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| Criminal Justice Responses to Violence against Women: Linking Local and International Efforts |
Violence against women in all its forms continues to be a massive problem throughout the world. It is a pervasive violation of the enjoyment of human rights and a major impediment to achieving gender equality. The multifaceted nature of violence against women necessitates different strategies to respond to the diverse manifestations of violence and the various settings in which it occurs, whether committed in the home, the workplace, the community or in custody.
There has been a call by the United Nations for countries to intensify their efforts to eliminate violence against women. Canada and British Columbia continue to be leaders in the international community working on this area. The Centre, acting as a bridge between the local, national and international criminal justice systems, organized an afternoon forum on Criminal Justice Responses to Violence Against Women: Linking Local and International Efforts which took place on December 9th, 2009. This interactive discussion forum, taking place during the “We Can” Campaign and the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, provided the opportunity for criminal justice practitioners, service providers, government and NGO representatives and academics to exchange information about recent efforts, both internationally and locally, to combat violence against women and girls.
The latest research and good practices in British Columbia and Canada, such as the Langley pilot project and the report, “Keeping Women Safe – Eight Critical Components of an Effective Justice Response to Domestic Violence”, were key references in the Centre’s work in assisting the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in its mandate of reviewing and updating the 1997 UN Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination of Violence Against Women in the Field of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (Model Strategies).
The Model Strategies, originally adopted by the General Assembly in 1997, set out a broad framework or checklist of comprehensive criminal justice strategies and measures to address the various manifestations of violence against women. In 2008, the UN Crime Commission decided to review and update the Model Strategies, taking into account current developments, research, and tools. An Intergovernmental Group of Experts was convened in Bangkok in March 2009 to discuss and review the draft Updated Model Strategies and to submit their recommendations to the Crime Commission in the spring of 2010. This review process provided an opportunity for countries, including Canada, to share their promising practices as well as learn from other innovative approaches to respond to violence against women. This forum shared some of the highlights from that review process.
