International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

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25 November 2021

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All forms of violence against women and girls must stop - experts

GENEVA (24 November 2021) – Women and girls everywhere continue to be subjected to multiple forms of gender-based violence, including femicide, online violence and domestic violence, UN and regional experts* said today. They call on States to exercise due diligence and to fight pushbacks on gender equality.

Ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, they issue the following statement:

“Although they represent more than half the world’s population, women and girls the world over are still at risk of being killed and subject to violence, intimidation and harassment when they speak out – for the simple fact of being women and girls. Violence against women and girls is the result of intersectional forms of social, political, economic, racial, caste and cultural discrimination perpetrated daily against women and girls in all of their diversity, including in the context of armed conflict, and States and the international community have the obligation mandated by international human rights law and standards to address this violence. Together, these forms of discrimination not only aggravate the intensity and frequency of violence but also sharpen the impunity that exists against it and increase societal and individual readiness to allow it.

Of particular concern is the fact that not only women and girls continue to be subjected to multiple manifestations of violence but that the spaces where this violence takes place have also multiplied. Nowhere is this more apparent than within online spaces, including social media. Governments, private companies and others may seek to hide their responsibilities behind the seemingly “borderless” nature of the internet. But human rights are universal and, as such, there is one human rights regime that protects the rights of women and girls offline as well as online, and that demands zero tolerance for violence against women and girls in the digital space. Violence against women and girls flourishes because those who seek to silence women and girls and facilitate their exploitation, abuse, maiming and killing are not firmly prevented from and held accountable for their actions.

It is unacceptable that in today’s world where humanity and life on this planet faces the existential threats of climate change and toxic pollution amidst a proliferation of conflict; the COVID-19 pandemic has killed at least 5 million people and infected at least 250 million worldwide in less than two years, also causing an increase in domestic violence against women, that women and girls are unable to participate fully in responding to these threats or in the search for solutions because they are discriminated, abused and continue to suffer violence, including sexual violence, exploitation and death on the basis of their sex, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity. These global crises interact with and further deepen pre-existing inequalities as well as legal, institutional and policy gaps to eliminate gender-based violence against women and girls, which in many cases, worsen them. Indigenous women, internally displaced women, women with disabilities, lesbian and transgender women and women belonging to other vulnerable or marginalized groups are particularly affected by the failure of these policies to prevent such violence, as well as protect and assist survivors.

While a number of States, non-state actors and other stakeholders have stepped up their interventions and resource allocations to prevent and respond to gender-based violence against women and girls, more effort in terms of both financial and non-financial interventions is needed to make these approaches truly transformative, particularly with regards to prevention, to avoid that policies remain ‘gender blind’, ‘gender exploitative’ or ‘race neutral’. Many of these policies do not disaggregate data based on social and racial constructs which discriminate, marginalize, exclude, and violate women and girls. These policies need to transform the prevailing social, economic and political systems that produce, nurture, and maintain gender inequality and drive violence against women and girls everywhere, through increased investment in their education and skills development, access to information, social services and financial resources, and support for positive representation and images in public discourse and social media. Collectively, they need to do more to challenge the patriarchal social norms and constructs of masculinity, femininity, racism and casteism that are based on extremely harmful stereotypes and which can cause psychological, physical, emotional and economical harm, including for women of colour, including those of African descent. These stereotypes pervade state institutions as evidenced by the lack of accountability for many cases before law enforcement and justice systems. States must also ensure access to comprehensive physical and mental care for survivors of gender-based violence, as part of the full range of quality sexual and reproductive health care that must be available for all.

Collective effort is required to stop the reversal of progress made in ending violence against women across the world and to counter the backlash against gender equality and the tenets of human rights-based legislation and governance. Those responsible for these regressive steps often begin by attempts to co-opt the justice system, change or issue new legislation and curtail fundamental rights and freedoms for women and girls, such as their freedom of thought, expression and association, their right to peaceful assembly, freedom of association, freedom of thought and, in particular, their sexual and reproductive rights. All human rights are inalienable, interdependent and exist without a hierarchy, despite the efforts of some actors to sacrifice some of these rights at the expense of others, often in the name of their own cultural or religious norms and their particular perception of societal harmony.

