Inidicators of the exercise of women's right to live free of violence

Practical guide to the System of Indicators



Practical Guide to Use of the System of Progress Indicators for Measuring the Implementation of the Belém do Pará Convention
(PDF, 2.22MB)

During the follow-up phase of each Multi-lateral Evaluation Round of the MESECVI:

  • The Committee of Experts identifies and circulates a series of indicators to follow-up on the recommendations that it made during the evaluation phase;
  • The States Party inform on their compliance with these recommendations on the basis of the selected indicators; and
  • The Committee of Experts prepares national reports for each of the States that has submitted information, and consolidates these results into a hemisperic Follow-up Report:

With the support of the Goverment of Canada, for the second Follow-up Round, which began in 2013, the Committee of Experts developed a System of progress indicators for measuring the implementation Belém do Pará Convention, which seeks to measure State efforts to guarantee a life free of violence for women, through concrete tools to evaluate their stauts of their rights in each State Party.

The system of indicators consists of a series of structural, process and results indicators:

  • Structural indicators reflect the ratification or adoption of basic international legal instruments to facilitate the realization of a fundamental human right. At the national level, they identify whether measures, legal norms, strategies, policies, plans or programs have been adopted, or public agencies created to implement women's rights.

    For example:
Legislation indicatorsNational Plan indicatorsAccess to Justice indicatorsInformaton and statistics indicatorsDiversity indicators
Incorporation of Belém do Pará in domestic law (at the constitutional, supralegal, or legal level)National plan, policy, action, strategy for the prevention, attention, and eradication of violence against girls and adolescents, adult women and elderly women in its different formsExistence of legislation on protective measures, at the request of the victim or third parties or on an ex officio basis, before and during administrative and/or judicial proceedingsRegulations covering the State’s obligation to conduct regular surveys on different manifestations of violence against girls and adolescents, adult women and elderly womenLaw or national policy on the guarantees of a life without violence that addresses ethnic diversity
Specific laws on violence that include budgetary allocationsPercentage of public spending allocated to the different plans, strategies, and programs on violence against women in the last fiscal periodFunding of assistance services, free legal representation, and other services Specific laws including budgetary allocations for meeting information production Specific laws that include budgetary allocations for meeting the obligation of ensuring the adoption of the measures enshrined in the Convention of Belém do Pará and national law, free of discrimination
Attention protocols for ensuring the enforcement of provisions enacted in connection with different forms of violenceNumber of shelters and homes for victims of violence against women and their childrenExistence of agencies for receiving complaintsExistence of offices, secretariats, or specialized state mechanisms for producing information, studies, and statisticsExistence of protocols for the comprehensive attention of cases of violence against women (in its different forms), prepared in languages and in a format accessible for people with disabilities
Click here to view all of the indicators on:
Legislation, National Plans, Access to Justice, Informaton and statistics, or Diversity
  • Process indicators seek to measure the quality and magnitude of State efforts to implement the rights protected through measurement of the reach, coverage and content of strategies, policies, plans, programs and other specific activities and interventions.

    For example:
Legislation indicatorsNational Plan indicatorsAccess to Justice indicatorsInformaton and statistics indicatorsDiversity indicators
Number of reports presented by the country to international oversight agencies in connection with the right to a life without violenceCivil society participation in the design, monitoring, and evaluation of the national plan/action/strategyJudgments and rulings that make use of and include the Convention of Belém do Pará Number of reports presented by the country to international oversight agencies in connection with the right to a life without violence, using official information, studies, and statisticsProcesses for preparing laws or national policies guaranteeing a life without violence that take into account diversity in all its forms
Publication of reports on budget allocations and executionPercentage of social public spending allocated to ensuring a life without violence Periodic reports of accountability for the financial management of resources for access to justice for women victims of violencePercentage of public spending assigned to the development of databases with information on different forms of violenceNumber of reports prepared and published with information on effective budget execution
Participatory processes for the drafting of attention protocols for ensuring the enforcement of provisionsAccessibility and availability of care services for victims of different forms of violence, by jurisdiction and geographical regionNumber of women lodging complaints for violence with the policeProcesses for negotiating agreements and/or cooperative technical ties between the national women’s mechanism / the competent authorities for violence (at different public agencies)Number of interpreters for indigenous, rural, girls and adolescents, adult women and elderly women or those who do not speak the official language
Click here to view all of the indicators on:
Legislation, National Plans, Access to Justice, Informaton and statistics, or Diversity
  • Results indicators reflect the individual and collective achievements that point to the status of realization of a human right in a specific context, and seek to measure the real impact of State strategies, programs and interventions.

    For example:
Legislation indicatorsNational Plan indicatorsAccess to Justice indicatorsInformaton and statistics indicatorsDiversity indicators
Number of girls and adolescents, adult women and elderly women by age group who report being victims of any form of violence Monitoring and impact assessment of policies, national plans, actions, strategies, in terms of their different componentsNumber and percentage of girls and adolescents, adult women and elderly women who access the emergency kit in institutionsRegular publication of statistics prepared and studies carried outViolence rate among salaried or non-salaried women, by type of violence, age, ethnic origin, country of origin, and socioeconomic level
Percentage of budget spending allocated to programs, plans, and agencies related to different forms of violence against womenPercentage of public spending allocated in the last fiscal period for the implementation of programs of violence against women by implementing institution (public and/or private) or the expenditure itemsAverage investment funds involving each of the stages of criminal proceedings according to the institution involvedPercentage of the execution of the budget allocated for programs, plans, and institutions related to different forms of violence against women--
Monitoring reports of knowledge, understanding and application of specific protocols and regulations on the rights of women, as part of regular assessments to access incentives, credits, ranks Rate of demand for attention (number of women served over the past twelve months, divided by the total female population, multiplied by 1000)The number of convictions for violence against women in proportion to the total number of reportsNumber of public sector institutions that have specific units on generation of statistical informationPercentage of indigenous, rural, girls and boys attending intercultural schools
Click here to view all of the indicators on:
Legislation, National Plans, Access to Justice, Informaton and statistics, or Diversity