Response of the Equality and Human Rights Commission to the Joint Committee on Human Rights inquiry into violence against women and girls

We welcome the Joint Committee on Human Rights’ (JCHR) inquiry into violence against women and girls (VAWG) and its framing within the Council of Europe’s Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (the Istanbul Convention) and the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). This is a timely intervention as the UK Government has signed but not yet ratified the Istanbul Convention. We are also approaching the one year anniversary of the UK’s most recent examination by the UN’s CEDAW Committee in July 2013 and the mid-term review of the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review of the UK.

The Commission's submission focuses on two themes:

• The extent to which UK law, policy and practice are compliant with the Istanbul Convention and what more needs to be done to enable the UK to ratify the Istanbul Convention and ensure its effective implementation; and
• The VAWG issues the Commission pursued through its shadow report to the CEDAW Committee, including our analysis of actions required to improve the UK’s compliance with the Committee’s General Recommendation 19.

Download the full submission (Word)

Last Updated: 23 Apr 2015