International Legal Protection of Women in Latin America and the Caribbean

by

Natalia Sheremet

• LAST MODIFIED: 24 October 2024
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199796953-0262

Introduction

The issue of international protection of women’s rights has gained relevance in recent years. However, the Inter-American mechanisms are underestimated by scholars of international law. This research represents an overview of academic articles, books, documents of international organizations, and court decisions that create an image of the genesis of Inter-American mechanisms of women’s protection and expand on the current situation with women’s rights in the Americas. When we talk about the Inter-American system, we deal with all the member states of the Organization of American States (OAS), including the United States, Canada, and the thirty-three Latin American states. It is important to mention that Nicaragua withdrew from the OAS in November 2023; however, the state did not denounce any regional human rights treaties. While Cuba, whose government was excluded from the OAS in 1962, remains a dejure member of the Organization, since it has never denounced the OAS Charter and is bound by its international human rights obligations. These legal and political features need to be mentioned to accurately understand the real number of the OAS member states (at the current date, thirty-four), which may vary in different normative acts and research papers. However, in this article the author mostly focuses on the latter, considering the proactivity of Latin America and the Caribbean in establishing gender agenda and the accession of these states to the core regional human rights treaties, including the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (the Belém do Pará Convention). The Inter-American system has offered a unique regional set of mechanisms for the protection of women from gender-based violence and discrimination. Thanks to the efforts of the Inter-American Commission of Women and the Follow-up Mechanism for the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (MESECVI), it has become easier to hold the states accountable and monitor their compliance with international obligations. The jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court and its advisory jurisdiction have allowed it to enshrine such notions as “feminicide” in regional legal practice and prompted the states of the region to undertake steps toward the criminalization of domestic, sexual, psychological, and physical violence against women. While the region is on its path to adopting laws that penalize these crimes, Latin America is still known to be one of the most dangerous places for women. Although the OAS and its special bodies have done a lot to improve the life of women in the Americas, Latin American women are still a long way off from calling their home a safe place.

General Overviews

Scholars from across the world have made large contributions to the conceptualization of international protection of women’s rights. Chernikov and Goncharenko 2021 demonstrates how regional mechanisms of protection may supplement the universal mechanisms available for women. Edwards 2010 points to the interconnectedness of women’s rights with fundamental human rights. Kanter and Villarreal López 2019 identifies women with disabilities as a separate vulnerable population group. Otto 2013 analyzes the division between “sex” and gender,” internationally recognized as two different legal notions. Navarro-Mantas and Ozemela 2019 provides a special approach to the data collection on the cases of abuses against Indigenous women by international organizations. Citas leídas repertorio de citas leídas con motivo del 25 de noviembre, día internacional para la eliminación de la violencia contra las mujeres provides a collection of citations of women’s rights defenders who deal with the problems of all types of gender-based violence.

• Chernikov, V., and O. Goncharenko. “The Problems of Violence against Women in International Law.” Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University Law 3 (2021): 803–819.

  DOI: 10.21638/spbu14.2021.319

  Examines the link between two legal acts: the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combatting Violence against Women and Domestic Violence. In both of them violence against women equates to the manifestation of gender-based discrimination. The authors conduct comparative legal analysis of the two acts to identify legal aspects of domestic violence against women.

• Citas leídas repertorio de citas leídas con motivo del 25 de noviembre, día internacional para la eliminación de la violencia contra las mujeres. 2004–2005. Madrid: Dirección General de la Mujer. 2006.

  A compilation of quotes of different authors, each of which deals with the issue of violence against women. This publication is timed to the 25th of November—the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

• Edwards, Alice. Violence against Women under International Human Rights Law. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

  DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511779671

  Examines the aspects of violence against women and focuses on the cases of violence in the context of armed conflicts. Submits that violence in international law should be considered interconnectedly with other human rights violations, such as the right to life and life free of torture. In addition, violence against women should be conceptualized as a form of gender-based discrimination.

• Kanter, Arlene, and Carla Villarreal López. “A Call for an End to Violence against Women and Girls with Disabilities under International and Regional Human Rights Law.” Law Review 10 (2019): 118–175.

  Analyzes the norms of international and regional law, aimed to protect women with disabilities from violence. Submits that disability has become an impediment to access to justice by women. Within the framework of international law, disabled women constitute the most vulnerable population group. Despite a number of international legal acts, in which the rights of disabled women are enshrined, they still suffer from severe human rights violations.

• Otto, Dianne. “International Human Rights Law: Towards Rethinking Sex/Gender Dualism and Asymmetry.” In The Ashgate Research Companion to Feminist Legal Theory. Edited by Margaret Davies and Vanessa Munro, 194–215. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2013.

  Provides a unique understanding of “feminist projects in human rights.” Points to the importance of distinguishing between “sex” and “gender.” While it is common to protect women from discrimination, provoked by the patriarchic paradigm, such treaty bodies as CAT (Committee against Torture) and CEDAW have recognized the duality of gendered human rights abuses, and thus enlarged the notion of biological differences of women and men in their jurisprudence.

• Navarro-Mantas, Laura, and Luana Ozemela. “Violence against the Indigenous Women: Methodological and Ethical Recommendations for Research.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence 36.13–14 (January 2019): NP7298–NP7318.

  DOI: 10.1177/0886260519825879

  Elaborates on the WHO methodology aimed to study VAW (Violence Against Women). The research was conducted among women from the Indigenous population of Columbia. The authors come to the conclusion that this methodology should be discussed with and then applied under the guidance of local communities.