2004 UN Commission on Human Rights: Mission: to promote and protect human rights: Overview of Violence Against Women Campaign and Recommendations for CHR
Amnesty International, 1 January 2004

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

"If the first decade emphasized standard-setting and awareness-raising, the second decade must focus on effective implementation and the development of innovative strategies to ensure that the prohibition against violence is a tangible reality for the world's women."
Radhika Coomaraswamy

Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, from 1994-2003 In her report(5) to the 59th session of the Commission, Ms Coomaraswamy noted that in the struggle to eradicate violence against women "the greatest achievements ha[d] been in awareness-raising and standard-setting".(6) She further noted, however, that "despite these successes [..] very little has changed in the lives of most women"; rather that "for the vast majority violence against women remains a taboo issue, invisible in society and a shameful fact of life". She urges that governments and the international community now focus on implementation of existing standards, laws and measures as the main priority in the struggle to eradicate violence against women. In particular she recommends that governments:
· Ratify all instruments for the protection and promotion of the rights of women, including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Rome Statute) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Women's Convention) and its Optional Protocol;

· Exercise due diligence including to prevent, investigate and punish all acts of violence against women, to take measures to empower women and strengthen their economic independence; and to enact, reinforce or amend domestic legislation to enhance the protection of victims of violence;

· Take or strengthen measures to address the root causes of VAW, including poverty, under-development and lack of equal opportunity;
· Support women's participation in peace processes, in accordance with Security Council resolution 1325 (2000), without threat of further violence.(7)

Action by the Commission to eradicate violence against women

It was the Commission's very first task, meeting in 1947, to authorize a committee to begin drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) - the foundation stone of the human rights movement.(8) The UDHR proclaims that all human beings are equally entitled to civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right of women to live their lives free from violence. The Commission continues to play an important role in seeking to realize this promise.

In 1994, the Commission established the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences(9), and each year since then the Commission has adopted an annual resolution on "Elimination of violence against women" through which the Commission calls on governments to ratify the Women's Convention and its Optional Protocol; exercise their duty to promote and protect the human rights of women and girls; to refrain from invoking custom, tradition, religion or culture as an excuse for violence against women; to address violence against women in the context of armed conflict; and to establish national mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating measures taken to eliminate violence against women. However, the challenge for the Commission remains to support member states in taking decisive and concrete steps to implement women's right not to suffer violence.

Amnesty International's campaign to stop violence against women

It is with the goal of implementation in mind that AI will launch a campaign to stop violence against women in March 2004, in connection with International Women's Day. Through this campaign the organization is calling on all governments as well as private actors, on institutions as well as individuals, to take immediate steps to put a stop to violence against women and to redress the suffering it causes. Violence against women is neither legal nor acceptable and must never be tolerated or justified. AI's campaign on stopping violence against women will aim to secure:

·The abolition of laws that support impunity for violence against women and laws that discriminate against women.

·The enactment and implementation of effective laws and practices to protect women from violence in conflict and post-conflict situations, and to ensure that impunity is ended for combatants that commit violence against women, and their commanders.

·The individual and collective accountability of states for their existing obligations under international law to prevent, investigate, punish and redress all acts of violence against women whether in peacetime or armed conflict.

·Effective action to stop violence at the community level by local governments and civil society, including religious bodies, traditional and informal authorities.

The campaign will focus on violence against women in the family and armed conflict. However, during this campaign, AI will establish gender equality at the core of its human rights research and advocacy so that acts of violence against women in the full range of contexts are addressed. Within the framework of international human rights law AI will campaign to hold governments to their commitments and urge them to effectively implement laws to protect and respect women's human rights in times of peace as well as conflict. Throughout the campaign, AI will show that the right of women to be free from violence is integral to the UDHR -- until violence against women is eradicated, the promise of the UDHR remains unfulfilled.

Violence against women in the family

The Special Rapporteur on violence against women has stated: "[v]iolence against women in general, and domestic violence in particular, serve as essential components in societies which oppress women, since violence against women not only derives from but also sustains the dominant gender stereotype and is used to control women in the one space traditionally dominated by women, the home."(10) Violence is both rooted in discrimination and serves to reinforce discrimination, preventing women from exercising their rights and freedoms on a basis of equality with men. The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women(11) states that violence against women is a "manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women, and that this is "one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men".

