The Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Sanction and Elimination of Violence against Women was drafted by the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM). After a consultation process carried out by CIM with the governments of the region, the Convention was adopted in June 1994, at the twenty-fourth regular session of the General Assembly of the OAS, held in Belém do Pará, Brazil. It was immediately ratified by the governments of the member states and entered into force on March 5, 1995.

The coming into force of the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women (Convention of Belém do Pará) marked an important moment in the continued efforts to affirm and protect women’s human rights and denounce violence against women as a human rights violation. Many initiatives to prevent, punish, and eradicate violence against women have preceded the adoption of the Convention. The Convention, however, was unique in clearly delineating the State’s obligations to protect women’s right to a life without violence.

The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted in 1995 also contained a clear call to action and as well as the elements of a strategy to abolish violence against women. In countries where the ratification of the Convention and the adoption of the Platform for Action were taken seriously, these two events marked the beginning of a crucial but difficult process of change. As the year 2000 was approaching, it became clear that change could not simply be assumed to take place and that the time had come to examine what was being accomplished and how successful the adopted strategies were proving to be in eradicating violence against women.

For its part, the United Nations General Assembly launched and completed a review of the progress achieved in pursuing the objectives and implementing the strategies contained in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. As a result, the General Assembly, at its twenty-third special session entitled Women 2000: gender, equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century, last June, identified further actions and initiatives that must be taken to implement the Declaration and Platform for Action.

In February 2000, in preparation for the special session of the UN General Assembly, the eighth session of the regional conference of women in Latin America and the Caribbean, held in Lima, Peru, adopted the Lima Consensus. The Consensus reiterated the need to take more decisive and sustained action to prevent all forms of violence against women. It recognized that, "in spite of the apparent and real advances made by women and girls in Latin America and the Caribbean, the fundamental structure of gender relations remains disadvantageous to the majority of girls and women". The member states represented at that regional meeting undertook, among other things, to promote the effective implementation of the Belém do Pará Convention and to "guarantee the protection of women’s human rights, including sexual and reproductive rights, and address violations of these rights with particular attention to all forms of gender-based violence and its root causes, including the reproduction of a culture of violence".

At the same time as the "Beijing +5" review process was taking place, a distinct process was being envisaged in relation to the implementation of the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women. The Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) of the Organization of American States sought and received the financial assistance of the USAID to review national programs to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women in the Americas. To conduct the review, the Commission enlisted the collaboration of the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy (ICCLR, in Vancouver, Canada) and the United Nations Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (ILANUD, in San José, Costa Rica). The two international institutes are members of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme’s Network of Institutes and have been involved extensively in this particular area of research.

The review conducted by the three organizations began in December 1999 and is nearing completion. Its main objectives are to:

 review the nature and relative efficiency of the various policies and legislative reforms and programs adopted in countries of the region to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women;

 identify some of the specific programs and measures adopted by each country and review what is known of their impact;

 identify the difficulties involved and the obstacles encountered in implementing the various measures and policies called for by the Convention;

• assess if possible the relative impact of the measures and programs adopted in countries of the region on the various factors contributing to violence against women.

The review aims to offer a greater understanding of the progress accomplished to date in implementing the Convention, the obstacles encountered, and the work that remains to be done. The analysis therefore focuses on: (1) the nature and perceived efficiency of implementation mechanisms and programs adopted by various countries of the Americas; (2) the specific measures adopted in these countries and their perceived or known impact; and (3) the difficulties and obstacles encountered in implementing these measures.

Article 7 of the Convention articulates the obligations of States Parties with respect to their role in the protection of women’s rights to a life without violence. Specific obligations are listed flowing from the States Parties’ formal undertakings to refrain from committing acts of violence against women, demonstrate due diligence in preventing, investigating and punishing violence against women, to reform existing laws, policies and administrative practices contributing to violence against women, and to ensure that women victims have access to restitution, reparations or other forms of just and effective remedies. The Convention also specifies, in its Article 8, that a number of other programs and measures must be adopted to promote public education and awareness, to mobilize communities in the fight against violence against women and to offer specialized services and assistance to women victims.

The review described here focuses on the implementation of the measures and dispositions described in Articles 7 and 8 of the Convention. It also considers the efforts that are being deployed to take special account, as required by Article 9 of the Convention, of the vulnerability of women to violence by reason of, among others, their age, race, ethnic background, status as immigrants, socio-economic position, or disabilities.

The concept of "due diligence" is the criterion against which States Parties have agreed that their efforts to prevent, investigate and impose penalties for violence against women should be judged (Article 7 (b)). To implement the criterion of "due diligence" for the purpose of the review, the researchers looked for other agreed upon statements on the nature of the measures to be taken by "diligent" member states to prevent and eradicate violence against women. The Beijing Platform for Action provided some guidance. However, the most directly useful statement about the specific measures to be taken or at least considered as part of the Sates Parties’ duty of "due diligence" was found in a resolution of United Nations General Assembly (UN G.A. res. 52/86, 12 December 1997). The resolution contains an annex entitled Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination of Violence against Women in the Fields of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.

These Model Strategies flow from the Beijing Platform for Action. Their main focus is to ensure that justice systems and prevention efforts provide a "fair treatment" response to all incidents of violence against women. They aim to provide de facto as well as de jure equality between women and men. They are relevant to all aspects of the justice system, from community-based prevention efforts, to law enforcement, courts, sentencing, and corrections. They are also relevant to several other strategic objectives relating to the education, public awareness and the mobilization of communities and the media to fully participate in efforts to eradicate violence against women.

The present review was facilitated by the development and use of a grid relating each one of the undertakings of States Parties to the Convention, as specified in its Articles 7, 8 and 9, to the specific measures described in the Model Strategies.

Firstly, the review is based, in part, on an analysis of the replies received from member states to a questionnaire sent to them by the Commission in April of this year. The questionnaire is appended to this report. Member states were asked to respond to the questionnaire by the beginning of June. Some member states found it difficult to reply to the questionnaire within the period of time suggested. Some of them were in the process of completing their response to the United Nations questionnaire on the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action or were otherwise busy preparing for the special session of the United Nations General Assembly on Women 2000: gender, equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century.

In total, 16 member states replied to the CIM’s request for information. They were: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Jamaica, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname. In the case of Uruguay, a respondent from the Comisión Nacional de Mujeres Uruguayas de Seguimiento de los Compromisos de Beijing referred the researchers to the information contained in a detailed study recently conducted in that country by Graciela Dufau. That information was supplemented by an examination of some of the available literature on existing programs in the United States of America.

Secondly, the review is also based on field studies conducted in selected countries of the Americas using consultations and interviews with representatives from national agencies, government and non-governmental organizations, as well as from academia. The time frame within which the present review was conducted as well as the limited resources at its disposal precluded the conduct of field studies in every country of the region.

The following is a list of the field studies conducted as part of the present project:

Programas Nacionales para Prevenir, Sancionar y Erradicar la Violencia Contra la Mujer en Brasil (by Leila Linhares Barsted and Jacqueline Hermann)

Programas Nacionales para Prevenir, Sancionar y Erradicar la Violencia Contra la Mujer en Chile (by Lorena Fries and Paula Salvo).

Programas Nacionales para Prevenir, Sancionar y Erradicar la Violencia Contra la Mujer en Costa Rica (by Ivannia Monge).

Programas Nacionales para Prevenir, Sancionar y Erradicar la Violencia Contra la Mujer en Ecuador (by Rocío Salgado).

Programas Nacionales para Prevenir, Sancionar y Erradicar la Violencia Contra la Mujer en El Salvador (by Yolanda Guirola).

Programas Nacionales para Prevenir, Sancionar y Erradicar la Violencia Contra la Mujer en Guatemala (by Carmen Lopez de Caceres and Lucrecia Lopez Lopez).

Programas Nacionales para Prevenir, Sancionar y Erradicar la Violencia Contra la Mujer en Honduras (by Lolis María Salas Montes).

Programas Nacionales para Prevenir, Sancionar y Erradicar la Violencia Contra la Mujer en México (by Teresa Ulloa Ziáurriz, Mónica del Val Locht, and Jorge González Santana).

Programas Nacionales para Prevenir, Sancionar y Erradicar la Violencia Contra la Mujer en Panamá (by Rosina M. Pérez Bermudez).

Programas Nacionales para Prevenir, Sancionar y Erradicar la Violencia Contra la Mujer en Paraguay (by: Line Bareiro, María Molinas, and Marilut Lluis O’Hara).

Programas Nacionales para Prevenir, Sancionar y Erradicar la Violencia Contra la Mujer en Perú (by Marcela Huaita).

National Programs to Prevent, Punish and Eradicate Violence Against Women in Canada (by Eileen Skinnider, Vivienne Chin and Yvon Dandurand).

National Programs to Prevent, Punish and Eradicate Violence Against Women in nine Caribbean Countries: Antigua & Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, Jamaica, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago (by Vivienne Chin and Yvon Dandurand).

The reports mentioned above may be obtained from the CIM in the language in which they were originally produced.

The information collection phase of this project was completed in August 2000. Since then two sub-regional analyses have been completed, one for Mexico and Central America and one for South America. The latter is being reviewed by a Group of Experts in Montevideo. A final report on the review with a synthesis of the information collected will be available in January 2001.

