Publications by Type: Report

2011
National Data on Intimate Partner Violence. Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence - New York; 2011. Publisher's VersionAbstract

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

 

Select Full Report in: NISVS 2010 Report on Intimate Partner Violence

This data sheet contains selected, recent, national statistics related to intimate partner violence (IPV) – violence by current and former spouses, dating partners and cohabiting partners. All statistics are rounded to the nearest whole percent. Most of the statistics come from government sources; some are from research studies and summary reports generated by non-profit groups. OPDV also keeps a regularly updated list of relevant national statistical reports.

Judgments of the Inter-American Court. Organization of American States; 2011. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/women/decisions/ia_court_hr.asp

A list of judgments made by the OAS on human rights cases. 

National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2010 Summary Report. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Center for Injury Prevention; 2011. Publisher's VersionAbstract

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.

Manjoo R. Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against Women, its causes and consequences: Mission to the United States of America, 2011. United Nations General Assembly; 2011. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/SRWomen/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx

2011 Addendum - Mission to the United States of America

The Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences visited the United States of America from 24 January to 7 February 2011. In the present report, she broadly examines the situation of violence against women in the country, including such issues as violence in custodial settings, domestic violence, violence against women in the military and violence against women who face multiple, intersecting forms of discrimination, particularly native American, immigrant and African-American women. The Special Rapporteur highlights the positive legislative and policy initiatives undertaken by the Government to reduce the prevalence of violence against women, including the enactment and subsequent reauthorizations of the Violence against Women Act, and the establishment of dedicated offices on violence against women at the highest level of the Executive. The Violence against Women Act has steadily expanded funding to address domestic violence and, with each reauthorization, has included historically underserved groups. 

Violence Against Women in the United States and the State's Obligation to Protect. Center for Reproductive Rights; 2011. Publisher's VersionAbstract

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

Access document under "Download Resource" button

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.

Khalife N. "How Come You Allow Little Girls to Get Married?" - Child Marriage in Yemen. Human Rights Watch; 2011. Publisher's VersionAbstract

https://www.hrw.org/report/2011/12/07/how-come-you-allow-little-girls-ge...

The political turmoil that has swept Yemen since early 2011 has overshadowed the plight of child brides such as Reem, as thousands of protesters took to the streets to demand the end of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 33-year rule, and security forces responded with excessive and deadly force. But, while the focus of attention both inside and outside of Yemen is understandably the political future of the country, following President Saleh’s agreement in November to cede power before elections in February, child marriages and other discrimination against women and girls in Yemen continue unabated. And while the president’s resignation topped the list of most protestors’ demand, many young demonstrators especially are calling for a wide range of reforms, including measures to guarantee equality between women and men, and an end to child marriage.

Regional Overview for the Middle East and North Africa, MENA Gender Equality Profile. UNICEF; 2011. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.unicef.org/gender/gender_62215.html

To view this report, please click the document "Regional Overview for the Middle East and North Africa."

In 2011 the Middle East and North African Regional Office (MENARO) developed Gender Equality Profiles for all the countries in the MENA Region. The objective of the MENA gender equality profiles is to provide user-friendly, summary information on the status and situation of girls and women for all countries in the Middle East and North Africa Region.

“He Loves You, He Beats You” - Family Violence in Turkey and Access to Protection. Human Rights Watch; 2011. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2011/05/04/he-loves-you-he-beats-you

This report documents brutal and long-lasting violence against women and girls by husbands, partners, and family members and the survivors’ struggle to seek protection. Turkey has strong protection laws, setting out requirements for shelters for abused women and protection orders. However, gaps in the law and implementation failures by police, prosecutors, judges, and other officials make the protection system unpredictable at best, and at times downright dangerous.

Kapur N. Everyday Equality. United Nations Development Fund for Women (part of UN Women) South Asia; 2011. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://asiapacific.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2011/12/e...

This report tracks the progress made by women in South Asia in areas such as violence against women, and economic empowerment. This was the base document for the Seventh South Asia Regional Ministerial Conference in October 2010. 

Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. Council of Europe; 2011. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.coe.int/en/web/istanbul-convention/text-of-the-convention

Stalking, sexual harassment, sexual violence and rape, physical, sexual and psychological abuse at the hands of intimate partners, forced marriage, and forced sterilisation are deeply traumatising acts of violence. The overwhelming majority of victims are women. Adding female genital mutilation and forced abortion as forms of violence that only women can be subjected to, shows the shocking level of diversity in cruel and degrading behaviour that women experience. If we consider the fact that most violence is carried out by men, it is just a small step to understanding that violence against women is structural violence – violence that is used to sustain male power and control. This is even more obvious if we look at the patchy attempts of the police, courts and social services to help women victims which is seen in many countries across the world. 

