A/71/398
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
26 September 2016
Original: English
Advance unedited version
Seventy-first session
Item 29 (a) of the provisional agenda*
Advancement of women
Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women,
its causes and consequences, Dubravka Šimonović**
Note by the Secretary-General
The Secretary-General has the honour to transmit to the members of
the General Assembly the present report of the Special Rapporteur on
violence against women, its causes and consequences, Dubravka
Šimonović, submitted in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution
69/147.
* A/71/150
**
GE.
The present report was submitted late in order to include up-to-date information from Member States,
United Nations organizations and non-governmental organizations.
A/71/40674
Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women,
its causes and consequences, Dubravka Šimonović
Summary
In the present report, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and
consequences provides an account of her activities since her previous report. Following the
discussion on the adequacy of the international legal framework on violence against
women, she presents responses received by regional mechanisms and the CEDAW
Committee following her call for input on this issue. She addresses the topic of femicide or
gender-relating killings of women and proposes the establishment at the
national/regional/global level of femicide watch and observatories on violence against
women.
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I. Introduction
1.
The Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences,
Dubravka Šimonović, submits the present report pursuant to General Assembly resolution
69/147. In section II she summarizes the activities carried out since her previous report to
the General Assembly, up to July 2016. In section III she provides an update on the
consultations she led with regional mechanisms and CEDAW on the adequacy of the
international framework on violence against women. In section IV, she addresses the topic
of femicide, or gender-relating killings of women, and proposes the establishment at the
national/regional level of a femicide watch and observatories on violence against women.
II. Activities
A.
Country visits
2.
The Special Rapporteur visited South Africa from 4 to 11 December 2015 (see
A/HRC/32/42/Add.2) and Georgia from 15 to 19 February 2016 (see A/HRC/32/42/Add.3).
She thanks the Governments of those countries for their cooperation before and during the
visit. She also thanks Governments of Israel, Argentina, Australia and Bulgaria which have
accepted requests to visit.
B.
Reports to the Commission on the Status of Women and to the Human
Rights Council
3.
On 14 March 2016, the Special Rapporteur participated in the sixtieth session of the
Commission on the Status of Women. She presented an oral statement in which she
outlined her priorities for the mandate and made concluding remarks at the end of the
examination of the review theme on the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence
against women and girls at the invitation of the Commission. The Special Rapporteur also
participated in a number of events in the margin of the session.
4.
In June 2016, she submitted her first report to the Human Rights Council
(A/HRC/32/42). This is a vision-setting report in which she explained her priorities for the
mandate which she intended to focus during her tenure and highlighted the fact that she will
also focus on the issue of violence against women in politics. The Special Rapporteur also
participated in a number of side events in the margin of the session.
C.
Participation in conferences and consultations
5.
The Special Rapporteur’s participation in conferences and consultations for the
period covering August 2015 to March 2016 is outlined in the report presented to the
Human Rights Council in June 2015 (A/HRC/32/42).
6.
From 7 to 9 April 2016, in Washington, at the invitation of the IACHR, the Special
Rapporteur made an intervention as an independent expert in a hearing related to the
follow-up on the IACHR report “Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in British
Columbia; she also participated in a Regional Consultation on Enhancing Cooperation in
the Americas and delivered a key- note address at the Launch of the IACHR Report on
Criminalization of the Work of Human Rights Defenders.
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7.
On 20 May 2016, in Sofia, the mandate holder participated in the UNESCO Global
Women Leaders’ Forum, intervening on the issue of women, peace security and
development.
8.
On 23 May 2016, she participated for the first time in the 25th session of the
Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) in Vienna and delivered
opening remarks focusing on future cooperation. She also participated as a panellist in a
Panel on Girls fleeing Conflict, Terror, Catastrophes and the Perils of Flight organized by
the Academic Council of the United Nations System.
9.
On 1 June 2016, the mandate holder, with the support of the London School of
Economics (LSE), convened an expert group meeting on femicide, directed to collecting
inputs for the thematic report to the General Assembly.
10.
On the margins of the annual meeting of mandate holders, on 9 June, the Special
Rapporteur co-hosted, together with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human
rights defenders, a dialogue on women human rights defenders. On 10 June, she also took
part, together with the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable
international order to a working lunch on violence against women in politics.
11.
At the 32nd session of the HRC, in addition to presenting her first vision setting
report to this forum, the Special Rapporteur also presented the reports on her official visits
to South Africa1 and Georgia2, as well the report of the former SRVAW on her visit to
Sudan3. She participated in a panel on violence against women against indigenous women
and girls and its root causes organized during the annual full-day discussion on the human
rights of women. .She also participated in a number of activities and side events, including
a side event on women human rights defenders, a discussion on online violence against
women and a panel discussion on Preventing and Responding to Violence against
Indigenous Women, she held numerous bilateral meetings with States representatives, as
well as the Secretary General of the Inter-parliamentary Union and met with some regional
groups, civil society organizations and survivors of violence, as well as with the Committee
on the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
12.
On 22 July 2016, in Vienna, she delivered a statement during the High Level
Opening Panel of the Gender Conference on Combatting violence against women in the
OSCE region and bringing security home.
13.
From 26 to 27 July 2016, in Pachuca, Mexico, the mandate holder spoke at a
Conference on Regional Exchange of Good Practices: Challenges and New Struggles in
Combatting Violence against Women.
III. Update on the debate surrounding the adequacy of the legal
framework on violence against women: view from
international and regional mechanisms
14.
In light of the two reports submitted by her predecessor on the need for a United
Nations legally binding convention on violence against women and girls, and keen to
follow up that discussion, the SRVAW decided to invite the regional human rights
mechanisms and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW Committee) to provide their views on the adequacy of the current legal
1
2
3
4
A/HRC/33/42/Add.2
A/HRC/33/42/Add.3
A/HRC/33/42/Add.1
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framework on violence against women.4 The responses received are reflected below in a
summarized manner. The full text of the responses is available at
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/SRWomen/Pages/InternationalLegalFramework.a
spx.
A.
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against women
CEDAW)
15.
On the question of the necessity of a UN convention on VAW, the CEDAW
Committee5 considers that although the CEDAW Convention does not explicitly have a
provision on GBVAW, its General Recommendation No.19 on VAW (GR19), became a
source and inspiration of various international and regional documents including the
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women adopted by the General
Assembly. As a Committee’s authoritative interpretative tool, GR19 defined that VAW
constitutes gender based discrimination in the meaning of article 1 of the Convention.