The table reproduced below shows which countries were covered during the present project and through what means. Some countries replied to the questionnaire but were not the object of a field study. Others were included in a study, but did not reply to the questionnaire. The amount, the level of detail and the quality of the information that was gathered by resorting to the two concurrent processes varied from country to country. Nevertheless, an effort was made to preserve the richness of some of the information collected by producing a number of country-specific and sub-regional reports. As for the final report on the overall review, it focuses, as might be expected, on general trends and on the main lessons learned so far in attempting to implement the Convention.

(*) See study conducted Graciela Dufau.

It was always understood that the review would only be as complete as would be permitted by the information already available in each country. Collection of new data from primary sources could not be contemplated as part of the present project. However, it soon became apparent that a significant obstacle not only to the conduct of the present study, but also to the implementation of the Convention itself, was and continues to be the lack of reliable and systematically collected information on both the prevalence of violence against women and the nature and impact of current social and institutional responses to the problem.

The present review may fill some of these information gaps. It will hopefully help member states as well as relevant organizations, community leaders and concerned individuals to learn from the experience accumulated over the last several years in attempting to eradicate violence against women in the Americas. Ultimately, all of them should feel prompted to renew their commitment to achieve the objective pursued by the Convention, the eradication of violence against women.

The following attempts to briefly summarize the most important findings of the review.

Significant progress has clearly been achieved throughout the region in terms of promoting an understanding of violence against women as a violation of human rights. The existence of the Convention in itself as well as its dissemination within the region has contributed to this renewed awareness. There is a better acceptance of the fact that violence against women and girls, whether occurring in public or in private, is a human rights violation. The idea nevertheless continues to meet strong resistance, much of it expressed only covertly or disguised as a form cynical pragmatism.

The ultimate objective, the eradication of violence against women, was sometimes forgotten. In general, it has been widely recognized that some of the most crucial changes required to achieve this objective, including significant changes in attitudes, beliefs and traditions, would take a long time to take effect. This is perhaps why, once some institutional processes had been put in place, there emerged a tendency to learn to "cope" with the problem and perhaps even to "tolerate" it, as opposed to any renewed determination to eliminate it altogether.

The drive which once existed to bring about meaningful change appears to have been somewhat eroded. Whether this is because, as some respondents suggested, women have lowered their expectations of government institutions, or because they have relaxed their vigilance, it seems that in some countries the pressure that was once exerted on governments to live up to their human rights commitments and in particular to their commitment to protect the rights of women to a life without violence has been relaxed and in many cases replaced by process.

The issue of accountability is an important one at all levels. The obligations of the State and its various institutions to prevent, punish or otherwise respond to violence against women have been clearly defined by international law in general, by the Convention, and often also by national laws. Whether and how these obligations are effectively fulfilled is an entirely different matter. National or local mechanisms to monitor the actions of these institutions and evaluate their progress and success in eradicating violence against women rarely exist. When they exist, they rarely have the authority or the resources to accomplish their task effectively.

In many countries, the ratification of the Convention represented a high point in the efforts of women of that country to compel the State to recognize its responsibilities with respect to the right of women to a life without violence. In some cases, the effort required to bring about that level of official recognition seemed to have exhausted the energy of the groups involved. In other cases, it provided a fresh impetus for concrete action.

The above observations point to the need to invent new ways to sustain and enhance the efforts that have been made so far, to consolidate the gains that were achieved, and to hold accountable those who have been entrusted with the responsibility of implementing the required institutional mechanisms accountable.

Ways to develop or renew societal commitment to the goal of eradicating violence against women must be explored. In that regard, many respondents have also expressed a concern that a new generation of young women was perhaps less actively committed to the objective of eliminating violence against women or too quick to assume that the problem has already been addressed.

The question is whether women and girls are less vulnerable, less exposed to incidents of gender-based violence than they were before. Are they less often victimized? Is their ability to live a life free of violence significantly enhanced as a result of measures that have been taken since the adoption of the Convention? The unfortunate reality, however, is that sound information does not exist in most countries which would allow us to measure the change. All that can be said, on the basis of the little information that exists, is that it is very unlikely that significant progress has in fact been achieved in the last five years in terms of the amount of victimization that has taken place or the number of women who have been affected.

If the institutional, attitudinal and programmatic changes that were contemplated by the Convention have indeed been implemented, they have, in most countries, yet to yield concrete results in terms of reducing violence against women.

Many countries have taken formal actions, including declarations, legislation and constitutional amendments, to symbolically reaffirm the right of women to a life without violence. Effective action against violence against women has been formally identified as a priority by most countries of the Americas. However, the depth of the actual commitments that lays behind these formal declarations is not always easily ascertainable and is certainly subject to fluctuation as governments and their priorities change. In some cases, that commitment has been translated into action, but in several others it has not. In many countries, the task of promoting and implementing the necessary reforms has been largely left to non-governmental agencies which often have not had the needed resources. Several countries have been either unable or unwilling to devote the necessary human and financial resources to the cause.

