Monday, February 18, 2019
Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women Seeks Input
The UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women is celebrating 25 years of the mandate by stepping back and reflecting on the state of gender-based violence.
She posts the following questions for input from States, National Human Rights Institutions, Non-governmental organizations, and members of academia:
- As we look to the future, please indicate what are the main challenges to addressing violence against women in its various forms; e.g. the institutional and substantive disconnect between the different international instruments; a lack of understanding of the provisions in international law that link gender equality and violence against women; inadequate judicial protocol or recourse and/or legal framework; impunity of perpetrators; stereotypes and the social stigma associated with reporting etc.?
- As the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women enters its 25th year, please provide a brief analysis of what your perceptions of the mandate are, highlighting any particular instances where you believe the Special Rapporteur has contributed to the empowerment of women in addressing gender based violence.
- Given the changed landscape of women’s rights and the current global challenges in this regard, please indicate what specific measures should be taken to further strengthen the role of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur to accelerate prevention and elimination of violence against women
- Please indicate what steps should be taken to ensure that the mandate of the Special Rapporteur can effectively contribute to ensuring better institutional coordination across the various international and regional violence against women and gender equality mechanisms for the elimination of violence against women
- Please specify what measures should be taken to support the initiative of the Special Rapporteur to encourage States to establish femicide watch and/ or observatories
- Please indicate what are the opportunities and challenges for strengthening and using the mandate of the Special Rapporteur under the international and regional frameworks to eradicate violence against women and girls, and to accelerate that elimination.
Please feel free to respond to one or more questions.
All submissions should be sent to [email protected] by 28 February and will be used to inform the forthcoming report of the Special Rapporteur to the Human Rights Council in June 2019. Submissions in English, French or Spanish.
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/human_rights/2019/02/special-rapporteur-seeks-input-1.html