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UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences

Thematic Report

The present report focuses on violence against women as a barrier to the realization of women’s civil, political, economic, social, cultural and developmental rights and the effective exercise of citizenship rights. The report also provides an analysis of continued challenges in the quest for the elimination of violence against women. This analysis is underpinned by the work of the mandate holder, including the preparation of thematic reports and participation in country missions and conferences and meetings.

UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences

Thematic Report

The present report addresses the topic of State responsibility for eliminating violence against women. As a general rule, State responsibility is based on acts or omissions committed either by State actors or by actors whose actions are attributable to the State. A longstanding exception to this rule is that a State may incur responsibility where there is a failure to exercise due diligence to prevent or respond to certain acts or omissions of non-State actors. The due diligence standard serves as a tool for rights holders to hold States accountable, by providing an assessment framework for ascertaining what constitutes effective fulfilment of a State’s obligations, and for analysing its actions or omissions. For due diligence to be satisfied, the formal framework established by the State must also be effective in practice.

UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences

Thematic Report

Over the past three decades, gender-based violence as a form of discrimination against women has become increasingly visible and acknowledged internationally. Despite normative standards having been set, the reality is that violence against women remains a global epidemic, which is further complicated when considering multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination. This thematic report examines such discrimination in the context of violence against women and provides a conceptual framework for further discussion. The report acknowledges the reality that while multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination have contributed to and exacerbated violence against women, information on the intersections between gender-based discrimination and other forms of discrimination, and the consequences thereof, are too often overlooked.

In addition to analyzing the forms, causes and consequences of multiple forms of discrimination as regards violence against women, this report also considers inter-gender and intra-gender differences, arguing that a one-size-fits-all programmatic approach is insufficient for combating gender-based violence. Even though all women are at risk of experiencing violence, not all women are equally susceptible to acts of violence.

It has been stated by this mandate that “the multiplicity of forms of violence against women as well as the fact that this violence frequently occurs at the intersection of different types of discrimination makes the adoption of multifaceted strategies to effectively prevent and combat this violence a necessity.”

This report proposes a holistic approach to conceptualizing and addressing the issue by: (a) considering human rights as universal, interdependent and indivisible; (b) situating violence against women on a continuum; (c) acknowledging the structural aspects and factors of discrimination, which include structural and institutional inequalities; and (d) analyzing social and/or economic hierarchies between women and men and also among women.

UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences

Thematic Report

HIV is on the rise in all parts of the world, spreading in particular among women and girls. The pandemic represents a medium where the complex manifestations of gender inequality as it impacts on women are observed. Discrimination against women, due to gender inequality, is multiple and compounded at the intersection of patriarchy and other sites of oppression, which subjugate women to a continuum of violence, making them susceptible to HIV/AIDS.

The report analyses the interconnections between violence against women and HIV/AIDS, considering violence both as a cause and a consequence of HIV. It examines how the various types of violence to which women are subject, from the domicile to the transnational arena, increase the risks of transmission of HIV; the ways in which stigma, discrimination, and gender-based violence are experienced by women living with HIV, as well as the obstacles to women’s access to medical care and justice. Throughout the report, emphasis is placed on the intersectionality of violence against women and HIV as well as the multiplicity of types of discrimination experienced by women living with HIV, particularly by migrant, refugee, minority, and other marginalized groups of women.

Whereas HIV-related human rights are protected under international human rights law, and while the connections between violence against women and HIV/AIDS are indisputable, States have yet to create integrated and effective responses dealing with gender inequality as the root cause and consequence of the gender-specific manifestations of the disease. While some progress is being made separately on ending violence against women and stemming the spread of HIV/AIDS, national and international efforts would be vastly more effective if they addressed the interconnectedness between the two pandemics.

UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences

Thematic Report

The report addresses the dominant culture-based paradigms that justify or explain the violations of women’s rights, reducing violence against women to a cultural problem. It traces the trends in the development of the international normative framework on violence against women in relation to culture that culminated in the recognition of the primacy of women’s right to live a life free of gender-based violence over any cultural considerations.

Then, it critically examines how cultural discourses are created, reproduced and instrumentalized to challenge this primacy and the validity of the principle of gender equality and women’s human rights in general. It is argued that cultural explanations overlook the material basis of cultural formations, thus disguising the political and economic foundation of sociocultural dynamics.

Building on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, women’s movements appropriated the universally agreed language of human rights and transformed the international human rights framework to address their concerns. Thanks to the common struggles of women of diverse cultures and backgrounds, a well-established gender equality and women’s rights regime has evolved within the United Nations, reflecting a universalizing culture from within.

