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Adequacy of the international legal framework on violence against women 2017, para. 86
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur highlights that, apart from the Committee, a variety of international and regional human rights bodies and independent experts are working on the issue of violence against women. These bodies have all developed a rich jurisprudence, general comments and recommendations relating to the right of women and girls not to be subjected to violence, which in certain circumstances may amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, denial of the right to health and other human rights. There are regional treaties and treaty bodies looking specifically at gender-based violence in Africa, the Americas and Europe. There are also independent experts in Africa and the Americas. However, these instruments need more incorporation and implementation, including through sustained funding of expert monitoring mechanisms to carry out their work, to facilitate coordination and to share best practices, information and insights. This urgency to support existing good work is even more compelling given the high priority dedicated to the eradication of violence against women in the Sustainable Development Goals.
- 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
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Violence against women: Twenty years of developments to combat violence against women 2014, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- One of the five priority areas of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) is ending violence against women. The efforts of UN-Women in this regard include standard setting, technical assistance, financial assistance, education, advocacy, data collection and coordination. The entity supports Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to implement these standards, including in developing and implementing national action plans to end violence against women. UN-Women also participates in a number of joint programmes with partner agencies at the country level and coordinates the Secretary-General's UNiTE campaign and the COMMIT initiative. The Inventory of United Nations activities to prevent and eliminate violence against women describes the efforts of 38 United Nations entities, the International Organization for Migration and six inter-agency partnerships. UN-Women has also developed the Virtual Knowledge Centre to End Violence against Women and Girls, an online resource centre.
- 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
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Continuum of violence against women from the home to the transnational sphere: the challenges of effective redress 2011, para. 83
- Paragraph text
- A holistic approach to dealing with violence requires an understanding that such violence is situated along a continuum both in terms of time and space, and the varied forms and manifestations reflect this. Although some categorization might be useful in terms of the provision of services for victims, such as clinical, psychosocial or legal, a holistic perspective sees all forms of abuse qualitatively impacting the economic, social, cultural and political well-being of women, of their communities and of the State. States must acknowledge that violence against women is not the root problem, but that violence occurs because other forms of discrimination are allowed to flourish. By situating violence along a continuum, States may appropriately contextualize violence and recognize that the deprivation of water, food, and other human rights can be just as egregious and debilitating as family violence. Although these forms of violence are by no means the same, they can be viewed as parallel and similar when considering their interrelationship.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The first decade of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children 2014, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Communication and engagement with stakeholders. Trafficking in persons is a critical issue for every country, affecting many different groups and cutting across multiple areas of legal and illegal activity. The range of current and potential stakeholders is accordingly very wide. The first mandate holder recognized this aspect of her work from the outset (E/CN.4/2005/71, paras. 41-47) and made consistent efforts to extend her engagement beyond Governments and international agencies to include the full range of civil society organizations working on the issue, as well as those engaged in related areas, such as the rights of migrants and violence against women. Her participatory and collaborative approach was continued and extended by the current mandate holder, who declared an intention to "reach out, listen, learn and share good practice around the world" (A/HRC/10/16, para 62). She has put this commitment into practice through regular, broad-based regional consultations aimed at securing expert input into her work while improving the understanding of the mandate amongst interlocutors.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Women human rights defenders and those working on women’s rights or gender issues 2011, para. 77
- Paragraph text
- With regard to arrests, detentions and criminalization, the majority of these communications were sent to the Russian Federation (10 communications), Belarus (eight communications), and Uzbekistan (eight communications). In this regard, eleven communications were sent to the Russian Federation, 11 to Uzbekistan, and 10 to Belarus. In this context, those most at risk of arrest appear to include women defenders working on human rights issues related to the conflict in the North Caucasus; pro-democracy advocates, particularly in Belarus; women's rights defenders in Belarus and Uzbekistan, those denouncing violations to the European Court of Human Rights, particularly in the Russian Federation, and women journalists in all three countries. In other European countries, smaller numbers of communications concerning allegations of arrests, and detentions were sent to, inter alia, Turkey, the Kyrgyz Republic, Turkmenistan and Spain. Communications regarding other forms of criminalization and judicial harassment were sent to Azerbaijan, France, Greece, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, and Turkey.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Activists
