Empowering Women: Inter-American Convention on Violence Prevention

1. ACWC Institutional Strengthening WorkshopSession 1 “The Role of Inter-American Commission of Women to promote and protect the rights of women in Americas: Challenges, Lessons Learned and Best Practices”Violence against women in the Americas at Belém do Pará +20: A hemispheric overview

2. The Belém do Pará Convention • Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women • Adopted in Belém do Pará, Brazil, in 1994 • Ratified by 32 States Party (all OAS, except Canada and the US) • Expression of political will to recognize violence against women as a violation of human rights • Places the issue of violence against women on the inter-American agenda – regional perspective • Good practice – contributed to the formulation and adoption of the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention (entry into force on August 1st 2014) • Collaboration with other regional bodies (AU, ASEAN, etc.)

3. Why an inter-American Convention? High incidence of violence against women… 1 in 3 women will be a victim of violence at some point in her lifetime • In Mexico, 46.5% of women over 15 state that they have suffered at least one incident of violence at the hands of their partner in the last 12 months • Among women who work, that number reaches 52.1% • In Argentina, over 8,000 women lodge formal complaints of violence every year • In Colombia, 37% of women ever-married or in union report having suffered physical aggression from their husbands or partners • In the Dominican Republic in 2012, 65,709 cases of violence against women were reported, including 3,488 cases of sexual violence • In Suriname in 2012, 2,582 women were victims of femicide at the hands of their intimate partners or ex-partners • Femicide – the murder of women for gender-based reasons

4. Why an inter-American Convention? High levels of social acceptance of violence against women… • Percentage of women who said that wife-beating is justified for at least one reason: Source: PAHO, 2013

5. Why an inter-American Convention? Deficient response to cases of violence, particularly from the justice sector… • Bolivia estimates a rate of attention to women victims of violence of 10.46 for every 100,000 (or 0.01%) • In El Salvador, between 2.7% and 5% of violent deaths among women (femicides) were prosecuted and ended in sentencing from 2005 to 2010 • In Guatemala in 2012, of a total of 7,548 registered cases of violence against women, only 12% reached sentencing • In Rio de Janeiro, 1,822 rapes were reported in the first 3 months of 2013, but only 70 people were arrested (3.8%) • In Chile, 236,417 cases of intra-family violence were registered in 2004, but of those only 6% were processed • In Ecuador, only 12% of cases of violence against women registered in 2004 initiated a subsequent judicial process

6. Why an inter-American Convention? Lack of access to justice for women victims of victims… “…although equality between women and men is guaranteed in the constitutions of 139 countries and territories, inadequate laws and loopholes in legislative frameworks, poor enforcement and vast implementation gaps make these guarantees hollow promises, having little impact on the day-to-day lives of women.” UN Women, In pursuit of justice, 2012 • Limited existence of legal standards on women’s rights in the region, despite a few landmark cases at the international and inter-American levels • Lack of confidence in the justice sector – in the United States, only about 25% of physical abuse, 20% of rapes, and 50% of stalkingsperpetuated against women by their intimate partners are ever reported to the police: • These rates are even lower among racial and ethnic minorities, migrants, LGBTI women • They are also lower in communities that face high levels of conflict and violence, where the police are seen as an instrument of control and repression, or affiliated with criminal elements

7. The Convention: • Strengthens the international legal framework on women’s rights and gender equality: • Inter-American human rights system: Commission and Court of Human Rights • Creation and application of international standards of protection: Jurisprudence • Affirms that violence against women is a violation of their human rights • Affirms that violence impedes the exercise of other fundamental rights • Recognizes women’s right to live free of violence • Defines violence against women as: …any act or conduct, based on gender, which causes death or physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, whether in the public or the private sphere

8. The Convention: • Requires that States act with due diligence to prevent, investigate and punish violence – wherever it occurs: • Condemn all forms of violence in both the public and private spheres • Include in their domestic legislation and policy, provisions that will ensure compliance with the objectives of the Convention • Abstain from any action or practice that constitutes violence • Adopt policies that aim to prevent, punish and eradicate violence • Adopt legal measures that effectively protect women from their abusers • Establish legal procedures that ensure that women who have been subjected to violence have access to justice and due process • Establish just and effective legal procedures (protection orders, timely trial, etc.) • Train justice, police and other personnel responsible for the application of the law