Women and girls around the world need to be heard; their voices should not be silenced nor their experiences go unnoticed. Women will never gain their dignity until their human rights are protected. Women’s rights are human rights. Women and girls’ agency and participation in all processes that affect their rights and lives need to be promoted and protected at all costs. States should ensure and create an enabling environment for women to exercise their fundamental freedoms of expression, association, peaceful assembly and public participation free from intimidation and attacks. States must exercise their due diligence obligation and protect women human rights defenders, activists and women’s organizations who are regularly harassed, intimidated and subjected to violence for defending their rights and promoting equality. The level and frequency of violence against them should raise alarm bells everywhere. It is, and should be, a public policy and a human rights priority.

If we want to gauge the underlying health, security and prosperity of a society, we all need to address our duty to play a part in the respect and furtherance of women and girls’ rights. There will be no prosperity without ending violence against women and girls in the public as well as in the private sphere.

There will be no ending of violence against women and girls if we don’t recognize and protect the dignity, rights and security of women and girls everywhere and at all times.”

ENDS

*The experts:

Platform of independent expert mechanisms on the elimination of discrimination and violence against women (EDVAW Platform): Reem AlsalemSpecial Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequencesMelissa Upreti (Chair), Dorothy Estrada Tanck (Vice-Chair), Elizabeth BroderickIvana Radačić, and Meskerem Geset Techane, Working Group on discrimination against women and girlsGladys Acosta Vargas, Chairperson of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women; Margarette May MacaulayRapporteur on the Rights of Women of the Inter-American Commission on Human RightsIris LuarasiPresident of the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence of the Council of EuropeTatiana Rein VenegasPresident of the Committee of Experts of the Follow-up Mechanism to the Belém do Pará ConventionMaria Teresa Manuela, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Women in Africa.

Obiora OkaforIndependent Expert on human rights and international solidarityJavaid RehmanSpecial Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of IranFabian SalvioliSpecial Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrenceMarcos A. OrellanaSpecial Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastesFrancisco Cali TzaySpecial Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoplesVitit MuntarbhornSpecial Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in CambodiaMama Fatima SinghatehSpecial Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of childrenMary LawlorSpecial Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defendersVictor Madrigal-Borloz, Independent Expert on Protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identityAlioune TineIndependent Expert on the situation of human rights in MaliSorcha MacLeod (Chair-Rapporteur), Jelena Aparac, Ravindran Daniel, Chris Kwaja, Working Group on the use of mercenariesGerard QuinnSpecial Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilitiesLivingstone SewanyanaIndependent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international orderFionnuala Ní AoláinSpecial Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorismCecilia Jimenez-DamarySpecial Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons;Saad Alfarargi,  Special Rapporteur on the right to developmentTomoya Obokata, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences; Fernand de VarennesSpecial Rapporteur on minority issuesYao AgbetseIndependent Expert on the situation of Human Rights in the Central African RepublicNils Melzer, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishmentFelipe González MoralesSpecial Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants;  Balakrishnan RajagopalSpecial Rapporteur on the right to adequate housingTlaleng MofokengSpecial Rapporteur on the right to healthAttiya WarisIndependent Expert on debt, other international financial obligations and human rightsPedro Arrojo AgudoSpecial Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation;Elina Steinerte (Chair-Rapporteur), Ms. Miriam Estrada-Castillo (Vice-Chair), Ms. Leigh ToomeyMr. Mumba MalilaMs. Priya GopalanWorking Group on arbitrary detention;Michael FakhriSpecial Rapporteur on the right to foodAhmed ShaheedSpecial Rapporteur on freedom of religion or beliefMuluka Anne Miti-Drummond,Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinismSiobhán MullallySpecial Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and childrenClément Nyaletsossi Voule, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; Isha Dyfan, Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia ; Luciano Hazan (Chair-Rapporteur), Aua Balde (Vice-Chair), Gabriella Citroni, Henrikas Mickevicius and Tae-Ung Baik, Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary DisappearancesAlexandra Xanthaki, Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights;Morris Tidball-Binz Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executionsAnais MarinSpecial rapporteur on the situation of human rights in BelarusSurya Deva (Chairperson), Elżbieta Karska (Vice-Chairperson), Githu MuigaiFernanda Hopenhaym, and Anita RamasastryWorking Group on Business and Human RightsDavid BoydSpecial Rapporteur on human rights and the environmentMs. Dominique Day (Chair), Ms. Catherine S. Namakula (Vice-Chair), Ms. Miriam Ekiudoko, Mr. Sushil RajMs. Barbara G. Reynolds Working Group of Experts on People of African DescentIrene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression