'Women in Bondage': Untightening the Rope of Violence from the Neck of Suffocating Rights

Abstract

While human rights are declared to be universal and inalienable, this claim has been, and remains, challenged by feminist critics arguing that the international human rights framework is inadequate to cover women's specific concerns. Despite their apparent all-inclusiveness and neutrality, human rights instruments are claimed to reflect only the 'male experience', perceived as the norm. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women represents the main 'feminine' exception to this masculine framework. However, while the text of the Convention specifically aims at protecting women's interests, it strikingly omits to address that which may be considered to represent their main concern: violence against women. This thesis aims at assessing whether the adoption of an international human rights binding instrument specifically addressing violence against women is necessary. Essentially, it is argued that the human rights' framework possesses the tools to effectively promote equality, to fight against discrimination and to protect from violations of other rights relevant for men as well as for women, notably through the far-reaching interpretive powers of UN bodies and the doctrine of due diligence.