Since its adoption in 1992, States parties have not challenged the validity or competence of
GR 19 which governs the issues of GBVAW. In both constructive dialogue with states
parties and the procedures under the Optional Protocol, GR 19 has been frequently availed
by states parties, the Committee members and other stakeholders including civil society
organizations. It should be noted that under GR 19 in conjunction with articles 1,2, and 5
of the Convention, redress for alleged violations has been adequately addressed by the
Committee. Therefore, it is the Committee’s view that the Convention has a living
provision on GBVAW in its present form. The Committee further indicates that it is
currently working on updating its GR19 through the codification of positive developments
which have happened since its adoption and that this updated GR will be adopted by the
end of this year. Additionally, in light of a current process of strengthening and reform of
the treaty bodies as a whole, the Committee underscores that fragmentation of policies and
legislation at the UN level should be avoided and that a new instrument and its new
monitoring body would certainly increase the burden of States parties and reinforce the
trend of fragmentation. The creation of a new convention is contradictive from a viewpoint
of States parties which have urged the Committee to streamline its activities. On a positive
note, the mainstreaming of gender in the UN human rights mechanisms especially in other
treaty bodies is noted. Nowadays many of the treaty bodies have their general comments
relating to gender, which refer to GBVAW (e.g. General Comment No.28 of the Human
Rights Committee). By looking comprehensively into the collective jurisprudence, one’s
can conclude that the UN human rights mechanism has been well equipped with the
necessary instruments. Attention is also drawn to the current economic atmosphere which
negatively impacts many parts of the world. While many States parties are struggling in
4
5
The CEDAW Committee and the following regional mechanisms replied to the questionnaire
transmitted by the Special Rapporteur: the Council of Europe Group of action against violence
against women and domestic violence (GREVIO), the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on
Human Rights (AICHR), the ASEAN Commission on the promotion and protection of the rights of
women and children (ACWC), the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Inter-American Court),
the Committee of Experts of the Follow-up Mechanism to the Belém do Pará Convention
(MESECVI), the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa and the Working Group on
Discrimination against Women in Law and in Practice
See all the replies received at:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/SRWomen/Pages/InternationalLegalFramework.aspx.
The CEDAW Chair consulted the whole Committee and indicated that her response represents the
majority view of the Committee.
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cost-cutting of social programs/ budgets including those for combatting VAW, the
Committee is of the view that is not an appropriate time to propose a new convention.
16.
On measures to accelerate prevention and elimination of GBVAW, the Committee
indicates that it will provide a comprehensive answer in its new GR 19 whose first draft
will be shortly publicized. Briefly it shall emphasize the importance to collect data and
monitor the situation on VAW, adopt laws and policies which reflect development over
VAW by increasing women’s participation in decision making bodies, and reinforce
women’s access to justice for substantive redress. These measures should be country
specific, and the Committee addresses these issues in its engagement with States parties
through its lists of issues, constructive dialogue and in turn makes recommendations on
GBVAW in every concluding observation.
B.
The Committee of Experts of the Mechanisms to follow up on the
implementation of the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention,
Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women(MESECVI)
and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
17.
The MESECVI considers that the adoption in 1979 of the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) reflected a new
international model of respect for women’s human rights, with its own monitoring
mechanism and that the creation of a protocol should be stimulated, as a supplementary
instrument to the CEDAW Convention, because it would strengthen the work that has
already been done by the members of the CEDAW Committee and will also promote the
Convention of Belém do Pará as well as the Istanbul Convention without weakening the
implementation of those treaties. Furthermore, it will not contravene the provisions of other
regional conventions on the same issue. The MESECVI indicates that in 2014, Italy signed
the Convention of Belém do Pará, before the entry into force of the Istanbul Convention
and notes that therefore the signing and ratification of other regional conventions on
violence against women is another mechanism to strengthen State obligations and raise
them to the international level. The adoption in the inter-American region of a specific
convention on violence against women in 1994, the Belém do Pará Convention, and the
subsequent establishment of the MESECVI, brought the problem of violence against
women to the forefront of international debates on human rights for the first time. To
achieve the same impact at the global level, the Committee proposes to stimulate the
creation of a protocol, as a supplementary instrument to reinforce and promote what was
already established by the CEDAW. By incorporating the principle of supplementarity in
the text itself, protocols establish the obligation of the States Party to enact legislation to
control violence against women based on the important international conventions already
approved, as has occurred with the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in
Persons, especially Women and Children, which supplements the United Nations
Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (the Palermo Protocol), and the
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child
prostitution, and child pornography. Approval of the Protocol would strengthen the work
that has been done by the members of the Committee of Experts of the CEDAW, especially
their General Recommendations numbers 12 and 19; the provisions of the United Nations
Declaration on the elimination of violence against women of 1993; the Beijing Platform for
Action, adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995; and of course the
work of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences,
which has the mandate to investigate and report on all aspects of violence against women.
It will also promote the abovementioned Belém do Pará Convention and the Istanbul
Convention of the Council of Europe, without weakening the implementation of those
treaties and without contravening the provisions of other regional conventions on the
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subject. To conclude, the MESECVI notes that it is working on a Draft Model
Comprehensive Law for the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against
Women for 2017.
18.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights stresses the importance of dialogue
with Special Procedures mechanisms, in order to strengthen the development and effective
implementation of human rights standards around the world. The Court recalls that the
Convention of Belém do Pará and indicates that in several judgements this mechanism has
reiterated its compulsory jurisdiction to address violations to article 7 of the Convention
regarding the protection of women from violence. The Court notes that it has developed a
significant body of case-law of all forms of violence against women and relevant
international standards on sexual violence, as well as on violence against women as a form
of torture. It also provides a list of relevant judgements of the Inter-American Court on
gender issues as an addendum.
C.
The Council of Europe Group of action against violence against women
and domestic violence (GREVIO)
19.
The GREVIO, which has recently been set up and is yet to start evaluating the level
of implementation of the Istanbul Convention, recalls the three regional instruments on
violence against women/women’s rights – Convention of Belém do Pará, Maputo Protocol
and Istanbul Convention open for accession to non-members States or for use as an source
of inspiration. GREVIO indicates that the development of any further new global legally
binding treaty on violence against women would entail the risk of bringing about possible
conflicting treaty obligations with the existing regional instruments and that it may also
result in diluting existing standards. It reminds the CEDAW Convention and its GR 19,
which are monitored by the CEDAW Committee. It considers that the creation of another
global convention on violence against women would likely entail inconsistent or even
conflicting standards in the area and that the creation of an additional monitoring body
would add to State parties’ monitoring fatigue. The GREVIO stresses the current
international political climate and economic situation, which as not conductive to the
drafting of an additional instrument on women’s rights and that it contains a foreseeable
risk of falling behind the existing standards established by the CEDAW Committee and its
GR 19 and let alone those more advanced in the Istanbul Convention. It believes that the
introduction of another instrument, albeit at the global level, at this stage, would be
premature and pose a challenge to implementation of existing norms and standards. Priority
should be given to ensuring full implementation of the treaties and other instruments which
already exist rather than creating new standards
D.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN) Commission on
Human Rights (AICHR)
20.
