At the Asian region and international levels a number of actions for the elimination of violence against women are underway. Your local justice and peace organizations will be able to identify a range of activities being undertaken nationally and more locally. Some of your local efforts might be strengthened by linking with or drawing on regional and international efforts.


The Beijing Platform for Action
The Fourth World Conference on Women adopted a Platform for Action, known as the Beijing Platform for Action http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/Beijing/platform/ It is binding on those States that were a party to it.

Violence Against Women http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/Beijing/platform/violence.htm is one of the twelve critical areas of concern identified as the main obstacles to the advancement of women, and the Human Rights of Women was another critical area of concern. While the Platform for Action is mainly directed towards Government action, it also calls on non-state actors such as NGOs to take action.


Special Rapporteur On Violence Against Women
While the United Nations has been concerned with the advancement of women since its inception, the global dimensions of violence against women were not explicitly acknowledged by the international community until December 1993, when the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women was adopted.

The next year, the Commission on Human Rights adopted a resolution appointing a Special Rapporteur on the question of violence against women, including its causes and consequences. The Special Rapporteur was given a three fold mandate:
· To collect information on violence against women and its causes and consequences from sources such as Governments, treaty bodies, specialized agencies and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, and to respond effectively to such information;
· To recommend measures and ways and means, at the national, regional and international levels, to eliminate violence against women and its causes, and to remedy its consequences;
· To work closely with other special rapporteurs, special representatives, working groups and independent experts of the Commission on Human Rights.

For more information on the work of the Special Rapporteur, including reports, see http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/7/b/mwom.htm


The UNIFEM Gender Violence Strategies Framework
As part of its Asia-Pacific Campaign on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, UNIFEM examined women's strategies from around the world and developed a Gender Violence Strategies Framework. The strategies were classified as either: research, or attempts to understand the violence; interventions responding to the violence; or interventions attacking the roots of violence. They were placed in a grid highlighting the roles of potential and actual victims, the public, institutions, laws and policies, and enforcement agencies.

The Gender Violence Strategies Framework is an important contribution in collecting, analyzing and organizing the accumulated wisdom and experience of women working against violence. It is a useful tool for groups planning action against violence against women. It can be viewed at www.unifem-eseasia.org/VAWCamp/VAWstrat.html

For more general information on UNIFEM's campaign to eliminate violence against women in East and South East Asia visit http://www.unifem-eseasia.org/Resources/EVAWmaterial/EVAWindex.htm


The White Ribbon Campaign
The White Ribbon Campaign http://www.whiteribbon.ca is the largest effort in the world of men working to end men's violence against women. Each year men and boys are urged to wear a white ribbon for one or two weeks, starting on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The ribbon is a personal pledge never to commit, condone nor remain silent about violence against women.

During the rest of the year men are encouraged to do educational work in schools, workplaces and communities, to support local women's groups, and to raise money for the international efforts of the campaign.


Ideas for Action: Linking with Existing Campaigns