Key Benefits:
ACT 248 OF 1995
(December 29)
Official Journal No. 42,171., of December 29, 1995
By means of which the International Convention is approved to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women, signed in the city of Belém Do Pará, Brazil, on June 9, 1994.
COLOMBIA CONGRESS
DECRETA:
Having regard to the text of the "Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women", signed in Belém Do Pará, Brazil, on June 9, 1994.
(To be transcribed. Photocopy of the full text of the international instrument mentioned, duly authenticated by the Head of the Legal Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is attached.
"Inter-American Convention to Prevent, Punish and Eradicate Violence Against Women Convention of Belém Do Pará".
States Parties to the Present Convention,
Acknowledging that the unrestricted respect for human rights has been enshrined in the American Declaration of Human Rights and Duties and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and reaffirmed in other international instruments and regional.
Affirming that violence against women constitutes a violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms and limits all or part of the woman the recognition, enjoyment and exercise of such rights and freedoms.
Concerned that violence against women is an offense to human dignity and a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between women and men.
Remembering the Declaration on the Eradication of Violence against Women, adopted by the Twenty-fifth Assembly of Delegates of the Inter-American Commission of Women, and affirming that violence against women transcends all sectors of the society regardless of its class, race or ethnic group, income level, culture, educational level, age or religion and negatively affects its own bases.
Convinced that the elimination of violence against women is an indispensable condition for their individual and social development and their full and equal participation in all spheres of life, and
Convinced that the adoption of a convention to prevent, punish and eradicate all forms of violence against women, within the scope of the Organization of American States, constitutes a positive contribution to protecting the rights of women of women and eliminate situations of violence that may affect them,
Agreed to the following:
DEFINITION AND SCOPE
ARTICLE 1o. For the purposes of this Convention, any action or conduct, based on its gender, which causes death, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to the woman, should be understood as violence against women. women, both in the public and private sectors.
ARTICLE 2o. It is understood that violence against women includes physical, sexual and psychological violence:
(a) That takes place within the family or domestic unit or in any other interpersonal relationship, whether the aggressor shares or has shared the same address as the woman, and includes, among others, rape, abuse and sexual abuse;
b) That takes place in the community and is perpetrated by any person and includes, among others, rape, sexual abuse, torture, human trafficking, forced prostitution, kidnapping and sexual harassment in the workplace, as well as in educational institutions, health facilities or any other place, and
c) That it be perpetrated or tolerated by the State or its agents, wherever it occurs.
PROTECTED RIGHTS
ARTICLE 3o. Every woman has the right to a life free of violence, both in the public and in the private sphere.
ARTICLE 4. Every woman has the right to the recognition, enjoyment, exercise and protection of all human rights and freedoms enshrined in regional and international rights instruments human. These rights include, among others:
a) The right to respect your life;
(b) The right to respect for their physical, mental and moral integrity;
c) The right to personal freedom and security;
d) The right not to be subjected to torture;
e) The right to respect the dignity inherent in your person and to protect your family;
f) The right to equal protection in the face of law and law;
g) The right to a simple and fast resource before the competent courts, which will protect it against acts that violate their rights;
h) The right to freedom of association;
i) The right to freedom to profess religion and beliefs within the law, and
j) The right to have equal access to the public functions of your country and to participate in public affairs, including decision making.
ARTICLE 5o. Every woman will be able to exercise freely and fully her civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights and will have the full protection of those rights enshrined in the instruments Regional and international human rights. The States Parties recognize that violence against women prevents and nullifies the exercise of those rights.
ARTICLE 6o. The right of every woman to a life free of violence includes, among others:
a) The right of women to be free from all forms of discrimination, and
b) The right of women to be valued and educated free from stereotypical patterns of behavior and social and cultural practices based on concepts of inferiority or subordination.
