and boys and its supposed link to binding international law obligations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Violence against women: Twenty years of developments to combat violence against women 2014, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- A brief analysis of the mandates and principles of organizations associated with engaging men and boys in efforts to counter violence against women reveals a series of internal contradictions which compromise the understanding of the foundational principles linked to women's human rights. This is reflected in several ways, including reaffirmation of patriarchal norms of men as "protectors" and, by extension, women as "victims"; reinstatement of the family as the principal referent for analysis; depoliticization of the understanding of both gender equality and gendered violence; reinforcement of the public/private dichotomy; instrumentalization of arguments for the elimination of violence against women; conceptual confusion over men, masculinity and gendered roles; and the justifications and contradictions in the shift to men and boys and its supposed link to binding international law obligations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Violence against women: Twenty years of developments to combat violence against women 2014, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- In general recommendation No. 19, the Committee establishes that gender-based violence, which impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women of human rights and fundamental freedoms under general international law or under human rights conventions, is discrimination within the meaning of article 1 of the Convention and links gender-based violence to the different rights and substantive areas covered by the Convention. In practice, the Committee invokes several substantive provisions in the Convention to address the issue of violence against women, including article 5 on stereotyping and the consequences thereof; article 11 on sexual harassment; article 12 on sexual and reproductive health violations; and article 16 on matters relating to marriage and family relations. The adoption of the Optional Protocol to the Convention, in 1999, and the subsequent jurisprudence thereunder further reinforce the Committee's position that violence against women equates to discrimination based on sex, which disproportionately affects women. It is important to note that these developments do not explicitly articulate violence against women as a human rights violation in and of itself.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Violence against women: Twenty years of developments to combat violence against women 2014, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- Prior to, and during, the United Nations Decade for Women, from 1975 to 1985, the issue of violence against women in general, and more specifically domestic violence, was high on the agenda of women's rights activists. Advocacy at the World Conferences on Women, held in Mexico City and Copenhagen in 1975 and 1980 respectively, served as a catalyst for the adoption in 1985 of General Assembly resolution 40/36 on domestic violence. The Third World Conference on Women, held in Nairobi in 1985, and the Expert Group meeting on violence in the family, held in Vienna in 1986, further highlighted the global nature and concern regarding violence against women. In May 1991, the Economic and Social Council adopted resolution 1991/18 on violence against women in all its forms, in which it recommended the development of a framework for an international instrument that would explicitly address the issue of violence against women. The Council also urged Member States to adopt, strengthen and enforce legislation prohibiting violence against women and to take appropriate administrative, social and educational measures to protect women from all forms of physical and mental violence.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
State responsibility for eliminating violence against women 2013, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- As regards the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, article 2 refers to the obligation of States to pursue by all appropriate means and without delay a policy of eliminating discrimination against women. However, there is no specific provision pertaining to a State's responsibility to act with due diligence in eliminating violence against women. In an attempt to address the defect, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women issued interpretative guidelines in the form of two general recommendations. General recommendation No. 12 (1989) highlights the obligation of States to protect women from violence in the family, workplace, or any other area of social life under articles 2, 5, 11, 12 and 16 of the Convention. In general recommendation No. 19 (1992), the Committee stated that "gender-based violence may breach specific provisions of the Convention, regardless of whether those provisions expressly mention violence" (para. 6). The Committee reiterated "that discrimination under the Convention is not restricted to action by or on behalf of Governments" and that "States may also be responsible for private acts if they fail to act with due diligence to prevent violations of rights or to investigate and punish acts of violence, and for providing compensation" (para. 9). Interpreting within specific articles in the Convention a cumulative prohibition on gender-based violence, the Committee recommended in its general recommendation No. 12 that States include in their periodic reports information concerning legislative and other measures in force to protect women from violence, the existence of support services for women, and statistical data on the prevalence of all forms of violence against women.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
State responsibility for eliminating violence against women 2013, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur has also received information on how these social-work authorities sometimes facilitate family visits or even care of children by perpetrators, in cases in which no child abuse was reported. Thus, if a perpetrator is violent towards a woman, but not towards her children, he may still be deemed capable of caring for them and authorities will actually promote and facilitate continued contact between the perpetrator and the children. This practice has devastating consequences, as it minimizes not only the experiences of the battered victim, but also the negative consequences in respect of a child who may have been a witness to the abuse of the mother by the father.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Pathways to, conditions and consequences of incarceration for women 2013, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- In some cases, families choose not to visit relatives in prison. This is especially true in cultures that regard imprisonment of women as shameful. In other instances, the caregiver may be unwilling or unable to permit children to visit their incarcerated mothers. A caregiver may be angry or resentful at the imprisoned mother because of being burdened with having to take care of her children. Also, a prisoner who has dependent children may face termination of her parental rights. Children who have a parent incarcerated are at risk of poor academic performance, alcohol and drug abuse and low self-esteem. Additionally, such children are approximately six times more likely to be incarcerated in their lifetime.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Pathways to, conditions and consequences of incarceration for women 2013, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- The legal basis for the protection of the family unit can be found in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 23 (1) of which provides: "The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State." In addition, article 17 (1) states that no person "shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence". A fundamental premise with respect to the right to maintain contact with the world outside of prison is that, like free persons, those deprived of their liberty enjoy all the human rights guaranteed by international law, subject only to those restrictions that are an unavoidable consequence of the confinement.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph