Consultations with the UN Special Rapporteurs

In the programme cycle 2003-2005, the VAW programme has continued to meet its objective of strengthening the UN Special Rapporteur mechanism in demanding State accountability for violence against women.

61st Session of UNCHR in Geneva from March 14 - April 22, 2005
The first big activity for the VAW Task Force this year was participation at the 61st Session of UNCHR in Geneva from March 14 - April 22, 2005. Participation at UNCHR this year was critical because the VAW TF of APWLD had worked closely with the UNSR-AH, Mr. Miloon Kothari, who was to present his report on Women and Housing and the UNSR-VAW, Dr. Yakin Erturk, who would present her report to the UNCHR on Inter-linkages between HIV/AIDS and VAW.

Both reports gave very good coverage to issues raised by APWLD in the consultations organised on ‘Interlinkages between VAW and Women’s Right to Adequate Housing’ in October 2003 in Delhi and ‘Sexuality and Violence against Women: Access to Justice’ in July 2004 in Jakarta.

In his report to the Commission on Human Rights on Women and Adequate Housing (E/CN 4/2005/43), Miloon Kothari has emphasised that “A State’s obligation to eliminate gender discrimination is one of immediate effect and failure to do so constitutes a human rights violation. We strongly encourage states to fulfil their obligation to eliminate all forms of gender discrimination.”  In the summary of the report he states that “The widespread prevalence of gender-based violence is a central thread in the fabric of human rights violations faced by women, including violations of the right to adequate housing and land”.

Cultural norms and practices have long been used to deny women equality. As a women’s organisation, APWLD believes that the realm of culture cannot be left untouched if governments are serious about their commitment to gender equality. In this light too, the Special Rapporteur’s report is welcomed for recognising this and stating clearly that while respecting legal pluralism, human rights including gender equality must be respected in the application of law—be it customary, common or State law.

In his report, the UNSR-AH also covered the impact of the Indian Ocean Tsunami on women’s adequate housing, an area which APWLD has advocated on strongly over the last year.

In an oral intervention made by the PO at the UNCHR, APWLD endorsed the Special Rapporteur’s recommendations and urged the Commission to reformulate the mandate to address the interconnections between housing and land, property and inheritance as housing cannot be looked at in isolation from issues of land, property and inheritance.

APWLD along with Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE); International Women’s Rights Action Watch –Asia Pacific (IWRAW-AP), Habitat International Coalition – Housing and Land Rights Network (HIC-HRLN) worked on the UN Resolution on women’s equal ownership, access to and control over land and the equal rights to own property and to adequate housing (Resolution 2005/25, at  http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/E/CHR/resolutions/E-CN_4-RES-2005-25doc) by analysing the text of the language, suggesting alternate language and following up with government delegates that our recommendations are incorporated.
The resolution was a good resolution by any standards. It noted with interest' ' the findings of the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing's progress report on women and adequate housing (E/CN.4/2005/43) and reaffirmed women’s right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate housing. The resolution is particularly noteworthy for its comments on women's adequate housing in relation to domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, customary laws, the impact of gender based violence in emergency reconstruction and indigenous women. Importantly, the resolution recognised that the lack of adequate housing can make women more vulnerable to various forms of violence, including domestic violence, and in particular that the lack of housing alternatives may limit many women’s ability to leave violent situations. The resolution said "laws, policies, customs, traditions and practices that ... prevent women from owning and inheriting land, property and housing and exclude women from participating fully in development processes, are discriminatory and contribute to increasing the poverty of women and girls". The Commission encouraged Governments to "support the transformation of customs and traditions that discriminate against women and deny women security of tenure and equal ownership of, access to and control over land and equal rights to own property and to adequate housing". It noted "the impact of gender-based discrimination and violence against women on women’s equal ownership of, access to and control over land and the equal rights to own property and to adequate housing is acute, particularly during complex emergency situations, reconstruction and rehabilitation".

In addition, the resolution is mindful of the impacts of "multiple or aggravated forms of discrimination" on women, and also notes the need to achieve "substantive equality for women and girls", through consideration of women’s specific socio‑economic contexts.

Finally, the resolution also made ground on the indivisible nature of rights by noting that women's inheritance rights are linked to women's adequate housing. It "reaffirms Commission on the Status of Women resolution 42/1, which, inter alia, urges States to design and revise laws to ensure that women are accorded full and equal rights to own land and other property, and the right to adequate housing, including through the right to inheritance...".

The success of getting very good coverage in the UNSR-AH’s report and ensuring the resolution incorporated the important issues that APWLD was raising, was due to the concerted effort of the groups working on the issue which included IWRAW-AP, HIC-ALRN, COHRE in addition to APWLD. The process of regional consultations with grass roots women themselves raising their concerns had built a momentum on the issue. The SR-RAH acknowledged and thanked APWLD at several briefings and meetings in the UNCHR. 

The UNSR-VAW, Dr. Yakin Erturk, also presented her report on “Integration of the human rights of women and the gender perspective: VAW; Intersections of VAW and HIV/AIDS”. The report is very comprehensive and covers the multi-faceted dimensions of the problem. She addresses issues of VAW both as a cause and a consequence for HIV infection; the stigma and discrimination experienced by women living with HIV/AIDS; as well as issues of obstacles women face in accessing medical care and justice. The report expresses concern over the increased politicisation of culture and articulation of religions fundamentalisms. She explicitly notes APWLD’s contributions and covers several issues raised by APWLD in our consultation with her including, those of enhanced vulnerability of migrant women, sex workers and women living in situations of armed conflict to the pandemic; the male construct of sexuality and its contribution to the pandemic; as well as the close links of VAW with the pandemic.

The publication from the consultation with her on ‘Sexuality and Violence against Women: Access to Justice’ in July 2004 in Jakarta, was printed early this year. It was circulated at the UNCSW and UNCHR and was well received. 

Apart from following up on the resolutions, APWLD co-organised the following side events:

a. Women and the Right to Adequate Housing: Connections and Strategies Forward; April 4, 2005
The side event was organised by APWLD along with the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE); International Women’s Rights Action Watch –Asia Pacific (IWRAW-AP), Habitat International Coalition – Housing and Land Rights Network (HIC-HRLN) with the objective of raising awareness of women’s rights to land, housing and inheritance. The workshop was well attended by around 40-45 participants. The workshop began with sharing from the Asia Consultation, the Pacific Consultation and the Middle East and North America Consultation on Women and Housing. Starkly similar issues came up in each consultation, for instance, that poverty was a determining factor, that social customs and traditions play a critical role in denying women their rights, weak protection for victims/survivors of domestic violence, forced evictions, adverse impact of globalisation, etc. Key points that emerged as common areas of concern were: lack of access to justice; non-implementation of laws; and lack of awareness among women of their rights. Importantly, the discussions highlighted the barriers which culture and religion can form to prevent women accessing their rights to housing, inheritance and land, particularly in the case of women facing intersectional discrimination, such as Dalit women.

Thematic presentations on specific issues that affect women’s housing and land rights were also made. Merilyn Tahi, APWLD’s VAW TF member from Vanuatu spoke about the impact of discriminatory customs and traditions on women’s land, housing and inheritance rights in Pacific. Alison Aggarwal, APWLD member, presented the findings of the Pacific consultation, which highlighted the customary and legal barriers faced by women in the Pacific in accessing equal rights to land and housing, particularly for women experiencing intersectional discrimination on the grounds of disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation and other factors. Yamini, the PO, made a presentation on Women and the Tsunami. The UNSR-AH tied the discussions together with an overview of the status of women’s rights to land, housing and inheritance. The presentations generated a lot of interest and the feedback was very positive.

b. Violence against Women in War: Justice, Redress and Empowerment for Women; April 7, 2005
This side event was organised by Korea Women’s Associations United/Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan. The co-sponsors were APWLD, Centre for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL) and Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice for the ICC.

Charlotte Bunch opened the discussions and Dr. Yakin Erturk gave a broad overview on VAW in War situations and Yamini, PO of APWLD, located the issue in the context of Asia Pacific. The panel had a testimony by a 78-year old surviving comfort woman who had come from Korea to speak on the matter. Nang Lao Liang Won of Women’s League of Burma made a presentation on the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war by the military regime in Burma. Heisoo Shin, member of CEDAW Committee and APWLD, chaired and facilitated the discussions.

The panel was followed by Heisoo Shin presenting signatures collected for the Petition to the UN, ILO and to Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The petition is to urge the Japanese government to make an official apology and legal compensation to the victims of sexual slavery.

This specific side event helped advance the second objective of the VAW programme by supporting national campaigns in Asia Pacific—the campaign against Japan’s Sexual Slavery in WWII and the Stop License to Rape Campaign of WLB and Shan Women’s Action Network.

c. Defending Women Defending Rights; April 8 2005
(See the section under WHR Programme report)

Asia Pacific NGO Consultation with the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Bangkok 5-6 October 2005
From 5-6 October in Bangkok, the VAW Task Force held its second regional Consultation with Dr Yakin Erturk, the UNSRVAW on ‘Access to Justice: Holding the State Accountable for Violence Against Women by Non-State Actors’ in line with the focus of the UNSRVAW’s next thematic report to the UNCHR in April 2006. The Consultation was proceeded on 4 October by a one-day Study Workshop with participants which studied the UNSRVAW mandate and the international legal standard of ‘due diligence’ for violence against women (and international mechanisms for enforcing it), which was a new concept for many of the participants. The learnings in the Study Workshop created a common understanding for the ensuing discussions in the Consultation.

The Consultation brought together over 30 women’s NGO from the region to share their issues and concerns relating to VAW with the UNSRVAW. The Consultation focused on violence against women perpetrated by non-state actors and the obligations of the state to hold non-state actors accountable for VAW under the due diligence standard particularly where ‘culture’ and ‘cultural values’ are employed to legitimise and justify violence against women. The Consultation identified the need to address ‘cultural norms’ as an underlying cause of VAW. Participants gave examples of the impact and implication on violence against women for women living under legal and normative justice systems as well as the challenges in holding states accountable to their obligations to ensure women’s access to justice under dual legal systems. In some countries, discriminatory cultural norms and religious beliefs are utilised to oppress women through the parallel operation of legal and normative justice mechanisms. Normative justice systems, such as the ‘jirga’ and ‘punchiat’ in Pakistan, may authorise violence against women by classifying acts of violence as acceptable under ‘traditional’ or religious norms or by sentencing women to harsh punishments (for example honour killings), for breaking societal norms or religious laws. In other instances, the formal legal system may impose a reconstruction of the cultural values of a minority community on victims of violence against women which results in a gender discriminatory outcome and no justice for the survivor. For example, the formal legal system in Australia has mitigated sentences for sexual assault against Indigenous women within their communities on the basis that in Indigenous Australian culture such practices are accepted. The sharing of participants from many countries in the region demonstrated the challenges posed to accessing justice under plural justice system.

The Consultation also highlighted some other challenges to holding states responsible for VAW by non-state actors in the Asia-pacific region including: in conflict situations; for migrant and trafficked women; for women with disabilities; where the actors are MNCs and TNCs; where the actors are military personnel during military occupation; and in disaster situations.

The Consultation presented specific strategies and recommendations to the UNSRVAW for inclusion in her report including: campaigning states to remove reservations to CEDAW and ratify the Optional Protocol so that women can access the CEDAW committee to seek a remedy where domestic remedies fail; setting up a permanent regional mechanisms in Asia Pacific; and lobbying for international standards and mechanisms which will hold MNCs and TNCs accountable for VAW.

The feedback from the UNSRVAW was very positive and she reaffirmed her commitment to continue the meetings. She requested APWLD to share its expertise in organising these Consultations with women’s NGO’s in other regions to encourage them to hold similar meetings. The extent to which the discussions have been included in the UNSRVAW’s report will be revealed when the UNSRVAW presents her report to the UNCHR in April 2006. A summary report was prepared and sent to the UNSRVAW at the end of October. A more extensive report is in the process of being finalised and will be distributed to the UNSRVAW, participants and other relevant members and groups early next year.

Thai National Consultation with the UNSRVAW, 7 October 2005, Bangkok Thailand
After feedback from the UNSRVAW that the National Consultation organised in Indonesia following the regional NGO Consultation last year was very useful for her mandate, a Thai National Consultation was held in Bangkok directly after the regional Consultation. This was organised by a member of the APWLD Violence Against Women Task Force, Suteera Vitchitramonda of the Association for the Promotion and Status of Women, Thailand. The Consultation brought together over 100 women and men from all over Thailand to discus the critical issues relating to violence against women in the country. These included women’s NGO activists, academics as well as members of the Thai government and the police. The Consultation focused on three main areas of concern: the status of violence against women, particularly violence in the family; discriminatory laws and law enforcement; protection from violence against women in the state and community.

