Intensification of Efforts to Eliminate All Forms of Violence Against Women

A/RES/65/187No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 28aAdvancement of women, published in 2011.

What other versions does this mandate have?

6 versions · 2007–2013

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/67/144

2013A/RES/67/144Intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against womenLatestCompare with previous version
2011A/RES/65/187Intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against womenCompare with previous version
2010A/RES/64/137Intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against womenCompare with previous version
2009A/RES/63/155Intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against womenCompare with previous version
2008A/RES/62/133Intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against womenCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

16 topics

Bretton Woods Institutions Coordination Within UN System Crime Victims Development Assistance Empowerment Financial Assistance Gender Equality Gender-Based Violence Girls Information Exchange International Cooperation Manuals Regional Organizations Specialized Agencies Trust Funds Women

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2012.

2012A/67/220Intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

50 operative paragraphs

Stresses that “violence against women” means any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life;

Recognizes that violence against women and girls persists in every country in the world as a pervasive violation of the enjoyment of human rights and a major impediment to achieving gender equality, development, peace and the internationally agreed development goals, in particular the Millennium Development Goals;

Welcomes the report of the Secretary-General;Error: Reference source not found

Also welcomes the fact that a high number of Member States have responded to the request of the Secretary-General for information relating to the implementation of General Assembly resolution 63/155, and expresses the hope that Member States will continue to respond to subsequent requests of the Secretary-General;

Further welcomes the efforts and important contributions at the local, national, regional and international levels to eliminate all forms of violence against women, including by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on violence against women, its causes and consequences;

Expresses its appreciation for the progress achieved in the Secretary-General’s 2008–2015 campaign “UNiTE to End Violence against Women”, through the launch of the Secretary-General’s Network of Men Leaders and the development of a framework for action outlining the five key outcomes to be achieved by 2015, supported, inter alia, by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (part of UN-Women) social mobilization and advocacy platform “Say NO to violence against women”, the United Nations inter-agency initiative “Stop Rape Now: United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict” and the regional components of the campaign, stresses the need to accelerate the implementation of concrete follow-up activities by the United Nations system to end all forms of violence against women, requests the Secretary-General to report on the results of his campaign, and encourages Member States to join forces in addressing the global pandemic of all forms of violence against women;

Strongly condemns all acts of violence against women and girls, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State, by private persons or by 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;

Stresses that it is important that States strongly condemn all forms of violence against women and refrain from invoking any custom, tradition or religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination as set out in the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women;Error: Reference source not found

Also stresses that States have the obligation, at all levels, to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, including women and girls, and must exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of violence against women and girls, to eliminate impunity and to provide protection to the victims, and that failure to do so violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment of their human rights and fundamental freedoms;

Reaffirms that the persistence of armed conflicts in various parts of the world is a major impediment to the elimination of all forms of violence against women, and, bearing in mind that armed and other types of conflicts and terrorism and hostage-taking still persist in many parts of the world and that aggression, foreign occupation and ethnic and other types of conflicts are an ongoing reality, affecting women and men in nearly every region, calls upon all States and the international community to place particular focus on the plight, and give priority attention and increased assistance to relieving the suffering of, women and girls living in such situations and to ensure that, where violence is committed against them, all perpetrators of such violence are duly investigated and, as appropriate, prosecuted and punished in order to end impunity, while stressing the need to respect international humanitarian law and human rights law;

Stresses the need for the exclusion of the killing and maiming of women and girls, as prohibited under international law, and crimes of sexual violence from amnesty provisions in the context of conflict resolution processes;

Also stresses that, despite important steps taken by many countries around the world, States should continue to focus on the prevention of violence against women and its causes and consequences, in order to complement more effectively the improved legal and policy frameworks, and should therefore monitor and rigorously evaluate the implementation of available programmes, policies and laws and improve, where possible, their impact and effectiveness;

Further stresses that States should take measures to ensure that all officials responsible for implementing policies and programmes aimed at preventing violence against women and girls, protecting and assisting the victims and investigating and punishing violence against women and girls receive proper training to sensitize them to the different and specific needs of women and girls, in particular those who have been subjected to violence, so that women and girls are not revictimized when seeking justice and redress;

Stresses that States should take all possible measures to empower women, inform them of their rights in seeking redress through mechanisms of justice and inform everyone of women’s rights and of the existing penalties for violating those rights;

Calls upon States, with the support of United Nations entities, to fully engage men and boys, as well as families and communities, as agents of change in preventing and condemning violence against women;