STATES DUTIES
ARTICLE 7o. States Parties condemn all forms of violence against women and agree to adopt, by all appropriate means and without delay, policies aimed at preventing, sanctioning and eradicating such violence and in carrying out the following:
(a) Refrain from any action or practice of violence against women and ensure that the authorities, their officials, staff and agents and institutions behave in accordance with this obligation;
b) Act with due diligence to prevent, investigate and punish violence against women;
(c) Include in their domestic legislation criminal, civil and administrative rules, as well as those of other nature that are necessary to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women and to adopt appropriate administrative measures be of the case;
(d) Adopt legal measures to undermine the aggressor by refraining from harassing, intimidating, threatening, damaging or endangering the life of the woman in any way that threatens her integrity or damages her property;
e) Taking all appropriate measures, including legislative measures, to amend or abolish existing laws and regulations, or to modify legal or customary practices that support the persistence or tolerance of violence against women;
f) Establish legal and effective procedures for women who have been subjected to violence, including, among others, protective measures, timely judgment and effective access to such procedures;
g) Establish the necessary judicial and administrative mechanisms to ensure that the woman subjected to violence has effective access to compensation, damages or other fair and effective means of compensation, and
(h) Adopt the legislative or other provisions necessary to make this Convention effective.
ARTICLE 8. States Parties agree to adopt, in a progressive manner, specific measures, including programs for:
(a) Foster knowledge and observance of women's right to a life free of violence, and the right of women to respect and protect their human rights;
b) Modify the sociocultural patterns of behavior of men and women, including the design of formal and non-formal education programs appropriate at all levels of the educational process, to counteract prejudices and customs and all other type of practices based on the premise of the inferiority or superiority of any of the genera or in the stereotypical roles for men and women that legitimize or exacerbate violence against women;
c) Encourage the education and training of staff in the administration of justice, law enforcement and other law enforcement officials, as well as the staff responsible for the implementation of prevention, sanction and elimination of violence against women;
d) Provide appropriate specialized services for the necessary attention to the woman object of violence, through entities in the public and private sectors, including shelters, guidance services for the whole family, when it is of the case, and care and custody of the affected minors;
e) Encourage and support government and private sector education programs aimed at raising public awareness of issues related to violence against women, legal remedies and appropriate redress;
f) Providing women with violence access to effective rehabilitation and training programs that enable them to participate fully in public, private and social life;
g) Encourage the media to develop appropriate dissemination guidelines that contribute to the eradication of violence against women in all its forms and to enhance respect for the dignity of women;
(h) Ensure the investigation and collection of statistics and other relevant information on the causes, consequences and frequency of violence against women, in order to assess the effectiveness of measures to prevent, punish and to eliminate violence against women and to formulate and implement the necessary changes, and
i) Promote international cooperation for the exchange of ideas and experiences and the implementation of programs aimed at protecting the woman object of violence.
ARTICLE 9o. For the adoption of the measures referred to in this Chapter, the States Parties shall take particular account of the situation of vulnerability to violence which the woman may suffer as a result, others, of their race or of their ethnic, migrant, refugee or displaced condition. In the same sense, the woman who is the object of violence when she is pregnant, is disabled, underage, elderly, or is in a socio-economic situation unfavorable or affected by situations of armed conflict or deprivation of her freedom.
INTER-AMERICAN PROTECTION MECHANISMS
ARTICLE 10. For the purpose of protecting the right of women to a life free of violence, in national reports to the Inter-American Commission of Women, States Parties shall include information on the measures taken to prevent and eradicate violence against women, to assist the woman affected by the violence, as well as the difficulties they encounter in the application of violence and the factors contributing to the violence against women. violence against women.
ARTICLE 11. The States Parties to this Convention and the Inter-American Commission of Women may require the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to provide an advisory opinion on the interpretation of this Convention. Convention.
ARTICLE 12. Any person or group of persons, or non-governmental entity legally recognized in one or more Member States of the Organization, may submit to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights petitions containing complaints or complaints of violation of Article 7o. of this Convention by a State Party, and the Commission shall consider them in accordance with the rules and procedural requirements for the presentation and consideration of petitions stipulated in the American Convention on Human Rights and in the Statute and the Rules of Procedure of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
GENERAL PROVISIONS
ARTICLE 13. Nothing in this Convention may be construed as restricting or limiting the domestic legislation of States Parties that provide for equal and greater protections and guarantees. of women's rights and adequate safeguards to prevent and eradicate violence against women.
ARTICLE 14. Nothing in this Convention may be construed as a restriction or limitation to the American Convention on Human Rights or other international conventions on human rights. matters that provide for equal or greater protections related to this issue.
ARTICLE 15. This Convention is open for signature by all Member States of the Organization of American States.
ARTICLE 16. This Convention is subject to ratification. The instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States.
ARTICLE 17. This Convention is open to the accession of any other State. The instruments of accession shall be deposited with the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States.
