By Rebecca J. Cook and Valerie L. Oosterveld

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, INDIA -ALLEGATIONS OF RAPE BY POLICE: THE CASE OF A TRIBAL WOMAN IN GUJARAT GUNTA BEHN (London, Amnesty International 1988) 8 pages.

Allegations of torture have been received by Amnesty International from all over India. This paper focuses on allegations of rape by policemen of a tribal woman from Gujarat.The state government has so far failed to take effective action against police and other officials whom a commission appointed by the Supreme Court had identified, more than a year ago, as being involved in the rape and the subsequent cover-up. Amnesty International believes that the investigation of credible complaints of torture and ill-treatment, including rape, by an impartial and independent body can serve to prevent the further occurrence of torture, particularly if prompt action is taken to bring justice.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, RAPE AND SEXUAL ABUSE:TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT OF WOMEN IN DETENTION (London, Amnesty International 1991) 11 pages.

In many countries, government agents use rape and sexual abuse to coerce, humiliate, punish and intimidate women. Specific incidents from various countries are described. These public acts of violence and human rights violations must be recognized as such by governments. Through their failure to institute adequate investigations, prosecutions and procedural safeguards, governments around the world bear full responsibility for the persistence of widespread rape and sexual abuse in custody. Women are entitled to the protection of their fundamental human rights.

But many governments clearly regard rape and sexual assault as less serious offences than other human rights violations. This is a particularly frightening prospect when the perpetrators of these rapes are those charged with the protection of the public. Even when public outrage forces officials into conducting investigations and prosecutions, the punishments imposed by the courts on government agents found guilty of rape are seldom commensurate with the enormity of the crime. Amnesty International suggests 8 steps to prevent rape, sexual abuse and other torture and ill-treatment of women in custody.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, WOMEN IN THE FRONT LINE: HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AGAINST WOMEN (London, Amnesty International 1991) 56 pages.

Ashworth, Georgina, OF VIOLENCE AND VIOLATION: WOMEN AND HUMAN RIGHTS (London, CHANGE 1986) 23 pages.

This essay argues that women, because of their sex, have essentially limited, indeed conditional access to the "four freedoms" which the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the consequent human rights covenants, aspire to define: freedom from fear and want, freedom of speech and belief. It argues that the conditions are not divine oversight, but a continuation of the universal history of male supremacy.

Since it is a state's duty and responsibility, set out in UDHR, Covenants and elsewhere, to ensure that its citizens' rights and dignity are not violated by its own laws or by other citizens, there is a case for re-examining in whose interests these conditions these function, and for rectifying any injustices caused by them. No state should benefit from the violation, abuse or neglect by its own agents or by others, of the rights of its citizens -but it will be suggested here that all states do so, because of their failure to create real and realisable equity and equality for the female sex. It is therefore incumbent upon the international and regional Human Rights systems to identify and rectify these violations.

Bauer, Jan, REPORT OF NGO EXPERT MEETING ON THE MANDATE OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, ITS CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES (Montreal, International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development 1994) 55 pages.

Blatt, Deborah, RECOGNIZING RAPE AS A METHOD OF TORTURE, 19 REV. L. & SOC. CHANGE 821-65 (1992).

Blatt argues for the recognition of rape under international human rights law as a method of torture. She begins by surveying the history of the prohibitions of rape and torture and proceeds to examine the international community's failure to link the prohibition of torture and the prohibition of rape. This failure has occurred in three ways -by addressing women's rights as mainstream human rights, by perceiving torture and rape as separate offenses, and by limiting the context of torture to detention.

The standard in Article 1 of the Torture Convention introduces a new standard for when a physical or mental assault constitutes torture which consists of three elements. Blatt argues that rape falls within the parameters in many cases since: rape is a physical and mental assault causing severe pain and suffering, committed for the purpose of punishment, discrimination, intimidation or coercion, and it is committed by a public official or a private individual acting with the acquiescence or consent of a state authority.

