A/71/398 70. The Supreme Court of Colombia recently passed judgment on how femicide 27 was a gender-related crime and why it should be prosecuted as harshly as possible. In its first-ever case of convicted femicide, it sentenced the perpetrator to 18 years in prison for the brutal murder of his wife on the grounds that the killing had been motivated by his wife’s gender. 71. In another landmark ruling, 28 the Supreme Court of Mexico ordered the reopening of the investigation into the suspicious suicide of a women and ordered that it should be reinvestigated “from the perspective” of femicide or the murder of a woman by a man for reasons relating to her gender. The Court declared that it was the “duty of investigative bodies to investigate every violent death of a woman, to determine whether or not this is a case of femicide”, thereby affecting countless other cases of unresolved femicides in the country and having implications for all levels of investigation into such crimes. 72. The Special Rapporteur intends to establish an online collection of landmark court cases on femicide. She believes that such rulings provide examples of the application of relevant international, regional and national standards and are useful tools for lawyers, prosecutors and judges working on similar c ases. 73. The Special Rapporteur calls upon States, courts, academic institutions and all relevant stakeholders to submit all such cases from regional and national courts that could form a global database on her official website. 74. Recognizing the need for a credible collection of good practice on the prevention of femicide, the Special Rapporteur invites all States and other stakeholders to provide her with examples of good practices on femicide reviews and examples of legislation and jurisprudence that could be used as a good practices by others. D. Conclusions and recommendations 75. The international human rights framework composed of global and regional instruments on women’s rights and violence against women establishes three levels of responsibility on the part of the State to eliminate discrimination and violence against all women including femicides and guarantee women a life free of violence. 76. The first level of responsibility is related to violence perpetrated by the State through its national authorities, which may be in breach of its obligations under international human rights law in general and, in particular, under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and general recommendation No. 19 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. The State obligation is reflected in article 2 (d) of the Convention, which requires that States parties, including their national bodies and agents, refrain from engaging in any act or practice of discrimination against women and to ensure that public authorities and institutions act in conformity with this obligation. This obligation includes the duty to ensure that laws, policies, programmes and procedures are not __________________ 27 28 16-16456 See www.corteconstitucional.gov.co/RELATORIA/2015/C-022-15.htm. See www.internet2.scjn.gob.mx/red2/comunicados/noticia.asp?id=3060 . 21/24