Elimination of Domestic Violence Against Women

A/RES/58/147No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 110Advancement of women, published in 2004.

What does this mandate say?

42 operative paragraphs

Recognizes:

That domestic violence is violence that occurs within the private sphere, generally between individuals who are related through blood or intimacy;

That domestic violence is one of the most common and least visible forms of violence against women and that its consequences affect many areas of the lives of victims;

That domestic violence can take many different forms, including physical, psychological and sexual violence;

That domestic violence is of public concern and requires States to take serious action to protect victims and prevent domestic violence;

That domestic violence can include economic deprivation and isolation and that such conduct may cause imminent harm to the safety, health or well-being of women;

Welcomes:

The activities and initiatives of States aimed at the elimination of domestic violence against women, including legal, educational, economic, social and other measures;

The work of the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on violence against women, its causes and consequences, and takes note of the report entitled “Developments in the area of violence against women (1994–2002)”;

The efforts undertaken by United Nations bodies, funds and programmes, including the United Nations Children’s Fund and the United Nations Population Fund, to address the issue of domestic violence and encourages them to coordinate their efforts, and, in particular, expresses its appreciation for the initiatives of the United Nations Development Fund for Women to combat violence against women at the international, regional and national levels, as well as the World Report on Violence and Health launched by the World Health Organization in 2002, particularly its consideration of gender-based violence;

The work carried out by civil society, including non-governmental organizations, such as women’s organizations, and community-based organizations and individuals, aimed at the elimination of domestic violence against women, inter alia, by raising awareness of its harmful effects, and in the provision of support services to women victims of violence;

Strongly condemns all forms of domestic violence against women and girls, and in this regard, calls for the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence in the family, including where condoned by the State;

Expresses its concern:

That women continue to be victims of domestic violence and at the continuing occurrence in all regions of the world of domestic violence, which takes many different forms, and at failure to prosecute and punish the perpetrators;

That domestic violence, including sexual violence in marriage, is still treated as a private matter in some countries;

Stresses that States have an obligation to exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and punish the perpetrators of domestic violence against women and to provide protection to the victims, and also stresses that not to do so violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms;

Reaffirms the commitment of States to establish legislation and/or strengthen appropriate mechanisms to handle criminal matters relating to all forms of domestic violence, including marital rape and sexual abuse of women and girls, and to ensure that such cases are brought to justice swiftly;

Calls upon States:

To adopt, strengthen and implement legislation that prohibits domestic violence, prescribes punitive measures and establishes adequate legal protection against domestic violence and periodically to review, evaluate and revise these laws and regulations so as to ensure their effectiveness in eliminating domestic violence;

To make domestic sexual violence a criminal offence and to ensure proper investigation and prosecution of perpetrators;

To adopt and/or strengthen policies and legislation in order to strengthen preventive measures, protect the human rights of victims, ensure proper investigation and prosecution of perpetrators and provide legal and social assistance to victims of domestic violence, and to adopt policies with regard to the rehabilitation of perpetrators;

To intensify measures aimed at preventing domestic violence against women;

To ensure greater protection for women, inter alia, by means of, where appropriate, orders restraining violent spouses from entering the family home, or by banning violent spouses from contacting the victim;

To provide or facilitate the provision of adequate training, inter alia, gender-awareness training, to all professionals who deal with domestic violence, in particular with victims of domestic violence, police officers, judicial and legal personnel, health personnel, educators, youth workers and social workers;

To provide or facilitate the provision of assistance to victims of domestic violence in lodging police reports and receiving treatment and support, which may include the setting up of one-stop centres, as well as the establishment of safe shelters and centres for victims of domestic violence;

To protect women in the process of seeking redress from further victimization because of gender-insensitive laws or practices;

To establish and/or strengthen police response protocols and procedures to ensure that all appropriate actions are taken to protect victims of domestic violence and to prevent further acts of domestic violence;

To take measures to ensure the protection of women subjected to violence, access to just and effective remedies, inter alia, through compensation and indemnification and healing of victims, and the rehabilitation of perpetrators;

To intensify efforts to raise collective and individual awareness about violence against women, including through human rights education, to highlight the role of men and boys in the prevention and elimination of domestic violence against women, and to encourage and support initiatives to promote attitudinal and behavioural change on the part of, and the rehabilitation of, perpetrators of violence against women;

To encourage the efforts of the media to engage in awareness-raising campaigns;

To take all measures to empower women and strengthen their economic independence, including through equal remuneration for equal work, and increased job opportunities for women, as well as equal access to and control over economic resources, including land, credit, microcredit and traditional saving schemes such as women’s banks and cooperatives, and by ensuring property rights and the right to inheritance, with a view to reducing women’s vulnerability to all forms of violence, including domestic violence;

Not to invoke any custom, tradition or religious consideration to avoid their obligations to eliminate violence against women;

To consider, as a matter of priority, becoming parties to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women;2

That are parties to the Convention to include in their reports to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women information on legal and policy measures adopted and implemented in their efforts to prevent and eliminate domestic violence against women and to cross-reference that information, where appropriate, in reports to other human rights treaty bodies;

To cooperate closely with relevant specialized agencies and United Nations funds and programmes, as well as with regional intergovernmental organizations, as appropriate, and relevant community and non-governmental organizations, including women’s organizations, in an effort to eliminate violence against women;

To collect, update and improve the collection of data on violence against women, including through sex-disaggregated information systems, which should be made public and disseminated widely;

Emphasizes the need for technical and financial assistance to developing countries in their efforts to eliminate domestic violence against women from United Nations funds and programmes, international and regional financial institutions and bilateral and multilateral donors, and civil society, as well as the need for assistance from the international community to non-governmental organizations and community-based groups active in this field;

Encourages States to contribute or increase their contribution to the Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women managed by the United Nations Development Fund for Women;

Invites:

Relevant specialized agencies, United Nations bodies, regional intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations to exchange information on the subject of the present resolution, and encourages the exchange of such information between non-governmental organizations active in this field and the relevant human rights treaty bodies;

The relevant human rights treaty bodies to continue to address this issue, where appropriate;

Decides to continue its consideration of this question at its sixtieth session under the item entitled “Advancement of women”.

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Elimination of Domestic Violence Against Women

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