These norms establish the primacy of women’s right to live a life free of gender-based violence and provide that States cannot invoke any cultural discourses, including notions of custom, tradition or religion, to justify or condone any act of violence. This also means that they may not deny, trivialize or otherwise play down the harm caused by such violence by referring to these notions. Instead, States are expressly required to condemn such violence, which entails denouncing any cultural discourse put forward to justify it.

Since their inception, the universality of human rights and their validity in a given local context have been continuously contested through relativist discourses that brand them as external impositions that are incompatible with local culture. On the other hand, cultural practices that discriminate against women are frequently regarded as belonging to “others”, whether they live in developing countries or belong to local immigrant communities. Embedded into this practice of “othering” is a trend towards isolating violence against women from the wider political and economic environment and the overall concern for women’s rights, empowerment and equality.

In the neo-liberal era, identity politics, based on cultural differences has made culture the site of contestation and the notion of culture a tool of new forms of oppression, whether in its orientalist or occidentalist guise. Women, particularly those from the Global South, find themselves entangled in these ideological contests as they are reduced to “weak victims” and are left with the “choice” of joining forces with imperialist/hegemonic projects or compliance with oppressive practices.

In order to successfully uphold universally agreed values, in particular the principle that no custom, tradition or religious consideration can be invoked to justify violence against women, the report identifies the myths around cultural discourses and outlines general guidelines for an effective strategy to counter and transform culture-based discourses, which constitute one of the major obstacles to the implementation of women’s rights.

UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences

Thematic Report

This thematic report addresses the topic of gender-related killings of women. 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 represent 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. 

Globally, the prevalence of different manifestations of gender-related killings is reaching alarming proportions. Culturally and socially embedded, these manifestations continue to be accepted, tolerated or justified—with impunity as the norm. States‘ responsibility to act with due diligence in the promotion and protection of women‘s rights is largely lacking as regards the killing of women.

UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences

Thematic Report

The failure of international human rights law to adequately reflect and respond to the experiences and needs of women has stimulated much debate on the mainstream application of human rights standards. This has resulted in the transformation of the conventional understanding of human rights and the doctrine of State responsibility.

The 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women as well as other international instruments adopted the concept of due diligence, in relation to violence against women, as a yardstick to assess whether the State has met its obligation. Under the due diligence obligation, States have a duty to take positive action to prevent and protect women from violence, punish perpetrators of violent acts and compensate victims of violence. However, the application of due diligence standard, to date, has tended to be State-centric and limited to responding to violence when it occurs, largely neglecting the obligation to prevent and compensate and the responsibility of non-State actors.

The current challenge in combating violence against women is the implementation of existing human rights standards to ensure that the root causes and consequences of violence against women are tackled at all levels from the home to the transnational arena. The multiplicity of forms of violence against women as well as the fact that this violence frequently occurs at the intersection of different types of discrimination makes the adoption of multifaceted strategies to effectively prevent and combat this violence a necessity.

In this regard, the potential of the due diligence standard is explored at different levels of intervention: individual women, the community, the State and the transnational level. At each level, recommendations for relevant actors are highlighted. The report concludes that if we continue to push the boundaries of due diligence in demanding the full compliance of States with international law, including to address the root causes of violence, against women and to hold non-State actors accountable for their acts of violence, then we will move towards a conception of human rights that meets our aspirations for a just world free of violence.

UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences

Thematic Report

The universal standards of human rights are often denied full operation when it comes to the rights of women. Throughout the world, there are practices in the family that are violent towards women and harmful to their health.

Cultural relativism is often used as an excuse to permit inhumane and discriminatory practices against women in the community, despite clear provisions in many human rights instruments, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, in accordance with which States parties shall take all appropriate measures to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women (art.5).

Many countries now require, protect or encourage medical providers to breach their confidentiality duties when they treat women seeking postabortion care. This publication covers the three main ways health-care providers are compelled to breach confidentiality, based on the varying Latin American laws governing provider obligations on the issue of abortion. It also details how such laws impact both providers and women, and lists the many international bodies, declarations, consensus documents, etc. that establish standards for protecting patient confidentiality. Finally, the publication provides recommendations for international human rights bodies, governments and health-care professionals to protect women’s right to confidentiality as well as providers’ ethical obligation to uphold that right.

The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) is a Council of Europe convention against violence against women and domestic violence which was opened for signature on 11 May 2011, in Istanbul, Turkey.

The convention aims at prevention of violence, victim protection and “to end with the impunity of perpetrators”. As of November 2015, it had been signed by 39 countries.   The Istanbul Convention is based on the understanding that violence against women is a form of gender-based violence that is committed against women because they are women. It is the obligation of the state to fully address it in all its forms and to take measures to prevent violence against women, protect its victims and prosecute the perpetrators. Failure to do so would make it the responsibility of the state. The convention leaves no doubt: there can be no real equality between women and men if women experience gender-based violence on a large-scale and state agencies and institutions turn a blind eye.