Accelerating Efforts to Eliminate All Forms of Violence Against Women Ensuring Due Diligence in Protection

A/HRC/RES/17/11View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2011.

What subjects does this mandate have?

8 subjects

Conferences Crime Prevention Criminal Justice Gender-Based Violence Girls Report Preparation State Responsibility Women

What’s in this document?

29 operative paragraphs

Strongly condemns all acts of violence against women and girls, where these acts are perpetrated by the State, private persons or non-State actors, and calls 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, in accordance with the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, and stresses the need to treat all forms of violence against women and girls as a criminal offence, punishable by law, and the duty to provide victims with access to just and effective remedies and specialized assistance, including medical and psychological assistance, as well as effective counselling;

Stresses that States have the obligation to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls, and must exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of violence against women and girls and provide protection and support to women and girls who have been subjected to violence, and that failure to do so violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms;

Recognizes that effective protection requires comprehensive, integrated, coordinated multisectoral approaches involving multiple stakeholders, including women’s organizations, religious and community leaders, youth, men and boys, victim service workers and advocates, law enforcement personnel, the judiciary, corrections officials and forensic scientists, as well as legal, health and education professionals, and that such responses should avoid re-victimization, be empowering to the victim, be evidence-based and culturally sensitive, and integrate the specific and differentiated needs of women and girls who face multiple, intersecting and aggravated forms of discrimination;

Emphasizes that women should be empowered to protect themselves against violence and, in this regard, stresses the need for legal and policy measures that promote the full enjoyment by women and girls of all human rights by eliminating discrimination against women, promoting gender equality, empowering women and promoting their full autonomy, including with regard to land, property, marriage and divorce, child custody and inheritance, and to promote equal access to literacy, education, skills training and employment opportunities, political participation and representation, credit, agricultural extension, adequate housing, just and favourable conditions of work, and business and leadership skills training;

Underscores that States have the primary responsibility for protecting women and girls facing violence and, in this regard, urges States:

To enact and, where necessary, reinforce or amend domestic legislation and other measures to enhance the protection of victims, including, where appropriate, by providing for the use of testimonial aids in criminal proceedings to avoid re-victimization and access to legal representation, and to ensure that such legislation or measures conform with relevant international human rights instruments and international humanitarian law;

To take measures to investigate, prosecute, punish and redress, including by ensuring access to adequate, effective, prompt and appropriate remedies, the wrongs done to women and girls subjected to any form of violence, whether in the home, the workplace, the community or society, in custody, or in situations of armed conflict;

To implement their treaty obligations addressing the human rights of all women and girls and to withdraw reservations to treaties which are incompatible with the object and purpose of the specific treaties, and further encourages States to consider ratifying or acceding to all human rights treaties, including, as a matter of priority, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Optional Protocol thereto;

To take all appropriate measures to amend or repeal existing laws or to modify legal or customary practices that sustain the persistence and tolerance of violence against women and girls;

To develop and, where necessary, strengthen policing systems and judicial procedures to provide adequate protection for women who have been subjected to violence, including by ensuring conducive environments for women and girls to report acts of violence against them, timely and thorough investigation of all allegations of violence, effective and victim-sensitive collection and processing of evidence, especially forensic evidence, effective protection of victims and their families from acts of retaliation, respect for the privacy, dignity and autonomy of all victims, as well as necessary victim protection measures, such as restraining or expulsion orders and adequate witness protection;

To place a high priority on removing gender bias from the administration of justice and enhancing the capacity of law enforcement officials to deal appropriately with violence against women, including by providing systematic gender-sensitivity and awareness training, as appropriate, for police and security forces, prosecutors, judges and lawyers, integrating gender into security sector reform initiatives, developing protocols and guidelines, and enhancing or putting in place appropriate accountability measures for adjudicators;

To encourage the removal of all barriers to women’s access to justice and ensure access to effective legal assistance for all female victims of violence so that they can make informed decisions regarding, inter alia, legal proceedings and issues relating to family law, and also ensure that victims have access to just and effective remedies for the harm that they have suffered, including through the adoption of national legislation, where necessary;

To adopt measures to enhance the awareness of women, and in particular women at known risk of gender-based violence, of their rights, the law and the protection and legal remedies it offers, including by disseminating information on the assistance available to women and families who have experienced violence, and ensuring that timely and appropriate information is available to all women who have been subjected to violence, at all stages of the justice system;

