Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences

Introduction

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights in resolution 1994/45, adopted on 4 March 1994 , decided to appoint a Special Rapporteur on violence against women, including its causes and consequences. The mandate was extended by the Commission on Human Rights in 2003, at its 59th session in resolution 2003/45 . In the same resolution the Commission on Human Rights:

"Strongly condemning all acts of violence against women and girls and in this regard called, in accordance with the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, for the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence in the family, within the general community and where perpetrated or condoned by the State, and emphasized the duty of Governments to refrain from engaging in violence against women and to exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with national legislation, punish acts of violence against women and to take appropriate and effective action concerning acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State, by private persons or by armed groups or warring factions, and to provide access to just and effective remedies and specialized, including medical, assistance to victims;

Affirmed, in this light, that violence against women constitutes a violation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and that violence against women impairs or nullifies their enjoyment of those rights and freedoms."

Since March 2006, the Special Rapporteur reports to the Human Rights Council, as per Human Rights Council’s decision 1/102.

According to his/her mandate the Special Rapporteur is requested to:

(a) Seek and receive information on violence against women, its causes and consequences from Governments, treaty bodies, specialized agencies, other special rapporteurs responsible for various human rights questions and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, including women's organizations, and to respond effectively to such information;
(b) Recommend measures, ways and means, at the national, regional and international levels, to eliminate violence against women and its causes, and to remedy its consequences;
(c) Work closely with other special rapporteurs, special representatives, working groups and independent experts of the Commission on Human Rights – and since March 2006 of the Human Rights Council - and with the treaty bodies, taking into account the Commission's request that they all regularly and systematically include in their reports available information on human rights violations affecting women; and cooperate closely with the Commission on the Status of Women in the discharge of its functions.
In the discharge of the mandate the Special Rapporteur:
Transmits urgent appeals and communications to States regarding alleged cases of violence against women. 

UN Independent Experts urge States to comply with their International obligations to respect, protect and fulfill women’s rights

Statement on the Occasion of International Women’s Day (8 March)

GENEVA – The Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, together with the other UN independent experts mentioned herewith*, urged today States to ensure the realization of women’s rights.

“As we celebrate the International Women’s Day centenary, we jointly remind States of their core obligations to ensure the realization of women’s rights, as established in Article 2 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

These obligations comprise the duty to respect, to protect and to fulfil women’s right to non-discrimination and to the enjoyment of equality. This must be amongst their highest priorities but is too often neglected or subject to inadequate or token efforts.

In order to comply with these obligations, States must ensure that laws, policies, programmes and institutional structures ultimately result in the equal enjoyment by women of their civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. These should also protect women and girls against discrimination committed by private actors. Discrimination that takes place within ostensibly private spaces is not beyond the control and regulation of State institutions.

Therefore, States must urgently implement relevant laws, policies, regulations and procedures. While, in many cases, advances have been made in the adoption of standards and the recognition of women’s rights, the reality of the lives of so many women shows that implementation of standards and commitment on the ground is still unacceptably weak. 

Public policies, programmes and institutional frameworks must lead to substantive equality and the full development of women’s potential. Those practices that prejudice and perpetuate the notion of inferiority or superiority of either of the sexes, and of stereotyped roles for men and women must be eliminated.

In meeting their obligations on women’s rights, States must bear in mind that discrimination affects women in different ways depending on how women are positioned within the social, economic and cultural hierarchies that prohibit or further compromise certain women’s ability to enjoy universal human rights. Thus the discrimination of women based on sex and gender is inextricably linked with other factors, such as race, ethnicity, religion or belief, health, status, age, class, caste, and sexual orientation and gender identity.

States’ obligations remain applicable even during armed conflict or in states of emergency caused by mankind or natural disasters and without discrimination, to all those within their territory or under their jurisdiction, including refugees, asylum seekers, migrant workers, victims of trafficking and stateless persons.

 The challenge is to move more decisively from an era of rhetorical engagement to one of implementation and enforcement. Only by doing so, we will honour the resolutions of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action which made clear that the human rights of women and girls are an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights”.

(*) Special Rapporteur on housing, Ms Raquel Rolnik; SR on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, Mr. Frank La Rue; SR on human rights defenders, Ms. Margaret Sekaggya; SR on the independence of judges and lawyers, Ms. Gabriela Knaul, SR on migrants, Mr. Jorge A. Bustamante; SR on trafficking in persons, Joy Ngozi Ezeilo; SR on Palestinian territories, Mr. Richard Falk; Working Group on people of African descent; Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences

Individual Complaints

The Special Rapporteur is mandated to seek and receive information on violence against women, its causes and consequences from Governments, treaty bodies, specialized agencies, other special rapporteurs responsible for various human rights questions and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, including women's organizations, and to respond effectively to such information.

The Special Rapporteur transmits urgent appeals and allegation letters (communications) to States regarding alleged cases of violence against women which she receives. Allegations may concern one or more individuals or may convey information relating to a general prevailing situation condoning and/or perpetrating violence against women. It should be emphasized that, in accordance with her mandate, the Special Rapporteur is in a position only to process cases of alleged violence or threats of violence directed against women because of their sex. The definition of gender-based violence used by the Special Rapporteur is taken from the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 48/104 on December 1993.

The dialogue established with governments by the Special Rapporteur and the transmission of allegations concerning their countries in no way implies any kind of accusation or value judgment on the part of the Special Rapporteur, but rather a request for clarification with a view to trying to ensure, along with the government concerned, the effective prevention, investigation, and punishment of acts of violence against women and compensation for victims of such violations.

Urgent Appeals

Urgent transmissions may be sent by the Special Rapporteur to concerned Governments when reliable and credible information is received concerning cases which involve an imminent threat, or fear of threat, to the right to personal integrity or the life of a woman. When transmitting urgent actions, the Special Rapporteur appeals to the Governments concerned to ensure effective protection of those under threat or at risk of violence.

Allegation Letters

For those communications that do not require urgent action but relate to violations that already occurred and/or to general patterns of violations - including the legal framework and its application as regards violence against women – the Special Rapporteur may send allegation letters requiring Governments to clarify the substance of the allegations received.

How to submit cases to the Special Rapporteur

It is important to provide as much information as possible. The individual complaint form can be used to document cases of violence against women.

It would be helpful to receive a summary of the main points of the case. The summary could identify the rights that have been or may be violated. If your government has ratified human rights treaties, you could refer to the specific provisions of the treaties you believe have been violated.  

If your submission is in regard to a law, practice or policy which effects women in general or women in a specific group, explain how other women are affected or describe the group. A consistent pattern in individual cases can be used to demonstrate a general failure to prevent and respond to private abuses. 

If you submit information about violations committed by private individuals or groups (rather than government officials), include any information which might indicate that the government failed to exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate, punish, and ensure compensation for the violations. For example information on:

•                      whether or not there is a law which addresses the violation

•                      any defects in existing laws such as inadequate remedies or definitions of rights

•                      the refusal or failure by authorities to register or investigate your case and other similar cases

•                      the failure by the authorities to prosecute your case and other similar cases

•                      patterns of gender discrimination in the prosecution or sentencing of cases

•                      statistics and other data concerning the prevalence of the type of violation described in the submission. 

Please bring to the attention of the Special Rapporteur any information which becomes available after you have submitted information about a case. For example, if your human rights concern has been adequately addressed or a final outcome has been determined in an investigation or trial, or an action which was planned or threatened has been carried out.

1. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/women/rapporteur/

2. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/women/rapporteur/complaints.htm