Search Tips
sorted by
30 shown of 594 entities
Reparations to women who have been subjected to violence 2010, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- Guarantees of non-repetition offer the greatest potential for transforming gender relations. In promising to ensure non-recurrence, such guarantees trigger a discussion about the underlying structural causes of the violence and their gendered manifestations and a discussion about the broader institutional or legal reforms that might be called for to ensure non-repetition. A gender-sensitive reparations programme should seize this opportunity to advance, as part of the venture of constructing a new and more inclusive democratic order, a society that overcomes the systemic subordination of women.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Reparations to women who have been subjected to violence 2010, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- In the aftermath of violent conflict, when "normalcy" is restored, women are subject to new and sometimes higher levels of violence from men whom they know in the family and the community. Internalization of violent mechanisms of conflict resolution, accumulated and unresolved feelings of male impotence and frustration, male anxiety around the empowerment of women who have become politically visible during the conflict or simply the increased vulnerability of women may be some of the reasons that make women the targets of rising levels of violence after official peace or democracy has been declared. Reparations programmes that take place at one given point in time and inevitably look to the past have inherent limitations to address future violations. However, the type of guarantees of non-repetition can ground practical obligations on the part of the State to take into account the foreseeable short- and medium-term legacies of its violent past for women and, more specifically, adopt measures to avoid the exploitation of new forms of vulnerability.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Reparations to women who have been subjected to violence 2010, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- With this scheme in mind and thinking about women as potential beneficiaries of reparations, the first hurdle relates to the fact that much of the violence that women and girls experience predates the conflict and only continues to aggravate the discrimination to which they are subjected in the post-conflict scenario. Even in non-conflict scenarios, acts of violence against women are part of a larger system of gender hierarchy that can only be fully grasped when seen in the broader structural context. Therefore, adequate reparations for women cannot simply be about returning them to where they were before the individual instance of violence, but instead should strive to have a transformative potential. Reparations should aspire, to the extent possible, to subvert, instead of reinforce, pre-existing structural inequality that may be at the root causes of the violence the women experience before, during and after the conflict.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Reparations to women who have been subjected to violence 2010, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- Rehabilitation measures need to be tailored to respond to women's specific needs. This may require an effort to overcome gender biases that might be entrenched in the existing national service system. One way to overcome such biases is to be as explicit and specific as possible in terms of the services to be provided. For instance, instead of recommending that victims of sexual violence have free or privileged access to medical and psychological assistance, reparations programmes should spell out which treatment victims of sexual violence need most. Rendering rehabilitation and reintegration meaningful to women to ensure that they can recover a sense of normalcy or functional life is both a gendered and a context-sensitive enterprise, as the notion of "psychosocial" rehabilitation suggests.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Reparations to women who have been subjected to violence 2010, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- Reintegration and rehabilitation may also require adopting women-friendly forms of distribution of services and creating opportunities that were previously denied to victims, often on the grounds of sex, including through meaningful employment, education, skill training, access to land titles and initiatives such as microcredit to motivate economic entrepreneurship. Because the experience of conflict or political repression leads many women to become publicly and politically active for the first time in their lives, encouraging this agency, including by promoting women's associations or political parties, could also be a way of rehabilitating women in a way that does not return them exclusively to their homes and family lives.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Continuum of violence against women from the home to the transnational sphere: the challenges of effective redress 2011, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- The section below describes prevalence and illustrations of manifestations of violence against women in each of the four spheres by drawing on findings from the country visits undertaken by the Special Rapporteur between 2009 and 2011 (Kyrgyzstan, Algeria, El Salvador, Zambia, United States of America), as well as findings of previous mandate-holders. As such, it does not purport at providing an exhaustive account of forms of violence against women globally, but rather seeks to highlight examples of how such violence can manifest itself by selecting main themes covered and encountered by the Special Rapporteur.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Continuum of violence against women from the home to the transnational sphere: the challenges of effective redress 2011, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- Human rights are universal. Everyone is entitled to have their human rights respected, protected and fulfilled regardless of their geographic location or social position, and this includes the right of women to be free from violence. Yet, understanding rights as universal should not preclude States from taking into consideration the specificities of violence against women and engaging at a local level to adequately recognize the diverse experiences of oppression faced by women. The programmatic responses to violence against women cannot be considered in isolation from the context of individuals, households, communities or States.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Continuum of violence against women from the home to the transnational sphere: the challenges of effective redress 2011, para. 82
- Paragraph text
- Human rights are also interdependent and indivisible. States should move beyond the erroneous focus that privileges civil and political rights and recognize how the denegation of social, economic, and cultural rights restricts women from meaningfully exercising civil and political life. In pursuing a holistic approach to understanding discrimination and violence against women, it is imperative to include an analysis of the right to an adequate standard of living and also a focus on, inter alia, bodily integrity rights, education, civil and political engagement and individual self-determination. These fundamentals directly affect a woman's ability to equitably and holistically participate in public and private spaces.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and violence against women 2011, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- For more than 25 years, the global movement against violence against women has worked to "transform significantly the place of women and the status of gender based violence within the human rights discourse." In 1985, the United Nations Decade for Women culminated in the Third World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace in Nairobi, Kenya. This conference "reaffirm[ed] the international concern regarding the status of women and provide[d] a framework for renewed commitment by the international community to the advancement of women and the elimination of gender-based discrimination."