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- Fifty years after the separation of international human rights into the two covenants, the United Nations is well situated to retrieve a unified and inclusive understanding of human rights and to affirm that the right to life includes the right to a place to live in dignity and security, free of violence. The Human Rights Committee has the opportunity to affirm this integrated understanding of the right to life in the ongoing preparation of its general comment No. 36. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has the opportunity under its Optional Protocol to highlight the connection between the rights to life and adequate housing in lived experience. Other treaty monitoring bodies have the opportunity to ensure that the understanding of the rights to life and adequate housing is informed by the experiences and unique claims of people with disabilities, women, children, migrants, racial minorities and indigenous peoples, among others.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Adequacy of the international legal framework on violence against women 2017, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur on the rights of women in Africa considered that, in theory, an international treaty on violence against women was needed, but that some counterarguments should be taken into account. Prime among them was that the real challenge in dealing with the issue of violence against women did not lie in legal inadequacies but rather in implementation. Another argument against a global treaty on violence against women was that some regions, including the Americas, Africa and Europe, could rightfully claim that there was no normative gap. In that regard, a campaign to develop, ratify and implement an additional treaty mechanism would divert efforts and resources that would be better spent on strengthening the existing regional systems of protection. Such an objection can be countered, however, by the fact that Asia and Oceania did not have the benefit of regional protection. She also considered that, if a global treaty on violence against women prescribed clear and legally binding enforcement mechanisms at both the international and national levels, it could create some useful harmony to address the fragmentation of policies and legislation to address gender-based 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
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- The Committee's recognition in these cases that deportation into homelessness may constitute cruel and inhuman treatment or punishment, and that victims of homelessness in this context are entitled to a remedy, is significant. It is equally important, however, to ensure access to adjudication and remedy for those who experience the same deprivations of homelessness resulting from inaction or neglect within a State's own borders. In A.H.G and Jasin, the Committee considered the effects of widespread and systemic violations of the right to security and dignity. However, this consideration remained within the negative rights framework of prohibited "treatment" or "punishment". That framework is not conducive to hearing the substantive claim to a life of dignity, security and inclusion advanced by people with disabilities or women escaping violence, who do not see the fulfilment of their human rights merely as freedom from treatment or punishment but more fundamentally as a right to a place to live in dignity and security.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Adequacy of the international legal framework on violence against women 2017, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- Some organizations stated that the Committee could require national action plans on violence against women, which States could assess in the context of their periodic monitoring by the Committee, which could be done in cooperation with the special procedures mandate holders, especially the Special Rapporteur. The United Nations should require States to give more detail on violence against women in the treaty bodies common core document. Likewise, States and regional human rights organizations should provide more resources for regional human rights monitoring, and countries outside Europe could ratify the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence. Awareness needs to be raised that this (more detailed) Convention is open to countries outside the Council of Europe. The United Nations and States could increase technical and financial assistance to States and NGOs for monitoring and documenting violence against women and should also do more research on “what works” in eradicating violence against women and share information on evidence-based policies that work. “The United Nations system needs to play a bigger role and hold States accountable.”
- 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
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Adequacy of the international legal framework on violence against women 2017, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- In terms of general consideration of the submissions received from civil society organizations, the Special Rapporteur highlights that, primarily, such organizations showed that they were concerned about what some consider the “soft law” character of the current legal framework on violence against women, combined with the fragmentation of the current legal framework, several substantive gaps and inconsistencies present in the current instruments, and the fact that their implementation remains weak, particularly at the national level. Concerning the opportunity to create a new legal instrument, while the idea was endorsed by a majority of civil society organizations, several submissions highlighted that there were ways of addressing some issues and introducing new practical measures without the need for a new treaty. Others pointed out that there was a considerable political risk in seeking to negotiate a new treaty, which might encompass lower standards than those already widely accepted. Finally, among the main issues identified by civil society, there was a need for States to adequately resource measures for the prevention of, protection against and prosecution of perpetrators, as well as for reparations for victims and survivors.
- 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
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 107
- Paragraph text
- A key area of concern to the Working Group is the profound level of backlash against women’s human rights gains, which is on the rise both within States and in international spheres. In a climate of rising populism, xenophobia and fundamentalisms, long-established women’s human rights norms are being undermined, heightening the fragility of good practices in this context. In addition, a concurrent attack on women’s organizations, women’s human rights defenders and civil society movements — including feminist, environmental and human rights movements — creates an atmosphere in which these key actors are criminalized, de-funded and even killed, making the question of good practices moot. The Working Group emphasizes the importance of maintaining the autonomy of local and national movements and other civil society actors — including national human rights institutions, public interest lawyers and scholars — as an essential means of protecting and sustaining good practices. Backlashes within intergovernmental forums, as well as at the national level, must be challenged head-on by the international community.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Activists
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 92
- Paragraph text
- Active participation of women rights holders and autonomous women’s organizations in the development, monitoring, assessment and implementation of judicial decisions and public policies is essential to ensuring responsivity and impact.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Compendium of good practices in the elimination of discrimination against women 2017, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- The partnership of autonomous women’s organizations and independent experts with expertise in women’s rights with public authorities is a key element of progressive policy implementation.
