Thank you, President.
Action Canada delivers this statement on behalf of the Sexual Rights Initiative.
Domestic violence remains a pervasive human rights violation affecting women and girls in all their diversity. Across many regions, femicides and other forms of gender-based violence continue to occur at alarming rates and have become dangerously normalized. This cannot continue.
States must be held accountable for fulfilling their human rights obligations to prevent, protect and eradicate gender based violence. However, many governments are increasingly relying on criminalization as their primary response. While accountability measures are important, punitive approaches cannot address the structural conditions that enable violence to persist, such as gender stereotypes that continue to establish unequal power dynamics that normalize violence. Without meaningful investments in prevention, education, and support services, criminalization becomes an inadequate and reactive response.
For example, Special Rapporteurs and HRC resolutions have shown that Comprehensive Sexuality Education is a critical element in tackling root causes to prevent domestic violence. Evidence consistently demonstrates that CSE promotes gender equality, challenges harmful stereotypes, and fosters respectful relationships. Yet, many States continue to deny or restrict their inclusion in schools.
We must also recognize the intersecting forms of discrimination that shape experiences of gender based violence. For example, migrant women may be deterred from seeking protection when policies expose them to detention, deportation, or other forms of punishment. Women and girls in all their diversity must be meaningfully involved in designing the laws and policies that directly affect their lives.
We urge States to create safe, accessible, and survivor-centred systems that guarantee protection, prevention, and access to justice for all women and girls.
Thank you.