“Human Rights Protection, Democratic Deliberation”
79
claims of the multi-dimensional and multi-pronged approaches may
appear unintentionally or intentionally overstated
—
to varying
degrees. Be that as it may, here is not the place to discuss the
anxiety of influence (Bloom, 1997). Instead, by way of engaging in
a dialogue, let me discuss the due diligence standard.
50
In spite of having emerged from the 1993 Vienna
Declaration
,
and having been adopted by other international instruments, the
potential of the due diligence standard has yet to be realized. Under
the obligations of this international standard, progress by the state
toward the goal of eradication of VAW has been “uneven” (Ertürk,
2006: 23). The lion’s share of the blame lies in the state-centric
implementations of international standards: the manners in which
the state fulfills the obligations of due diligence “necessarily vary
according to the domestic context” (23).
51
In this light, and it is
noteworthy to point out, states’
efforts have been “limited to
responding to violence
when it occurs
,” not before the occurrence
of VAW (2006: 2; emphasis added). This boils down to a failure to
prevent: although prevention is the first constitutive concept of due
diligence, it is one thing to incorporate this concept, but something
else entirely to bring it about. Moreover, nowhere in the reports
52
on due diligence are specific details given, for example, on the sorts
of concrete and practical strategies that can lead to prevention in
enforceable and actualized terms.
53
In whole or in part, the reason
50
Comprising the four components of prevention, protection, punishment, and
reparation, the due diligence standard as presented by the United Nations special
rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, is “a tool for
the elimination of violence against women” (Ertürk, 2006: paras. 38-55).
51
This argument has been laid bare in section II above on major human rights
approaches.
52
The June 2015 report by Rashida Manjoo is cited below.
53
The passage with the richest content on prevention is: “
Training and
awareness-raising
programs directed at different professional groups have been
developed by many States, including the development of
training materials for
police
, prosecutors and members of the judiciary. States have also developed
specific
training materials
on the prevention of violence against women
for health
care professionals
including: doctors, nurses and social workers” (Ertürk, 2006:
