The government has taken positive legislative and policy initiatives to reduce the prevalence of violence against women, including the enactment and subsequent reauthorizations of the Violence against Women Act, and the establishment of dedicated offices on violence against women at the highest level of the Executive. The government has also allocated substantial resources which are beneficial to advocates and service providers, particularly at the grassroots level... It is clear that multiple forms of discrimination against certain groups of women not only makes them more vulnerable, but also exacerbates the negative consequences that violence has upon them. Thus the implementation of current policy and programmatic initiatives must address the persistent structural challenges which are often both the causes and consequences of violence against women.

Domestic violence continues to be a global problem [JURIST report]. A 2010 Human Rights Watch report condemned [JURIST report] a United Arabic Emirates practice of a "husband['s] right to discipline his wife." The report noted that women in these countries still face many obstacles in achieving equality, and, despite some progress, women in the region still have little recourse for domestic violence and face discrimination in employment, education and politics. In August 2009, Pakistan [JURIST report] instituted the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act, 2008 [text, PDF], moving a step closer to outlawing domestic violence in the country by protecting women, children and domestic employees from mental, physical, and sexual abuse. Also in 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that the Turkish government was responsible for the death of a woman at the hands of her ex-husband because it failed to investigate complaints. In 2008, the India Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) [official website] announced that it would review [JURIST report] the country's controversial anti-dowry act [BBC backgrounder] because increasing numbers of Indian women had issued complaints about misuse. Despite legislation controlling the cultural and religious practice, India's dowry system continues illegally, leaving many women subject to abuse without enforcement of legal protections from so-called "dowry deaths". In 2006, the Council of Europe (COE) [official website] released a report criticizing [JURIST report] France's human rights record and identifying impunity for domestic violence as a shortcoming in the French judicial system.