Indicators on violence against women: A human rights perspective

1. Indicators on violence against women: A human rights perspective Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Laure-Anne Courdesse lcourdesse@ohchr.org; vaw@ohchr.org UNECE, Conference of European Statisticians, Group of experts on Gender Statistics

2. Using a human rights lense: Rationale and basis for indicators • Framework for human rights indicators • Proposals by the SR on VAW • Main approaches: Differences? Debates?

3. I. Rationale and basis for indicators

4. Rationale • Instrumental reasons: Key link between policy and statistics: policy tool to devise strategies / set priorities based on accurate data • State obligation to monitor human rights violations and progress to fulfill rights. → Monitoring of scope of VAW and State action (often overlooked): Framework for human rights indicators proposes three key components (structural/process/outcomes)

5. Guiding principles for developing indicators • Non-discrimination: - Disaggregation of data for any type of HR indicator (age; race; disability, etc.) - Data gathering also on forms affecting relatively few women or those that are marginalised • International standards and commentaries by human rights treaty bodies/UN: UN Declaration on the Elimination of violence Against Women, CEDAW, ICC Statute, Inter-American Convention on VAW, etc.

6. Definition of VAW as basis • “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty whether occurring in public or private life”(UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, article 1) • Sites of VAW: Family; Community; State; Transnational Sphere → who are the perpetrators of violence? All forms of violence against women as recognized internationally should be addressed (and thus measured)

7. OHCHR Framework for indicators Structural indicators (commitments) • reflect ratification / adoption of legal instruments and existence of basic institutional mechanisms deemed necessary for facilitating realisation of concerned right Process indicators (efforts) • relate the state policy instruments with milestones (which cumulate into outcomes), hence capture accountability as well as the notion of progressive realisation Outcome indicators (results) • capture attainments, individual and collective, that reflect the status of realisation of the human rights in given context

8. OHCHR framework – right to health example

9. Proposals by the SR on VAW • A/HRC/7/6, March 2008 • Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2004/46: • GA Resolution 61/143 (2006): “to recommend proposals for indicators in violence against women and on measures taken by, inter alia, Member States, to eliminate violence against women.” requests UN Statistical Commission to propose, “building on the work of the Special Rapporteur, possible indicators to assess the scope, prevalence and incidence of VAW.”

10. Indicators on VAW (outcomes) • « Grave violence »: proportion of female population who have experienced grave violence in the past 12 months; proportion of female population who have ever experienced grave violence (a) Any incidence of rape/serious sexual assault/coercion in childhood or adulthood, FGM, child/forced marriage, trafficking, sexual exploitation (b) IPV, stalking, sexual harassment when serious and/or frequent • Inclusive definition of grave violence to redress unbalanced knowledge base (IPV, sexual assault, FGM) • Layered compliance (IPV, rape and sexual assault, FGM), taking into account resources / capacities of States – realization of human rights over time.

11. Femicide – The trend in female deaths due to femicide Gravest form of VAW but not captured by prevalence surveys e.g. murder by intimate partner, killings of sex workers; killings in the name of honor; female infanticide, dowry-related deaths • Social tolerance – evidence of decreasing tolerance of VAW

12. State response:Structural/Institutional indicators Indicators developed within following components: • ratification of CEDAW • ratification of relevant regional conventions • recognition of non-discrimination/gender equality • PoA on VAW • criminalization of all forms of VAW

13. State response:Process indicators • Access to justice and reporting: increased reporting rates; decreased attrition rates for prosecution and conviction (based on admin. data) • Victim protection: increase in the index of support services • Prevention: awareness raising campaign; violence prevention in school curriculum • Training: increased capacity of professionals to respond to VAW

14. IV. Differences? Debates? • Same message to countries – data collection on VAW a must • Focus on State response in addition to measuring the violence – a complementary approach. How and by which bodies should State response be measured?

15. Similar forms of VAW to start with - physical violence, sexual violence, and FGM and/or IPV • Call to expand list to other forms of violence E.g. femicide, sexual harassment; violence against girls; forced marriage; violence by family members; trafficking; violence against migrant women or other vulnerable groups, etc. • Definitions issue: e.g. rape

16. Practicality (selected list of indicators) vs. government obligation and reality of violence: Key methodological challenges? Data-generating mechanisms? Stat. Surveys; administrative records; but also ‘events-based’ data on human rights violations (NGOs; UN/SG/Special Rapporteurs’ studies/reports; opinion surveys