- Body
- Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and practice
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender equality in the realization of the human rights to water and sanitation 2016, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- Although the pivotal role of women as providers and users of water, as well as the need to equip and empower women to participate at all levels in water resources programmes, has long been recognized, it is mostly men who manage and control the water services, resources, wastewater and solid waste industries at all levels. The integration of women into these types of jobs can contribute to gender mainstreaming throughout the sector and to services being managed from the perspective of women. Women's participation in the sector can be encouraged by developing policies and strategies, including on education, with defined targets and timelines. As a good example, in the National Drinking Water Policy of Pakistan it is outlined that special efforts will be made to recruit and induct women in water supply-related institutions and other relevant agencies to ensure that the needs of women are adequately addressed in the design, operation and maintenance of water supply systems. Aquafed and the Women for Water Partnership have reported that they are working together with companies and water associations to develop employment policies that aim to increase the representation of women in their staff and to remove prejudices against female employees.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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. 66
- Paragraph text
- The concerns raised more than 20 years ago and further highlighted by the Special Rapporteur in her reports reinforce the view that it is time to consider the development and adoption of a binding international instrument on violence against women and girls. Such an instrument should ensure that States are held accountable to standards that are legally binding, provide a clear normative framework for the protection of women and girls globally and have a specific monitoring body to substantively provide in-depth analysis of both general and country-level developments. With a legally binding instrument, a protective, preventive and educative framework could be established to reaffirm the commitment of the international community to its articulation that women's rights are human rights and that violence against women is 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
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Women
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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. 35
- Paragraph text
- The Convention provides for the creation of the Group of experts on action against violence against women and domestic violence. The Group of experts will have between 10 and 15 members, appointed in their individual capacity, and will report to the Committee of the Parties to the Convention. It will follow a report-based procedure in assessing the various measures a State party has taken and will take into account information submitted by the State and also by non-governmental organizations. It may organize country visits in instances where the information on a case is insufficient and there is no other feasible way of reliably gaining information. In certain circumstances, the Group of experts may request the urgent submission of a special report by the State party concerning measures to prevent a serious, massive or persistent pattern of violation of the provisions of the Convention or request a visit to the country concerned.
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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. 51
- Paragraph text
- The Convention of Belém do Pará also recognizes the critical link between women's access to adequate judicial protection when denouncing acts of violence and the elimination of the problem of violence and the discrimination that perpetuates it. The States parties agree, in accordance with article 8, to gradually undertake specific measures, including programmes to develop training programmes for all those involved in the administration of justice broadly; to implement educational activities aimed at heightening the general public's awareness of the issue; to modify social and cultural patterns of conduct and counteract prejudices, customs and other practices that legitimize or exacerbate violence against women; to provide appropriate specialized services for women who have been subjected to violence; and to ensure research and data collection relating to the causes, consequences and frequency of violence against women, in order to enable policy development and assess the effectiveness of relevant measures.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Education
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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. 25
- Paragraph text
- The limited engagement of the communications procedure in the protection of women's rights is a source of concern. Some reasons for the limited engagement include: the lack of, or limited, access to justice for women at the national levels, resulting in perceptions of similar weaknesses in the African regional system; the lack of knowledge on how to use the system; the inaccessibility of the communication system owing to the requirement in article 56 (5) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights regarding the exhaustion of local remedies before submitting allegations to the Commission; the relatively small number of women's rights organizations that interact with the regional human rights system; and the inadequacy of the provisions on women's rights in the Charter, which created barriers to using the regional system. The latter argument is now flawed, considering that the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa has been in force for almost a decade, yet usage of the procedure is still limited.