The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence is based on the understanding that violence against women is a form of gender-based violence that is committed against women because they are women. It is the obligation of the state to fully address it in all its forms and to take measures to prevent violence against women, protect its victims and prosecute the perpetrators. Failure to do so would make it the responsibility of the state. The convention leaves no doubt: there can be no real equality between women and men if women experience gender-based violence on a large-scale and state agencies and institutions turn a blind eye. 

Because it is not only women who suffer domestic violence, parties to the convention are encouraged to apply the protective framework it creates to men, children and the elderly who are exposed to violence within the family or domestic unit. Still, it should not be overlooked that the majority of victims of domestic violence are women and that domestic violence against them is part of a wider pattern of discrimination and inequality.

Rape and sexual violence: Human rights law and standards in the International Criminal Court. London, UK: Amnesty International; 2011. Publisher's VersionAbstract

https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/IOR53/001/2011/en/

This document identifies how the crimes of rape and sexual violence must, as a requirement of its own statute and a matter of international human rights law, be interpreted and applied with equality between men and women by the International Criminal Court (the Court). The Court has yet to rule on this matter in its jurisprudence.

Such incorporation of human rights law and standards in the prosecution of rape and sexual violence should be undertaken by other international courts, as well as national courts, in order to discharge states’ duties under treaty and customary law.

In order to incorporate human rights law and standards in its practice, the Court’s interpretation of the definition of the crimes should address the behaviour and actions of the perpetrator, and how this affects the victim’s ability to exercise free and genuine choice, that is, to enjoy his or her human right to physical and mental integrity and sexual autonomy, without discrimination. The Court’s deliberation should not just address the victim’s purported ‘consent’ in isolation.

Human rights law and standards requires that investigations and prosecutions of the crimes of rape and sexual violence must be undertaken with careful attention given to the task of challenging stereotypes, which tend to undermine women’s equality before the law. The integrity of investigations and prosecutions should not be tainted by stereotypical assumptions, including assumptions about sexual violence towards men and boys, as well as towards women and girls.

Progress of the World's Women: In Pursuit of Justice. United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women; 2011. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2011/7/progress-o...

Progress of the World's Women: In Pursuit of Justice looks at how the legal system can play a positive role in women accessing their rights, citing cases that have changed women's lives both at a local and at times global level. It also looks at the important role women have played and continue to play as agents for change within the legal system, as legislators, as lawyers, as community activists; but also asks why, despite progress on legal reform, the justice system is still not delivering justice for all women.

The report focuses on four key areas: legal and constitutional frameworks, the justice chain, plural legal systems and conflict and post-conflict. Drawing on tangible examples of steps that have been taken to help women access justice, the report sets out ten key recommendations for policy and decision makers to act on in order to ensure every woman is able to obtain justice.

Law of rape in India. Fylfot Group of Advocates; 2011. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.legalhelplineindia.com/law-of-rape-in-india/

The word rape is Latin term ratio, which means seize i.e. forcible seizure which constitutes the main ingredient of the offence of rape. Law of rape in India however further widens the definition and means intercourse with a woman without her consent by force, fear or fraud. Several explanations of force fear and fraud has been incorporated to make the law of rape in India more comprehensive and stringent. Law of rape in India is contained in Indian Penal Code; Section 375 defines rape which can be reproduced as under:

Pakistan: State of Human Rights in 2011. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan; 2011. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://hrcp-web.org/publication/book/annual-report-2011-english/

2011 was a mixed bag for human rights. There certainly were some positives; some things remained unchanged; and then there were the aggravations. Ratification of a key child rights instrument, extension of Political Parties Act to FATA, introduction of laws to promote women's rights, religious minorities getting representation in the Senate, and a right to statutory bail for detainees in prisons are all steps that ought to be welcomed.

Unfortunately, the inability to introduce implementation mechanisms for international human rights treaties ratified by Pakistan remained unchanged, as did the indifference to or complicity with banning women from voting, and curbing disappearances and extrajudicial killings. The moratorium on executions stayed informal. The prisons remained at breaking point. Nothing was done to revive elected student unions in educational institutions or end the glut of weapons across the country. The public education system remained a scandal, the budgetary allocations to public healthcare fell even further, the government ceded ground to extremists and was utterly unprepared at the framework level to cope with internal displacement and its impact.