9. Monitoring and evaluation: Follow-up Mechanism to the Belém do Pará Convention (MESECVI): • Established in 2004, because the implementation of the Convention in the States Party was not proceeding according to expectations: • Some progress on the legal framework, but still largely limited to the issue of domestic/intra-family violence • Few services available to women victims of violence • Justice sector either unaware of the existence of the Convention, or unwilling to take it into account • No indicators or data available to monitor the impact of the Convention on the incidence of VAW • Very little budget assigned to the response to VAW • MESECVI is a systematic and ongoing multi-lateral evaluation methodology, based on a forum for permanent dialogue and technical cooperation between the States Party to the Convention and a Committee of Experts • The goal of the MESECVI is to analyze progress in the implementation of the Convention by its States Party, as well as persistent challenges to an effective response to violence against women

10. Monitoring and evaluation: Follow-up Mechanism to the Belém do Pará Convention (MESECVI): • Information gathering via questionnaires (evaluation phase) and specific indicators (follow-up phase): • Legislation (in line with the provisions of the Convention) • National Plans (to address VAW) • Access to Justice (for women victims of violence) • Specialized Services (for women victims of violence) • Information and Statistics (on forms of VAW that affect different groups of women) • Budgets (public resources available to prevent, respond to and punish VAW) • Production of national evaluation reports (56) and hemispheric evaluation (2) and follow-up (1) reports • Calls attention to both achievements and gaps in the implementation of the Convention

11. Coordination: Follow-up Mechanism to the Belém do Pará Convention (MESECVI): • Participation of civil society groups in the preparation of “shadow reports” that are used by the Committee of Experts in preparing national, hemispheric and follow-up reports • Communication of reporting results to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) and other key inter-American bodies for use as support material in cases involving women’s rights • Coordination with UN Women and other key international organizations to share information, exchange good practices and avoid duplication of efforts • Establishment of knowledge platform and other tools on the implementation of the Belém do Pará Convention (“index” of implementation, compendium of good practices, etc.)

12. Belém do Pará +20: Legislation • Most countries comply with the majority of the provisions of the Convention (52.4%) • Only 8 have adopted “integrated laws” that are harmonized with the Convention’s definition of VAW • Some countries have explicitly recognized specific forms of violence – economic, patrimonial, symbolic, femicide, etc. • Many countries (Caribbean) still limit the definition of VAW to domestic or intra-family violence • Two major gaps in all States: • Responsibility of the State and its agents for acts of violence against women • Sexual and reproductive rights

13. Belém do Pará +20: National Plans • 20 States have adopted national plans on violence against women • Other states have included the issue of VAW in their national gender equality plans • Bahamas, Saint Kitts & Nevis and Trinidad & Tobago have neither of these instruments • Lack of focus on results-based management: • No or little monitoring and evaluation of their implementation • Little idea of their impact in terms of the incidence of violence against women, State response or social norms/behaviour

14. Belém do Pará +20: Access to justice • States collectively comply with only 25.8% of the provisions of the Convention • Some progress: • Existence of entities that can receive complaints • Protection orders • Availability of free legal services • What is the impact of these measures on the incidence of violence and the presentation of complaints? • Lack of information on: • Number of complaints filed • Their fate in terms of investigation, judicial process, decision and sentencing • Gender stereotypes/prejudices in judicial consideration and decision-making • Continued use of conciliation and mediation in cases of violence

15. Belém do Pará +20: Specialized services • States collectively comply with only 43.4% of the provisions of the Convention • We lack information on compliance with 31.6% of provisions • Some progress: • Establishment of shelters • 1-800 (emergency) hotlines • Availability of free legal services • Information/awareness campaigns • What is the impact of these services on the incidence of violence? Link between availability of services and access to justice? • Little to no monitoring and evaluation of impact/results of these services

16. Belém do Pará +20: Information and statistics • States collectively comply with only 16.7% of the provisions of the Convention • We lack information on compliance with 52.6% of these provisions • Some progress: • National surveys in some States • Strengthened police, justice and health registries on cases of violence against women and what happens to them • Still lacking data disaggregated by age, ethnicity and other factors that would give a better picture of the extent and reach of VAW • Data on other forms of violence than domestic/intra-family and/or physical (women and men as both victims and perpetrators)

17. Belém do Pará +20: Budgets • Almost impossible to evaluate State progress in this area – lack of information on the allocation of public resources to the issue of VAW (prevention, care and punishment) • Some States have informed that they allocate resources to addressing VAW, but none specify: • What % of public spending • How these resources are distributed • The relation between the resources allocated and the demand for health, justice and other specialized services • Impact of these resources on violence against women and the State response

18. Belém do Pará +20: From policy to practice • The law is an expression of political will – but remains as such if not implemented • LAC has made progress in the area of legislation and public policy, but there is still a gap between the legal framework and women’s reality • How do we get from policy to practice? Access to justice • Effective response from the police: Protection of victims as subjects of human rights • Judicial treatment that is impartial and free from gender stereotypes/prejudices • Consistent application of punishment and sentences