Earlier this month, Santa Clara Law’s International Human Rights Clinic released its report The Inter-American Human Rights System and Violence Against Women; Norms, Compliance Mechanisms, Jurisprudence, Implementation, Lessons Learned, and Recommendations. The Clinic prepared the report in partnership with the Initiative on Violence Against Women at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
The report describes the international normative framework and compliance mechanisms that address violence against women (VAW) within the Organization of American States (OAS), and analyzes six landmark decisions on VAW by the Inter-American Commission and Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The report also provides a summary of lessons learned from the Inter-American System’s experience with VAW, particularly in light of the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of VAW (Convention of Belém do Pará).
More generally, the Clinic’s research aims to provide the Carr Center’s Initiative with an analysis of the extent to which a specialized binding regional treaty like the Convention of Belém do Pará has aided in the promotion of domestic norms and practices aimed at preventing, punishing, and eradicating VAW in the region, and the limitations and barriers that still exist in translating the treaty’s legal standards into effective VAW policies and practices on the ground. The recommendations and insights gained from the Clinic’s research will help the Carr Center evaluate whether a similar specialized international legal framework on VAW should be pursued in the United Nations’ human rights system.
The following Santa Clara Law students worked on this report under the supervision of supervising attorney Britton Schwartz and clinic director Francisco Rivera: Nnennaya Amuchie, Bryce Braegger, Noemi Desguin, Tess Mullin, Brittney Rezaei, and Smita Suman.