Violence in the family includes battering by intimate partners, sexual abuse of female children in the household, dowry-related violence, marital rape and female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women. Abuse of domestic workers -- including involuntary confinement, physical brutality, slavery-like conditions and sexual assault -- can also be considered in this category.
In some countries, personal status laws may condone violence against women. Some obedience and modesty laws require a wife's submission to her husband and give the husband an explicit or implicit right to discipline his wife, and in some countries women are considered to be the property of their fathers or husbands. In parts of Kenya, for example, on the death of her husband, a woman is likely to be "inherited" by his brother or a close relative.

Impunity for violence against women is complex - many women are unwilling to pursue intimate partners through the legal system because of emotional attachments and the fear of losing their homes or the custody of their children. Women are also discouraged from seeking justice through the courts because too often criminal justice systems hold them responsible for violence, asserting that it was "incited" or "instigated" by the woman's own behaviour. Since women are often denied equal access to economic and social rights, many do not have the financial resources to access the legal system.

There are flaws in the legal framework of some countries which contribute to impunity. For example, even though constitutional provisions may affirm women's right to a life free from violence, the definition may not cover all forms of violence against all women. Among the forms most frequently absent from legislative prohibition is sexual harassment in the workplace or in school. In some countries laws allow so-called "honour crimes" or allow a defence of honour to mitigate criminal penalties, putting the right of the family to defend its honour ahead of the rights of individuals in the family.

In some countries, family and customary law covering inheritance, property rights, marriage, divorce and custody deny women the same rights as men. By denying women their economic, social and cultural rights these laws make it harder - in many cases, impossible - for women to escape situations of violence.(12)

Violence in armed conflict

Armed conflict leads to an increase in all forms of violence, including genocide, rape and other forms of sexual violence.(13) Violence against women is often used as a weapon of war, in order to dehumanize the women themselves, or to persecute the community to which they belong.

Natalie was 12 years old when her village in the Democratic Republic of Congo was attacked. "I saw how many soldiers raped my sisters and my mother. I was scared and I thought that if I joined the army I would be protected. I wanted to defend myself....I was only 12 years old, but I was frequently beaten and raped during the night by the other soldiers. When I was just 14 I had a baby. I don't even know who his father is. I ran away...I have nowhere to go and no food to give to the baby".

In a 2002 report, the World Health Organization noted that "in many countries that have suffered violent conflict, the rates of interpersonal violence remain high even after the cessation of hostilities -- among other reasons because of the way violence has become more socially acceptable and the availability of weapons."(14)

Violence in post-conflict situations

The level of violence does not necessarily reduce once the conflict has abated.(15) In the USA, domestic violence and murder by soldiers returning from combat is emerging as a serious issue. One study, conducted by the US Army, found the incidence of "severe aggression" against spouses three times as high in army families as in civilian ones.(16)

Post-conflict societies have seen an increase in violence against women associated with the presence of international peace-keeping forces. Women from neighbouring countries have been trafficked into Kosovo for forced prostitution since the deployment of the international peacekeeping force, KFOR,(17) and the establishment of the UN civilian administration, UNMIK,(18) in July 1999. Trafficking was identified as a problem soon after UNMIK's arrival, but the number of premises where trafficked women are forced to work as prostitutes has continued to rise, reaching more than 200 by July 2003. The UN has taken steps to address this; however, implementation remains a challenge.(19)

Peace processes have routinely failed to include women and to deal with gender issues, which can result in gender-based persecution and violence being rendered invisible in peace agreements and not taken into account in their interpretation and implementation. For example, an AI delegation which visited Sierra Leone in 2000 reported that the process of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of former combatants was failing to address the experiences of the many girls and women who had been abducted by armed opposition groups and forced to become their sexual partners. It appeared that when they reported for disarmament and demobilization, they were often not interviewed separately from their "husbands" and not offered a genuine opportunity to leave the armed forces, if they wished to do so. These women and girls, many either pregnant or with young children, required support to either return to their families where possible or to re-establish their lives together with their children.(20)

In October 2000, the Security Council adopted a landmark resolution on women, peace and security.(21) Building, inter alia, on the Women's Convention, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and the outcome document the twenty-third session of the General Assembly, the resolution reaffirmed women's right to protection in conflict and post-conflict situations, urged all actors involved in negotiating and implementing peace agreements to adopt a gender perspective, and urged increased participation by women in all peace processes.

