ABSTRACT
The Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women (known familiarly as the “Belém do Pará Convention”), adopted in 1994, is the first specific instrument adopted on violence against women (VAW), and is the most ratified instrument in the Inter-American system. Thirty-two of the 35 Member States of the Organization of American States (OAS) have ratified it – the United States, Canada, and Cuba being the outliers. The Convention references and complements other regional human rights instruments, such as the Charter of the Organization of American States, the American Convention on Human Rights, the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man, and the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture. All of these treaties recognize several core rights related to VAW, including the rights to: life, non-discrimination, equal protection, physical and mental integrity, personal liberty, dignity, privacy, family, and access to justice. The Belém do Pará Convention builds upon this foundation and provides specific norms applicable to the context of VAW. It is the only human rights treaty directed solely toward eradicating violence against women that includes an individual complaint mechanism.