The UNSRVAW spoke to the participants of the Consultation expressing her concern on the situation of migrant workers, stateless and refugee women within Thailand and the interlinkages with violence against women. She stressed that as signatory to UN conventions the government is obligated to take actions in accordance with the measures prescribed in the conventions. She made recommendations directed at the Thai government which included; the ratification of conventions relating to migrants, trafficking in persons and Convention on rights of the Child; inviting the Special Rapporteur on trafficking and other mandates to visit Thailand; the removal of CEDAW reservations; speeding up the adoption of the Domestic Violence Act; and creating legislation on marital rape.

The Special Rapporteur also met with the Minister of Social Development and Human Security of Thailand and other High Level officials (including a Supreme Court Judge and the Human Rights Commissioner) while in Bangkok and made strategic recommendations to him regarding measures to address violence against women based on the concerns women’s groups raised during the National Consultation. Particularly, the UNSRVAW highlighted that the laws in Thailand on sexual assault specifically exclude ‘marital rape’ from the ambit of the legislation. As a result, at an interview with the media a few days later the Minister said he was surprised to learn of ‘marital rape’ and would amend the legislation to criminalise marital rape. The Minister subsequently proposed the amendment to the Thai parliament. The Thai government recently reported to the CEDAW Committee and stated that the proposal to amend the law on sexual violence to criminalise marital rape was met with strong objections from the Council of State. However the Minister stated he was ‘trying to reach a compromise on this’.

Supporting national campaigns

The side event co-organised by APWLD at the UNCHR on April 7, 2005 on ‘Violence against Women in War: Justice, Redress and Empowerment for Women’ helped advance the second objective of the VAW programme by supporting national campaigns in Asia Pacific—the campaign against Japan’s Sexual Slavery in WWII and the Stop License to Rape Campaign of WLB and Shan Women’s Action Network. Both these campaigns are campaigns of APWLD’s members and partners that APWLD has endorsed and supported.

As a part of creating opportunities for women from underrepresented geographical regions in Asia Pacific, the VAW TF supported the participation of Merilyn Tahi, from Vanuatu, Pacific at the UNCHR. This was critical in ensuring that issues and voices of Pacific women were raised at our advocacy venues. In her reflection, Merilyn wrote ‘It is an excellent opportunity for dissemination of information as well as to learn from experiences of different groups and to make contacts with other people and groups. For NGOs, it is a venue to provide information and gain support for their issues and campaigns’.

She felt concerned about no representation from Pacific Island States at the UNCHR session; ‘This meant that the issues and concerns of the Pacific people, especially women, are not being heard by the commission. Though the Pacific is “lumped” in the region of the Asia Pacific, rarely did I hear any of the Asian countries sharing views from the Pacific’. Therefore, the following is recommended:

That the Pacific Women’s Network against VAW and other groups should obtain UN ECOSOC status to be able to bring the Pacific issues and concern to the UNCHR. Pacific Island governments become members of the UNCHR. That UN Special Rapporteurs should be invited to make country missions to the Pacific Island States – especially on Land & Housing and VAW.

APWLD also supported the accreditation of a VAW Task Force member, Nang Lao Liang Won from the Shan Women’s Action network and Women’s League of Burma to attend the 61st Session of the UNCHR in Geneva. As well as speaking in APWLD panel discussion outlined above, Nang Lao Liang Won engaged in: lobbying of government representatives on strong language on women and violence in the Burma Resolution; making oral statements on violence against Women and Indigenous women issues in Burma and Shan state; speaking at self-organised panels; and attending parallel meetings with Special Rapporteurs.  As a result of this strong advocacy work the Burma Resolution included a clause reading ‘to end widespread rape and other forms of sexual violence persistently carried out by members of the armed forces, in particular against women belonging to ethnic minorities, and to investigate and bring to justice any perpetrators in order to end impunity for these acts’. Nang Lao Liang Won pushed for the resolution to include the term ‘systematic rape’ rather than just ‘widespread rape’. While the term was not included in the Resolution, discussion and debate on the terminology with government mission ‘agreed in principle’ with this and so they will continue to lobby for this at the next UNCHR.

