NEGOTIATING INTERNATIONAL NORMS - THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION OF WOMEN AND THE CONVENTION ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Violence against women is a global phenomenon linked to patriarchal cu ltural values and social structures that subordinate women. In Latin A merica, grass roots women's organizations and the Inter-American Commi ssion of Women have recently turned their attention to pressing the go vernments of the Americas to address the endemic problem of violence a gainst women. The work of the Inter-American Commission of Women has b een particularly important but widely ignored in this area. As a speci alized commission of the Organization of American States, the Inter-Am erican Commission of Women has long worked to improve the rights and s tatus of women throughout the Americas and has recently succeeded in n egotiating an important international convention, the Inter-American C onvention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence A gainst Women. This convention breaks new ground by defining violence a gainst women as a violation of women's human rights and by identifying the duties of states to address the problem. This article traces the historical and contemporary role of the Inter-American Commission of W omen in negotiating international norms aimed at defining and securing women's rights in the Americas. It outlines the specific work the com mission carried out in negotiating the Convention on Violence Against Women, which has been in force since 1995, and it examines the innovat ive international norms found in the convention. It shows that, despit e problems of public obscurity and state resistances to change, the co mmission has pressed governments from the international level to addre ss and improve women's rights. Combined with a growing women's movemen t at the grass roots level in the Americas, the governments of the reg ion are now having to take real steps to combat violence against women . (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.