North America

http://www.bwjp.org/resource-center/resource-results/violence-against-wo...

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Despite legal and policy measures designed to protect victims, domestic violence remains a pervasive rights violation in the United States. Legal and policy developments in the criminal justice system over the past few decades have improved the protection scheme for victims of domestic violence, including the availability of civil protection orders, mandatory arrest laws for abusers and mandatory prosecution policies. However, these measures are not uniformly applied and can create additional problems for victims from marginalized populations. Domestic violence is greatly influenced by contextual factors such as poverty, legal status or residence.

https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/nisvs/summaryreports.html

Please click "Full Report" on the page in order to view the document.

Published in 2011, the NISVS 2010 Summary Report presents data on the national prevalence of IPV, SV, and stalking among women and men in the United States. The 2010 survey is the first year of the survey and provides baseline data that will be used to track IPV, SV, and stalking trends.

http://justice.uaa.alaska.edu/avs/alaska.html

"Summary of Estimates" on right side

The 2010 Alaska Victimization Survey for Alaska statewide was conducted from May to June 2010. Results were released on September 30, 2010 in Anchorage. Findings include:

• About 59% of adult women in Alaska have experienced intimate partner violence, sexual violence or both, in their lifetime;
• Nearly 12% have experienced intimate partner violence, sexual violence or both, in the past year; 
• About 37% of adult women in the Alaska have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime; and 
• About 48% have experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetime.

http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/SEN/Committee/403/huma/rep/rep05nov10-e.htm

From September 2009 to April 2010, the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights conducted a study of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, which was adopted unanimously by the Council in October 2000. The Committee focused its study on the implementation of the resolution by the UN and, in particular, Canada. Resolution 1325 was the first adopted by the Security Council to explicitly address the impact of armed conflict on women. It introduced a set of international standards for all UN member states, conflict belligerents, the UN system and its peacekeeping forces, and other stakeholders. Under the resolution, these actors must take varying steps to ensure that efforts to prevent resolve and rebuild from armed conflict incorporate the perspectives of women. They must facilitate women‘s full involvement in relevant decision-making. The resolution also calls for full implementation of international law relevant to armed conflict, condemning any violations of the rights and security of women.

This landmark resolution has since been strengthened by three additional Security Council resolutions. Resolution 1820 on sexual violence in armed conflict (2008) has as its sole objective the improvement of efforts to protect women and girls in conflict situations and to prosecute cases of human rights abuses against women therein – particularly sexual violence. Resolution 1888 (2009) institutes more robust implementing commitments. Resolution 1889 (2009) targets post-conflict peacebuilding.

http://www.amnesty.ca/research/reports/no-more-stolen-sisters-the-need-f...

Indigenous women in Canada face much higher rates of violence than other women. In a 2004 Canadian government survey, Indigenous women reported rates of violence, including domestic violence and sexual assault, 3.5 times higher than non-Indigenous women. Studies suggest that assaults against Indigenous women are not only more frequent, they are also often particularly brutal. According to another government survey, young First Nations women are five times more likely than other women to die as a result of violence.

http://www.amnesty.ca/research/reports/no-more-stolen-sisters-the-need-f...

‘Families like mine all over Canada are wondering how many more sisters and daughters we have to lose before real government action is taken.’ Darlene Osborne whose relatives, Felicia Solomon and Helen Betty Osborne, were murdered.

Indigenous women in Canada face much higher rates of violence than other women. In a 2004 Canadian government survey, Indigenous women reported rates of violence, including domestic violence and sexual assault, 3.5 times higher than non-Indigenous women. Studies suggest that assaults against Indigenous women are not only more frequent, they are also often particularly brutal. According to another government survey, young First Nations women are five times more likely than other women to die as a result of violence.

In October 2004, Amnesty International released  a report, Stolen Sisters: A Human Rights Response to Discrimination and Violence against Indigenous Women in Canada which documented some of the underlying causes of violence against Indigenous women carried out by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous men. As the report showed, widespread and entrenched racism, poverty and marginalization are critical factors exposing Indigenous women to a heightened risk of violence while denying them adequate protection by police and government services.

http://vaw.sagepub.com/content/7/10/1122.short

This article investigated whether women's physical health symptoms were due to abuse, poverty, or both. A community sample of 397 women, about half of whom had been assaulted by an intimate partner, were interviewed about their income, experience of physical abuse, and physical health. Hierarchical multiple regression revealed that both income and physical abuse contributed to women's rates of physical health symptoms. Abuse contributed to the variance in physical health beyond that predicted by income level alone. Findings suggest that abuse by an intimate partner or ex-partner negatively affects women's health and is especially detrimental to the health of low-income women.

http://www.oas.org/dil/treaties_B-32_American_Convention_on_Human_Rights...

http://www.oas.org/juridico/english/treaties/a-61.html

The Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women, known as the Convention of Belém do Pará (where it was adopted in 1994), defines violence against women, establishes that women have the right to live a life free of violence and that violence against women constitutes a violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms. 

It calls for the first time for the establishment of mechanisms for protecting and defending women's rights as essential to combating the phenomenon of violence against women's physical, sexual, and psychological integrity, whether in the public or the private sphere, and for asserting those rights within society.

http://www.cidh.oas.org/Basicos/English/Basic2.american%20Declaration.htm

The American Declaration is the first general international human rights instrument. Approximately eight months following its adoption, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The American Declaration establishes that "the essential rights of man are not derived from the fact that he is a national of a certain state, but are based upon attributes of his human personality."  Accordingly, the States of the Americas recognize that when the state legislates in this area, it does not create or grant rights, but rather recognizes rights that exist independent of the formation of the State. Both the Commission and the Court have established that despite having been adopted as a declaration and not as a treaty, today the American Declaration constitutes a source of international obligations for the Member States of the OAS.