The Economic and Social Council, in its resolution 1996/6 requested the Secretary-General to submit an analytical report to the Commission on the Status of Women on the thematic issues to be addressed at each session. Four critical areas of concern from the Beijing Platform for Action were selected for consideration at the forty-second session of the Commission: Violence Against Women (chapter IV D), Women and armed conflict (chapter IV E), Human rights of women (chapter IV I), and The girl child (chapter IV L).

The present report takes into consideration intergovernmental mandates contained in Commission on the Status of Women resolution 41/4 and General Assembly resolution 52/97 on violence against women migrant workers; CSW resolution 41/5 and GA resolution 52/98 on traffic in women and girls; GA res. 52/99 on traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and girls.

The present report addresses strategies to accelerate the implementation of the Platform for Action in these four critical areas of concern, drawing inter alia on recommendations from expert group meetings organized by the Division for the Advancement of Women in preparation for the Commission's consideration of agenda item 3 (c).

A. Recent developments and trends

International level

National level

B. Strategies to accelerate implementation

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5. The Platform for Action identifies violence against women as one ofthe priority concerns of the international community and particularly deserving of urgent response. Critical area D of Platform, which specifically addresses violence against women, categorizes it as an obstacle to the achievement of the objectives of equality, development and peace.1/ Critical area D is interlinked with critical area I - human rights of women. Both critical areas classify violence against women as conduct which both violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women of their human rights and fundamental freedoms. The Platform points out that in all societies, to a greater or lesser degree, women and girls are subjected to physical, sexual and psychological abuse that cuts across lines of income, class and culture.
6. Consistent with the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, the Platform defines "violence against women" to mean any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life. It encompasses, but is not limited to:

1. Physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family, including battering, sexual abuse of female children in the household, dowry-related violence, marital rape, female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation;
2. Physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring within the general community, including rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women and forced prostitution;
3. Physical, sexual and psychological violence perpetrated by the State, wherever it occurs.

7. Particular forms of violence against women are also specified in the Platform for Action. These include violations of the rights of women in situations of armed conflict, in particular murder, systematic rape, sexual slavery and forced pregnancy; forced sterilization, coercive/forced use of contraceptives, female infanticide and prenatal sex selection.
8. The Platform points out that women in all countries, irrespective of culture, class and income are at risk of all or some of these forms of violence, but some groups of women as especially vulnerable. These include women belonging to minority groups, indigenous women, refugee women, women migrants, including women migrant workers, women in poverty living in rural or remote communities, destitute women, women in institutions or in detention, female children, women with disabilities, elderly women, displaced women, repatriated women, women living in poverty and women in situations of armed conflict, foreign occupation, wars of aggression, civil wars, terrorism, including hostage taking.
9. Knowledge about the causes and consequences, as well the incidence, of violence against women have greatly developed in the twenty years it has been on the international agenda.9/ Resolutions relating to various forms of violence to which women are subjected in diverse settings have been adopted by the Commissions on the Status of Women, Human Rights and Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly. Particular manifestations of violence against women, including trafficking in women and traditional practices affecting the health of women and children, such as female genital mutilation, have been the focus of the Sub-Commission on Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. Reports of the Secretary-General on the differing aspects of violence against women, and the vulnerabilities of particular groups of women in this regard, including migrant women workers, have been submitted to the General Assembly and various United Nations Commissions. The problem has also been addressed by the specialized agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations, including the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, the World Health Organization, UNFPA, UNICEF and UNIFEM, as well as United Nations treaty bodies, in particular the Committee on the
10. Elimination of Discrimination against Women. The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, adopted by the General Assembly in December 1993 was the culmination of United Nations efforts since the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies to address violence against women. The Declaration locates violence against women within the framework of violation of human rights obligations, categorizing it as an issue of inequality and discrimination against women, and sets out strategies that Member States and United Nations agencies should employ to eliminate its occurrence. States are urged to consider the development of national plans of action to promote the protection of women against any form of violence and, if appropriate, cooperate with non-governmental organizations in that regard; adopt appropriate legal provisions; introduce training for relevant sectors; address issues of education and the portrayal of images of women; promote research and the collection of data and statistics relating to gender-based violence; and adopt special measures for women who are especially vulnerable to violence. Organs and specialized agencies of the United Nations are requested to promote awareness of violence against women, and coordination of efforts within the UN is encouraged.
11. Categorization of gender-based violence against women by the Declaration as a violation of human rights and a dimension of discrimination between women and men, encouraged the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to condemn all acts of gender-based violence and to appoint a special rapporteur on violence against women. Since her appointment, the Special Rapporteur has reported on and made recommendations relating to violence against women within the family, including domestic violence, incest, and violence related to traditions and customs, such as female genital mutilation, dowry violence and widowhood rites and in the community, including rape, trafficking in women and violence against migrant women workers.
12. The recommendations adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women with respect to violence against women built on previous efforts to address the issue, both within and outside the United Nations. They call for Government condemnation of violence against women and due diligence in the prevention, investigation and punishment of acts of violence against women; implementation of existing international standards with respect to violence against women and the support of international mechanisms in that regard; adoption or effective implementation of legal measures to confront all forms of gender-based violence against women; the introduction or strengthening of awareness-raising of the various forms of violence against women, their causes and consequences, in all sectors, including through an active and visible policy of mainstreaming a gender perspective in all policies and 0-programmes related to violence against women, research and training and education for specific groups; and provision of services for those affected by violence. Specific recommendations are also addressed to the elimination of trafficking in women and the assistance of victims, particularly young women and children, of violence due to prostitution and trafficking.
13. The Platform's recommendations constitute a comprehensive policy blueprint for elimination of violence against women; and efforts prior to and following the Platform's adoption have gone some way to translating those policies into action. The Secretary-General's second review and appraisal of the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women described strategies to confront gender-based violence against women introduced at international and national levels prior to the Fourth World Conference on Women. Strategies are also described in the reports of the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women; while measures introduced at national level pursuant to the Platform are outlined in the national action plans which have been submitted by governments to the Secretariat in compliance with General Assembly resolution 50/203 of 22 December 1995.

