Violence Against Women and Girls as Human Rights Violation: Creating a Common Language Against Gender-Neutral Views of Abuse

Abstract

Violence against women of all ages is a global, systematic and generalized problem, with di erent layers of gender-based discrimination and male aggression. e recognition of this eld of violence as human rights violation demands that women and men are seen as equals and inherently deserving protection, in accordance with the law. e significant transformation is that this necessarily means to call in question gender-neutral ideas of violence which tend to universalize the category “human" and remove the specific reality of abuse directed against women, combing oppression, suppression and silencing of the feminine. Taking this perspective into account, this article provides an overview of the developments, since the 1990s, that have brought the issue of violence against women as a human rights issue to the international arena.