Violence Against Women Under International Human Rights Law

Since the mid-1990s, increasing international attention has been paid to the issue of violence against women; however, there is still no explicit international human rights treaty prohibition on violence against women and the issue remains poorly defined and understood under international human rights law. Drawing on feminist theories of international law and human rights, this critical examination of the United Nations' legal approaches to violence against women analyses the merits of strategies which incorporate women's concerns of violence within existing human rights norms such as equality norms, the right to life, and the prohibition against torture. Although feminist strategies of inclusion have been necessary as well as symbolically powerful for women, the book argues that they also carry their own problems and limitations, prevent a more radical transformation of the human rights system and ultimately reinforce the unequal position of women under international law.Review"This treatment of the status of violence against women under international human rights law by Dr Alice Edwards is a tour de force of erudition and rigour. The[-] examinations of the state of the case law and jurisprudence ... are forensic and illuminating, including one of the clearest discussions ... encountered of the complex concepts of equality, non-discrimination and multiple discriminations under human rights law. Edwards has a particular genius for synthesis."- Human Rights Law ReviewBook DescriptionAlice Edwards critically examines how the international human rights system has incorporated violence against women. Three case studies focus on the right to equality and non-discrimination on the basis of sex; the prohibition on torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; and the right to life. [C:\Users\Microsoft\Documents\Calibre Library]