14. Since the adoption of the Platform for Action international activity relating to violence has included further development of legal measures and strategies to address gender-based violence against women; identification of specific settings in which women are especially vulnerable to the risk of gender-based violence; and continued emphasis on mainstreaming of a gender perspective in all policies and programmes of the United Nations of relevance in this regard. The mainstreaming directive has sought to ensure that relevant policies, programme formulation and delivery, for example in the context of human rights, refugee protection, humanitarian relief, and health, hitherto developed with little attention to their differential impact on women and men, take account of these differentials to promote the interests of women on a basis of equality with men.
15. The Commission on the Status of Women is currently formulating an optional protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women which will allow women the right to seek redress for violations of their human rights, including with regard to gender-based violence. The preparatory committees for the Statute of the permanent International Criminal Court have taken account of existing provisions relating to the Ad Hoc Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda which address gender-based violence against women in times of armed conflict. The draft Statute for the Court, which will be considered at an international conference of plenipotentiaries in June 1998, will almost certainly incorporate specific reference to gender-based international crimes.
16. The General Assembly has adopted Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination of Violence against Women in the Field of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice which are put forward as a model of guidelines to be used by Governments in their efforts, within the criminal justice system, to address the various manifestations of violence against women. The Model Strategies, which build on the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women and the Platform, aim to provide de jure and de facto equality between women and men and equal access for women to justice. They outline detailed proposals with respect to criminal law and procedure; police practice; sentencing and corrections; victim support and assistance; health and social services; training for police, criminal justice officials, practitioners and professionals involved in the criminal justice system; research and evaluation; measures of prevention; and international cooperation. Specific recommendations are also made with regard to activities to follow-up the Model Strategies.
17. Monitoring of the implementation of the Plan of Action for the Elimination of Harmful Traditional Practices affecting the Health of Women and Children, adopted by the Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, which recommends strategies to eliminate practices, including female genital mutilation, has continued within the Sub-Commission. The General Assembly addressed the issue of traditional or customary practices affecting the health of women and children in resolution 52/97 and a report on the implementation of that resolution will be before it at its fifty third session in 1998. UNFPA, WHO and UNICEF issued a joint statement on female genital mutilation in April 1997 offering collaborative support for Government and community efforts in this regard. As part of an international advocacy campaign, UNFPA appointed a Special Ambassador for the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation in September 1997.
18. The vulnerability of women migrant workers to violence has emerged as a concern of the international community, as has trafficking in women and violence associated with prostitution, including in the context of sex tourism. The Commission on the Status of Women and the General Assembly have considered Secretary-General's reports on these issues and have adopted resolutions which suggest strategies relevant to these settings. In resolutions A/C.3/52/L.19 and /C.3/52/L.20/Rev.1, the General Assembly invited the Commission to address violence against women migrant workers and traffic in women and girls at its forty-second session under the thematic issues on violence against women and/or human rights of women.
19. The Trust Fund in support of actions to eliminate violence against women, administered by UNIFEM, became operational during 1997. A number of projects, predominantly relating to advocacy and public and sector-specific education, have been resourced through the Fund.

