Domestic Violence Legislation and its Implementation

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Background
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
LEGISLATION AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION
1. This publication is a collation of two research papers that UNIFEM (now part of UN Women)
commissioned for the ASEAN regional workshop on domestic violence legislation held in Hanoi
on 20-21 October 2008. The papers, International Standards on Domestic Violence Legislation
and a Review of ASEAN Laws and Overview of Global Good Practices on Domestic Violence
Response Systems, were prepared by the Lawyers Collective Women’s Rights Initiative, India.
2. The papers aim to analyse relevant legislation on domestic violence in ASEAN countries and
global good practices. They were prepared mainly through a desk review of domestic laws in
ASEAN countries as well as existing research and knowledge of international standards and
good practices at the national, regional and international levels.
International standards on domestic violence legislation
3. Domestic violence has been a persistent problem throughout recorded history and is regarded
as one of the primary public policy concerns worldwide. The Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (UDHR), adopted in 1948, specifi cally recognizes the right to equality in its Articles 1,
2 and 7. The UDHR has acquired, over the years, the status of a jus cogens, or a norm of
customary international law binding all States. The right to equality is also recognised in the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Article 3).
4. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is the
most important international instrument on women’s human rights. It establishes the norms and
standards on discrimination against women, substantive equality, and state obligation.
5. CEDAW obligates States to undertake measures to respect, protect and fulfi l the equal
rights of women. States are obliged to ensure that there is no direct or indirect discrimination
against women in their laws, and that women are protected against discrimination. States
are obligated to improve the de facto position of women through concrete and effective
policies and programmes, and to address prevailing gender inequality and persistent gender
stereotypes that are perpetuated in law, societal structures, institutions, and by individual
actors.
6. Although CEDAW does not include an explicit reference to violence against women, subsequent
developments in international law and in interpreting CEDAW have recognized violence as a
violation of human rights. The General Recommendation 19 of the CEDAW Committee of 1992
interpreted the term “discrimination” in Article 1 of the Convention to include gender based violence
on the basis that it is “violence that is disproportionately directed against a woman because she is
a woman or that affects women disproportionately. It includes acts that infl ict physical, mental or
sexual harm or suffering, threats of such acts, coercion and other deprivations of liberty. Gender
based violence may breach specifi c provisions of the Convention, regardless of whether those
provisions expressly mention violence.”
VII