In terms of the immediate impact of the ratification of the Convention by various member states, it became clear during the review that some countries of the region have treated the ratification of the Convention as a "destination" and not as a "point of departure". In several cases, no sustained or concerted attempt has been made to actually implement the Convention after its ratification.

National initiatives against gender-based violence have tended to focus on policy and law reform, frequently without sufficient means devoted to the implementation of these reforms. Too many initiatives seem to have been content to offer formal legal protection to women without providing them with the genuine means to access that protection. Finally, in the majority of countries reviewed, the Convention itself was poorly communicated to the population and remained rather unknown by those who would normally be expected to participate fully in its implementation.

The implementation of the programs and measures called for by the Convention has met with considerable difficulties throughout the region. It is probably fair to say that the full implementation of the Convention has not yet been achieved in any one of the countries reviewed. Each country has had to face specific difficulties relating to its own politics and circumstances, its economy and level of development, it legal system and traditions, the size and diversity of its population, and its geography. There is however an emerging pattern of obstacles which have clearly diminished the efforts of many States Parties to live up to their commitments under the Convention.

Some of the obstacles that have been encountered and are detailed in the review include:

Some amount of political instability has weakened the efforts of States Parties to proceed with the reforms they had undertaken to achieve. Political leadership has sometimes been missing or has not been consistently offered. Several proposed reforms have died a "natural death" for lack of effective political leadership and political will to pursue them.

• Economic conditions

Economic disparities among and within countries, economic instability, and under-development have all had a heavy impact on the lives of women. They also affect the ability of the States to provide social protection and social security as well as funding for essential services and for programs to prevent and punish violence against women or provide assistance to victims of violence. Natural disasters and social unrest have also sometimes compounded the problem.

Economic inequalities reinforce women’s subordinate position in society and render them vulnerable to many forms of violence. Poverty among women and their economic dependence on men is a problem which largely remains to be addressed. Without effective solutions to these inequalities large segments of the female population will never be able to translate their human rights, including their right to a life without violence, into reality. Even in cases where the law and the justice system afford women some level of protection against violence, their economic dependency often prevents them from seeking that protection. Current programs seem to have underestimated that difficulty.

• Lack of financial and technical resources

Financial resources are often not available to effectively implement the programs that have been mandated by legislation or official policies. Programs which exist only "on paper" and are only the shadow of what they were initially meant to be are encountered surprisingly often in the region. Sometimes it is only by the sheer determination of a small group of volunteers that essential assistance programs continue to be offered long after they would normally have disappeared due to lack of funding. In the majority of countries of the region, the need for services and programs is totally out of proportion to the amount of services offered.

Resources are sometimes also diverted to the pursuit of other priorities (including other social issues and the prevention of other forms of crime). Several states facing severe financial constraints have prioritized other issues, and this often in response to public pressure.

This lack of financial and technical resources continues to be felt more severely outside of the main urban centres. In most rural and remote communities, efforts to address the problem of violence against women continue to be hampered by the absence of economic opportunities for women as well as the lack of adequate health care, education, public transportation, and law enforcement resources.

It is also usually the case that a country’s new programs and initiatives to address the problem of violence against women are not consistently applied throughout the territory. The urban /rural divide is still a significant obstacle. There remains a great need for further outreach efforts to be expanded outside the urban centres.

• Socio-cultural factors and attitudes which condone discrimination and violence against women.

The presence of competing values and beliefs about women and their place in the family and in society continues to play against the unequivocal affirmation of women’s rights and in particular their right to a life without violence. Attitudes, beliefs, and sexist stereotypes persist and continue to be widely held by both men and women. They impede efforts to translate women’s rights into a reality for women. Attitudes and norms which are still prevalent in many parts of the region often devalue women’s work, discourage their participation in political life or the assertion of their legal rights through the legal and political process, discourage and sometimes deny the participation of fathers in family life, child care and the equal sharing of family responsibilities. In some countries, prevailing norms and attitudes tolerate or encourage polygamous arrangements (multiple families, concubines, etc), make it nearly impossible for women to leave an abusive relationship, or severely limit a woman’s reproductive choices. Such attitudes and beliefs provide a basis for traditional practices, social norms, and institutional forms of discrimination that are prejudicial to women and often openly encourage or provide justification for gender-based violence. The same attitudes are also responsible for the frequent stigmatization and isolation of women who assert their rights to life without violence.

• Presence of a culture of violence

All countries of the region are affected by the pervasive effects of a prevalent culture of violence which trivializes all forms of violence and presents them as inevitable. In the process gender-based violence is also trivialized.

New problems are arising from the use of information and communication technologies. They facilitate certain types of violence against women such as child pornography, sex tourism or trafficking in women and children for the purposes of all forms of economic and sexual exploitation. They also make the prosecution of such crimes more difficult.