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Continuum of violence against women from the home to the transnational sphere: the challenges of effective redress 2011, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- The prevalence of violence against women remains a global concern. For example, in the majority of the 21 countries considered by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in 2010, representing all regions, prevalence of violence was either high, persistent or on the increase. The Committee had already explicitly linked discrimination against women and gender-based violence in its general recommendations No. 12 (1989) and No. 19 (1992). It constantly calls on States parties to include in their reports to the Committee information on violence and on measures introduced to overcome such violence.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Continuum of violence against women from the home to the transnational sphere: the challenges of effective redress 2011, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Currently, the United Nations discourse regarding violence against women hinges on three principles: first, violence against women and girls is addressed as a matter of equality and non-discrimination between women and men; second, multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination are recognized as increasing the risk that some women will experience targeted, compounded or structural discrimination; and third, the interdependence of human rights is reflected in efforts such as those that seek to address the causes of violence against women related to the civil, cultural, economic, political and social spheres.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- 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
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Continuum of violence against women from the home to the transnational sphere: the challenges of effective redress 2011, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- The thematic and country mission reports produced by the Special Rapporteur help provide a framework for addressing distinct forms of gender-based violence by analysing the causes and consequences of violence, and elaborating on the role of both States, non-State actors, and regional and international stakeholders in combating violence in the public and private domains. Thematic reports also help inform policy and shape the advancement of women's human rights standards in international law. For example, the Special Rapporteur's 2010 report on reparations has been used by OHCHR to implement a project on reparations and capacity-building in northern Uganda, as well as a joint project with the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office, which focuses on remedies and reparations for victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and violence against women 2011, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- Pregnancy and childbearing are part of the material reality of women and girls which requires a gendered analysis. This entails explicitly accounting for the fact that maternal mortality and morbidity are manifestations of rights violations for which there are no parallel violations directly experienced by men. The general risk of maternal mortality and morbidity faced by all women is significantly altered by factors such as quality, affordable and accessible maternal health care. The absence of this type of health care contributes to deaths that are preventable and that occur at disproportionately higher rates for pregnant women and adolescent girls who live in the poorest regions of the world.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Adolescents
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and violence against women 2011, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- There is a need for a holistic approach to both physical and ideological restrictions as an issue in the human rights discourse around violence against women. Mainstream human rights discourse has demonstrated its capacity to acknowledge as a human rights violation the violence that flows from physical restrictions which are created and/or maintained by the State, communities, families or individuals. The same cannot be said, however, for the violence of ideological restrictions which may be deployed to justify physical violence against women or to restrict women's choices in ways that make submission to violent acts necessary to access resources and to demonstrate community membership. Ideological constraints help either to normalize the differential vulnerability based on the violence inherent in the context, the personhood of the women involved, or some combination of the two.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- 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
- 2011
Paragraph
Multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and violence against women 2011, para. 93
- Paragraph text
- The right to civil and political participation grapples with elements of citizenship at its core, and is most commonly assessed in terms of non-discrimination and equality as between women and men. Data documenting women's enfranchisement and representation within political and other governing institutions is often used to assess the extent to which women are able to enjoy and exercise their rights regarding both citizenship and civil, labour and political engagement. Viewed holistically, however, formally guaranteeing these rights as a matter of law does not necessarily address how violence against women can affect how these rights are experienced and, consequently, protected.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Continuum of violence against women from the home to the transnational sphere: the challenges of effective redress 2011, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- At the international level, the International Criminal Court has established mechanisms to ensure that gender-based crimes committed during armed conflict are dealt with appropriately. The Court's Victims and Witnesses Unit provides protection, support and other appropriate assistance to ensure the personal safety, physical and psychological well-being, dignity and privacy of those testifying. The services of the Victims and Witnesses Unit can be requested and provided at all stages of proceedings, from pre-trial/investigation to post-trial. Furthermore, the Court's Trust Fund for Victims is mandated to assist victims and administer court-ordered reparations. At a national level, the Victims and Witnesses Unit of the Special Court for Sierra Leone has developed a comprehensive package of protection and support and, according to follow-up research, witnesses who had been briefed and supported had a largely positive experience of the Court.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and violence against women 2011, para. 105
- Paragraph text
