Domestic Violence and International Law - by Bonita Meyersfeld (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book provides a legal analysis for why a state should be accountable for allowing women to suffer extreme forms of domestic violence.

Book Synopsis

Domestic Violence and International Law argues that certain forms of domestic violence are a violation of international human rights law. The argument is based on the international law principle that, where a state fails to protect a vulnerable group of people from harm, whether perpetrated by the state or private actors, it has breached its obligations to protect against human rights violation. This book provides a comprehensive legal analysis for why a state should be accountable in international law for allowing women to suffer extreme forms of domestic violence and how this can help individual victims. It is irrelevant that the violence is perpetrated by individuals and not state actors such as soldiers or the police. The state's breach of its responsibility is in its failure to act effectively in domestic violence cases; and in its silent endorsement of the violence, it becomes complicit. The book seeks to reformulate academic and political debate on domestic violence and the responsibility of states under international law. It is based on empirical data combined with an honest assessment of whether or not domestic violence is recognised by the international community as a human rights violation. 'Domestic Violence in International Law [...] provides an original, provocative, and much needed legal framework for the coherent development of a norm against domestic violence in international human rights law...Dr. Meyersfeld has developed a thoroughgoing analysis that asks and answers the most difficult questions often neglected by academics, lawyers and activists who dismiss the possibility that systemic violence against women could violate international law...Most fundamentally, this book is memorable for the hope and optimism it expresses about the transformative possibilities of international law. For without compromising such intensely human values as privacy, autonomy and cultural identity, Dr. Meyersfeld moves her reader with an abiding conviction: that international law, fueled with the power of transnational actors, can propel public actors to protect abused and vulnerable people in their most private worlds.' From the Foreword by Harold Koh, The Legal Adviser, United States Department of State (2009-).

Review Quotes

"This book is a must read. It venture into unchartered territory by providing a comprehensive analysis of international human rights and the ability of this body of law to compel states to act to address this form of violence.

Additionally, Meyersfeld not only provides a content analysis of important pieces of international law and historical precedents, she uses empirical evidence to support which might otherwise be considered normative prescriptions.

This book should be a required text in courses focused on human rights, gender studies and international law. While thickly descriptive, the content is important to comprehend the important role international law plays in the protection of vulnerable sectors of society. The details of important international treaties and events are quite informative. The book is extremely well written with a generous supply of case studies that help illustrate the complexities of understanding and eradicating systemic intimate violence. Providing materials relevant to international and regional instruments and national legislation allows the reader to become more familiar with the links between the domestic and international spheres of human rights law. This is one of the most informative books I have read on international law, and I highly recommend it to those who are interested in the field." --The Law and Poltics Book Review

"This erudite work breaks an altogether new ground. It covers both the legal and the political debate on the state's responsibility - under not merely its own constitution but also international law - to protect its citizens from extreme forms of what Dr Bonita Meyersfeld calls "systematic intimate violence". No other work has dealt with the subject as comprehensively as this." --Frontline

"This comprehensive analysis makes a strong contemporary case for State responsibility, under International Law, for domestic violence.

This fresh assessment of the foundational allegation 'systematic intimate violence' is a must read for making human rights courses even more relevant; for taking the work of international and domestic practitioners to a next level; and for every international institution with a mission that seeks to improve the lives of a perennially vulnerable target group." --American Society of International Law Newsletter

About the Author

Bonita Meyersfeld is an international human rights lawyer, specialising in violence, gender and development and is currently associate professor at the University of Witwatersrand School of Law and Head of Gender at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies in South Africa. She is also an editor on the South African Journal of Human Rights