• Poor planning

In far too many jurisdictions, efforts to combat violence against women are fragmented and poorly coordinated. The focus of these plans is too often on attempting to alleviate the symptoms and consequences of violence against women. They do not specifically address the root causes of gender-based violence. Cooperation between sectors of intervention is rarely efficient and there often is, particularly where financial resources are insufficient, a counterproductive level of competition between service providers and other agencies active in the fight against violence against women.

Comprehensive national or local plans of action, based on an assessment of the situation, with clearly specified targets can go a long way to reduce these obstacles. Such plans rarely exist and, when they do, they too often have been developed without proper input from the main groups and agencies ultimately responsible for their implementation.

There are examples of comprehensive plans of action which have a provided clear impetus for action and helped various sectors coordinate their efforts. In these cases, the next challenge is often to ensure that the progress in implementing the plan is effectively monitored and that all necessary actors remain sufficiently mobilized.

In some large countries, difficulties are often experienced in securing the full cooperation of all levels of government. Establishing the required coordination and necessary strong partnerships among all levels of government is often very difficult.

The mobilizing of young people (young women in particular) appears to create a new challenge for many organizations. Many young people act as if gender inequalities and gender-based violence were issues of the past.

• Absence of effective monitoring mechanisms

It seems that progress is too often simply assumed to have taken place. The lack of monitoring mechanisms and accountability measures to ensure the effective implementation of national policies is a major issue in most countries. This is particularly important in the case of policies or measures that are not well received or even resisted by some or parts of the institutions concerned. This is also crucial in the case of some policies which may be confronted by the prevailing sub-culture in a particular agency or institution.

• Absence of data

The absence of data is being felt and deplored in most countries of the region. In particular, victimization surveys and standardized data on the experience of women who personally face incidents of violence are lacking. The planning and monitoring of social and institutional change and the evaluation of its impact is not possible without such information.

• Lack of understanding of violence against women and its causes.

Although a significant amount of new research has been conducted in the region, most of it was conducted in about half a dozen countries. The research and evaluation needs of most other countries with respect to the problem of violence against women remain largely unattended. In particular, research on the effectiveness of various legislative initiatives, procedural reforms and institutional programs continues to be sparse. Research on the links between gender-based violence and various cultural beliefs and attitudes must be expanded, as must be research on effective means to promote change in these cultural patterns.

Most countries of the region have given themselves a mechanism (national machinery) for the advancement of women. In some cases the mechanism is part of the government itself, while in others the responsibility has been given to a non-governmental organization. In most instances, these mechanisms have played a crucial role in the implementation of the Convention and in promoting various measures to prevent and eradicate violence against women. In several countries the national machinery for the advancement of women has been transformed progressively into a mechanism to promote gender equality and to respond to gender issues. In some cases, this and other structural changes have been perceived as disruptive. In many other cases, these and other recent changes have served to strengthen existing mechanisms, integrate them better into the overall governance mechanisms, and render them more effective.

The review reveals that not all mechanisms have enjoyed the same success. The resources at the disposal of these mechanisms, the quality of the leadership on which they have relied, the strength of their links with various government institutions, the breadth of the support from the community, their ability to effectively mobilize people and resources have all played a role in determining the impact they have had on the attitudes, laws, policies and practices which exist in their country. What has also made a difference, it seems, is whether or not they were able to formulate and rally wide support around a comprehensive plan of action dealing specifically with violence against women. The practice of creating focal points within government agencies and departments has apparently been particularly successful in promoting change, instituting viable partnerships and mobilizing different sectors to contribute to the national effort. Finally, at the sub-regional level, some linkages have been established between these national mechanisms to facilitate the exchange of information and resources.

Better and more effective use of new electronic communication means must be made to foster cooperation between countries and organizations on a regional or sub-regional basis. Obviously, much more remains to be done to realize the full potential of electronic communication and other mass media for mobilizing communities.

The persistence of traditional and stereotypical roles, often reinforced by institutional structures and by the media, continues to impede progress. In particular, efforts to reduce negative gender stereotyping of women and men should be encouraged. A public debate on the new roles of men and women must be promoted, as encouraged by the Beijing Platform for Action. Evolving stereotypes about the relationship between men and women must receive special attention.

Other observations flowing from the review include:

• An increased formal recognition of gender equality, at least superficially, has opened the doors to new and perhaps more effective ways to address the problem of violence against women.

• A progressive shift is being noticed in existing programs from an exclusive focus on women to a gender approach that focuses on both men and women and the relationship between them.

• Zero-tolerance media campaigns on violence against women have sometimes been instituted. Focus has been on creating a community consensus that violence against women is unacceptable. Not all campaigns have had the same impact. Few of them have been evaluated.

• This is an area where cooperation between jurisdictions and a pooling of existing resources may be particularly helpful.

• Programs of this nature should focus on finding better means to reach the young population more consistently.