The VAW Programme organised its second regional consultation with Dr Yakin Erturk, the UNSRVAW in Bangkok from 5-6 October 2005. APWLD supported many of our members to attend the Consultation and share critical issues relating to VAW affecting women in their countries and communities at present. VAW Task Force members attended the Consultation and shared their national level concerns with the UNSRVAW as both formal speakers and during discussions. Other APWLD members were also invited to the Consultation giving them an opportunity to speak on their national campaigns and advocacy issues at this regional forum and disseminated at an International level through the thematic report of the UNSRVAW to the UNCHR. The National Consultation with the UNSRVAW organised in Bangkok directly after the regional consultation, also gave a platform for members in Thailand to raise issues of specific concern to women living in Thailand. As mentioned above, one concrete result of the UNSRVAW’s presence in Thailand and meeting with women’s groups was the Minister for Social Development and Human Security’s statement that he would amend the current law on sexual assault to ensure that marital rape was not excluded from its ambit.

Following the Consultation with the UNSRVAW in Bangkok in October the VAW programme held its annual Task Force meeting where the Task Force reviewed the achievements of the programme over the last 3 year programme cycle and planned and prioritised objectives and activities for the next 3 year programme cycle.

APWLD has also supported many action alerts on VAW issues in the region in the last year including many of the campaigns of our members. For example, APWLD supported the translation into the Mongolian language of the UNSRVAW’s 2005 report to the UNCHR on ‘Interlinkages between VAW and HIV/AIDs’ to assist a Task Force members awareness raising campaign on this issue during the 16 days of activism.

The Planning meeting for the VAW Programme’s campaign on ‘Access to Justice’, Mumbai, 22nd-23rd April 05 followed by the field trip to Pune, 24th April:
The planning meeting for the ‘Access to Justice Campaign’ was critical in laying the initial groundwork for the VAW Programme’s work on Access to Justice. The meeting started with a discussion on why the VAW programme should develop a campaign on access to justice. It then discussed the modalities of the campaign, what would be the activities initiated by the TF members and how it would weave in together as one campaign. It was agreed that each VAW TF member would initiate a specific activity under the campaign and would send the secretariat the details of such activity.  The VAW programme’s work on ‘access to justice’ will attempt to redefine the notion of justice from a critical feminist perspective. Methods of redress will not just look at legal redress within the formal legal system but will examine other forms of redress as well the increasingly prevalent role of informal justice mechanisms in addressing violence against women. It will review and develop recommendations on how best to realise the international human rights standards towards the elimination of VAW.

Subsequently at the VAW Task Force meeting in October, the Task Force re-assessed the ‘campaign’ and felt that while work on ‘access to justice’ should be a critical focus of the Task Forces work, a ‘campaign’ was not the best modality for the Task Force to address this issue. The Task Force decided to rather integrate a focus on ‘access to justice’ into the programmes activities, making ‘access to justice’ a perspective with which issues addressed by the programme should be looked at.

Much of the analysis of how the programme will approach this question of ‘access to justice’ was done at the planning meeting for the campaign in Mumbai. The planning meeting discussed some of the issues around justice for violence against women which form the backdrop for the Task Forces work on this issue and that will also inform the direction of its work. After decades of trying to use the legal system to gain justice for women victims of violence there is a sense of frustration that the legal system is not delivering justice to women and in many cases in fact further victimises women (for example where women making a complaint of sexual assault to police are put in detention for ‘their protection’). Rarely do women receive equality of opportunity, access and results within the legal system and its institutions for violence against women. So, while the law remains an important mechanism for providing justice to women, it is also important that we look beyond the law to more effective mechanisms for delivering justice for women.

