Former Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls Rashida Manjoo and international human rights lawyer Christina Beninger published a paper in the International Human Rights Law Review supporting the call for a new Optional Protocol to CEDAW to end violence against women and girls.
The paper notes that while there are multiple non-binding instruments that address violence against women and girls, there is no global, legally binding framework for addressing violence against women and girls and this gap in the legal framework contributes to impunity in nations around the world.
“While important, the soft law developments within the United Nations are not legally binding or enforceable, with the consequence of both a legal and political gap,” the authors write. “Thus, States can avoid any legally enforceable accountability and ultimately refuse to recognise or comply with the evolving interpretations articulated by human rights treaty bodies and special procedures mechanisms.” (page 8)
“This legal gap signals that compliance with international normative standards on vaw [violence against women] developed through the international system is ultimately optional. The result is a serious accountability deficit when it comes to combating vaw globally.” (page 8)
The paper concludes that objections to a new Optional Protocol to CEDAW are largely procedural, and that “closing the protection gap is an issue of substantive development in international human rights law and must be distinguished from the procedural challenges faced by the monitoring body.” (page 46)
“Ultimately, given the existing protection gaps under international human rights law and the ongoing pervasive scale of vaw globally, we conclude that the negotiation and adoption of an Optional Protocol on vaw to the CEDAW treaty is a necessary step to meaningfully challenge ongoing impunity and lack of accountability worldwide for this deeply gendered global human rights violation.” (page 46)
Read the full paper: Closing the Protection Gap Through a Legally Binding CEDAW Optional Protocol on Violence against Women and Girls
A special thank you to Brill Publishing for generously sharing this full-access link.