The ASEAN Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) considers that there is no
need for a separate legally binding treaty on eliminating violence against women. The
ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and
Children (ACWC) believes that it is not necessary to have a separate legally binding treaty
focused on violence against women with its own monitoring body because of the existence
of the CEDAW Convention and the general recommendation n°19 and that therefore, it will
compete attention and resources. The Commission indicates that the reporting to another
monitoring body will constitute an additional burden to governments in terms of resources.
It also considers that violence against women should not be isolated in terms of its sociocultural, economic and political-security contexts. The ACWC notes that the consolidation
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and institutionalization of the CEDAW would be the best strategy, instead of imposing
another treaty which might undermine the power and authority of the CEDAW Committee.
E.
The Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa
21.
The Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa considers that in theory
an international treaty on violence against women is needed, but that some counterarguments should be taken into account. Prime amongst these is that the real challenge in
dealing with the issue of violence against women does not lie in legal inadequacies, but
rather in implementation. Another argument against a global VAW treaty is that some
regions, including Africa, Europe and the Americas could rightfully claim that there is no
normative gap. In light of this, a campaign to develop, ratify and implement an additional
treaty mechanism would divert efforts and resources that would be better spent towards
strengthening the existing regional systems of protection. However, this objection can be
countered by the fact that Asia and the Oceania regions do not have the benefit of regional
protection, yet very grave manifestations of VAW occur in the Arab world, South-East
Asia, Oceania and Asia generally. The Rapporteur considers that the adequacy of the
violence against women legal framework is highly nuanced, but that a global treaty would
certainly neither impede nor nullify progress on the elimination of violence against women
and that if careful formulation and strategy is employed, it could result in gains for the
increased protection of women. She also considers that if a global treaty on violence against
women prescribes clear and legally binding enforcement mechanisms at both the
international and domestic levels it could create some useful harmony to address the
fragmentation of policies and legislation to address gender-based violence.
F.
The Working Group on Discrimination against Women in Law and in
Practice WGDAW)
22.
The WGDAW believes that it is neither necessary nor feasible at this time to invest
energy and resources in the development of a new stand-alone convention on VAW. Rather
it would be advisable to invest the limited resources available in measures to strengthen
existing mechanisms. The Working Group notes that the CEDAW Committee addresses the
issue of violence against women systematically in all its constructive dialogues with State
Parties, which are subsequently reflected in its Concluding Observations. Further,
CEDAW’s General Recommendation 19 has provided effective international substantive
and normative guidance on the issue of violence against women. The updating of General
Recommendation 19 presents a valuable opportunity to strengthen this normative guidance.
The Working Group is of the view that transforming General Recommendation 19 into a
legally binding protocol could be, at some point, resources permitting, a welcome
development.
23.
The SRVAW believes that presented views and inputs from the international and
regional mechanisms on the adequacy of the international framework on VAW have
provided the international community with additional information and assessments based
on experience gained by these mechanism in monitoring implementation of global and
regional instruments on VAW.
24.
During the HRC 30th, the Special Rapporteur invited all other stakeholders,
including States, NGOs, other Special Procedures mandate holders and treaty bodies, as
well as national human rights institutions and members of academia to send their views and
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inputs in response to a call for submission in that regard on her official web page6. After
collection of their responses a comprehensive assessment of the adequacy of international
framework and actions needed on vaw could be made.
IV. Thematic focus :modalities for the establishment of
femicides/gender-related killings watch
A.
Introduction: the call for the establishment of a femicide watch
25.
The mandate has defined the term of femicide or gender-related killings of women
as referring to the killing of women because of their sex and/or gender. It constitutes the
most extreme form of VAW and the most violent manifestation of discrimination against
and inequality of women7.
26.
The issue of femicides/ gender-motivated killings8 of women has received serious
attention from the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women since its
creation. It is systematically examined during country visits. In 1995, the mandate
presented a thematic report on violence in the family to the Commission on Human Rights
in which it highlighted the fact that the dominance of a familial ideology entrenched
women’s roles as wives and mothers and impeded them from accessing non-traditional
roles and exposed women who do not fit within or ascribe to traditional sex roles to genderbased hate crimes. The mandate emphasized that this ideology legitimates VAW, including
honour killings and other forms of femicide.9 In 2002, the SRVAW mandate presented a
thematic report on cultural practices in the family that are violent towards women, referring
to honour killings and noted that these type of crimes are carried out by husbands, fathers,
brothers or uncles, sometimes on behalf of tribal councils.10 In 2011, the mandate organized
an Expert Meeting on Gender-motivated Killings of Women in New York in order to
consolidate and build on national, regional and international expertise on the
manifestations, root causes and State responses to gender-motivated killings of women;
discuss policy, legal and institutional challenges at national, regional and international
levels and identify good practices and lessons learned in this context in different regions.11
In June 2012, the mandate’s thematic report to the Human Rights Council specially focused
on the issue of gender-related killings of women.12
27.
Gender-motivated killing of women is a clear violation of women’s rights, including
the right to life, freedom from torture and the right to a life free from violence and
discrimination. It is a global phenomenon, and takes place in both the private and public
spheres, and results, inter alia, from intimate partner violence, armed conflict, dowry
disputes or the protection of family ‘honour’. Gender-motivated killings of women are
often the final and most serious consequence of pervasive discrimination, particularly acts
of violence.
6
7
9
10
11
12
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/SRWomen/Pages/InternationalLegalFramework.aspx
For the purpose of this report, the terms “femicide” and “gender-relating killings”
are used interchangeably
E/CN.4/1999/68, 10th March 1999
E/CN.4/2002/83
A/HRC/20/16/Add.4
A/HRC/20/16
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28.
The report 13drew attention to the fact that gender-related killings of women are not
isolated incidents that arise suddenly and unexpectedly, but represent the final stage of
violence after an extended and ignored continuum of violence which has progressively
escalated. It notes that globally, the prevalence of these killing is increasing.
29.
