This document presents a background paper on gender based violence and the law. This background paper was prepared for the World Development Report 2017 Governance and the Law. This paper investigates the potential and shortcomings of legislative action – and how international and national laws can interact with norms in ways that can be conducive to the reduction of the risk of violence. We argue that there has been major progress in establishing the right of women to live free of violence in both international and national law, especially over the past decade or so, with civil society movements at the local and global levels playing a pivotal role. At the same time, there is some way to go to address the underlying norms and behaviors associated with violence.
This document presents a handbook for legislation on violence against women, prepared by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs/Division for the Advancement of Women (DESA/DAW), is intended to assist States and other stakeholders to enhance existing, or develop new laws to protect women. I highly recommend the contents of this Handbook, and I am thankful to the members of the Expert Group Meeting for their valuable work in producing the report upon which this Handbook is based. The recommendations it provides in the model framework for legislation on violence against women serve as a useful tool in supporting efforts to provide justice, support, protection and remedies to victims and to hold perpetrators accountable. The commentaries which accompany the recommendations highlight promising examples from laws worldwide.
This document presents The Secretary-General’s in-depth study on violence against women mandated by General Assembly resolution 58/185. This study was prepared by the Division for the Advancement of Women of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat. Specifically, the study aims to: highlight the persistence and unacceptability of all forms of violence against women in all parts of the world; strengthen the
political commitment and joint efforts of all stakeholders to prevent and eliminate violence against women; and identify ways and means to ensure more sustained and effective implementation of State obligations to address all forms of violence against women, and to increase State accountability.
