Domestic and Family Violence in Post-Conflict Communities: International Human Rights Law and the State’s Obligation to Protect Women and Children

摘要

Post-conflict communities consistently experience high rates of domestic and family violence (DFV)against women and children. An end to violence in the public sphere is widely seen to precipitate theescalation of violence in the private sphere. This paper presents the argument that protecting women andchildren from DFV should be an essential public policy goal in post-conflict communities. Furthermore,the imperative for placing DFV on the post-conflict agenda is derived from states’ obligations underinternational human rights law. Jurisprudence is clear that if a state has knowledge of DFV yet failsto take reasonable steps to ensure victims’ safety and to investigate complaints, then that state may beviolating the fundamental human rights to life, to freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment, tofreedom from discrimination, and to health. Problematizing DFV as a violation of states’ obligationsunder international human rights law, rather than dismissing it as a private sphere issue, should lay thegroundwork for post-conflict states’ conceptualization of the protection of women and children as anon-negotiable facet of peace-building agendas.