To promote an increase in the number of women lawyers, judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officials where women are underrepresented in these professions, and to take steps to address any barriers that may be preventing women from entering these professions, including through the use of appropriate incentives, as important steps towards enhancing women’s awareness of their rights and the ability of the judiciary and law enforcement officials to be more sensitive to the specific and differentiated needs of women and girls who face targeted, compounded and structural discrimination;

To promote the establishment or support of safe and integrated centres through which shelter, legal, health-care, psychological, counselling and other appropriate, timely, accessible and confidential support services are provided to all women and girls who have been subjected to violence and, where such centres are not feasible, to promote collaboration and coordination among agencies in order to make remedies more accessible, and to facilitate the physical, psychological and social recovery of women who have been subjected to violence;

To ensure that mechanisms, services and procedures set up to protect women and girls facing violence are designed in a manner that addresses the targeted, compounded and structural discrimination that combines to increase the vulnerability of women and girls, including those belonging to minority groups, indigenous women, refugee and internally displaced women, stateless women, migrant women, women living in rural or remote communities, women living in slums and informal settlements, women living in conditions of poverty, women in institutions or in detention, women with disabilities, elderly women, widows and women in all situations of armed conflict, women who face trafficking, sexual or labour exploitation, and women who are otherwise discriminated against, including on the basis of their HIV/AIDS status;

To establish a multidisciplinary, coordinated response to sexual assault that prevents the re-victimization of women and includes specially trained police, prosecutors, judges, forensic examiners, victim support services and, where appropriate, testimonial aids and other accommodations, to contribute to the well-being of victims, ensure that they are able to participate fully, and increase the likelihood of the successful apprehension, prosecution and conviction of perpetrators;

To provide, fund and encourage counselling and rehabilitation programmes for the perpetrators of violence and to promote research to further efforts concerning such counselling and rehabilitation so as to prevent the recurrence of such violence;

To support initiatives undertaken by and engage in strategic partnerships with women’s groups, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, media, faith and community groups and other relevant civil society actors and international organizations aimed at protecting women and girls who have been subjected to violence, promoting gender equality and the full enjoyment of all human rights by women and girls;

To take measures to protect human rights defenders who provide support to women who have been subjected to violence;

To monitor the effectiveness of laws, policies, programmes and measures aimed at protecting women and girls facing any form of violence, including monitoring actions taken by State agencies in relation to the investigation and prosecution of cases of violence and to convictions and sentencing;

To establish or strengthen plans of action to eliminate violence against women and girls that clearly delineate government accountabilities for protection and are supported by the necessary human, financial and technical resources, including, where appropriate, time-bound measurable targets, to accelerate the implementation of existing plans of action and to regularly monitor and update them, taking into account inputs by civil society, in particular women’s organizations, networks and other stakeholders;

Urges States and the United Nations system to give attention to and encourage greater international cooperation in systematic research and the collection, analysis and dissemination of data, including data disaggregated by sex, age and disability, and other relevant information on the extent, nature and consequences of violence against women and girls, and on the impact and effectiveness of policies and programmes for protecting women and girls who have been subjected to violence and, in this context, urges States and the United Nations system to regularly provide information for inclusion in the Secretary-General’s coordinated database on violence against women;

Welcomes the work of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, and takes note of her recent report on multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination in the context of violence against women;³

³A/HRC/17/26.

Also welcomes the identification of violence against women as one of the priorities of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, and looks forward to its contribution to the elimination of violence against women and girls;

Invites the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women to integrate a holistic approach into its efforts to eliminate violence against women, recognizing the importance of cooperation and coordination with all relevant United Nations entities, including, inter alia, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and to ground its strategy and work in the human rights obligations and responsibilities of States;

Decides to include in the annual full-day discussion on women’s human rights, at its twentieth session, in consultation with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, and other relevant special procedures mandate holders, the theme of remedies, with a focus on transformative and culturally sensitive reparations for women who have been subjected to violence, and requests the Office of the High Commissioner to prepare and disseminate a summary report of the proceedings;

Invites the Office of the High Commissioner to prepare a thematic analytical study on the issue of violence against women and girls and disability, in consultation with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, the Special Rapporteur on disability of the Commission for Social Development of the Economic and Social Council, other relevant special procedure mandate holders, States, United Nations entities, regional organizations, civil society organizations and other relevant stakeholders, and to report to the Human Rights Council at its twentieth session;

Decides to continue consideration of the issue of the elimination of all forms of violence against women, its causes and consequences, as a matter of high priority, in conformity with its annual programme of work.

 The resolutions and decisions adopted by the Human Rights Council will be contained in the report of the Council on its seventeenth session (A/HRC/17/2), chap. I.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

Table of contents