- Utilizing a holistic approach improves the ability of policymakers, non-state actors and others to see the interconnections between multiple forms of discrimination and the generation of different forms of violence against women. Efforts to end all forms of violence against women will not be successful if they continue to be solely focused on the immediate health concerns of the victims, or on implementing legal measures that only consider the most severe forms of abuse. Violence against women happens because it can. Determining how best to protect, promote and fulfil women's rights to non-discrimination, equality and freedom from violence is fundamentally a question of law - with affirmative State obligations associated with preventing and eliminating gender-based violence, whether public or private.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Gender-related killings of women 2012, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Rather than a new form of violence, gender-related killings are the extreme manifestation of existing forms of violence against women. Such killings are not isolated incidents that arise suddenly and unexpectedly, but are rather the ultimate act of violence which is experienced in a continuum of violence. Women subjected to continuous violence and living under conditions of gender-based discrimination and threat are always on "death row, always in fear of execution". This results in the inability to live, and is a major part of the death process when the lethal act finally occurs. Rather than serving isolated or individual purposes, such violence follows institutional logic "to delineate and sustain hierarchical social relations of race, gender, sexuality and class and, thereby, to perpetuate the inequality of marginalized communities".
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Gender-related killings of women 2012, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- In the case of India, international attention has been drawn to the vast divergence in the country's natural gender ratio, with estimates that in 2003 100 million women were "missing" from its population. It is estimated that one million selective female foetal abortions occur annually in India. There is no official statistical data available on female infanticide, but in the state of Kerala, it is estimated that about 25,000 female newborns are killed every year. The preadolescent mortality rate of girls under 5 years old was 21 per cent higher than for boys of the same age in India. Violence, as well as nutritional and deliberate medical neglect by girls' parents, was cited as the main causes of death.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Infants
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Pathways to, conditions and consequences of incarceration for women 2013, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- The prevalence of dire prison conditions with a lack of a gender focus is a global problem, and female prisoners often face conditions that are worse than those experienced by their male counterparts. It is argued that prisons were made with men in mind, and gender-neutral policies can have serious negative consequences for women prisoners. Furthermore, opposition and hostility from policymakers and male corrections officials is common. The view is held that women prisoners unfairly receive preferential treatment. An official working in a correctional facility stated "the general view is that women get everything and men get nothing. In reality, women get everything that can be provided for free".
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Pathways to, conditions and consequences of incarceration for women 2013, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- Under international law, "all persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person". Prisoners may not be subjected to any hardship or constraint other than that resulting from the deprivation of liberty, and respect for the dignity of such persons must be guaranteed under the same conditions as that of free persons. Moreover, this fundamental rule must be applied without distinction of any kind, including discrimination on the basis of sex. This principle of non-discrimination requires States to take into account and address any disparate impact of criminal justice strategies on women, even if they have been adopted for legitimate goals such as, for example, the "war on drugs". States are directed to develop policies based on women's special needs as criminal justice offenders.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Pathways to, conditions and consequences of incarceration for women 2013, para. 82
- Paragraph text
- In 2011, the General Assembly, by its resolution 65/229, adopted the United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules), which established for the first time standards that relate specifically to women prisoners, offenders and accused persons. The Bangkok Rules recognize that the international law principle of non discrimination requires States to address the particular challenges that women confront in the criminal justice and penitentiary systems (rule 1). They provide comprehensive standards for the treatment of women prisoners and offenders, addressing issues such as prior victimization and its links with incarceration; alternatives to incarceration; mental and physical health care; safety and security; contact with family members; staff training; pregnant women and mothers with children in prison; and prisoner rehabilitation and reintegration, among other things.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
State responsibility for eliminating violence against women 2013, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur interviewed police officers who have shared their frustration at being unable to assist women victims of violence due to a lack of basic resources, including vehicles or fuel in some instances. While in some countries specialized police units have been put in place to address domestic violence and/or sexual violence cases, and officers have undergone specialized training, these units are often understaffed and underresourced, and they are not available in all police stations or at all hours. The first responding officers end up being generalist police officers who have no specialized training on violence against women. Thus positive developments are being hampered by the lack of sufficient resources to provide specialist services on a full-time basis.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
