Report of the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Its Causes and Consequences (Delivered at the 17th Session of the Human Rights Council)

In this report, the Human Rights Council (Council) proposes the adoption of a holistic framework to address multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination that contribute to violence against women. The report describes the forms of violence against women that prevail, addressing its consequences and providing three perspectives for understanding the causes (psychological/individual, feminist and societal). It then goes on to propose a holistic approach for conceptualizing and addressing violence against women based on the various interconnections between violence against women, its causes and consequences, and forms of discrimination. This approach considers human rights as universal, interdependent and indivisible. Situating violence against women on a continuum, it acknowledges the structural aspects and factors of discrimination and analyzes the social and/or economic hierarchies that exist between women and men and also among women. The report identifies critical issues to consider when adopting this holistic approach, including the right to an adequate standard of living, the right to education and to participate in cultural rights, civil and political rights, and finally womens right to self-determination.