Boyle, Christine, SEXUAL ASSAULT IN ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS: COMMON SENSE ABOUT SEXUAL HISTORY (Working Paper Presented to the Feminism and the Law Workshop, University of Toronto, November 24, 1995) 23 pages.

Bunch, Charlotte & Carrillo, Roxanna, GENDER VIOLENCE: A DEVELOPMENT AND HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE (New Jersey, Centre for Women's Global Leadership 1991) 42 pages.

In first part of this work, Charlotte Bunch argues for a reclassification of human rights which will translate into action through practical policy consequences. She describes four basic approaches to linking women's rights to human rights: women's rights as political and civil rights, women's rights as socioeconomic rights, women's rights and the law, and feminist transformation of human rights. In the second part, Roxanna Carrillo discusses how violence against women is an obstacle to development.

The extent of the violence and gender-based violence at the international fora are described, along with its effects on female dependency, on family and children, and on society. The combined effect of violence and AIDS on women's mental and physical health is also considered. Finally, Carrillo explores the causes of such violence as it relates to the issue of prevention and suggests directions for policy at the program levels and for the international development community.

Carlson-Whitley, Angela K., Dowry Death: A Violation of the Right to Life Under Article Six of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 17 U. PUGET SOUND L. REV. 637-64 (1994).

CENTER FOR WOMEN'S GLOBAL LEADERSHIP, 1991 WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE REPORT: WOMEN, VIOLENCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS (Douglas College, Rutgers University 1992) 80 pages.

This report seeks to provide basic information about the Institute and to present it as a model for organizing internationally. Its mandate is to:

1. promote the visibility of women and of feminist perspectives in public policy decision making and implementation globally,
2. increase women's participation in local and national governments as well as international agencies,
3. build international linkages among women in local leadership that enhance their effectiveness and expand their global consciousness.

1. women's rights as human rights,
2. gender violence, development and the sex industry,
3. violence, health, and sexuality,
4. religion, culture, and female human rights,
5. education to combat gender violence,
6. approaches to changing the legal system,
7. local organizing and international networking. The conclusion of this report discusses the organizing and networking discussions of the Institute and what has been done to date.

This article presents three aspects of the efforts to eradicate violence against women which have been used locally and nationally, and to examine their potential the recently developing effort to incorporate them into the agenda of the international human rights community. These aspects are: legal reform, an interdisciplinary conception of the problem and its remedies, and locally based initiatives. Drawing on these three factors, which have developed at the local and national level, human rights for women can be brought before the international community in a manner commensurate with the universality and severity of the attack on women.

Charlesworth, Hilary, THE UN DECLARATION ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW INSIGHT, June 1994.

Charlesworth, Hilary & Chinkin, Christine, VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: A GLOBAL ISSUE, IN WOMEN, MALE VIOLENCE AND THE LAW 13-34 (Institute of Criminology Monograph Series, No. 6, Stubbs ed., Sydney, 1994).

Cook, Rebecca, ESTABLISHING STATE RESPONSIBILITY FOR PRIVATE ACTS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN UNDER THE AMERICAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, 26 COLUMBIA HUMAN RIGHTS L. REV. 751 (1995). (ALSO II.D)

Coomaraswamy, Radhika, PRELIMINARY REPORT SUBMITTED BY THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, ITS CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES, MS. RADHIKA COOMARASWAMY, IN ACCORDANCE WITH COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS RESOLUTION 1994/45, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/1995/42 (1994) 91 pages.

Copelon, Rhonda, RECOGNIZING THE EGREGIOUS IN THE EVERYDAY: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AS TORTURE, 25 COLUM. HUM. RTS. L. REV. 291-367 (1994).

This article seeks to push the boundaries of women's human rights further. It addresses what is perhaps the most common and dangerous form of gender-based violence -the battering and sexual abuse of women by their partners. It argues that such violence must be understood as torture, giving rise to obligatory international and national responsibilities. Through a conventional human rights lens this appears to be a 'hard case'; from women's experience, however, it is an obvious one.

