Follow-up Fight for Women's Rights.

• Author: Conaway, Janelle
• Position: Brief Article

THE COUNTRIES of the Americas have a greater understanding that violence against women is a human rights violation, but they have fallen far short of eliminating the problem, a new regional analysis shows.

"The drive which once existed to bring about meaningful change appears to have been somewhat eroded," says the report, which summarizes progress and shortcomings in the implementation of the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women. The landmark treaty was adopted by the OAS General Assembly in Belem do Para, Brazil, in 1994.

The OAS Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM), which drafted the convention, undertook the follow-up study with the International Center for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy, based in Vancouver, Canada, and the United Nations Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, in San Jose, Costa Rica.

"This follow-up report will help us shape the direction of our ongoing efforts to eliminate violence against women," said CIM executive secretary Carmen Lomellin.

According to the report, in many countries...