The meeting discussed the need for a holistic approach to women’s lives when talking about ‘justice’ for women. We have to factor in what the individual experiences as justice. Punishment is not a mandatory component of justice and alternative dispute mechanisms such as mediation and conciliation need to be explored. However, it is also important to consider how we will measure ‘justice’ without ‘punishment’ as the remedy. While we need to move away from the victim-perpetrator/crime-punishment model we must assure that we do not move towards another conception of justice which is equally rooted in patriarchy. For some men their measure of ‘justice’ or success rate in resolving domestic violence may be how many women go back to their husbands. However this is clearly not the justice we want to promote for women. While we need to move away from the victim-perpetrator/crime-punishment model we must assure that we do not move towards another conception of justice which is equally rooted in patriarchy.

We must look beyond the law to open paths for women seeking justices outside of the legal system. What do survivors of violence against women want in terms of redress? What does justice mean to survivors of VAW in a myriad of contexts? We need to explore non-violent ways of living together and defining justice. How do we mediate between the immediate and practical and the transformative and strategic actions at different levels? We need to explore these questions in dialogue with the survivors of VAW and imagine and create possibilities for justice beyond the limits of the law. Our campaign on Access to Justice will provide a space for discussing these questions and to advance, broaden and expand our concepts and notions of justice.

The meeting was attended by the members of the VAW task Force and the Women Human Rights Working Group. As outcomes of the meeting each Task Force member drafted an ‘action plan’ for work on access to justice and the PO drafted an ‘essay on justice’ and some ‘guiding questions’ to help shape our enquiry into ‘justice’ in our national level work. The meeting was followed by a field trip to Pune where we visited Masum, the organisation of Manisha Gupte, the Convenor of the VAW TF, and a number of the communities in which Masum works.

Training on Documenting Human Rights Abuses Against Women Human Rights Defenders in Nepal:
The VAW Programme supported a training on Documenting Human Rights Abuses against WHRDs in Nepal as part of APWLD’s cross-cutting campaign on Women Human Rights Defenders. Please see the full report on APWLD’s WHRD campaign for further information in the cross-cutting section.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, 25 November
APWLD drafted a statement and participated in a demonstration in Chiang Mai, Thailand on November 25 for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, condemning the continuing prevalence and impunity of violence against women in the region.  In a build-up to the anti-WTO activities in Hong Kong APWLD’s statement denounced the erosion of women’s human rights, increasing poverty, hunger, unemployment, landlessness and exploitation brought about by the unfair trade policies pushed by the WTO and demanded government accountability for the increasing violence against brought about by the trade liberalising agenda. The statement demonstrated the inter-linkages between women’s ESC rights and violence against women.

Development of the concept of VAW from a feminist perspective

The inter-linkages between VAW and globalisation have been a running theme in the work of the VAW Programme over the last programme cycle. Rather than a specific paper explicating these inter-linkages, all of our reports have included elaborated descriptions of the multi-faceted and complex relationships between globalisation and VAW. The VAW programme has developed a nuanced understanding of the interplay between the forces of globalisation, increasing militarism and fundamentalisms in the region on violence against women. The report written by the VAW programme arising from the Consultation with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing in 2003, explored the role of globalisation (and neo-liberal economic globalisation in particular) in eroding women’s access to adequate housing and the corresponding increased vulnerability of women to violence.  The Report from the Consultation with the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women in 2004 explored the deleterious impacts on women of the rapid spread of neo-liberal doctrines and practices in the region through the process of globalisation. A cycle of poverty and exploitations defines the experience of globalisation for many women in the region as it has opened up new exploitative trans-national markets, created new demands for cheap, unregulated labour markets, destroyed the livelihoods of communities all of which increases women’s vulnerability to violence in the family/community, nationally and trans-nationally. In the recent Consultation with the UN Special Rapporteur in October 2005 the role of TNCs and MNCs in perpetrating VAW (through the employment of para-military forces to attack women fighting for their right to live without corporate control over their lives and livelihoods) and creating conditions of poverty and despair which increases women’s vulnerability to violence was explored and recommendations and strategies to address this suggested.

Many VAW Task Force members have reported on how they have been able to use and share the VAW Programmes analysis of globalisation and VAW in their national level work including in trainings and lectures; shaping advocacy strategies particularly on migration and trafficking issues; and in Sri Lanka in the shadow reporting to CEDAW.

Additional Activities
The following additional activity was undertaken during the course of the year since it furthered the objectives of the VAW programme:

Contribution to the UN Secretary-General Study on Violence Against Women