Urges States to continue to develop their national strategy, translating it into concrete programmes and actions, and a more systematic, comprehensive, multisectoral and sustained approach, aimed at eliminating all forms of violence against women, including by achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women, and by increasing the focus on prevention in laws, policies and programmes and their implementation, monitoring and evaluation, so as to ensure the optimal use of available instruments, by, for example:

Establishing, in partnership with all relevant stakeholders and at all relevant levels, a comprehensive integrated national plan dedicated to combating violence against women and girls in all its aspects, which includes data collection and analysis, prevention and protection measures, as well as national information campaigns, using resources to eliminate in the media gender stereotypes that lead to violence against women and girls;

Reviewing and, where appropriate, revising, amending or abolishing all laws, regulations, policies, practices and customs that discriminate against women or have a discriminatory impact on women, and ensuring that the provisions of multiple legal systems, where they exist, comply with international human rights obligations, commitments and principles, including the principle of non-discrimination;

Evaluating and assessing the impact of current legislation, rules and procedures regarding violence against women and the reasons for low reporting, reinforcing, where necessary, criminal law and procedure relating to all forms of violence against women and, where necessary, incorporating into law measures aimed at preventing violence against women;

Promoting awareness among all stakeholders of the need to combat violence against women, and promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women, inter alia, through regular and repeated use and funding of awareness-raising campaigns and other ways to promote prevention, such as international, regional and national conferences, seminars, training, publications, brochures, websites, audiovisual material, social media, television and radio spots, and debates, as appropriate;

Ensuring that there is sufficient knowledge, including expertise in effective legal approaches to eliminating violence against women and girls, awareness and coordination in the legal system and, to that end, where appropriate, appointing a focal point in the legal system for cases of violence against women and girls;

Ensuring the systematic collection and analysis of data to monitor all forms of violence against women, including on the effectiveness of measures to prevent and address such violence, with the involvement of national statistical offices and, where appropriate, in partnership with other actors, in order to review and implement effectively laws, policies, strategies and preventive measures, while ensuring and maintaining the privacy and confidentiality of the victims;

Establishing appropriate national mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of national measures, including national action plans, taken to eliminate violence against women, including through the use of national indicators;

Providing adequate financial support for the implementation of national action plans to end violence against women and other relevant activities;

Allocating adequate resources to promote the empowerment of women and gender equality and to prevent and redress all forms and manifestations of violence against women;

Adopting all appropriate measures, especially in the field of education, from the entry levels of the education system, to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women of all ages, in order to promote the development of respectful relations and to eliminate prejudices, customary practices and all other practices based on the idea of the inferiority or superiority of either of the sexes and on stereotyped roles for men and women, and by raising awareness of the unacceptability of violence against women and girls at all levels, including through schools, teachers, parents, youth organizations and teaching materials sensitized on gender equality and human rights;

Empowering women, in particular women living in poverty, by, inter alia, strengthening their economic autonomy and by ensuring their full participation in society and in decision-making processes, through, inter alia, social and economic policies that guarantee them full and equal access to all levels of quality education and training and to affordable and adequate public and social services, as well as equal access to financial resources and employment, and full and equal rights to own and have access to land and other property, and taking further appropriate measures to address the increasing rate of homelessness of and inadequate housing for women in order to reduce their vulnerability to violence;

Treating all forms of violence against women and girls as a criminal offence, punishable by law, contributing, inter alia, to the prevention of such crimes, and ensuring penalties commensurate with the severity of the crimes and sanctions in domestic legislation to punish, and redress, as appropriate, the wrongs caused to women and girls who are subjected to violence;

Taking effective measures to prevent the victim’s consent from becoming an impediment to bringing perpetrators of violence against women and girls to justice, while ensuring that appropriate safeguards to protect the victim and adequate and comprehensive measures for the rehabilitation and reintegration of victims of violence into society are in place;

Encouraging the removal of all barriers to women’s access to justice and ensuring that effective legal assistance is provided to 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 ensuring 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;

Ensuring effective cooperation and coordination among all stakeholders, including all relevant public officials and civil society, in the prevention, investigation, prosecution and punishment of all forms of violence against women and girls;

Developing or improving and disseminating specialized training programmes, including practical tools and good practice guidelines on how to identify, prevent and deal with cases of violence against women and girls and on how to assist victims, for all stakeholders responsible for dealing with violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, including police officers, the judiciary, health workers, law enforcement personnel and civil society, and engaging statisticians and the media;

Strengthening national health and social infrastructure to reinforce measures to promote women’s equal access to public health care and address the health consequences of all forms of violence against women and girls, including by providing support to victims;

