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From:TheBahamasWeekly.com Organization of American States (OAS)
The President of the Committee of Experts of the Follow-up Mechanism to the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women “Belém do Pará Convention” (MESECVI), Sylvia Mesa, met with representatives of the platform of international and regional mechanisms on violence against women and women’s rights in Boulder, Colorado on October 2nd, 2018. In this meeting, the experts updated each other on the major developments and work since the launch of the platform in March 2018 in New York. In general, the mechanisms discussed the main issues faced across the regions, such as concerns regarding the problem of femicide and how to project efforts to address this pandemic around the world, as well as discourses and movements against gender equality. For its part, the President of the Committee of Experts highlighted the development of an Inter-American Model Law to Prevent, Punish and Eradicate the Violent Death of Women (Femicide), which is applicable to both civil laws and common law systems. In addition, the authorities of these mechanisms recognized that available data on femicide mostly refer to killings in the context of domestic violence; therefore, there was agreement on the fact that femicide should be understood in a broad and comprehensive way. They also pointed out that it is well known that sexual violence committed outside the domestic sphere may lead to femicide, so the mechanisms have to endeavor to shed light on this. Finally, the experts agreed on a series of activities to strengthen the joint work between the international and regional mechanisms. The meeting was organized by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Ms Dubravka Simonovic in the frame of the 169th period of sessions of the IACHR, within the context of her mandate’s initiative on strengthening cooperation between international and regional mechanisms on women’s rights.[1] The meeting was also attended by Margaret Macaulay, Chair of the IACHR and IACHR Special Rapporteur on women’s rights (IACHR SR); Dailia Leinarte, Chair of the CEDAW Committee; Alda Facio, member of the UN Working Group on discrimination against women in law and practice (WGDAW); and Feride Acar, Chair of the Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence of the Council of Europe (GREVIO). The Committee of Experts is the technical body of the MESECVI responsible for the analysis and evaluation of the implementation process of the Belém do Pará Convention. It is composed of independent experts, appointed by each of the States Party from among its nationals, who exercise their functions in a personal capacity.
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