The new mandate holder has decided that one of her immediate priorities is
prevention of femicides and the use of data on violence against women as a tool for its
prevention14. On 25 November 2015, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence
against Women, she called upon all States to establish a “femicide watch”, or a “genderrelated killing of women watch”15. She proposed that data on the number of femicides or
cases of gender-related killings of women, disaggregated by age and ethnicity of victims,
and the sex of the perpetrators, and indicating the relationship between the perpetrator and
the victim or victims, be published every year, on 25 November, and that information
concerning the prosecution and punishment of perpetrators also be collected and published.
Given the shortcomings of many national prevention systems, the lack of reliable data and
risk assessments, and consequent misidentification, concealment and underreporting of
gender-related killings, including of women belonging to ethnic minorities, the proposal
would facilitate the collection of crucial information for the development of effective
strategies to address this serious human rights violation. Each case of gender-related killing
of women should be carefully analysed to identify any failure of protection, with a view to
improving and developing further preventive measures. In the collection, analysis and
publication of such data, States should cooperate with non-governmental organizations and
independent human rights institutions working in the field, representatives of victims and
other relevant international organizations and stakeholders.
30.
Building on work and actions undertaken at the international, regional, national and
local levels, the Special Rapporteur proposes the adoption of a flexible methodology that
would be workable for all States to assist them to establish femicides watch or GRKW
watch as a separate mechanism or mechanisms attached to existing national mechanisms or
observatories on VAW. The SRVAW’s work on prevention of femicides and other forms
of VAW also fits into the broader context of the gathering and analysing of data on VAW
envisaged by the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, targets and indicators which, for
the first time, include the elimination of violence against women as a target for the
achievement of gender equality and empowerment of women sustainable goals.
31.
Research on homicide resulting from intimate-partner violence makes clear that,
almost without exception, females are at greater risk than males, and that the majority of
female homicide victims is killed by male intimate partners. UNODC studies also confirm
that in many countries, intimate partner/family-related homicide is the major cause of
female homicides, and that female homicide rates are much more likely to be driven by this
type of violence than by the organized crime-related homicide typology that
disproportionately affects men. In 2012, almost half of all female victims of murder
worldwide (47 per cent,) were killed by a family member or intimate partner, compared to
6 per cent of male homicide victims 16 . As with all forms of intimate-partner violence,
intimate-partner femicide is likely to be significantly undetected and underreported.
Prosecutions usually do not integrate a gender perspective. There is a clear need to focus
on femicide/gender-relating killings for the purpose of establishing modalities for national
femicides watch and observatories on VAW.
13
14
15
16
10
idem
A/HRC/32/42
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16796&LangID=E
See UNODC, Global Study on Homicide, 2013: Trends, Contexts, Data pp. 49-56
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32.
In order to assist the mandate to define modalities for the establishment of such
mechanisms at the national level which would, beyond the systematic and detailed
recording of femicides underpin development of effective measures and strategies needed
to prevent femicides, on 1 June 2016, the Centre for Women, Peace and Security at LSE
convened an Expert Group Meeting on Femicide. The meeting brought together 16 experts
from academia, civil society organizations, and United Nations agencies and bodies with
technical and practical expertise and experience in working on violence against women,
including on statistics and crime prevention, and discussed recent global and regional
initiatives in the area of femicide. The discussion and material shared by the participants
have substantially fed into this present report, as have contributions by other experts and
UN agencies, especially UNODC.
B.
Key steps at intergovernmental level
1.
General Assembly resolutions on taking action against gender-relating killings of
women and girls
33.
In 2013, the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice initiated a
resolution on GRKW that was adopted by the General Assembly (A/Res/68/191). For the
first time, this issue was placed at the highest level of the international political agenda .
Through this resolution, the GA expressed its deep concern for the alarming proportion of
different manifestations of gender-related killing of women and girls and for their high
level of impunity and called for renewed action. It urged Member States to exercise due
diligence to address acts of violence against women and end impunity. Recognizing the key
role of the criminal justice system in preventing and responding to gender-related killing of
women, the Assembly also invited Member States to strengthen their criminal justice
response. Furthermore, it requested the Secretary-General to convene an open-ended
intergovernmental expert group meeting to discuss ways and means to more effectively
prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish gender-related killing of women, with a view to
making practical recommendations drawing on current best practices. This expert group
meeting, held in Bangkok in November 2014 developed a set of recommendations on
practical steps against gender-related killing of women 17 to which the mandate of the
SVAW provided input18.
34.
In 2015, the Secretary-General presented a report to the General Assembly on action
against gender-relating killings (A/70/93), reiterating the recommendations made at the
expert group meeting. In the second resolution also initiated by the CPCJ and e adopted by
the GA (A/Res/70/176) on this subject, the GA reiterates its call for action by Member
States with the support of the United Nations. The preamble notes that “one of the every
two women victims of homicide is killed by her intimate partner or a family member.” The
resolution, in its operative parts, calls, among others, for strengthened criminal justice
responses to gender-relating killings of women and girls (OP2), enhanced international
cooperation and the exchange of good practices in criminal matters related to gender-based
violence (OP3), integrated and comprehensive strategies to prevent gender-related killing
17
18
UNODC/CCPCJ/EG.8/2014/2
See also http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Women/WRGS/Gender_related_killing_ebook.pdf
This booklet provides a summary of general information about United Nations support and assistance
to counter gender related killing and offers recommendations on the subject. It builds upon the Report
of the Secretary-General on the outcome of the intergovernmental expert group meeting on genderrelated killing of women and girls (E/CN.15/2015/16), the Report of the Secretary-General on action
against gender-related killing of women and girls (A/70/93) and the report of the SRVAW
(A/HRC/10/16).
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of women and girls, that include early and continuous educational programmes, community
mobilization and awareness-raising, in order to counter attitudes and social factors that
foster, justify or tolerate any violence against women and girls (OP6), integrated and
comprehensive responses to violence against women in order to reduce risks of genderrelated killing through a number of listed measures (OP7), addressing impunity and
punishing perpetrators (OP8&9), support to victims (OP11), and the collection,
disaggregation, analyse and reporting of data on gender-related killing of women and girls,
according to the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes endorsed by
the Statistical Commission and, where appropriate, to the extent possible, involve civil
society, academia, victims’ representatives and relevant international organizations (OP14).
The second resolution contains stronger language in relation to data collection. The
resolution requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to prepare
an analytical study on gender-related killing of women and girls at the global level,
containing disaggregated data, including from relevant stakeholders, on this phenomenon to
illustrate its different forms and patterns (OP16).
2.
Current homicide/ femicide data collection
35.