Establishing or supporting integrated centres through which shelter, legal, health, psychological, counselling and other services are provided to victims of all forms of violence against women and, where such centres are not yet feasible, promoting collaboration and coordination among agencies, in order to make remedies more accessible and to facilitate the physical, psychological and social recovery of victims, and ensuring that victims have access to such services;

Ensuring that the prison system and probation services provide appropriate rehabilitation programmes for perpetrators, as a preventive tool to avoid recidivism;

Supporting and engaging in partnerships with non-governmental organizations, in particular women’s organizations, and other relevant actors and the private sector to end violence against women and girls;

Calls upon the international community, including the United Nations system and, as appropriate, regional and subregional organizations, to support national efforts to promote the empowerment of women and gender equality in order to enhance national efforts to eliminate violence against women and girls, including, upon request, in the development and implementation of national action plans on the elimination of violence against women and girls, through, inter alia, official development assistance and other appropriate assistance, such as facilitating the sharing of guidelines, methodologies and best practices, taking into account national priorities;

Stresses the contribution of the ad hoc international criminal tribunals and the International Criminal Court to ending impunity, by ensuring accountability and punishing perpetrators of violence against women, and urges States to consider ratifying or acceding as a matter of priority to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,Error: Reference source not found which entered into force on 1 July 2002;

Calls upon the inter-agency Programme Appraisal Committee of the United Nations Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women, in consultation with the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality, to continue to provide guidance on the implementation of the 2010–2015 strategy for the Trust Fund and to further enhance its effectiveness as a system-wide funding mechanism for preventing and redressing all forms of violence against women and girls and to give due consideration, inter alia, to the findings and recommendations of the external evaluation of the Trust Fund;

Notes with concern the growing gap between available funding in the United Nations Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women and the funds required to meet the increasing demand, and urges States and other stakeholders, where possible, to significantly increase their voluntary contributions to the Trust Fund in order to meet the annual target of 100 million United States dollars by 2015 as set by the Secretary-General’s campaign “UNiTE to End Violence against Women”, while expressing its appreciation for the contributions to the Trust Fund already made by States, the private sector and other donors;

Stresses that, within the United Nations system, adequate resources should be assigned to UN-Women and other bodies, specialized agencies, funds and programmes responsible for the promotion of gender equality and women’s rights and to efforts throughout the United Nations system to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls, and calls upon the United Nations system to make the necessary support and resources available;

Welcomes the establishment of the Secretary-General’s database on violence against women, expresses its appreciation to all the States that have provided the database with information regarding, inter alia, their national policies and legal frameworks aimed at eliminating violence against women and supporting victims of such violence, strongly encourages all States to regularly provide updated information for the database, and calls upon all relevant entities of the United Nations system to continue to support States, at their request, in the compilation and regular updating of pertinent information and to raise awareness of the database among all relevant stakeholders, including civil society;

Also welcomes the adoption of an interim set of indicators to measure violence against women by the Statistical Commission at its fortieth session, and looks forward to the results of the ongoing work of the Commission on this topic;

Calls upon all United Nations bodies, entities, funds and programmes and the specialized agencies and invites the Bretton Woods institutions to intensify their efforts at all levels to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls and to better coordinate their work, inter alia, through the Task Force on Violence against Women of the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality, and looks forward to the results of the ongoing work of the Task Force on composing a manual on joint programming, with a view to increasing effective support for national efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women;

Requests the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences to present an annual report to the General Assembly at its sixty-sixth and sixty-seventh sessions;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its sixty-seventh session a report containing:

Information provided by the United Nations bodies, funds and programmes and the specialized agencies on their follow-up activities to implement resolution 64/137 and the present resolution, including on their assistance to States in their efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women;

Information provided by States on their follow-up activities to implement the present resolution;

Also requests the Secretary-General to present an oral report to the Commission on the Status of Women at its fifty-fifth and fifty-sixth sessions including information provided by the United Nations bodies, funds and programmes and the specialized agencies on recent follow-up activities to implement resolutions 63/155 and 64/137 and the present resolution, including on the progress made in enhancing the effectiveness of the United Nations Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women as a system-wide United Nations mechanism and on the progress of the Secretary-General’s campaign to end violence against women, and urges United Nations bodies, entities, funds and programmes and the specialized agencies to contribute promptly to that report;

Decides to continue the consideration of the question at its sixty-seventh session under the item entitled “Advancement of women”.

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Who created this mandate?

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What subjects does this mandate have?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What does this mandate say?

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