Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

The proposed American Declaration was approved by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 1977, but the Declaration has yet to be fully adopted by the Organization of American States. This link provides the full text of the Declaration along with annotations for each individual article. The annotations contain useful information about the basis for the articles in international and domestic authorities and precedents.

This is the first and only multilateral human rights treaty that focuses exclusively on violence against women. It was adopted in 1994. The Convention sets out the definition and scope of application, the rights protected, the duties of States, and the Inter-American mechanisms of protection. The Convention affirms "that violence against women pervades every sector of society regardless of class, race or ethnic group, income, culture, level of education, age or religion and strikes at its very foundations." The Convention provides a broad definition of violence, which includes