• It is critical to pay greater attention to men and boys within the existing awareness raising programs and campaigns. Men must become part of the process of change, as well as active participants and promoters of that process.

• There is an issue for some around whether the increased attention to men may result in diverting scarce resources away from the task of assisting women and meeting their needs.

• Programs often do not seem to penetrate communities outside of the urban centres. The messages are not always designed in ways that are meaningful to the situation of many women in rural or remote areas.

• With very few exceptions, existing programs do not address the issues from the perspective of minority groups or minority cultures. Insufficient resources are being devoted to promote an awareness of the special difficulties encountered by several groups of women who are especially vulnerable to violence.

In every country reviewed, there have been numerous efforts to raise public awareness of the issue and to mobilize various elements of the community to work together to find solutions. These efforts have been difficult to sustain. Most of these measures have had a strong focus on physical security of women and freedom from fear of violence. Most efforts have failed to help the population make the links between these issues and other issues of human security which occupy a prominent place among the concerns of the population. Other observations derived from the review include:

• It is easy to note that improvements in the public understanding of gender equality, of the rights of women and the issue of gender-based violence are not necessarily translated into gender equality or freedom from violence.

• Several programs are now emphasizing the education and participation of both women and men in efforts to eliminate sexual assault and domestic violence. There will be little progress without changes to the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour of men.

• In the case of some deep-rooted beliefs and attitudes, it may take several generations for the full impact of some of the existing programs to be felt. In all cases, it will take time. Nevertheless, the efforts must be sustained.

• Efforts to mobilize communities must go beyond denouncing the intolerable nature of violence against women and propose some concrete forms of action. A greater emphasis must be placed on mobilizing the younger elements of the population in the fight against gender-based violence.

• Countries of the region have also achieved some noticeable progress with respect to promoting a better understanding among the population and within the health care community of the impact of violence against women on their health, in particular their sexual and reproductive health. This has in turn helped clarify the responsibility of health care providers in the prevention of violence against women and the need to increase the availability of adequate health care services to victims of violence who cannot access existing services.

• There should be continued efforts to help the population and its leaders better understand the links between violence against women and development.

• Some member states are beginning to design campaigns to increase public awareness of the seriousness of the problem of sex tourism.

Enlisting the help and contribution of the media is crucial to the success of efforts to transform deep-seated cultural perceptions and attitudes. Gender stereotyped images continue to proliferate in the media. In comparison to the resources devoted, directly or indirectly, to the perpetuation of such stereotypes, the resources devoted by the communication media to contribute to the eradication of violence against women are pitiful. Significant financial investments are required. Few countries have decided to invest in this way. In most of Latin American and Caribbean countries, there is no special program to involve the media, nor is there a systematic policy on behalf of government to encourage the media to contribute to the objectives pursued by the Convention. Many of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean participated in the UN Inter-Agency Campaign, an advocacy and public awareness campaign against gender violence.

Member states have agreed to take all appropriate measures, including legislative measures, to amend or repeal existing laws and regulations or to modify legal or customary practices which sustain the persistence and tolerance of violence against women. This is an area where there has been, in most countries, an impressive amount of activity. The reviews of laws, codes and procedures can be institutionalized by establishing structures or mechanisms within legislative or administrative bodies. In countries that have national machinery on women’s issues or gender equality, it is often that centre of responsibility which is entrusted with the responsibility of reviewing the laws and promoting reforms from a gender equality perspective.

• Practical steps are still needed in most countries to maintain an ongoing review of the laws as well as law enforcement and judicial practices.

• The implementation of law reform initiatives is often very weak, with the consequence that harmful practices continue to exist long after the formal reforms have been effected.

• Accountability mechanisms for the justice system and in particular for criminal justice professionals must be developed.

• In spite of multiple reforms, the problem of officially sanctioned acts of violence against women as well as acts of violence perpetrated by agents of the State persists in every part of the region without exception.

Efforts have been made throughout the region to ensure that all forms of violence against women are condemned and criminalized. Nevertheless, much more remains to be done. Among the many issues identified in the review are:

• Many countries have established family courts to deal with domestic violence. The effectiveness of this approach has not been properly assessed. These courts sometimes also have the authority to deal with litigation so as to reduce the pressure on the women plaintiffs.

• Marital rape and violent sexual assaults within the home are not systematically and consistently criminalized throughout the region.

• In many instances, sexual assault is still treated as a crime against morality as opposed to a crime of aggression violating the personal integrity of the victim.

• Gender specific definitions of rape are still common is legal systems of the region.

• The crime of rape, in some countries, is still defined in relation to the reputation of the victim.

• In practice the defence of "honour" in cases of rape is still accepted in some countries.

• In many countries, sexual harassment and stalking are still not recognized as serious crimes.

