- Regional legal instruments may also clarify States’ obligations to protect the rights of women and girls and eradicate not only the violence but also the discrimination upon which it is based. This is particularly the case, where:
- States are not party to international instruments but are to regional ones,
- Regional legal standards provide more detailed and/or higher standards, and
- Regional courts are able to provide to investigate acts when they occur, to prosecute and punish the perpetrators, and to provide redress and relief to the victims.
- Some key regional instruments that are particularly relevant to the protection of women and girls include:
- Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (2003),
- African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (1990),
- African Youth Charter (2 July 2006),
- Inter-American Convention on the Prevention Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women (Convention of Belem do Para) (1994),
- Inter-American Convention on International Traffic in Minors 1994),
- Inter-American Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (1999),
- Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Covenant on the Rights of the Child in Islam (June 2005)
- Council of Europe Council Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (2005).
- The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), Kampala Declaration on Prevention of Gender-based Violence in Africa (2003). (For more information see International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR); See a summary of ICGLR’s work on sexual violence).