20. Approaches at national level to gender-based violence against women emphasize policy and law reform; the introduction of services for victims of violence; sector-specific and public-education and programmes; training; and advocacy campaigns to address values, attitudes and actions related to violence against women.
21. The major focus of activity, however, has remained law reform, with many Member States seeking to provide women with comprehensive legal protection from various forms of violence. Criminal and civil provisions to address violence against women in the family have been adopted, with many States recognizing that violence by a husband should be treated in the same way as violence by a stranger. Sexual violence against women by their husbands has been criminalized in several States; while others have introduced legislation relating to female genital mutilation. Innovative measures to combat stalking and harassment have been introduced in several States, as have "sex tourism" provisions which allow for the prosecution of acts of sexual abuse by nationals abroad in domestic courts. Evidentiary and procedural reforms, which seek to ameliorate court proceedings, have also been introduced with the aim of encouraging victims of abuse to come forward.
22. Governments have continued to recognize the value of shelters and refuges and "hot lines" which offer support and assist survivors of forms of violence against women and also provide a focus for social services, such as counselling, public education and outreach services. A number have acknowledged the key contribution of women's NGOs in the development of measures to address violence against women and have assured them financial support and involved them in the development of government measures to address the problem.
23. In recognition of the important role of the criminal justice system, and particularly the police, in the context of gender-based violence against women, Governments have encouraged the development of units within the police to address various forms of violence. Domestic violence units, police victim support sections, and other specialized services, including anti-dowry cells, have been introduced in many countries, with officers working in these units seeking to develop specific expertise in the management of various forms of violence against women. Guidelines, protocols, often with accountability procedures, have also been introduced in some countries to ensure that victims are treated with sensitivity and to provide the best opportunity for a successful outcome in any legal proceedings.
24. Education and training for various sectors have also been priorities. Many Member States have introduced or supported education and training for police, criminal justice workers and others, such as prison and immigration officers. Comprehensive gender awareness education, incorporating modules relating to gender-based violence against women, has been introduced for the judiciary and other judicial officers. Other sectors whose education and training needs have been addressed include health care providers, including traditional birth attendants, welfare workers and teachers. Focussed education and training measures to address specific forms of gender based violence, for example, relating to traditional practices have also been introduced. Education materials, including guidelines and protocols and interdisciplinary curriculum guides have been developed and in several Member States measures of accountability have been built into education and training strategies to ensure that lessons learned are implemented. A number have also prepared resource guides to encourage the sharing of best practices and good ideas which can be adapted for use in other settings or jurisdictions.
25. Project proposals submitted to UNIFEM for funding under the Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women testify to the growing acknowledgement of the importance of public education, awareness and advocacy campaigns to foster a recognition of women's human rights, an atmosphere of public disapproval of violence against women, and community responsibility for such violence. Local and national campaigns, using various media, such as drama, press and print, including posters, radio, television and film have been initiated in many countries, by Governments, NGOs and other parts of civil society, including the private sector. Campaigns have ranged from general campaigns with regard to women's human rights to very specific campaigns relating to particular forms of violence, such as female genital mutilation, sexual harassment and ttrafficking. In several countries comprehensive, innovative multi-media "zero tolerance" campaigns have been initiated. These campaigns seek to create a community consensus that violence against women is unacceptable. Evaluations of these campaigns have suggested that they have had an important impact on public perceptions of and tolerance for the forms of violence against women they have addressed.

