Report of the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Its Causes and Consequences - Intersections Between Culture and Violence Against Women (Delivered at the 7th Session of the Human Rights Council)

This report focuses on the intersection of culture and VAW. It provides a discussion of the development of international legal norms and standards that has lead to the primacy of protection of women against discrimination and violence over the need to preserve cultural practices. The Special Rapporteur notes that the universal obligation to respect human rights as established under the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action also extends to women's human rights. Under General Recommendation No. 19 of CEDAW violence against women constitutes a form of gender discrimination that impairs or nullifies women's enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and traditional, religious or cultural practices cannot be used to justify violence and discrimination against women. The report notes that States violate their international obligations whenever they fail to condemn any specific form of violence against women, or fail to pursue, by all appropriate means and without delay, a policy to eliminate such violence, regardless of whether the violence is grounded in traditional, religious or cultural practice. It identifies their obligations, which include adopting all appropriate measures to modify the social and cultural patterns of men and women, and to eliminate prejudices and practices based on inequality.