Questionnaire to civil society on State Obligation and the Due Diligence Principle to Eliminate Viol

The questionnaire will be distributed to 6-10 CSOs/NGOs in approximately 30-40 countries. It aims to look into existing State measures and challenges encountered by CSOs/NGOs in their work to eliminate violence against women. The questionnaire will also probe civil society on its perception of State action in discharging its obligation; the effectiveness of these actions; and how they can be improved.
The findings of the report will be shared with Governments, inter-governmental organisations and civil society. We also propose to instrumentalise the findings into manuals, tool kits and training modules for practical application.
Due diligence is an important international principle. In the context of violence against women (VAW), it denotes a State’s obligation to take ‘reasonable’ action to prevent VAW, protect victims/survivors from VAW, investigate and prosecute incidences of VAW, punish perpetrators of VAW and provide redress for victims/survivors of VAW. This obligation applies to the State although most instances of VAW are committed by non-State actors (individuals not acting on Governmental authority) and within the private sphere. The principal aim of the Project is to add content to the international legal principle of ‘due diligence’ in the context of State responsibility to eliminate VAW. The objective is to create compliance indicators that are concrete and measurable across regions.