26. Despite the clear progress in the achievement of its objectives, concerted endeavours are still required to accelerate implementation of the Platform and to have substantial impact on the elimination of violence against women.
27. Several factors continue to limit the impact of strategies that have been introduced or are proposed in this context. First, there remains lack of understanding of violence against women and its root causes, with efforts to address the issue very often being reactive, focussing on symptoms and consequences, not causes; second, approaches tend to be fragmented, rather than integrated; third, sufficient resources have yet to be allocated to measures to address the problem; and competing values and beliefs about women, their place in the family, the community and society frequently serve to undermine the measures and their implementation. The following paragraphs make a number of recommendations to accelerate implementation of the Platform for Action. These recommendations, which are addressed to the national and international levels, are drawn from suggestions made in various contexts, including previous expert group meetings convened by the Division for the advancement of Women and the reports of the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women.
28. The Platform stresses the importance of developing a holistic and multidisciplinary approach to the elimination of violence against women. It also expresses regret at the absence of adequate gender-disaggregated data and statistics, as well as documentation and research on all forms of violence against women, noting that this makes the elaboration of programmes and monitoring changes difficult. The Platform makes specific recommendations in this regard, emphasizing the importance of wide dissemination of data, and research into the impact and effect of any ameliorative measures.
29. Member States may wish to consider developing a common basis for the collection of data and statistics on violence against women and to recommend that all cases of violence against women, whether they are first reported to the police, health and social services, refuge or help lines or women's organizations be systematically recorded. Member States may wish to recommend the development of guidelines and protocols for statistics and data collection, and research on violence against women.
30. In order to encourage appropriate resource allocation to address gender-based violence against women, Member States may also wish to recommend specific research on the social and economic consequences of violence against women, taking into account financial costs, such as housing, social services, health care, police protection, legal costs, lost working hours and insurance costs. Member States may also wish to recommend increased research into particular forms or sites of gender-based violence against women. For example, increased research into violence against migrant women workers, trafficking and violence related to prostitution might be recommended.
31. The impact of existing measures to address forms of violence against women has received little attention from researchers. As the development of effective strategies depends on knowledge of approaches that have or have not worked in the past, Member States should encourage impact assessment studies. In collaboration with an international NGO and national NGO partners, the Division for the Advancement of Women, assisted by resources from the UNIFEM Trust Fund on violence against women, has commissioned regional studies on the impact of measures to address domestic violence. Further impact studies on all forms of violence against women, successful intervention models and preventive programmes should be initiated, by Member States, the UN and other bodies, and results widely disseminated.
32. Particular emphasis should be placed on the impact of legislative, evidentiary and procedural law reform in eliminating violence against women. Most countries which have adopted strategies to address forms of violence against women have concentrated on legal measures. It is rare for the impact of these legal measures to be assessed, but they are often replicated in other settings and jurisdictions.
33. Legal change is rarely sufficient to address inequities women face in the justice system, particularly as legal responses and reforms in this context are usually based on a model of gender neutrality in a gender specific area and rarely take into account the systemic inequalities in the legal system which based on outdated sexual stereotypes. In addition, legal reforms have usually been piecemeal, so that although important legal changes may have been introduced in one area, their effectiveness has been undermined by other laws and practices. The interaction of laws has sometimes inadvertently resulted in conditions which lead to imbalances in power relatings between men and women and increase women's economic and social vulnerability to violence. For example, some countries have introduced increased penalties for trafficking in women and better implementation of controls against trafficking, but they have not introduced complimentary reforms to protect victims of trafficking, especially from deportation. Again, the intersection of laws relating to female genital mutilation in some countries with immigration legislation has increased the vulnerabilities of victims of female genital mutilation and their families. Governments should ensure that legislation is comprehensively reviewed so that laws relating to other areas do not adversely affect victims of violence against women.
