Cultural Practices in the Family That are Violent Towards Women - Report of the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women (Delivered at the 58th Session of the Commission on Human Rights)

This report emphasizes States' responsibility to eradicate violence in the family, including violence tolerated on the basis of arguments of cultural relativism. The Special Rapporteur identifies various cultural practices that are discriminatory against women in the community and provides recommendations on ways to eliminate these practices. The Special Rapporteur suggests that States develop penal, civil and administrative sanctions in domestic legislation to punish violence in the family and provide redress to women victims, even where the violence is associated with a cultural practice. She identifies numerous international norms and standards that demonstrate States obligations to take steps to eradicate all forms of discrimination against women, including the modification of cultural patterns where necessary, and highlights that States cannot raise the cultural relativism arguments where doing so would allow women to be targets of violence. The Special Rapporteur notes that cultural practices that involve "severe pain and suffering" for women or girls, such as female genital mutilation and honour killings, must receive maximum international scrutiny and agitation to ensure that they are eliminated as quickly as possible.