The case has been made repetitively that collection, analysis and sharing of relevant
data are crucial for effective and coordinated measures to prevent, investigate and prosecute
gender-related killing of women. In order to accomplish these goals, detailed data are
required to gauge the magnitude and dimensions of the problem, to establish baselines, to
identify groups at high risk, to focus intervention and prevention efforts where they are
needed most, to monitor change over time, to assess the effectiveness of interventions and
to address the harm to victims of violence19. In this regard, it has been noted that the
comparability and availability of precise statistics is key to defining the spectrum of
gender-related killing in its different manifestations, causes and consequences20.
36.
There exist a variety of sources of data and information on gender-relating killing.
These include administrative records of law enforcement and judicial sources, populationbased sources of information such as victimization, demographic and health surveys to
estimate women’s exposure to partner and non-partner violence but these sources have their
limitations, as noted in the SG report21.
37.
UNODC leads global efforts to improve and compare crime and criminal justice
data. Its global homicide study 22 has a section on interpersonal homicide. UNODC’s
approach is that given the numerous challenges of measuring gender-related violence in a
comprehensive manner, exploring intimate partner/family-related homicide is one way of
gaining a clearer understanding of the killing of women due to gender motives23.
38.
UNODC point of departure in relation to data on gender-relating killings is the
international crime classification (ICCS)24 endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission in
March 2015 and the CPCJ in May 2016. The latter established an international statistical
standard for data collection, drawn both from administrative records and survey-generated
data. The approach is that the classification adopted does not have specific crimes but what
matters is the motivation behind the crime. In other words, the crime classification
19
20
21
22
23
24
12
A/70/93, p.8
idem
idem
https://www.unodc.org/documents/gsh/pdfs/2014_GLOBAL_HOMICIDE_BOOK_web.pdf, p.49ss
Idem, p. 52
https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/crime/ICCS/ICCS_final-2015March12_FINAL.pdf
A/71/40674
framework is based on behavioural descriptions rather than legal codes. Hence femicide
falls under the classification of intentional homicide, i.e. the unlawful death inflicted upon a
person with the intent to cause death or serious injury 25 . There are three classification
criteria applied once a particular act of killing is to be classified which further characterize
the intentional homicide and can be used to define it in more detail. 26 These are: the
situational context, the relationship between victim and perpetrator and the mechanism of
killing. Importantly for femicide, the criterion the situational context is registered
interpersonal homicide, i.e. homicide committed by intimate partner/family member
(including former partner, spouse, or family member) or other interpersonal homicide (i.e.
related to neighbour or property disputes, revenge- related killings or brawls, mass
shootings etc.), and also homicide related to other criminal activities and socio-political
homicides. Within the additional disaggregation of “relationship between the victim and
perpetrator” the intimate partner of family member (IPFM) and other perpetrators known to
the victim and perpetrators unknown to the victim are recorded. And last, within the
“mechanism of killing disaggregation” the type of weapon or other means used is recorded.
39.
The SRVAW notes that UNODC has embarked, as part its work to build the
evidence base , on the strengthening of UN data collection systems, the development of
standards for comparative justice statistics and the development of the “global picture” of
gender-related killing. She further notes that UNODC has initiated a process to establish a
methodological approach to define each crime classification, including interpersonal
homicide and that discussion in that regard has already stated at the first global meeting of
the UN-CTS focal points in May 2016.
3.
New opportunity: the Sustainable Development Agenda
40.
In September 2015, the GA adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development27 which sets out 17 Goals and 169 targets to be achieved within the next 15
years. Sustainable Development Goal 5 is to achieve gender equality and empower all
women and girls. What is remarkable is that gender equality and women’s empowerment
are recognized as “a crucial contribution to progress across all the Goals and targets.” This
stand-alone goal has nine specific interrelated, and mutually supportive, targets that address
many important barriers to advancing women’s rights. These are accompanied by genderspecific targets and indicators across other goals.28
41.
VAW is specifically addressed in target 5.2 on the elimination of all forms of
violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking
and sexual and other types of exploitation and target. Two indicators are key: 5.2.1:
Proportion of ever-partnered women and girls aged 15 years and older subjected to
physical, sexual or psychological violence by a current or former intimate partner in the
previous 12 months, by form of violence and by age and 5.2.2: Proportion of women and
girls aged 15 years and older subjected to sexual violence by persons other than an intimate
partner in the previous 12 months, by age and place of occurrence. Another directly
relevant target is 5.3 on the elimination of all harmful practices, such as child, early and
forced marriage and female genital mutilation. Two indicators are key for this target :
5.3.1: Proportion of women aged 20-24 years who were married or in a union before age 15
and before age 18 and 5.3.2: Proportion of girls and women aged 15-49 years who have
undergone female genital mutilation/cutting, by age.
25
26
27
28
Idem, p. 33
Idem, table III p. 102, table IV p. 103 and table V p. 104
A/RES/70/1
The prioritization of gender equality and women’s rights is reflected in most elements of the 2030
Agenda, including the declaration; goals, targets and indicators; and follow-up and review.
13
A/71/40674
42.
Target 5.1 on ending all forms of discrimination against all women and girls
everywhere is also obviously extremely relevant for VAW in light of the intrinsic
connection between VAW and structural discrimination and inequality.
43.
Another relevant goal for VAW is goal 16, and its target 16.1 ”Significantly reduce
all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere” and target 16.2 “End abuse,
exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children”.
44.
SDG 11 “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and
sustainable” and its target 11.2 “providing access to safe, affordable, accessible and
sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety, notably by expanding public
transport, with special attention to the needs of those in vulnerable situations, women,
children, persons with disabilities and older persons” and target 11.7 “provide universal
access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women
and children, older persons and persons with disabilities” are also directly relevant.
45.
A global indicator framework was developed and proposed by the Inter-Agency and
Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) to follow-up and review the
implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This framework, which
includes a total of 230 indicators was agreed, as a practical starting point, by the UN
Statistical Commission in March 2016. Mindful of the fact that the set of indicators might
at this stage lack sound methodologies and significant country coverage, the IAEG-SDGs
intends to regularly update and refine the indicators as they evolve and new technologies
will allow for better and more complete data collection.
46.
In comparison the MDGs did not contain any targets or indicator relating to
violence, this agenda contains several targets and indicators specifically on the magnitude
of different forms of VAW.
47.
Gender-based violence is therefore acknowledged in the Agenda as a major obstacle
to social and economic development, and to the achievements of the SGDs. Indeed,
violence against women undercuts sustainable development by obstructing women’s
participation in development and undermining the goals of development. The integral
connection between violence against women and development is therefore clearly made in
this Agenda.