• Most member states have introduced or amended the criminal law and introduced legislation recognizing domestic violence as a serious crime.

• At least two member states have introduced laws to address some traditional practices harmful to women and girls (including female genital mutilation and sexual servitude).

• Some member states are beginning to recognize gender-based persecution as a basis for obtaining refugee status.

• Many countries have amended their laws to provide for increased penalties for rape and sexual assaults. The actual sentencing patterns following these legislative changes have been rarely monitored.

• Many states have introduced new or improved legislation concerning the sexual exploitation of children.

• At least one member state has adopted legislation allowing the prosecution of acts of sexual abuse committed abroad.

• Evidentiary and procedural reforms have been adopted aimed at encouraging victims of violence against women to come forward.

• The progress made in several countries is impeded by the fact that the existing justice system is very poorly resourced, complex, ineffective, already over-burdened. These systems often have very little credibility in the eyes of the population and are often perceived as corrupt. In that context, the ability of these systems to respond to the problem of violence against women is, as best, very limited.

• Victims of forced prostitution are rarely protected effectively by the law.

• Many states do not yet have legislation addressing the problem of pornography.

Women victims of violence continue to be very often stigmatized. Some effective measures have been developed in several countries of the region. However, in most countries the actual protection offered to victims of violence against women is very limited. Crisis intervention lines are frequently available. Safe shelters are also usually identified as one of the first priorities in developing services for victims. Police has established women’s desks at police stations to encourage victims to more readily report incidents of sexual assaults and domestic violence.

There is an increased willingness of women victims of violence to report these incidents and seek the protection of the justice system. In many countries, most victims are still very reluctant to report the incidents of violence to the police. They also frequently withdraw their complaint after initially reporting the incident to the authorities. Insufficient efforts have been devoted to protect victims against undue pressure to withdraw their complaints. Some research suggests that victims of violence may be at greater risk than ever during the criminal justice process.

Insufficient provisions are made in most jurisdictions for the protection of victims and witnesses during the criminal justice process and while appearing in court. Measures to ensure their safety and protect their dignity and their physical and psychological well-being are often lacking. With a few notable exceptions, most countries of the region have little progress to report in terms of specific initiatives to protect child witnesses. In many jurisdictions, issues of privacy and public information have not been successfully addressed. In addition there is a lack of effective measures to protect the identity and privacy of the victims. There are also some unresolved issues in many jurisdictions about the validity of sex offender registries and the value of programs to notify communities of the presence of sex offenders in their area.

The review has revealed how important administrative measures can be in implementing change and obtaining the participation of all relevant sectors in the overall effort to eliminate violence against women. Special inter-agency protocols have been developed, recruitment and training requirements for various categories of officials have been specified, prosecutorial guidelines have been developed as well as clear policies and directives to guide the work of law enforcement officials. Other important measures have included:

• Training of diplomatic and consular personnel to deal with issues relating to acts of violence against migrant workers, sexual tourism, or trafficking in women and children.

• Measures to deny access to firearms to those who have been the subject of a prohibition order in relation to a domestic violence situation.

• Measures to protect the citizenship rights and deal with immigration issues relevant to women immigrant victims of violence.

• Ombudsperson’s offices exist in many countries of the region, which have the authority to deal with human rights complaints. Some of them have a special office to deal with women’s human rights. Some jurisdictions have created special offices for the defence of the human rights of women or added specific mandates to existing human rights institutions. In other jurisdictions, particularly in Caribbean countries, it seemed that Ombudsperson’s offices and other human rights protection mechanisms represented a force that had not been sufficiently mobilized in the fight against gender-based violence.

One of the first and primary responsibilities of Members States with respect to violence against women is to refrain from engaging in any act of violence against women and to ensure that their authorities, officials, personnel, agents, and institutions act in conformity with that obligation.

In most countries, effective mechanisms do not exist to hold officials accountable for the acts of violence against women in which they are engaged. The conditions of women deprived of their liberty and their vulnerability to gender-based violence at the hands of agents of the Sate has generally not received the attention it deserves.

The number of women in prison is apparently increasing in all countries of the region. Preventing violence against women who are detained must be recognized by all jurisdictions as a matter of urgent priority. Several methods can be used to safeguard detained women including codes of conduct for police and correctional officials, proper staff selection and training, institutional programs designed to increase positive interactions between staff and inmates, internal and independent supervising bodies, and special inquiries. In recent years, some countries have made some progress in improving the conditions of women in detention and in prison. However, looking at the region as a whole, genuine progress in that regard seems to be the exception rather than the rule.

The review considered how different strategies are being used in different jurisdictions to ensure that existing State agencies demonstrate due diligence in preventing, investigating and punishing violence against women.