There are two major obstacles to the recognition of intimate violence against women as a human rights violation. One is the role of the public/private dichotomy in international law. The second is the focus of this piece; it is the persistent trivialization of violence against women. Intimate violence, with the exception of some of its more sensationalized and culture-specific examples has not been considered violence. The thesis of this article is that when stripped of privatization, sexism and sentimentality, private gender-based violence is no less grave than other forms of and subordinating official violence that have been prohibited by treaty and customarry law and recognized by the international community as jus cogens, or peremptory norms.

Copelon, Rhonda, WOMEN AND WAR CRIMES, 69 (1-2) ST. JOHN'S LAW REVIEW, 61- 68 (1996).

Culliton, Katherine M., FINDING A MECHANISM TO ENFORCE WOMEN'S RIGHT TO STATE PROTECTION FROM DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN THE AMERICAS, 34 HARV. INT'L L.J. 507-61 (1993).

This article suggests that international human rights litigation be used to combat domestic violence and to bring the problem of domestic violence, previously consigned to the private sphere, into the public domain. Part I explains how domestic violence constitutes and international human rights violation, identifies each state's responsibility, and defines battered women's complaints under international human rights law. Part II examines recent developments in this field and weighs the pros and cons of various mechanisms for enforcing women's fundamental right to be free of domestic violence.

The Women's Convention is given special attention as the major instrument setting forth women's rights under international law, but the analysis will show that this treaty has serious drawbacks as an enforcement mechanism. Instead, the Inter-American Human Rights Commission appears to be the best available enforcement mechanism available to women from states that are party to the American Convention or to the American Declaration. Part III finally demonstrates the viability of individual battered women's petition's before the Commission, and the remedies of compensation and restitution will be discussed as aspects of a potentially successful case.

Etienne, Margareth, ADDRESSING GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN AN INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT, 18 HARV. WOMEN'S L.J. 139-170 (1995).

Fitzpatrick, Joan, THE USE OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS NORMS TO COMBAT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, IN HUMAN RIGHTS OF WOMEN: NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES 534-71 (Cook ed., Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press 1994).

Violence against women encompasses more than the paradigm instances of battery or murder within the home and rape by acquaintances and strangers. Different types of violence against women implicate a surprising diverse array of international law sources and international institutions. Seven areas are addressed in this paper:

1. domestic violence and rape,
2. genital mutilation,
3. gender-based violence by police and security forces, gender-based violence against women during armed conflict,
4. gender-based violence against women refugees and asylum-seekers,
5. violence associated with prostitution and pornography,
6. violence in the workplace, including sexual harrassment.

Heise, Lori, VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: TRANSLATING INTERNATIONAL ADVOCACY INTO CONCRETE CHANGE, 44 AM. U. L. REV. 1207-11 (1995).

Despite the existence of many international instruments that guarantee all individuals the right to life, bodily integrity, and security of person, mainstream human rights discourse has failed-until recently, to recognize rape and domestic violence by private individuals as abuses of women's human rights. This incongruence stems in part from a general reluctance on the part of the human rights community to take women's issues seriously. It is reinforced by the mainstream's insistence on maintaining a distinction between abuses in the public and private spheres. In this discussion, the author attempts to give an example of how theoretical debates can actually contribute to substantive changes in the real world. The example used is the global effort to organize around violence against women.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, SHATTERED LIVES: SEXUAL VIOLENCE DURING THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE AND ITS AFTERMATH (New York, Human Rights Watch 1996) 103.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH AFRICA, VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN SOUTH AFRICA: STATE RESPONSE TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND RAPE, (New York, N.Y., Human Rights Watch 1995) 132 pages.

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW GROUP, TOKEN GESTURES, WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS AND UN REPORTING: THE UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON TORTURE (Washington, D.C., I.H.R.L.G. 1993) 33 pages.

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, COMBATTING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN (New York, International League for Human Rights 1993) 118 pages.

Jordan, Ann D., Human Rights, VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA EXPERIENCE), 5 (2) COLUMBIA JOURNAL OF GENDER AND LAW, 216- ? (1996).

McConnell, Moira C., VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: BEYOND THE LIMITS OF THE LAW, XXI BROOKLYN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, 899- ? (1996).

MacKinnon, Catharine A., ON TORTURE: A FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE ON HUMAN RIGHTS, IN HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: A GLOBAL CHALLENGE 7-20 (Mahoney & Mahoney eds., Netherlands, Martinus Nijhoff 1993).

McConnell, Moira L., VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: BEYOND THE LIMITS OF THE LAW, 21:3 BROOKLYN J. INT'L L. 899-914 (1996).

Patrignani, Angela & Ville, Renaud, VIOLENCE IN THE FAMILY: INTERNATIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY WITH LITERATURE REVIEW (Italy, United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute, 1995) 16 pages.

PROFAMILIA SERVICIOS LEGALES PARA MUJERES, [PROFAMILIA LEGAL SERVICES FOR WOMEN], LA VIOLENCIA Y LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS DE LA MUJER [VIOLENCE AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF WOMEN] (Bogota, Printex Impresores 1992) 208 pages.

Roth, Kenneth, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AS AN INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE, in HUMAN RIGHTS OF WOMEN: NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES 326-39 (Cook ed., Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press 1994).

This chapter discusses some of the methodlogical problems that the Human Rights Watch Women's Rights Project has encountered in addressing domestic violence against women. By highlighting the complexities of the legal and conceptual issues that arise in treating domestic violence as a human rights violation, the author illustrates how international human rights law can most effectively be used to combat domestic violence. The discussion is also relevant to other efforts to address de facto discrimination in the application of facially neutral criminal laws to private actors.

Spatz, Melissa, A "LESSER" CRIME: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF LEGAL DEFENSES FOR MEN WHO KILL THEIR WIVES, 24 COLUM. J.L. & SOC. PROBS. 597-638 (1991).

Throughout the world, men who murder their wives encounter legal systems that are lenient toward their crimes. Many legal systems treat the murder of the wife as a less serious crime than the murder of a stranger. This article examines three types of systems, viewing the plight of wives as a problem of international dimension. Section II examines the criminal justice systems in Islamic countries. These systems acquit or impose drastically reduced sentences on men who murder their adulterous wives. Section III explores a different kind of system, in which positive laws designed to protect women from their husbands of unenforced. Section IV examines two Western countries, Brazil and the United States, in which judges have created defenses for men who otherwise would not be protected under statutory law.

Thomas, Dorothy Q. & Beasley, Mishele E., DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AS A HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE, 15 HUM. RTS. Q. 36-62 (1993).

This paper discusses why domestic violence was not analyzed traditionally as a human rights issue. It discusses the three independent, though interrelated, changes that occurred to make such an analysis possible: the expansion of the application of state responsibility, the recognition of domestic violence as widespread and largely unprosecuted, and the understanding that the systematic, discriminatory non-prosecution of domestic violence constitutes a violation of the right to equal protection under international law.

In addition, this paper explores the value and limitations of the human rights approach to combatting domestic violence. The authors conclude that the human rights approach can be a powerful tool to combat domestic violence, but that there are currently both practical and methodological limitations -in part related to the use of the equal protection framework to assign state responsibility for domestic violence--that are problematic and require further analysis to make the approach more effective.

Valencia-Weber, Gloria et al, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND TRIBAL PROTECTION OF INDIGENOUS WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES, 69 (1-2) ST. JOHN'S LAW REVIEW, 69- 170 (1995). [cross reference to III. Domestic Protection, D. Inter-American, 8. United States]

WOMEN, LAW & DEVELOPMENT INTERNATIONAL, STATE RESPONSES TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: CURRENT STATUS AND NEEDED IMPROVEMENT (Washington, D.C., 1996) 151 pages.

See also Wing
(I.F.); Human Rights Watch
(III.A.Kuwait), (III.A.Somalia), (III.B.India),

Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights
(II.C.-Albania);

Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights
(III.C.-Romania); (III.D.Brazil), (III.D.Haiti); Kalajdzic (IV.F.); Koenig (IV.F.); Wing & Merchan (IV.F.); and Castel (IV.K.).