Galvanizing Action to Combat Violence Against Women

The General Assembly has mandated the Secretary-General to prepare an in-depth study on violence against women (A/RES/58/185). The study will be submitted to the General Assembly at its sixty-first session, in 2006. An interim report will be submitted to the sixtieth session (A/60/__).

As part of the preparatory process for the study, the Division for the Advancement of Women convened a consultation on violence against women and its links with the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); as well as to identify key issues to be addressed in the study. Six panelists introduced the themes. Representatives of Member States, United Nations entities and non-governmental organizations were invited to attend.

Panelists highlighted the challenges, as well as opportunities, for linking efforts to combat violence against women with those aimed at achieving the MDGs. They raised key issues which should be addressed in the Secretary-General's study, including: new and emerging areas that require attention; challenges that prevent the effective implementation of existing standards and laws on violence against women; accountability for action against violence against women; the responsibility of State and non-State actors; and areas where further research is necessary to strengthen the effectiveness of policy responses.

Participants in the consultation added examples from their own experience, and raised issues which, in their view, remain insufficiently
addressed in law, policy or at the programme level, including resources required for effective work on prevention and service provision;
as well as ways for responding to the inter-section of violence against women and other challenges to women's human rights and well-being.

The panel was moderated by Carolyn Hannan, Director, Division for the Advancement of Women. The six panelists were:
Sunila Abeysekera: Executive Director, INFORM, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Charlotte Bunch: Executive Director, Center for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers University, NJ, and member of the Advisory Committee
for the study
Nata Duvvury: Director, Gender, Violence and Rights Initiative, International Center for Research on Women, Washington D.C.
Françoise Gaspard: Member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women
Binaifer Nowrojee: Director, Open Society Institute Initiative for East Africa, Nairobi,
Kenya
Sylvia Walby: Professor, Sociology Department, Lancaster University, United
Kingdom