Abuses by armed political groups

Over the past several years, armed groups operating in all regions of the world have been responsible for some of the worst human rights abuses, including brutal and systematic acts of violence against women, such as rape and other forms of sexual violence.
Cherifa Bouteiba, a 20-year-old woman from Algeria, was abducted by armed men on 2 June 2001. She was forced to walk into the mountains where she was repeatedly raped by several men over a two-day period. On the third day she was able to escape. She had been pregnant at the time of her abduction and subsequently miscarried. Her husband divorced her on the grounds that she had soiled his honour. Cherifa Bouteiba fears her assailants may come back for her. She believes some of the men who assaulted her gave themselves up to the authorities in 2002 and were granted immunity from prosecution. Ever since she saw some of her attackers walking freely in the area where she lives, is hiding behind her veil, hoping she will not be recognized.

Refugees and asylum-seekers

Women refugees and asylum-seekers often find themselves caught in an inescapable cycle of violence. Fleeing from one dangerous situation, many women are abused during their flight in search of safety. Government officials such as border guards, smugglers, pirates, members of armed groups, even other refugees, have all been known to abuse refugee women in transit. Women and girls are sometimes not even safe from sexual and other exploitation by humanitarian aid workers -- the very people charged with responsibility for the welfare of refugees and the displaced.

In a number of countries, asylum-seekers are detained in regular prisons where they are effectively treated as criminals. AI and other human rights organizations have documented incidents of abuse of women and girl refugees and asylum-seekers in detention and conditions which amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Women have been humiliated, raped, and in some instances driven to attempt suicide or commit acts of self-harm.(22)

When women return to their countries of origin, they may find themselves living alongside the perpetrators of the abuses that forced them to flee. Returning from exile, women and girls may also encounter a new set of problems. The breakdown of community structures and traditional roles that often results from conflict and flight presents new challenges in a post-conflict society.(23)

Reports in 2002 by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), together with Save the Children-UK, documented serious allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation of women and children by humanitarian workers in camps for refugees and displaced people in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. Allegations included humanitarian workers deliberately withholding food and services in order to extort sexual favours. In Nepal, it was acknowledged by UNHCR that Bhutanese refugees in camps were found, in at least 18 cases, to have been victims of sexual abuse and exploitation by refugee aid workers. The victims included a seven-year-old girl and a woman with disabilities.

Amnesty International calls on the Commission to:

· Urge governments to take steps, including through national action plans and gender specific budgets, to ensure the protection of women's human rights, including full and prompt implementation of the Women's Convention, its Optional Protocol, the Rome Statute and other international standards;

· Call on those governments that have yet to do so to ratify the Women's Convention, i.e. Brunei Darussalam, the Holy See, Iran, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Monaco, Nauru, Oman, Palau, Qatar, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Tonga, United Arab Emirates, the United States of America;

· Call on all states parties to the Women's Convention which have entered reservations to re-examine these with a view to withdrawing them;

· Call on all states parties to the Women's Convention to ratify its Optional Protocol without making a declaration under Article 10 to opt out of the inquiry procedure;

· Call on all governments to enact, reinforce or amend domestic legislation in accordance with international standards to protect the right of women and girls to freedom from violence; to provide gender-awareness training to professionals who deal with victims of domestic violence, including law enforcement personnel, health workers and the judiciary; and to review, as a matter of urgency, those practices and factors which discourage women from taking action to escape from violence and seek redress;

· Call on all parties to armed conflict to take special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse; to investigate all acts of violence against women during war, to bring to justice those responsible and to provide full redress to the victims;

· Urge governments to ensure full and speedy implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security as well as the recommendations contained in the study by the Secretary-General on women mandated by that resolution;

· Welcome the resolution by the General Assembly to mandate the Secretary-General to prepare an in-depth study on all forms of violence against women and to urge governments and UN bodies, including the Special Procedures of the Commission, the treaty monitoring bodies and the OHCHR to participate fully in this process by submitting relevant information, including best practice, and making recommendations for eradicating violence against women;

· Continue to support the work of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women including by ensuring full and prompt implementation of her recommendations and by facilitating without delay the visits requested, in particular the planned visit to the Russian Federation in June and to Nigeria in July 2004;

· Encourage all Special Procedures of the Commission to pay particular attention to gender-specific violations of human rights within their respective mandates, to integrate these issues fully in their missions, reports and recommendations, to assess the extent to which such violations are reported to them, and to recommend measures which should be taken to improve this;

· To mandate the OHCHR, in cooperation with relevant agencies, to develop a comprehensive program of technical assistance aimed at eliminating violence against women.