While gender has become a cornerstone of the current human rights framework on violence against women (VAW), a new theoretical concept has been gaining ground and becoming increasingly visible: intersectionality. In response, this book clarifies three main aspects of the incorporation of intersectionality: it identifies the theoretical and practical implications in relation to VAW; it reveals to what extent intersectionality is incorporated in the current human rights framework on VAW; and it provides empirical evidence of the potential benefits and advantages for cases of VAW derived from the application of intersectionality. This book presents a comprehensive view of approaches within three jurisdictions (the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the Inter-American System) and it will appeal to human rights scholars, lawyers and other practitioners, particularly those interested in VAW and diversity.

Global Intersectionality and Contemporary Human Rights argues for an expansive definition of human rights, one that encompasses the harm caused by multiple, intersecting forms of subordination. Intersectionality theory posits that aspects of identity, such as race and gender, are mutually constitutive and intersect to create unique experiences of discrimination and subordination. Perpetrators of sexual violence in armed conflict, of example, often target women based on both gender and ethnicity. Human rights remedies that fail to capture the intersectional nature of human rights violations do not offer comprehensive redress to victims. This title explores the influence of intersectionality theory on human rights in the modern era and traces the evolution of intersectionality as a theoretical framework in the United States and around the world. It draws upon feminist theory and human rights jurisprudence to argue that scholars and activists have under-utilized intersectionality theory in the global discourse of human rights. As the central intergovernmental organization charged with the protection of human rights, the United Nations has been slow to embrace the insights gained from intersectionality theory. This work argues that the United Nations and other human rights organizations must more actively embrace intersectionality as an analytical framework in order to fully address the complexity of human rights violations around the world.

Violence against women remains one of the most pervasive human rights violations in the world today, and it permeates every society, at every level. Such violence is considered a systemic, widespread and pervasive human rights violation, experienced largely by women because they are women. Yet at the international level, there is a gap in the legal protection of women from violence. There is currently no binding international convention that explicitly prohibits such violence; or calls for its elimination; or, mandates the criminalisation of all forms of violence against women. This book critically analyses the treatment of violence against women in the United Nations system, and in three regional human rights systems. Each chapter explores the advantages and disadvantages coming from the legal instruments, the work of the monitoring systems, and the resulting findings and jurisprudence. The book proposes that the gap needs to be addressed through a new United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Violence against Women, or alternatively an Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women. A new Convention or Optional Protocol would be part of the transformative agenda that is needed to normatively address the promotion of a life free of violence for women, the responsibility of states to act with due diligence in the elimination of all forms of violence against all women, and the systemic challenges that are the causes and consequences of such violence.

This title offers a new way to think about human rights and the type of harm caused by discrimination globally. It traces the growing recognition of intersectionality in the work of human rights organizations around the world. This work argues that these groups should look for ways to fully incorporate intersectional analysis into the work they do.

International courts and other actors are increasingly taking into account pre-existing social structures and inequalities when addressing and redressing human rights violations, in particular discrimination against specific groups. To date, however, academic legal research has paid little attention to this gentle turn in international human rights law and practice to address structural discrimination. In order to address this gap, this study analyses whether and to what extent international and regional human rights frameworks foresee positive obligations for State parties to address structural discrimination, and, more precisely, gender hierarchies and stereotypes as root causes of gender-based violence. In order to answer this question, the book analyses whether or not international human rights law requires pursuing a root-cause-sensitive and transformative approach to structural discrimination against women in general and to the prevention, protection and reparation of violence against women in particular; to what extent international courts and (quasi)judicial bodies address State responsibility for the systemic occurrence of violence against women and its underlying root causes; whether or not international courts and monitoring bodies have suitable tools for addressing structural discrimination within the society of a contracting party; and the limits to a transformative approach.

This book theoretically explores intersectionality within human rights norms on violence against women and the derived duties for States.