PIL Discussion Group: Prohibiting Violence against Women under International Human Rights Law

Violence against women emerged as an international human rights law issue through the adoption of the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women’s General Recommendation 19 (1992), the United Nations General Assembly’s Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (1993) and the Belém do Pará Convention (1994). Yet we know relatively little about how the three instruments were created. Based on archival research and interviews with key individuals, this talk explores the drafting of these instruments. It identifies the involvement of experts, reveals the background influence of women’s international human rights groups and shows that the three processes were linked. This can best be seen in the drafting of the definitions of violence against women. In the drafting process, there was a move from bricolage to consistency. Initial drafts were produced by experts, who drew on a range of materials they had before them. However, once the first instruments were adopted, there was a move to consistency across instruments. Consistency has led to a shared understanding of the notion. However, it came at a cost, with insufficient attention paid to the differences between the different types of instruments (treaty, declaration, general recommendation) and the approach each of these instruments took to the issue.

Sandesh Sivakumaran is Professor of International Law at the University of Cambridge, Director of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, and Fellow of St Edmund’s College, Cambridge.