full version - World Organisation Against Torture

Violence Against Women: 10 Reports / Year 2003more efforts to ensure not only that they are actually safe, but that anatmosphere of safety is created and felt by the asylum seekers.Furthermore, information regarding services for victims of violenceshould be provided to women asylum seekers as oftentimes they have fledsituations of conflict and have experienced violence.OMCT is equally concerned about reports of violence against women inprison and the fact that minority ethnic women represent a disproportionatepart of the women’s prison population. OMCT notes that the presenceof minority ethnic women in prison is potentially linked to their marginalizedstatus in society and encourages the government to investigate suchlinks. Further, OMCT insists on the absolute necessity of investigating allallegations of violence against women prisoners and holding the responsiblepersons accountable.Finally, OMCT would insist upon the need for the Government to fullyimplement the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms ofDiscrimination Against Women, the Beijing Rules and Platform forAction and the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence AgainstWomen as these instruments provide detailed protection for womenagainst violence in the family, in the community and at the hands of Stateofficials.1 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, June 1993, Part II, para. 42.2 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Fourth World Conference onWomen, 15 September 1995, A/CONF.177/20 (1995) and A/CONF.177/20/Add.1 (1995), para. 38.3 Ibid., para. 48.4 Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, GeneralRecommendation No. 25, 20 March 2000, UN Doc. CERD/C/56/Misc.21/Rev. 3.5 World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia andRelated Intolerance, Declaration, UN Doc. A/CONF. 189/12, 25 January 2002,paras. 2, 69 and 70.6 Council Directive, 2000/43/EC, (14).7 European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, Anti-discriminationLegislation in EU Member States: United Kingdom (2002).8 European Network Against Racism (ENAR), Shadow Report 2002, Racism andRace Relations in the UK, p. 23.406