State responsibility for eliminating violence against women 2013, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- Unfortunately, providing substantive findings and recommendations on interpretation, application and effectiveness of measures has been limited by a number of factors: there was a low response rate of both State and non-State sectors; the low response rate was further impacted by the quality of responses received; the mandate faced challenges due to the lack of resources for substantive and specialized empirical research and analysis; and the information gathered at regional consultations was impacted by resource and knowledge constraints. Furthermore, another barrier is the fact that there is no legally binding instrument under international law, specifically on violence against women, to effectively monitor State responsibility to act with due diligence in their efforts to respond to, prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against women.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
State responsibility for eliminating violence against women 2013, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Forty-three responses (22 per cent) were received from Member States and 17 responses were received from civil society organizations. Approximately half the State responses directly addressed the issues raised in the call for information. All State responses reflect information on existing national laws, policies and plans; some responses refer to future initiatives at the national level; and some responses refer to State efforts outside of the national context. Less than 10 per cent of States articulate their responsibility to act with due diligence as emanating from legally binding international human rights law, despite the widespread ratification of treaties such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
State responsibility for eliminating violence against women 2013, para. 17e
- Paragraph text
- [The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women has for nearly two decades observed and paid attention to the responsibility of the State in general and to the principle of due diligence in particular. In assessing State responsibility to act with due diligence to address violence against women, it was suggested by the first Special Rapporteur in 1999 that the following questions needed to be asked:] Is the criminal justice system sensitive to the issues of violence against women? In this regard, what is police practice? How many cases are investigated by the police? How are victims dealt with by the police? How many cases are prosecuted? What types of judgements are given in such cases? Are the health professionals who assist the prosecution sensitive to issues of violence against women?
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
State responsibility for eliminating violence against women 2013, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- The lack of information on monitoring and evaluation processes and outcomes in respect of strategies/plans was the norm in State responses. Concerns by civil society organizations include: the existence of strategies without implementation plans; plans that do not set out the responsibility of different State agencies, benchmarks, timelines and budget allocations; the lack of adequate funding and specialized staffing for the implementation of such strategies and plans; the dependence on donors for funding for the implementation of plans; the lack of public education campaigns to generate information and knowledge about such strategies/plans; the lack of research on the effectiveness of such measures; and the lack of coherence and sustainability. While the Special Rapporteur encountered encouraging examples of joint protocols of action, referral systems and multidisciplinary mobile teams, adequate coordination among State service providers and between them and non-State services continues to be a main challenge. Also, the lack of sensitivity and of a women's rights perspective by these services often results in a lack of substantive protection for women victims.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Violence against women as a barrier to the effective realization of all human rights 2014, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- Full, inclusive and participatory citizenship requires that violence against women be seen as a barrier to the realization of all human rights, and consequently the effective exercise of citizenship rights. Participation, autonomy and agency, are core components of citizenship rights and they emanate from human rights, as the necessary conditions for human agency and dignity. Human rights are rooted in citizenship rights, including in their dynamic conception of political, economic, civil and social participation. Human dignity and the rights to freedom and equality lie at the heart of the human rights regime and provide the necessary conditions for human agency in exercising citizenship rights. The fulfilment of one right often depends upon the fulfilment of others, as each cluster of rights provides the necessary conditions for realization of the other. For example, social rights help promote the effective exercise of civil and political rights, while civil and political rights in turn empower citizens to realize their economic, social and cultural rights.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Violence against women as a barrier to the effective realization of all human rights 2014, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Autonomy and agency aspects of citizenship rights provide a framework for understanding women's citizenship, through recognizing both the structural factors that constrain women's ability to live as full citizens, as well as women's role as active citizens able to participate in creating the laws, policies and conditions affecting them. Historically, States and communities have often used "the women" as a critical symbol in defining the nation. Despite linking their visions of the political community to women as symbols, in practice many States often constrain women's autonomy, thereby limiting their ability to participate fully in the community as equal citizens.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
State responsibility for eliminating violence against women 2013, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- The meaning of State responsibility to act with due diligence was further examined by the second Special Rapporteur on violence against women in a 2006 report (E/CN.4/2006/61, para. 19 ff). One of the primary problems she found was that the due diligence standard focused primarily on violence against women as an isolated act and failed to take into consideration the connections between violence and the violation of other human rights, including general principles of gender equality and non-discrimination. She also addressed the need to move away from a public/private dichotomy in viewing violence against women. Her argument is that categorizing some forms of violence against women as part of the private sphere tends to have a normalizing effect, and it makes States' intervention seem to be different in such situations, as opposed to where there are "public" incidents of violence.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph