Issues-Violence

Women's Human Rights

Violence Against Women

and the Convention of Belém do Pará

Measures for Follow-Up of the Convention of Belém do Pará

Pursuant to a mandate received from the XXXI CIM Assembly of Delegates (CIM/RES.224/02), and subsequently taken up by the OAS General Assembly (AG/RES.1942/03 and AG/RES.2012/04), the CIM carried out the preparatory work to develop measures to follow-up on the Convention of Belém do Pará, so as to ensure systematic and ongoing evaluation of the progress made in achieving its objectives.

A working document with a proposal for a follow up mechanism to the Belém Do Pará Convention was prepared by the CIM Permanent Secretariat and distributed to the governments of the Member States, regional and international agencies and civil society organizations and for their observations and feedback.

The document that resulted of said consultation, Proposal of Appropriate Measures for Follow-Up of the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradicacion of Violence Against Women, Convention of Belém do Pará, was used as a working document for the Meeting of Experts on the Follow-up Mechanism to the Convention of Belém do Pará, hosted by Mexico in July 2004.

This meeting drafted a Draft Statute of the Mechanism to Follow Up on the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women, "Convention of Belém do Pará", which will be considered by a Conference of States Parties to be convened by the OAS Secretary General in October 2004, with the purpose of adopting the follow up mechanism to the Convention.

Biennial Reports on Implementation of the Convention of Belém do Pará

- First Biennial Report (1999)
- Second Biennial Report (2001)
- Third Biennial Report (2003)
- Fourth Biennial Report (2005)

Project on Violence Against Women

In 2000, five years after the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence Against Women 'Convention of Belém do Pará' came into effect, a project entitled "Violence Against Women: A Regional Analysis, Including a Review of the Implementation of the “Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence Against Women," was undertaken to evaluate Hemispheric progress in meeting the objectives of this Convention, which has been ratified by thirty-one of the thirty-four member states of the OAS.

The research project was executed jointly with the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy of Canada (ICCLR) and the United Nations Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (ILANUD). It reviewed each member state’s compliance with the Convention, addressing not only criminal law, procedures, law enforcement, sentencing and corrections, but also health services, social services, victim assistance programs, crime prevention measures, and awareness campaigns that have been introduced in the past five years.

Once the research phase was finished, four sub-regional meetings of experts were held in held in Uruguay ( 2000), Ecuador (2001), Panama (2001) and Guyana (2002), to analyze project results and make recommendations. Four Secretariats pro tempore were created in the host countries to follow-up on the experts' recommendations.

The results of the subregional meetings of experts were presented to the XXXI Assembly of Delegates of CIM, held in Dominican Republic in October 2002. The following documents refer to the project:

Executive Summary of Project

Follow-Up to the Convention of Belém do Pará - Results of the Subregional Meetings of Experts - Strategies to be Followed (ADdoc-7.ing, October 2002)

"Violence in the Americas": Final Report of the Meeting of Experts of the MERCOSUR Subregion, Bolivia and Chile (Montevideo, Uruguay, December 7-8, 2000)

"Violence in the Americas": Final Report of the Meeting of Experts of the Andean Subregion (Quito, Ecuador, June 21-22, 2001)

"Violence in the Americas": Final Report of the Meeting of Experts of Central America, Mexico, Panama, and the Dominican Republic (Panama City, August 27-28, 2001)

"Violence in the Americas": Final Report of the Meeting of Experts of the Caribbean Subregion (Georgetown, Guyana June 20-21, 2002

Video- Today in the Americas: Roundtable on Violence Against Women