48.
The implementation of this 2030 global framework provides a new opportunity to
accelerate progress in achieving gender equality and empowerment of women and girls and
eliminating violence against women through, inter alia, improving the data collection on
VAW in general, and femicide in particular. Collection of reliable and comparable data is
needed to prevent it. Data requirements to effectively monitor the SDGs for women and
girls will be substantial and significant investments and capacity building will have to be
made to fill the data gaps which have been identified.
49.
There is a new opportunity to improve new data requirements of the SDGs. This will
also provide an impetus for increased cooperation among the relevant UN agencies –
UNWomen, OHCHR, UNODC, but also UN human rights mechanisms such as the
Special Rapporteur on violence against women, the Working Group on discrimination
against women in law and practice, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women in particular.
50.
SRVAW believes that data on femicide should be seen as an important indicator on
elimination of vaw.
51.
As the Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka powerfully expressed it at the time of the adoption of the SDGs Agenda,
“data on their own will not change lives, but we will not change lives without them. With
the right metrics and illuminating information, we can inform policies, check on progress
14
A/71/40674
and hold leaders accountable if they fall behind on their commitments. We need 2030 to be
the point when the lives of girls and women have been changed irreversibly, sustainably
and substantively for the better.” The message of the 2030 Agenda of leaving no one
behind is key to reaching out the most marginalized women, among which women victims
or at risk of VAW, including in its most extreme lethal form.
C.
Good practices on femicides and data collection:
1.
Governmental and non governmental models for femicide reviews
52.
The SRVAW wishes to acknowledge some laudable initiatives by governments and
civil society actors which she came across while preparing this report and which, each in
their own context work as good practices and models for establishment of remicide reviews
and observatories and as such help to understand the phenomenon of femicide, unpack its
causal factors and collect data and ultimately and which are used as a springboard for
action. The list provided below is therefore not exhaustive.
53.
The Domestic Violence Fatality Review (DVFR) collects data about all domestic
violence related homicides and suicide deaths in Washington State.29 Community review
teams examine the events leading up to these deaths and take an in-depth look at how
community systems responded to domestic violence. They identify gaps in laws, policy,
practice, training, and resources and on that basis make policy recommendations to
strengthen the community response to domestic violence, increase safety and choices for
survivors and their children, hold abusers accountable, and prevent violence before it starts
In addition to in-depth case reviews, the Fatality Review project collects data on all
domestic violence related homicide and suicide deaths in Washington State. Its definition
of a domestic violence fatality is specific to intimate partner violence, and includes:
homicides by any current or former intimate partner; friends, family, new partners, or
police officers killed by abusers in the context of intimate partner abuse; abusers killed by
victims, police, or someone intervening; and suicides of abusers following a domestic
violence homicide or assault. The DVFR combines information about domestic violence
fatalities with other statewide data sources including death certificates, court records,
census data, and more to produce rich analysis on a wide range of issues. Examples of its
research and data analysis include: the connection between domestic violence history and
suicide; disproportionate rates of domestic violence homicide by race; domestic violence
homicide victims’ use of child support enforcement; pregnancy rates among victims killed
by intimate partners.
54.
The “Femicide Census” project, UK30 began with social media and blogging and
was later developed into an advocacy for the UK to gather statistics differently. The
Femicide census reports on perpetrators as much as victims. It includes a wide range of
information about women who have been killed by fatal male violence. It relies on support
by the private sector31 for the establishment and maintenance of the website. Information
which is currently in the Femicide Census, was initially from a set of names that had been
collected since January 2012 and recorded in a blog “Counting Dead Women 32 . The
blogger had searched the web for news of women who had been killed by men.
30
31
32
https://www.womensaid.org.uk/what-we-do/campaigning-and-influencing/femicide-census/
Freshfields (law) and Deloitte (accountancy)
https://kareningalasmith.com/counting-dead-women/
15
A/71/40674
55.
This data had been gathered from publicly available sources, primarily press articles,
and also includes: the perpetrators and the incident of murder itself, including the date,
names, police force area; information about children, recorded motive and the weapon
used. Some of the data are verified, emanating from official reports, while other, from press
reports, are unverified. The Census records women killed by men, not just intimate partner
violence. Data are disaggregated by age, nationality, ethnicity and occupation of both the
victim and perpetrator, Health, Pregnancy status of victim ,Relationship status of victim
and perpetrator, Separation – nearness of date of death to separation/end of relationship
(53% of IPVs took place within 1 month of separation) “Rejected advances”, commission
of femicides in the course of another crime (high levels of killings of elderly women in the
course of burglaries), deaths occurring in the course of road accidents – need more clarity
on intentionality, Intersection with Home Office categories, Names of victims with police
force area – adds to the accountability angle.
56.
For over 25 years, the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women MCBW has been
producing the Femicide Report33, a yearly report on the domestic violence homicides in
Minnesota. The annual femicide report lists the number of people killed from domestic
homicide. It is compiled from news accounts and information provided by law
enforcement agencies, county attorneys, court administrators, battered women's programs,
and family members and friends of murder victims. MCWB notes that the murders of
women and children of color, women and children living in poverty, rural women and
children, lesbian/bisexual/transgender women, and women and children used in prostitution
and sex trafficking may be underreported in its listing as they often go unreported in the
media.
57.
The Observatory of Domestic Violence against Women and Access to Justice34 has
been established by the Judiciary of Costa Rica in June 2015 to reflect work on prevention,
treatment and punishment of violence of gender against women. It serves as an information
platform, also showing the various manifestations of violence against women and raises
awareness of response to such violations. It also reviews the statistics of CSOs.
58.
The SRVAW notes that other additional categories that would be valuable to track
for this kind of intitiatves/census, in relation to the victim, would be: whether she was a
woman human rights defender; whether she was homeless; her sexual orientation , whether
she was an indigenous woman or girl and the mental health status of perpetrator
(depression, threats to commit suicide).
59.
The SRVAW is aware that there are many more initiatives and project like those
mentioned in this report and would like to invite all States and other stakeholder to provide
her with examples of good practices in this area.
2.
Legislative and policy measures
60.
The Latin American Model Protocol for the investigation of gender-related killlings
of women (femicide/feminicide) (LAFP – Latin American Femicide Protocol) 35 , offers
guidelines for carrying out an effective criminal investigation of gender-related killings, in
accordance with the international obligations assumed by States. It is aimed at assisting
States in the Latin American region to comply with due diligence in case of femicide and
strengthen efforts aimed at ensuring women a life free from violence and discrimination.