ARTICLE 18. States may make reservations to this Convention when it is approved, signed, ratified or adhered to, provided that:
a) Do not be incompatible with the object and purpose of the Convention;
b) are not of a general nature and deal with one or more specific provisions.
ARTICLE 19. Any State Party may submit to the General Assembly, through the Inter-American Commission of Women, a proposal to amend this Convention.
The amendments shall enter into force for the States ratifying them on the date on which two-thirds of the States Parties have deposited the respective instrument of ratification. As for the other States Parties, they shall enter into force on the date on which they deposit their respective instruments of ratification.
ARTICLE 20. States Parties that have two or more territorial units in which different legal systems related to matters dealt with in this Convention are governed may declare, at the time of the signature, ratification or accession, that the Convention shall apply to all its territorial units or only to one or more of them.
Such statements may be modified at any time by subsequent declarations, which expressly specify the territorial units to which this Convention applies. Such subsequent declarations shall be transmitted to the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States and shall take effect thirty days after their receipt.
ARTICLE 21. This Convention shall enter into force on the 30th day from the date on which the second instrument of ratification has been deposited. For each State ratifying or acceding to the Convention after the deposit of the second instrument of ratification, it shall enter into force on the 30th day from the date on which the State has deposited its instrument of ratification or accession.
ARTICLE 22. The Secretary-General shall inform all Member States of the Organization of American States of the entry into force of the Convention.
ARTICLE 23. The Secretary General of the Organization of American States will present an annual report to the Organization's member states on the status of this Convention, including on signatures, deposits of instruments of ratification, accession or declarations, as well as the reservations made by the States Parties and, where appropriate, the report thereon.
ARTICLE 24. This Convention shall govern indefinitely, but any of the States Parties may denounce it by depositing an instrument for that purpose in the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States. One year after the date of the deposit of the instrument of denunciation, the Convention shall cease for the purposes of the reporting State, remaining to the other States Parties.
ARTICLE 25. The original instrument of this Convention, whose texts in Spanish, French, English and Portuguese are equally authentic, shall be deposited with the General Secretariat of the Organization of the American States, which shall send a certified copy of its text for registration and publication to the Secretariat of the United Nations, in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations.
In faith of which, the undersigned plenipotentiaries, duly
authorized by their respective governments, sign this Convention,
to be called " Inter-American Convention to Prevent, Punish
and eradicate Violence against Women's Convention of Belem Do Pará. "
Made in the city of Belém Do Pará, Brazil, the nine
of June of a thousand nine hundred and ninety-four.
The undersigned Head of the Legal Office
from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
NOTES:
That the present reproduction is faithful photocopy taken from the certified text of the "Inter-American Convention to Prevent, Punish and Eradicate Violence against Women", signed in Belém Do Pará, Brazil, on June 9, 1994.
Dada en Santafe de Bogota, D.C., at twenty-three (23) days
of the month of March of a thousand nine hundred and ninety-five (1995).
Chief Legal Officer (E.),
SONIA PEREIRA PORTILLA.
Executive Branch of the Presidency Public_Office
de la República Santafe de Bogota, D.C.
Approved. Submit to the Consideration of the Honourable
National Congress for Constitutional Effects.
ERNESTO SAMPER PIZANO
The Foreign Minister,
(Fdo.) RODRIGO PARDO GARCIA_PENA.
DECRETA:
ARTICLE 1A. I approved the "Inter-American Convention to Prevent, Punish and Eradicate Violence against Women", signed in Belém Do Pará, Brazil on June 9, 1994.
ARTICLE 2A. Pursuant to item 1o. of Law 7a. 1994, the "Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women", as provided for in Article 1. of this Law is approved, will force the country from the date on which the international link with respect to it is perfected.
ARTICLE 3A. This Law governs from the date of its publication.
The President of the honorable Senate of the Republic,
JULIO CESAR GUERRA.
The Secretary General of the honorable Senate of the Republic,
PEDRO PUMAREJO VEGA.
The President of the honorable House of Representatives,
RODRIGO RIVERA SALAZAR.
The Secretary General of the honorable House of Representatives,
DIEGO VIVAS TAFUR.
COLOMBIA-NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
Contact and post.
Execute previous Constitutional Court review,
pursuant to article 241_10 of the Political Constitution.
Dada en Santafe de Bogota, D.C., at 29 December 1995.
ERNESTO SAMPER PIZANO
The Foreign Minister,
RODRIGO PARDO GARCIA-PENA.