Some tangible progress had been realized throughout the region in ensuring that law enforcement officials understand that violence against women is an intolerable violation of human rights regardless of where it occurs. What the implications of this knowledge are for the day-to-day activities of law enforcement agencies is not always made very clear. Given the crucial role of law enforcement and justice officials, several countries have devoted a fair amount of resources to establish gender awareness training for these officials. Efforts have been made to promote changes in the institutional culture of the relevant agencies. However, such efforts to sensitize the police, the prosecutors and the judiciary to concerns about gender equality and violence against women may not have produced all the anticipated results. The effectiveness and focus of these programs probably need to be reconsidered. Although awareness of the issue is crucial, competence does not always necessarily flow from it. There are powerful sub-cultural values within these institutions which must be systematically and systemically addressed.

Generally speaking, existing prevention initiatives are being criticized for failing to address the root causes of violence. Some prevention initiatives focus on the education of children in schools. Some of them place much of their hopes for change in the promotion of human rights in general. Others emphasize development measures and initiatives to promote women’s freedom from want and from economic exploitation. Ultimately, the prevention of violence against women can only be achieved through a holistic approach to all aspects of human and social development.

The important role of health professionals in the prevention of violence against women is increasingly receiving recognition. Some efforts have been directed at developing training programs for health professionals and at specifying their role with respect to the prevention, detection, and reporting of violence against women.

The importance of secondary prevention strategies and of developing programs to deal with perpetrators of violence against women is also increasingly being recognized. In most countries, efforts in that particular direction are still at a very tentative stage of development.

A clear focus must also be maintained on the prevention of various trans-national forms of violence against women. There is a growing recognition throughout the region of the urgent need to adopt effective measures and concerted international action to combat and eliminate all forms of trafficking in women and girls. Comprehensive anti-trafficking strategies must be developed which will include mutual legal and law enforcement assistance between countries, extended protection to victims and witnesses, legislative measures, and effective prevention and public education campaigns.

In every jurisdiction of the region, there remain some serious obstacles to effective access to services for victims of violence against women. Some progress has obviously been achieved in recent years in the provision of services for abused women and children, hotlines, emergency assistance, including legal services, shelters, special health services, or counselling. However, in most countries, the amount of services available bares no relationship to the demand for these services.

• Effective rehabilitation programs for women victims of violence are usually lacking

• Prompt and effective access for victims to fair redress for the harm suffered is usually available only to victims with the financial means to pursue these remedies.

• Immigrant victims and migrant workers who are victims of violence against women usually have few recourses and little effective access to services.

• Few countries have taken decisive measures to ensure that migrant women workers have the same protection against gender-base violence. Not all countries have taken steps to ensure that the working conditions and the protection of migrant women workers are the same as that afforded women nationals.

• Several groups of women encounter special obstacles in getting access to services and assistance. Their needs are seldom identified as priorities in the official strategies of the jurisdictions.

• In most countries, women living in poverty, in rural or in remote communities, destitute women, women suffering from physical or mental disabilities, women suffering from severe alcohol or drug addiction and women in prison continue to face nearly insurmountable obstacles in trying to access the limited services available.

• Girls and women of all ages with any form of disability are generally among the more vulnerable and marginalized in society. The need to take into account and to address their concerns and situations is rarely acknowledged in the planning of most programs and services.

All member states of the region, except one, have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. All member states of the region have accepted to increase their efforts to prevent and eliminate violence against the girl child, in the form of sexual exploitation and abuse, prostitution, child pornography, trafficking and various harmful traditional practices. There are initiatives to strengthen international cooperation to detect, investigate, prosecute, and punish those responsible for acts involving the sale of children, child prostitution, child pornography, and child sex tourism. As of the 3^rd of October, 2000, twelve member states of the region had already signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (New York, 25 May, 2000) (Belize, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Jamaica, Mexico, Paraguay, United States of America, Uruguay, and Venezuela).

Nevertheless, the present review indicates that much more needs to be done, including:

• Measures recognizing the vulnerability of child victims, providing adequate and specialized support services, and adapting procedures to recognize the special needs of children, including their special needs as witnesses (e.g., see the guidelines for prosecutors developed by the International Association of Prosecutors).

• Specialized programs to assist child victims in their recovery.

• Measures are required to ensure appropriate training, in particular legal and psychological training, for the persons who work with child victims of sexual exploitation (pornography, trafficking, etc.) (See Optional Protocol). Also required is greater access to mechanisms of redress and restitution for child victims, and assistance for reintegration and full physical and psychological recovery.

• Measures are required to reach and protect street children and other children who are particularly vulnerable to acts of violence and sexual exploitation.

• Measures for the protection of children in detention.

In a significant number of countries of the region programs to implement the Convention, the development of projects and new legislation to respond to the problem of violence against women has been possible through funding and assistance received from the UN Agencies, the IADB, and various national and international development agencies. Without financial and technical assistance resources from outside the country, many states would not have been able to devote any significant resources to respond to the issue.