Bangladesh: Domestic violence, including legislation, state protection, and services available to victims. Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada; 2011. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.ecoi.net/local_link/203055/308008_en.html

According to Human Rights Watch, domestic violence in Bangladesh is "a daily reality for many women" (2011, 3; Human Rights Watch 2010, 4). The 2007 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey reported that 53 percent of the ever-married women surveyed had experienced some form of physical and/or sexual violence by their husbands (NIPORT et al. Mar. 2009, 201). In 2010, the Bangladesh Police registered 16,210 cases of "[c]ruelty to women" (Bangladesh n.d.a), a term that, under the Prevention of Cruelty Against Women and Children Act, includes rape, trafficking, dowry-related violence, acid throwing, and other forms of violence, but that does not necessarily include domestic violence since "there is no separate provision to seek justice for domestic violence" (UN 24 Mar. 2010, 28, 89).
A Long Way to Go: Implementation of the Elimination of Violence against Women Law in Afghanistan. UNAMA; 2011. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/AF/UNAMA_Nov2011.pdf

This report is based on research carried out by UNAMA/OHCHR human rights officers in Kabul and in eight UNAMA regional offices between March 2010 and September 2011. UNAMA/OHCHR officers gathered detailed statistical and substantive information on implementation of the EVAW law by prosecutors, judges and police officers, and on the status of operations of provincial Commissions for Prevention of Violence against Women. 

The use of Council of Europe treaties in the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. Research Division of the European Court of Human Rights; 2011. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.echr.coe.int/Pages/home.aspx?p=caselaw/analysis&c=#n1347459030234_pointer

The report is found under the Case-law research reports heading as "Use of Council of Europe treaties in the case-law of the Court." 

This document, which has been prepared by the Research and Library Division of the Court, contains a table listing references that have been made in the judgments and decisions of the Court to the Council of Europe treaties up to 30 June 2011. Fifty-six treaties have been cited in the Court’s case-law. The European Social Charter of 1961, revised in 1996, is the treaty that has been the most referred to.

The table covers conventions to which reference is made in any part of the Court’s judgments and decisions, including the parties’ submissions and dissenting opinions, as well as treaties that have been referred to only in passing or indirectly through other international instruments or decisions. Treaties which the Court itself has described as international law relevant to a particular case and/or on which it has relied in its reasoning form a majority in this list.

Council of Europe conventions and agreements opened for signature between 1949 and 2003 were published in the European Treaty Series" (ETS No. 001 to 193 included). Since 2004, this Series is continued by the Council of Europe Treaty Series (CETS No. 194 and following). The term “ECHR” (“CEDH” in French) refers to the European Convention on Human Rights. 

Manjoo R. Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences: Mission to Zambia. United Nations General Assembly; 2011. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Women/SRWomen/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx

2011 - Addendum - Mission to Zambia

This report contains the findings of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, following her visit to Zambia from 6 to 11 December 2010. It examines the situation of violence against women in the country taking into account its causes and consequences. It also discusses the State’s response to prevent such violence, protect and provide remedies to women who have been subjected to such violence, and to prosecute and punish the perpetrators.

Crime Report 2010/2011: Crimes Challenge Facing the SAPS. South African Police Service; 2011. Publisher's VersionAbstract

https://www.issafrica.org/search/?q=2010-2011%20crime%20analysis

Annual Report: 2010/2011

The present report deals with the reported national serious crime figures and ratios for the 2010/2011 financial year (that is the period 1 April 2010 - 31 March 2011). These are compared to the figures recorded during the preceding financial years since 2003/2004. The provincial crime figures are also analysed in more detail and some comments made on aspects influencing the crime situation. More detailed crime figures and maps are provided on the SAPS website at www.saps.gov.za.

Baird N. To Ratify or Not to Ratify? An Assessment of the Case for Ratification of International Human Rights Treaties in the Pacific. Melbourne: Melbourne University; 2011. Publisher's VersionAbstract

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/MelbJIL/2011/10.html

This article explores whether ratifying international human rights treaties is a useful strategy to advance the cause of human rights in the Pacific. Much of the recent discussion has promoted the advantages of ratification.

The aim of this article is to contribute to the ratification debate by considering the potential responses Pacific states might make to the call for ratification. It assumes that the desired ultimate goal is greater protection of human rights in the Pacific, but suggests that in light of the challenges of ratification, there may be more effective means of advancing human rights in the Pacific than wholesale ratification of outstanding treaties.

While in the long-term ratification remains a worthy goal, in the short-term it may not be the best way forward. Instead, it may be more appropriate to focus on alternative means of advancing human rights. This may be through a combination of stronger domestic means to protect and promote human rights, the development of a Pacific regional mechanism to promote rights, and active engagement with the United Nations’ Human Rights Council’s new Universal Periodic Review (‘UPR’) mechanism. Selective ratification of individual treaties may still be worthwhile, but on a gradual basis, and certainly not wholesale.

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