From the CEDAW to the Istanbul Convention: effectiveness in tackling Violence Against Women

Abstract

The focus of the paper is on two international treaties that deal with discrimination and violence against women (VAW). On the one side, the Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW) of 1981, represents a comprehensive legal framework at international level setting common standards for State Parties to tackle the issue of discrimination against women. One the other side, the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence of 2014, sets standards on protecting, preventing victims of VAW and prosecuting its perpetrators. The CEDAW represents the first Bill of Rights for women. While, the Istanbul Convention represents a comprehensive instrument dealing with VAW with its three pillars of prevention, protection and prosecution. The definition of VAW as a form of discrimination and a violation of human rights. Violence against women is a phenomenon as old as history defined as a form of discrimination and a violation of human rights. By closely looking at the CEDAW and the Istanbul Convention, this paper aims at investigating their effectiveness in tackling the widespread phenomenon. Since VAW is seen as a structural issue, the effectiveness of the two Conventions in this regard is questioned. Despite, their valuable development in international law, they still not prove adequate to address the structural subordination of women in society. In particular, the paper will focus on two main reasons for which the regimes created by the CEDAW and Instabul Convention result limited in their effectiveness. First, State Parties of the to the two Conventions, have created standards which are considered universal in tackling VAW. However, the character of universality is continuously challenged. Second, the analysis of the two Conventions, will show how they are built on the old men/women binary. This binary perpetrated in international legal instruments, nourishes politics of oppression within which structural subordination of women will not be overcome.