Universal-Womens-accesss-to-justice-Publications-Practitioners-Guide-Series-2016-ENG

18 PRACTITIONERS GUIDE No. 12
There is also a separate Plan of Action for the Arab League
concerning violence against women in conflict, using the
framework of Security Council Resolution 1325 and the
subsequent resolutions.
In the ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) region,
two non-binding standards have been adopted: the ASEAN
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women in
the ASEAN Region of 2004; and the Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence Against Women and the Elimination of
Violence Against Children in ASEAN of 2013. At the time of
writing this Practitioners Guide, the ASEAN Commission on
Women and Children (ACWC) is in the process of negotiating an
ASEAN Region Plan of Action on Elimination of Violence Against
Women.
Human rights law requires women’s empowerment to
address discrimination, including gender-based violence
The prohibition against gender-based discrimination is not only
contained in numerous universal and global human rights
treaties, it is also a part of customary international law, which
binds all States. 21 Gender-based violence has been recognized
as a form of discrimination. 22 Therefore States must act to
prevent, prohibit, eradicate and remedy gender-based violence.
21
Ian Brownlie, Principles of Public International Law (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 8 th edition, 2012), page 645, which cites: the United
Nations Charter, Articles 55 and 56; the practice and organs of the
United Nations (including General Assembly resolutions); the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights; international and regional human rights
conventions, especially the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Convention), which is
widely ratified; and Human Rights Committee, General Comment No
28, “The Equality of Rights between Men and Women (Article 3)”, UN
Doc CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.10 (2000).
22
CEDAW General Recommendation No 19, above note 16, paragraph
6, which provides: “The definition of discrimination includes genderbased
violence, that is, violence that is directed against a woman
because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately”.