The Protocol is based on the emblematic femicide case brought before the Inter-American
33
34
35
16
http://www.mcbw.org/#!femicide-report/ctod
http://www.poder-judicial.go.cr/observatoriodegenero/quienes-somos/bienvenida/
http://www.un.org/en/women/endviolence/pdf/LatinAmericanProtocolForInvestigation
OfFemicide.pdf
A/71/40674
Court - known as the ‘Cotton Field’ case which represented significant progress in the fight
against impunity in relation to femicide/feminicide in the region, not only as a precedent in
case law but also because it put pressure on states to shoulder specific obligations as
regards investigation, punishment and reparation in such cases.36
61.
Several Latin American countries have already or are working on integrating the
Protocol into their legal systems and others have expressed interest in following suit. The
key problems that the LAFP seeks to address include the impunity related to the omissions
and failures in the investigation; the contamination of the crime scene; the culture of
discrimination from judges and the high dependence on witness testimony.
62.
For the purposes of the Model Protocol, the term femicide is understood as the
murder of women because they are women, whether it is committed within the family, a
domestic partnership, or any other interpersonal relationship, or by anyone in the
community, or whether it is perpetrated or tolerated by the state or its agents37. The LAFP
emphasises the safeguarding of suspects’ rights and also improving judicial capacity;
investigations are judged on both means and results, and the state works towards a
transformation of reparation. By recognizing that the violence that affects women is
determined not only by their sexual and gender status but also by differences in terms of
economic status, culture, age, race, language, religion/cosmogony, it requires an
intersectional analysis of the forms of violence that might have affected the femicide victim
before, during, or after the crime38.
63.
The LAFP identifies behaviour that causes death and other harms, with a motive
based on gender, emphasising the responsibility of perpetrator, and tracking signs and
evidence of a history of violence in health systems, reports to the police, etc. It put into
light the underlying and recurrent problem that “no-one connects the dots” before women
are killed.
64.
Many states in the LAC region have now specialised legislation which typifies the
crime of femicide as a specific crime in national legislation. By 2015, 16 countries in Latin
America had modified their laws to include a specific type of crime referring to the murder
of women under the name of femicide or feminicide, or as an aggravating circumstance of
homicide39. The last countries to enact femicide laws have been Brazil in March 2015 and
Colombia in July 2015. These two laws are considered as model legislations as they
involve all key line ministries, include prevention measures and, in the case of Brazil, came
out of the adoption of the LAFP. While legislation on femicide is important, it is not an end
in itself. It is necessary to emphasize as the Mechanism for the Tracking of the Belém do
Pará Convention (MESECVI) outlines the necessity for justice administration organisms to
follow-up on the implementation of the penal law and the aggravating circumstances
presented therein.
65.
The SRVAW is aware that there are many more legislative and policy measures
than those mentioned in this report and would like to invite all States and other stakeholder
to provide her with examples of legislative initiatives that already exist in this field.
36
37
38
39
http://www.corteidh.or.cr/docs/casos/articulos/seriec_205_ing.pdf
http://www.un.org/en/women/endviolence/pdf/LatinAmericanProtocolForInvestigation
OfFemicide.pdf p.14
Ibid, p. 43
http://oig.cepal.org/sites/default/files/noteforequality_17.pdf
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3.
Jurisprudence on femicide and global database
66.
At the global level, CEDAW had dealt with two cases, Sahide Goekce (deceased) v.
Austria (case 5/2005) and Fatma Yildrim (deceased) v. Austria (case 6/2005)40 where both
victims had been murdered by their husbands following years of brutal abuse. Despite
reporting the violence to the police and obtaining protection orders, lack of coordination
among law enforcement and judicial officials resulted in repeated failure to detain the
offenders and ensure the women’s safety. Two non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
took the cases to the CEDAW Committee under the Optional Protocol. The Committee’s
decisions on the cases in 2007 were of global significance because they made clear that the
State’s obligation to protect women from domestic violence extends beyond passing laws.
The Committee found that Austria had failed to act with ‘due diligence’, by not ensuring
that the law was implemented properly. In response to the Committee’s recommendations
and the media attention that surrounded the case, the Austrian Government introduced and
accelerated legal reforms to protect women from violence, including an amendment to the
Code of Criminal Procedure, new protection measures and the creation of specialized
domestic violence prosecutors.
67.
At the regional level, in the case of Opuz v. Turkey41 the European Court of Human
Rights decided that Turkey was in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights
for failing to protect the applicant and her mother from the violent attacks of her spouse in
circumstances where her mother was ultimately murdered.
68.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Caso González y Otras v. Mexico42
(the “Cotton Field” case) decided that Mexico had violated the rights under the InterAmerican Convention of Human Rights of three women who had disappeared and were
tortured and murdered. It also found that their mothers’ rights under the Convention had
been violated. In so doing, the Court recognized that violence against women in Juarez
which had occurred since 1993 was a structural violation of human rights for which the
State was responsible, and ordered reparations, including measures of non-repetition,
acknowledgement and concrete action in relation to cases since 1993.
69.
The Colombian Supreme Court has recently made a judgment on how femicide43 is
a gender-related crime and why it should be prosecuted as harshly as possible. In its first
ever case of convicted femicide, it sentenced the perpetrator to 18 years in prison for the
brutal murder of his wife on the grounds that the killing was motivated by his wife’s
gender.
70.
In another landmark ruling44, the Mexico’s Supreme Court ordered the reopening of
the investigation into the suspicious suicide of a women, and ordered that it be reinvestigated "from the perspective" of femicide, or the murder of a woman by a man for
reasons related to her gender. The court declared it is the "duty of investigative bodies to
investigate every violent death of a woman, to determine whether or not this is a case of
femicide" hereby affecting countless other cases of unresolved femicides in the country and
bearing all all kinds of implications for all the levels of investigation.
71.
The SRVAW intends to establish an online collection of landmark court’s cases on
femicides. She believes that such landmark court’s rulings on femicide are providing
40
41
42
43
44
18
CEDAW/C/39/D/5/2005 and 6/2005
Opuz v. Turkey, (Application no. 33401/02)
http://www.corteidh.or.cr/docs/casos/articulos/seriec_205_ing.pdf
www.corteconstitucional.gov.co/RELATORIA/2015/C-022-15.htm
http://www.internet2.scjn.gob.mx/red2/comunicados/noticia.asp?id=3060
A/71/40674
examples of application of relevant international, regional and national standards and are
useful tool for lawyers prosecutors and judges working on similar cases.
72.
The SRVAW calls States, courts , academia and all stakeholders for a submission
of all such cases from regional and national courts that could form this global databes of
the SRVAW web site
73.