34. The most enlighted, integrated and comprehensive legislative reforms are only successful if they are fully implemented. Governments should ensure that legal reforms are fully implemented by an enlighted and educated justice system. One means of ensuring implementation is through the introduction of measures of accountability for police, the judiciary, medical and psychiatric facilities, social services and others with regard to their treatment of violence against women. Measures of accountability should emphasise individual responsibility for the eradication of violence against women, while at the same time underlining gender-based violence as a critical community and national concern.
35. Continued multifaceted and multi-targeted measures to address simultaneously specific institutions, such the criminal justice system, the judiciary, hospitals and detention centres, the military, the workplace, health and schools are also required. Education and training strategies need to be continued and strengthened and should always incorporate mechanisms of accountability. Model Guidelines and Strategies for all sectors, such as those adopted by the General Assembly with respect to crime prevention and criminal justice system are required, as are education and training protocols and manuals. Existing training and resource manuals which have proved effective, such as the UN Strategies for Confronting Domestic Violence: a Resource Manual should be widely disseminated and translated into local languages.
36. While education and training is necessary to change behaviour with regard to victims, measures to bring about profound attitude change with regard to violence, to promote the message to perpetrators that violence is unacceptable and reassure victims that they will be taken seriously and treated sympathetically are urgently required.
37. Governments should support the development of school programmes aimed at enhancing awareness among girls and boys of gender-based violence and its links with discrimination on the basis of sex. Programmes of peer mediation and conflict resolution for children should be developed and special training for teachers to equip them to teach cooperation in the classroom should be introduced. Programmes and training in this regard should be monitored for effectiveness and routinely shared between Member States. Education and training for all disciplines should incorporate non-violent conflict resolution and mediation skills.
38. Comprehensive public awareness and advocacy strategies seeking to make gender-based violence against women a critical concern to everyone should also be introduced. Campaigns such as the successful "zero tolerance" campaigns should be replicated and their results monitored. Steps should also be taken to address the generally harmful consequences arising as a result stereotypical definitions of male and female behaviour and the links between masculinity and violence. The notions that male violence against women is a natural expression of masculinity and that women are helpless and subordinate to men require constant challenge, with steps being necessary to ensure that media portrayals and expressions of popular culture do not reinforce these notions and thereby undermine existing measures to confront forms of violence against women. Governments and other actors should encourage promotion of media portrayals of men as cooperative, sensitive and full partners in the upbringing of children and strong images of women.
39. Governments should explore ways to emphasise the positive roles men can play in preventing violence against women and should also introduce programmes for perpetrators of violence against women which encourage men to take responsibility for their actions and to change their behaviour with respect to women. Programmes should be evaluated and successful interventions shared and replicated in other settings and jurisdictions.
40. Governments should recognize the role of NGOs in combating violence against women and actively to support their development, including through financial support.
41. Consistent with the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women and the Platform for Action, Governments should recognize violence against women as one of the results of the subordination of women and the interrelationship of this issue with other areas of discrimination. Governments should recognize the interconnection of forms of gender-based violence against women with other forms of discrimination and introduce broad efforts aimed at increasing women's economic and social autonomy. They should ensure that women's human rights are fully respected and the full implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
42. The impact of the Inter-American Convention on Violence against Women should be closely monitored by Member States. Governments should consider the possibility of adopting a comprehensive international legally binding instrument on violence against women, perhaps as a protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. In the interim, Governments should consider introducing a voluntary reporting obligation with respect to the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women which would call for biennial reports on the implementation of the Declaration in Member States. Reports should include assessment of the impact of measures introduced in this context.
43. States should ratify and comply with ILO conventions on the rights of migrant workers so as to reduce violence against women migrant workers. States should actively address the abuse of migrant workers' rights, particularly those who are women. States should ensure that migrant workers have the right to review their contracts in advance and be ensured of a minimum wage of regular and appropriate wages of maximum hours of work and holiday with pay and social security/welfare benefits at least equal to those of the nationals of the country.
44. Governments should encourage coordination and cooperation between UN bodies and agencies with respect to violence against women. The United Nations should be requested to establish a readily accessible data base of good practices and lessons learned relating to gender-based violence.