Back to Statements Main Page

Violence Against Women - Taking stock of the gains and challenges
APWLD and Amnesty International
July 1, 2004

Heisoo Shin of War and Women's Human Rights Centre, Korea, speaking about use of CEDAW for lobbying governments.

The ‘Taking Stock of the Gains and Challenges relating to Violence against Women’ workshop, jointly organized by APWLD and Amnesty International, set out to answer the following two questions: How do we best use the HR framework in doing our work on violence against women? What are the gaps and remaining challenges in using the HR framework to address violence against women? Speakers discussed the existing HR frameworks, and looked at the benefits and shortcomings of CEDAW reporting mechanisms, including successes achieved, such as the use of CEDAW in lobbying for the creation of legislation in the Philippines , and challenges that remain, including the need to continue to lobby governments to ratify CEDAW, lift existing reservations, or file reports with the commission. A number of recommendations were made, including the need to look at the HR framework as more than a legal framework to include the social policy dimension of violence against women, the need to strengthen the use of the HR framework as a tool for empowerment, and the need to continue to challenge narrowly focused hierarchical HR concepts and evolve a holistic integrated and inclusive framework to link women specific HRs to other struggles for rights of other sectors (Indigenous peoples struggles, LGBT, women living with disabilities etc.) The workshop was a great success—many thanks to all the speakers and participants!

A representative of Dalit Women speaking about violence against Dalit women in India

Violence against Women Workshop

Violence against Women Workshop

Violence against Women Workshop