A/RES/48/104
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Concerned that violence against women is an obstacle to the achievement
of equality, development and peace, as recognized in the Nairobi Forwardlooking Strategies for the Advancement of Women, 5/ in which a set of measures
to combat violence against women was recommended, and to the full
implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women,
Affirming that violence against women constitutes a violation of the
rights and fundamental freedoms of women and impairs or nullifies their
enjoyment of those rights and freedoms, and concerned about the long-standing
failure to protect and promote those rights and freedoms in the case of
violence against women,
Recognizing that violence against women is a manifestation of
historically unequal power relations between men and women, which have led to
domination over and discrimination against women by men and to the prevention
of the full advancement of women, and that violence against women is one of
the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate
position compared with men,
Concerned that some groups of women, such as women belonging to minority
groups, indigenous women, refugee women, migrant women, women living in rural
or remote communities, destitute women, women in institutions or in detention,
female children, women with disabilities, elderly women and women in
situations of armed conflict, are especially vulnerable to violence,
Recalling the conclusion in paragraph 23 of the annex to Economic and
Social Council resolution 1990/15 of 24 May 1990 that the recognition that
violence against women in the family and society was pervasive and cut across
lines of income, class and culture had to be matched by urgent and effective
steps to eliminate its incidence,
Recalling also Economic and Social Council resolution 1991/18 of 30 May
1991, in which the Council recommended the development of a framework for an
international instrument that would address explicitly the issue of violence
against women,
Welcoming the role that women’s movements are playing in drawing
increasing attention to the nature, severity and magnitude of the problem of
violence against women,
Alarmed that opportunities for women to achieve legal, social, political
and economic equality in society are limited, inter alia, by
continuing and endemic violence,
__________
5/
Report of the World Conference to Review and Appraise the
Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development
and Peace, Nairobi, 15-26 July 1985 (United Nations publication, Sales
No. E.85.IV.10), chap. I, sect. A.
/...