- 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
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Violence against women: Twenty years of developments to combat violence against women 2014, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- There is more specificity in three key regional human rights treaties that address violence against women, namely the 1994 Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women (Convention of Bele?m do Para?), the 2003 Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) and the recent Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention). The normative underpinnings of the obligations of States to eliminate violence against women have evolved since 1994, and the regional treaties reflect international standard-setting developments, but within a legally binding regional instrument. Despite the specificity of these instruments, there are limitations with regard to, for example, definitions and the comprehensiveness of the coverage of persons and acts as reflected in the instruments. Such gaps, as well as the absence of specific regional instruments in other regions of the world, underscore the need for a universal legally binding instrument on violence against women at the United Nations level.
- 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
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Violence against women: Twenty years of developments to combat violence against women 2014, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- In her 2010 report (A/HRC/14/22), the Special Rapporteur considered the shortcomings of the due diligence standard in respect of reparations for women who have experienced violence, whether in times of peace, conflict, post-conflict or in authoritarian settings. In her 2013 report (A/HRC/23/49), the Special Rapporteur further deepened the theme of State responsibility to eliminate violence against women and concluded that, while most States accept that violence against women is a pervasive and systemic human rights violation facing countries, this has not led to the adoption of coherent and sustainable solutions. She recommended that State responsibility to act with due diligence be considered as a dual obligation: (a) as a systemic responsibility, whereby States create responsive and effective systems and structures that address the root causes and consequences of violence against women; and (b) as an individual responsibility, whereby States provide victims with effective measures of prevention, protection, punishment and reparation. The Special Rapporteur recommended that accountability of perpetrators, as well as State authorities, for failure to protect from, and prevent, harm should be the norm.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Violence against women: Twenty years of developments to combat violence against women 2014, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- In her first report in 2004 (E/CN.4/2004/66), the second Special Rapporteur articulated the main objectives of her tenure as ensuring effective protection of women's rights and equal access to justice for women; monitoring the effectiveness of strategies to end violence against women; and ensuring that accountability mechanisms are accessible to women seeking redress. In addition to focusing on the issue of the intersectionality of violence against women and HIV/AIDS in 2005, the Special Rapporteur conducted further work on the intersections between culture and violence. In her reports she also addressed the political economy of women's human rights and the development of effective implementation and enforcement strategies, including by exploring the utility of the due diligence standard for enforcing State responsibility and the development of indicators on violence against women and State responses. The Special Rapporteur suggested that advocacy and policy and justice initiatives could be strengthened at the national and international levels. This would require systematic measurement and reporting of levels of violence, social tolerance, State responsiveness, institutional action and protection measures.
- 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
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Violence against women: Twenty years of developments to combat violence against women 2014, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- The first Special Rapporteur recommended that States criminalize and prosecute all manifestations of violence against women, including violence perpetrated under the guise of cultural practices, and called for greater State responsibility for the protection of trafficked women and the prevention of forced or coerced migration. She also called for a more expansive approach that sees violence against women as a "health, legal, economic, developmental and human rights problem", examined the issue of legal protections and remedies for violence against women perpetrated in situations of armed conflict; and called for the inclusion of gendered provisions and processes in the International Criminal Court. In her final report, in January 2003, the first Special Rapporteur stated that the greatest achievements during her mandate had been in "awareness-raising and standard-setting", including with regard to the limitations of the criminal justice framework, and setting new standards for addressing violence as a product of social, political and economic inequality. However, she acknowledged that, despite these successes, very little had changed in the lives of most women during her tenure.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Violence against women: Twenty years of developments to combat violence against women 2014, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- Regarding the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, in its general comment No. 2 (2007) on the implementation of article 2 of the Convention by States parties, the Committee against Torture addresses the issue of State responsibility to act with due diligence with regard to violence against women more specifically, where "State authorities or others acting in official capacity or under colour of law, know or have reasonable ground to believe that acts of torture or ill-treatment are being committed by non-State officials or private actors and they fail to exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish such non-State officials or private actors" (para. 18) in compliance with the Convention. The Committee applies this principle to States parties' failure to prevent and to protect victims from gender-based violence, such as rape, domestic violence, female genital mutilation and trafficking. While it may be argued that the Convention against Torture can serve as a tool for addressing violence against women, the Committee has so far only defined rape as torture, without explicitly addressing other forms of violence against women.