Recognizing a need for a credible collection of good practices on prevention of
femicides SRVAW would like to invite all States and other stakeholder to provide her with
examples of good practices on femicide reviews as well as examples on legislation and on
jurisprudence that could be used as a good practice by others.
D.
Recommendations for the establishment of the Femicide watch or
Gender related killings of women watch and/or observatories on VAW
74.
International human rights framework composed of global and regional
instruments on women’s rights and violence against women , establishes three levels of
the State’s obligation to eliminate discrimination and violence against all women
including femicides and guarantee women a life free of violence.
75.
The first level of responsibility is related to violence perpetrated by the State
party itself, through its national authorities which may breach its obligations under
international human rights law in general, as well as the CEDAW Convention and its
General recommendation n°19 in particular. This State obligation is reflected in
article 2(d) of the CEDAW Convention, which requires that State parties, including
their national bodies and agents, refrain from engaging in any act or practice or direct
or indirect discrimination against women, and ensure that public authorities and
institutions act in conformity with this obligation. This obligation includes the duty to
ensure that laws, policies, programmes and procedures are not discriminatory against
women and that an effective legal framework is in place to address all forms of
gender-based violence.
76.
A second level of responsibility is related to violence against women
perpetrated by non-State actors, private persons where State parties will be
responsible under article 2(e) of the CEDAW Convention that requires to take all
appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women committed by a
person, an organization or an enterprise. This level of responsibility requires the
adoption and implementation of measures to protect women from gender-based
violence committed by non-State actors. This obliges States parties to have legal
provisions, and a system in place to address all forms of violence committed by private
actors. This obligation of due diligence requires all State agents and bodies to
adequately and diligently prevent, investigate, punish and provide remedies for acts of
gender-based violence done by private persons. The failure of a State to act with due
diligence to prevent acts of violence against women, when its authorities know or
should know the danger of violence, or to investigate and punish, constitutes therefore
a human rights violation.
77.
A third level of obligation of State is to empower women and girls by
undertaking measures to ensure full development and advancement of all women, in
particular in the political, economic and cultural fields.
78.
The importance of data collection is also broadly recognized in international
human rights law, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women and the recommendations made by the Committee on
the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which provides a legal basis and
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practical guidance for the promotion and development of statistics, disaggregated by
sex. 45 In paragraph 24 (c) of its general recommendation No. 19, the Committee
explicitly recognized the importance of statistical data to understand the situation of
women, and recommended that States ensure that their national statistical services
formulated their questionnaires in such a way that data could be disaggregated
according to gender. It also recommended that States should encourage the
compilation of statistics and research on the extent, causes and effects of violence, and
on the effectiveness of measures to prevent and deal with violence.
79.
At the regional level, article 8 (h) of the Convention of Belém do Pará
established the agreement by States to undertake progressively specific measures,
including programmes, to ensure research and the gathering of statistics and other
relevant information relating to the causes, consequences and frequency of violence
against women. Article 11 of the Istanbul Convention established that States parties
should undertake to collect disaggregated relevant statistical data on cases of all forms
of violence.
80.
The Special Rapporteur also recalls General Assembly resolutions 68/191 and
70/176 on taking action against gender-relating killings of women and girls, in which
the Assembly encouraged Member States to collect, disaggregate, analyse and report
data on gender-related killing of women and girls and to ensure that appropriate
punishment for perpetrators of gender-related killings of women and girls are in place
and are proportionate to the gravity of the offence.
1.
General recommendations in relation to prevention of femicides
(a)
States sould ratify, fully incorporate and accelerate implementation of relevant
international and regional conventions on vaw and gender equality
(b)
States should review and update legislation on violence against women in order to
strengthen prevention of vaw, prosecution of perpetrators and provision of services and
compensation for victims of such violence. States should especially repeal all penal provisions on
homicide femicide and vaw that include factors like passion, honour, provocation, violent emotion –
that allow perpetrators to escape criminal responsibility for femicides.
(c)
States should collect and publish date on femicides and on other forms of VAW and establish
Femicide watch or observatories on VAW with such functions .
(d)
States should cooperate to establish and implement common methodology for collection of
comparable data and establishment of femicide watch.
(e)
Provide police and prosecution office with specific expertise on risk assessment and risk
management and establish specialized units on vaw, and encourage courts to gain specific expertise
on femicide and vaw.
2.
Recommendations on modalities for the establishment of femicide prevention watch/
observatory on violence against women:
81.
The SRVAW suggests the below modalities for the establishment of national
femicide/gender-relating killing watch and or observatories on VAW.
82.
She presents a flexible model for establishment of national femicide watch that
should depend on needs and national realities in different States. Where there are no
45
20
See OHCHR, Human Rights Indicators: A Guide to Measurement and Implementation, 2012, p. 75.
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such mechanism they should be established while where there are already existing
systems and structures for reporting violence against women they should be added to
those systems.
83.
States should systematically collect disaggregated relevant data on all forms of
violence against women and specifically on femicides or gender related killings of
women ( this could include killings of children related to such femicides ). In line with
national situation States should disaggregate femicide data under the two broad
categories that could include subcategories in line with national realities : 1) intimate
partner femicide / family related femicide - based on relationship between the victim
and the perpetrator, 2) other femicides
84.
States should establish femicides watch or femicide review panels or
observatories on vaw or at the national or regional or global level in order to analyze
data on femicides and propose concrete measures needed to prevent such femicides.46
85.
Femicide watch panels should be established as interdisciplinary bodies with
inclusion of legal professionals ( judges, prosecutors, ombudspersons and NGO
representatives and connected to or integrated with existing mechanisms on vaw
prevention like observatories on vaw, bodies that monitor implementation of national
action plans on VAW and so on. If integrated in existing mechanism, the Femicide
watch should be visible, for instance through a special units/project.
86.
NGOs or NHRIs could establish their femicide watch reviews panels.
87.
The mandate of Femicide watch panels/ observatories on VAW would include
the systematic analyses of all femicide cases (femicide reviews) – including court
decided cases with the aim to determine gaps in the intervention system, criminal
justice systems and judicial procedures and to establish risk factors to prevent such
violence and to protect women and girls from femicide.
88.
As far as possible such femicide reviews should also include suicide cases and
killing of children related to a gender-based violence against their mothers.
89.
In every case, the personal information that has been provided by the victims
and the family members should only be incorporated into data bases with informed
consent regarding the possible uses this information should be protected in
accordance to international standards on the matter related to protection of privacy.
46
A/HRC/32/42, para.48&49
21