[JURIST] A UN rights expert on Wednesday called for [press release] a legally binding agreement at the national level in order to fight violence against women in member states and hold violators accountable. Special Rapporteur on violence against women Rashida Manjoo [official profile] urged the international community to take action, stating that “the time has come to move beyond awareness-raising campaigns and the highlighting of statistics.” The call comes during an international campaign to end violence against women, which will run through the celebration of Human Rights Day on December 10. Manjoo called the need for a new set of legally binding standards accompanied by a monitoring body negotiated by all UN members urgent, saying that the lack of a holistic approach continues to create challenges in the protection and promotion of women worldwide.

Beginning in 1999 the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women falls on November 25 each year in commemoration [TIME report] of the 1960 murders [Miraposa Foundation backgrounder] of Dominican political activists Patria, Minerva and Maria Mirabal. The event marks the beginning of 16 days of activism to advance women’s rights around the world, which end on December 10, Human Rights Day [UN backgrounder], linking violence against women to human rights. The greater concern for women’s human rights has been an ongoing struggle internationally. In November Suad al-Shamari, a prominent women’s rights advocate, was arrested [JURIST report] for insulting Islam. In October Maryam al-Khawaja, a prominent political activist in Bahrain, was released [Global Voices report] from jail following an extended investigation [JURIST report] into her activism. In April the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] temporarily blocked [JURIST report] Arizona from enforcing a statute that will prohibit women from having a medication abortion after seven weeks of pregnancy.