Global and Regional Standards on Violence Against Women: The Evolution and Synergy of the CEDAW and Istanbul Conventions

While the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Convention) does not explicitly prohibit violence against women, it provides a gender specific framework on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women that encompasses violence against women. This enables the CEDAW Committee (CEDAW Committee) to interpret violence against women as a form of discrimination against women and apply it in its work. The new European Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) provides a gendered framework on violence against women and domestic violence that explicitly defines violence against women as a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women by which it codifies and further develops CEDAW Convention standards and establishes a platform for synergy between them.