Femicide Law and Policy

last updated 4 September 2008

Women have the rights to life, liberty, and security of person; freedom from torture; equal protection under the law; and an effective remedy under international human rights law.  Human rights advocates worldwide work to hold governments accountable for protecting women’s and girls’ right to be free from violence, including femicide. The rights enumerated above are guaranteed when a state party ratifies the following international treaties:  the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the Convention Against Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment (CAT). State parties are responsible for protecting individual’s rights, even if the state party is not the perpetrator of the human rights violation under international obligations arising from treaties and international customary law.  Specifically, state parties are responsible for private acts of violence. 

For example, the right to life, liberty and security is embedded in the international human rights framework. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims in Article 3: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.” The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides that: “The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to ensure the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all civil and political rights set forth in the present Covenant.” According to article 6 of the Covenant “Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.”

The right to freedom from torture is enumerated in Articles 2 and 4 of the Convention Against Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment (CAT).  The right to equal protection under the law is described in Article 7 of the the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and Article 3 of the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

According to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Article 18, a state party has committed to “refrain[ing] from acts which would defeat the object and purpose of a treaty when:

a. It has signed the treaty or has exchanged instruments constituting the treaty subject to ratification, acceptance or approval, until it shall have made its intention clear not to become a party to the treaty; or

b. It has expressed its consent to be bound by the treaty, pending the entry into force of the treaty and provided that such entry into force is not unduly delayed.”

Many state parties, not including the United States, have ratified the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).  CEDAW provides that states parties agree to “take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women by any person, organization or enterprise.” General Recommendation 19 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women” states that “Gender-based violence, which impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women of human rights and fundamental freedoms under general international law or under human rights conventions, is discrimination within article 1 of the Convention.” According to the Committee, gender-based violence is violence "directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately." According to the Optional Protocol to CEDAW, individual women or groups may seek redress directly for violation of their rights. Most recently the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women has proposed that a special femicide index be developed that would require sex-disaggregating current homicide data.

This United Nations human rights system protects the right to be free from violence and femicide through the treaties just described, and also through various enforcement and monitoring mechanisms, as well as programs, funds, and agencies.  Regional human rights systems also protect the right to be free from violence. The Inter-American human rights system consists of treaties, enforcement mechanisms, and various agencies and efforts to hold governments accountable for violence against women.  These include: the American Convention on Human Rights, the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and the Organization of American States to name a few.

Also on the regional level, the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Article 2 provides that: “Everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law.” Article 14 further prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sex in relation with the rights protected by the Convention.  A number of additional European documents also protect women’s rights.  The European human rights system consists of a number of treaties, institutions, and enforcement mechanisms to hold governments accountable for violence against women.  This system compliments the United Nations human rights system.

One organization that has been particularly active in Europe in monitoring women’s human rights is the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).  While femicide was not specifically addressed in the reports examined, domestic violence was a frequently mentioned concern.  For example, the OSCE Presence in Albania released a report on 15 July 2008 on “National Strategy on Gender and Against Domestic Violence.”  The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovnia published a brief report in honor of International Human Rights Day in 2005 titled “Taking Stock of Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovnia,” which discussed domestic violence and made recommendations for holding law enforcement accountable for investigating domestic violence cases. 

As the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women has suggested, special mechanisms may be needed to monitor the incidence of femicide. The United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women released an expert group report in 2008 entitled "Good practices in legislatoin on violence against women", which included the issue of femicide. (For the Russian version of the report recommendations, click here.)  In addition, statistics may also need to be desegregated by the form of femicide, be it domestic violence, honor killing, female infanticide, or another form of femicide.  Worldwide statistics are available on the incidence of female murder victims killed by an intimate partner.  According to the World Health Organization, worldwide, 40-70% of all female murder victims are killed by an intimate partner. 

Despite international human rights laws and mechanisms to address violence against women, femicide continues with impunity. Insofar as state parties have not exercised sufficient due diligence to prosecute or to prevent femicide, they have failed to live up to their obligations under international and domestic law.