Domestic Violence is one of the commonest forms of gender-based violence. Many women have been battered, abused, raped, butchered, and killed by the men they chose to love or care about. Sadly, for many years, such violence was treated as a private matter but by the introductions of a series of international instruments, such actions have now been established as a criminal offense and states have been given the responsibility of taking positive initiatives to address the problem.
When it comes to global issues, the United Nations and International laws, the responsibility of implementation fall on the States and hence a breach of due diligence in protecting and promoting human rights makes a State accountable for the violations in its jurisdiction.
Patriarchy which is a by-product of this domination encouraged the subordination of woman and for many years violence against women was condoned and accepted for cultural, political and religious reasons. Domestic violence was viewed as a normal domestic affair which was to be solved within the confines of the home and not in the public eye (Subrata Paul, Combatting Domestic Violence Through Positive International Action in the International Community and in the United Kingdom, India, and Africa, 7 CARDOZO J. INT’L & COMP. L. 227, 243 (1999). Violence against women specifically domestic violence is now widely recognized as an infringement of woman's right and a global policy concern (World Conference on Human Rights; Vienna Declaration and programme of Action, para.4, 1993, (Brownlie Ian, 2006 p.140). ) Much of this progress can be attributed to the work of women’s rights advocates and the United Nations
The United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women (DEVAW) describes violence against women as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life” (DEVAW 1993). Sadly, the most common place women encounter such violence is in the home and at the hands of men who are, or who have been, in positions of trust, intimacy and power (Stockl et al., 2013). Article 16 of the convention stipulates that " States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations [...]". According to Article 26 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969) “Every treaty in force is binding upon the parties to it and must be performed by them in good