As discussed above, states have a responsibility to promote and protect women’s rights and to insist upon the accountability of perpetrators. Offender accountability is an overriding principle of an effective multi-disciplinary coordinated response. This can be achieved in many ways, including but not limited to, incarceration for committing the crime of violence against women, probation, supervised release from jail or prison through a dedicated probation program of the judiciary to ensure compliance with court orders and swift response to violations, establishing effective batterer intervention programming, re-education programmes for perpetrators, and the issuance and enforcement of civil protection orders.
The primary perpetrators of violence against women and girls are men. As such, prevention efforts must engage them (Flood 2008). As half the world’s population, effective interventions must engage men in order to address the underlying discriminatory social norms that legitimize male power, control and use of violence (Dunkle and Jewkes 2007).
Coordinated responses must consider the various methods of holding offenders accountable in light of the strength of their sectors.