- 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
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Violence against women: Twenty years of developments to combat violence against women 2014, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- The draft declaration was submitted to the CSW at its thirty-sixth session, held in Vienna in 1992, and draft resolution V on violence against women in all its forms was submitted to the Economic and Social Council for adoption. The draft resolution called for an intersessional working group to be convened to further develop a draft declaration on violence against women. That meeting was held in 1992. The draft declaration was re-introduced at the thirty-seventh session of the CSW, in 1993, in a report of the Secretary-General. In its resolution 1993/10, the Economic and Social Council urged the General Assembly to adopt the draft declaration on the elimination of violence against women, and in resolution 1993/26, the Council urged governments to give their full support to the adoption of the draft declaration. The 1993 World Conference on Human Rights also called for the adoption of the draft declaration. The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women was adopted without a vote by the General Assembly in resolution 48/104, in December 1993. Since then, the Declaration has served as the primary normative framework for the work of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women.
- 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
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Violence against women as a barrier to the effective realization of all human rights 2014, para. 53
- Paragraph text
- The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and various regional treaties have explicitly articulated the international understanding of the issue and have reaffirmed and acknowledged that violence against women is both a cause and a consequence of discrimination, patriarchal dominance and control, that it is structural in nature and that it works as a social mechanism that forces women into a subordinate position, in both the public and private spheres. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has criticized States that have moved to the gender-neutral approach (see for example CEDAW/C/NLD/CO/4, CEDAW/C/POL/CO/6, CEDAW/C/FIN/CO/6 and Add.1, and CEDAW/C/UK/CO/6 and Add.1). In addition to gender specificity in legislation, policies and programmes, it is argued that, where possible, services should be run by independent and experienced women's non-governmental organizations providing gender-specific, empowering and comprehensive support to women survivors of violence, based on feminist principles. Specificity is also mandated in the relevant regional human rights instruments on women and violence.
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
State responsibility for eliminating violence against women 2013, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- The due diligence standard requires that remedies not only formally exist, but that they are available and effective. The due diligence obligation in respect of remedies cannot be just about returning women to the situation they were in before the individual instance of violence, but instead should strive to have a transformative potential. This implies that remedies should aspire, to the extent possible, to subvert instead of reinforce pre-existing patterns of cross-cutting structural subordination, gender hierarchies, systemic marginalization and structural inequalities that may be at the root cause of the violence that women experience. As the Special Rapporteur argued in her 2010 report, the notion of a right to reparation is located within the framework of the law of remedies and can serve both individual and societal goals, the underlying purposes of which include corrective justice, deterrence, retribution and restorative justice (A/HRC/14/22, para. 12). Reparations should include a gender perspective, more so when dealing with women victims of acts of discrimination and violence, including in the spheres of satisfaction, rehabilitation, guarantees of non-repetition and compensation.
- 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
- Women
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Gender-related killings of women 2012, para. 97
- Paragraph text
- In 2010, the government of British Columbia established the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry, to conduct fact-finding missions and police investigations with regard to reports of missing and murdered women in the city of Vancouver (the Pickton case). This initiative does not address the phenomena in other parts of the country.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and violence against women 2011, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- In 1989, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women explicitly linked gender-based violence and discrimination against women in its general recommendation No. 12 and called on States parties to include in their reports information on violence and on measures introduced to deal with it. Between 1989 and 1992, the Committee issued a series of general recommendations that addressed some rights violations experienced at the intersection of inter- and intra-gender sex discrimination and violence against women. In 1992 it issued general recommendation No. 19 both to define gender-based violence and to make it discrimination on the grounds of sex within the meaning of the Convention. Much of what is set forth in general recommendation No. 19 is reiterated and refined in the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women. CEDAW has also addressed the impact of intersecting forms of discrimination against women and its nexus with gender-based violence. Most recently, in general recommendation No. 27, which deals with the rights of older women, it recognizes that age and sex make older women vulnerable to violence, and that age, sex and disability make older women with disabilities particularly vulnerable.
- 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
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Continuum of violence against women from the home to the transnational sphere: the challenges of effective redress 2011, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- Most human rights and humanitarian law treaties provide for a right to a remedy. In the context of gross and systematic violations of human rights, the Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and serious violations of International Humanitarian Law, adopted by the General Assembly in 2005, start with the premise that "the State is responsible for ensuring that victims of human rights violations enjoy an individual right to reparation". Both the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women place upon the State the duty to provide compensation for all acts of violence. Yet, the implementation of the due diligence obligation to reparations remains grossly underdeveloped in practice, as discussed in the 2010 report of this mandate. The little attention devoted to gender-specific reparations, both at a substantive and procedural level, contrasts with the fact that women are often the target of both sex-specific and other forms of violence.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Women
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph