Geneva, 10 June 2011

Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Panellists,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am very pleased to open this fourth annual full-day discussion on women’s human rights and welcome such a distinguished group of experts.

Since 2007, the Human Rights Council has included a day dedicated to women’s rights into its programme of work in recognition of both the importance of women’s human rights and the centrality of women’s issues in this body’s activities.

This morning, our panel is dedicated to prevention, an essential aspect of countering violence against women. The afternoon session, which my Deputy will introduce, will focus on conflict-related violence against women.

Let me begin by noting that most Member States have enshrined in their own national legislations the international legal human rights framework to combat violence against women. Yet, this scourge continues to dwarf in magnitude any other kind of human rights violations. Indeed, according to the numbers we are sadly all too familiar with, one third of women in the world have experienced or will experience some form of violence in their lives, in some contexts up to 60 per cent of women experience physical violence at least once in their lifetime. Depicting the brutality used by perpetrators or the permanent physical and mental scars women are left with would not advance the purpose of our discussion this morning.

The General Assembly, the former Commission on Human Rights, the Security Council, this Council and many other bodies of the United Nations system have all acknowledged that violence against women is one of the worst manifestations of discrimination against women.  It must be countered and ultimately eliminated.  For this purpose, we now need to focus on concrete actions that can build on lessons learned and effectively contribute to eliminating violence against women.  The purpose of this panel is to discuss promising experiences and allow the Council to formulate recommendations on ways and actions to overcome the current gaps and challenges in averting violence against women.

Mr. President,

My Office was requested to present a report on good practices in efforts aimed at preventing violence against women. The report (A/HRC/17/23), written on the basis of the submissions of close to 90 stakeholders, including 42 Member States, provides an analytical overview of the practices reported as good or promising. The concluding part of the report seeks to define the main challenges that emerged from the submissions and offers avenues for action on preventing violence against women.

            The report organizes the good practices reported around three categories: legal measures, policy measures and operational measures.

            A general analysis of the submissions shows that preventing violence against women requires a spectrum of strategies and interventions accompanied by both political and financial commitments at all levels of the State, and involving a large range of actors and stakeholders. The programmes and initiatives often offered a combination of different tools and strategies involving various levels of society. Some of the responses clearly linked the struggle on violence against women to efforts to promote gender equality. In many States, a legal framework to protect women from violence, and to discourage and punish perpetrators is in place. These frameworks, however, are not always comprehensive, adequate and accessible to women, and their prevention aspects, if they have any, are not clearly emphasized.

The first main challenge identified in the report is the apparent lack of understanding of the definition and scope of prevention of violence against women. The UN system, and particularly, the Secretary-General’s in-depth study on violence against women defines three levels of prevention. These levels are: primary prevention – that is stopping violence before it occurs; secondary prevention – which corresponds to the immediate response after violence has occurred to limit its extent and consequences; and tertiary prevention – the longer-term care and support for those who have suffered violence. Even if it is not always possible to make a clear distinction between these three levels, taking them into consideration before shaping legislation, policies and other strategic programmes to prevent violence against women would improve both the effectiveness and adequacy of such measures.

In their submissions to the report, stakeholders did not, except one or two, explain how they understood prevention and how the practices they reported applied to the specific area of prevention. Examples focusing on the prevention of violence against women before it actually occurs were in their majority awareness-raising campaigns and education initiatives. Very few examples provided details on addressing the underlying determinants of violence against women, such as the cultural, economic, political and social structures and the patriarchal construction of societies.

The prevalence of violence against women is so high that no State has or will have the means to deal with the extent of the violations and the number of victims. This is why preventing violence from happening in the first place must be central to any strategy to eliminate violence against women.

The second main challenge I would like to highlight is a general absence of monitoring and evaluation measures attached to the various initiatives to prevent violence against women. Very little reference was made in the submissions to the monitoring measures and impact assessment of the reported good practices. This makes it difficult to affirm with certainty what constitutes “good” or “promising” practices.

Evaluating practices is further linked to two corollary issues, namely the lack of reliable information and data on violence against women and the lack of sustained funding for implementing related programmes. Efforts to properly research and understand the underlying causes and different manifestations and types of violence against women prevalent in a given society are still inadequate. Yet, such efforts are crucial to craft effective responses.

The lack of consistent funding for initiatives and policies aimed at preventing violence against women hampers sustainable implementation of programmes and activities over time and greatly affects their impact. The submissions showed that project-driven funding is often favoured by donors, thereby greatly limiting the sustainability and viability of practices over time.

Finally, the report highlights that prevention initiatives focusing on the underlying causes of violence against women, such as gender inequality and the feminization of poverty, are scarce. Yet, eliminating violence against women necessarily encompasses measures to empower women to stand for their own rights, make decisions on their lives and participate fully in the life of their communities. More in-depth research is needed to identify and understand the cultural, economic, political and social determinants of violence against women and the particular contexts and ways in which discrimination and violence against women manifests themselves.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

            My Office contributes to efforts to combat and prevent violence against women in a variety of ways, both at headquarters and on the ground through our field presences. For instance, our Regional Office for Central America based in Panama has undertaken a joint initiative with UNFPA and the University “Centro Americana José Simeón Cañas” which provides courses of continuing education for professionals in the justice, security and health sectors in El Salvador.  The project consists in the creation of a certificated training course on “Attention and Investigation of Gender-based Violence”.  The aim is to enhance that State’s capacities to exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with the new national legislation, punish acts of violence against women and guarantee reparations. The training course was officially launched at the end of May and the first participants will receive their diplomas in December this year.

            In Cameroon, our Central Africa Regional Office and the UN Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Central Africa contributed to the elaboration of the Cameroon National Gender policy, which frames the national effort to combat gender-based violence. More specifically, OHCHR provided technical advice on the drafting process, shared relevant documentation and instruments, and participated in and co-financed the national validation workshop for the draft national gender policy.

My Office also stands ready to continue supporting the Human Rights Council with setting priorities in addressing violence against women, following-up on consideration of the Secretary-General’s study on the subject by the General Assembly. The Secretary-General stated that “human rights provide a unifying set of norms that can be used to hold States accountable for adhering to their obligations, to monitor progress and to promote coordination and consistency.” Addressing violence against women as a human rights issue encourages an indivisible, holistic and multi-sectoral response. The Human Rights Council is thus well positioned to tackle the issue of violence against women in a comprehensive manner, which is the only way to make an impact on women’s life throughout the world.

Although, the pervasiveness of violence against women is disheartening, we must not let issue-fatigue creep in. In the struggle to eradicate violence against women, we should all task ourselves to be leading voices and engines of action. I urge the Council to continue its own advocacy in order to maintain this issue on everybody’s radar and thought stream.

I wish you a fruitful discussion.

Thank you.