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ADVANCE EDITED VERSION |
Distr. E/CN.4/2006/61 Original: ENGLISH |
COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
Sixty-second session
Item 12 (a) of the provisional agenda
Report of
the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences,
Yakin Erturk
This is my third report to the
Commission in my capacity as the Special Rapporteur on the violence against
women, its causes and consequences, submitted pursuant to Commission resolution
2005/41. Chapter I of the report
summarizes my activities in 2005 and chapter II examines the due diligence
standard as a tool for the effective implementation of women’s human rights,
including the right to live a life free from violence.
The failure of international human
rights law to adequately reflect and respond to the experiences and needs of
women has stimulated much debate on the mainstream application of human rights
standards. This has resulted in the
transformation of the conventional understanding of human rights and the
doctrine of State responsibility.
The 1993 Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence against Women as well as other international
instruments adopted the concept of due diligence, in relation to violence
against women, as a yardstick to assess whether the State has met its
obligation. Under the due diligence
obligation, States have a duty to take positive action to prevent and protect
women from violence, punish perpetuators of violent acts and compensate victims
of violence. However, the application of
due diligence standard, to date, has tended to be State-centric and limited to
responding to violence when it occurs, largely neglecting the obligation to prevent
and compensate and the responsibility of non-State actors.
The current challenge in combating violence against women is the
implementation of existing human rights standards to ensure that the root
causes and consequences of violence against women are tackled at all levels
from the home to the transnational arena.
The multiplicity of forms of violence against women as well as the fact
that this violence frequently occurs at the intersection of different types of
discrimination makes the adoption of multifaceted strategies to effectively
prevent and combat this violence a necessity.
In this regard, the potential of the
due diligence standard is explored at different levels of intervention:
individual women, the community, the State and the transnational level. At each level, recommendations for relevant
actors are highlighted. The report
concludes that if we continue to dare to push the boundaries of due diligence
in demanding the full compliance of States with international law, including to
address the root causes of violence, against women and to hold non-State actors
accountable for their acts of violence, then we will move towards a conception
of human rights that meets our aspirations for a just world free of violence.
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