A/74/148 American Court of Human Rights has elaborated States’ positive human rights obligations in relation to acts of private perpetrators through the “due diligence” standard, in the following terms: “An illegal act which violates human rights and which is initially not directly imputable to a State (for example, because it is the act of a private person or because the person responsible has not been identified) can lead to international responsibility of the State, not because of the a ct itself, but because of the lack of due diligence to prevent the violation or to respond to it as required by the Convention”. 17 According to the Court, the actions required of the State are not isolated to establishing an appropriate legal framework. Ins tead, the State must “conduct itself so as to effectively ensure” the enjoyment of human rights. 18 15. Furthermore, under the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women (the Convention of Belém do Pará), adopted in 1994, States are obliged to take a range of measures towards the eradication of violence against women. Although the term “domestic violence” is not used in that instrument, it is approached as a facet of violence against women more generally. In addition, the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (the Istanbul Convention), adopted in 2011, elaborates States’ obligations to take a variety of measures to counter violence against wo men and domestic violence. The measures contained in that Convention are “without prejudice to the positive obligations on states to protect the rights recognized by the [European Convention on Human Rights].” 19 16. With respect to the African Union, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol), adopted in 2003, places a range of obligations on States parties in relation to violence against women, including domestic violence. Further more, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child enshrines specific human rights protections for children, including protection from violence (art. 16). The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights has, for example, found one particular national family code that permitted underage marriage and marriage without consent and that discriminated against women in matters of inheritance to be discriminatory and to perpetuate practices harmful towards women and children, in violation of applicable human rights law. 20 17. Specialized mechanisms also have long recognized domestic violence to give rise to human rights obligations. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women recognizes that the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women prohibits violence against women in both the public and the private sphere. 21 The Committee has regularly made recommendations to States on how to address domestic violence and related discriminatory attitudes and practices and has developed a formidable body of guidance in that respect. 22 The Committee has affirmed that gender-based violence, including domestic violence, is __________________ 17 18 19 20 21 22 19-11892 See Velasquez Rodriguez v. Honduras, Judgment of 29 July 1988, Inter -American Court of Human Rights (ser. C) No. 4 (1988), para. 172. Ibid., para. 167. See Council of Europe, Explanatory Report to the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (2011), para. 29. Available from https://rm.coe.int/16800d383a. APDF and IHRDA v. Mali, App. No. 046/2016, African Court on Human and Peoples ’ Rights, 11 May 2018. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 19 (1992) on article 3 of the Convention, para. 9, and general recommendation No. 35 (2017) on gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19. R. McQuigg, International Human Rights Law and Domestic Violence (Routledge 2011). 7/23