DOVA, the Human Rights Assessment Instrument on Domestic Violence provides a step-by-step method which helps to assess if a country is complying with its human rights and other international obligations.

How does it work?

The DOVA assessment process is divided in seven steps. Each step contains questions, examples and checklists to guide the data collection and analysis.  The analysis results in a concrete set of recommendations for more effective laws or policies that protect and respect human rights. This information will be used to develop an action plan to lobby for policy reform and to raise awareness about the findings of the assessment. A full assessment process can take between four and six months.

Background

Women and children are often in great danger in the place where they should be safest: within their families. They are denied their human rights and their lives are stolen from them by the ever-present threat of violence. Societies and governments often do not recognize domestic violence as a human rights violation. Violence that takes place at home is viewed as a private matter, and often only minimal efforts are made to stop it.

Working to end domestic violence can feel like an uphill battle. The violence is entrenched in society and it is not easy to effect change or improvement. The work can be strengthened by using the international human rights standards that States have agreed to uphold. Your government cannot make promises on the international stage and then try to forget them at home. Relying on human right standards will enable you to hold your government accountable if they do not practice what they promise.

Addressing domestic violence as a human rights violation empowers women and other victims/survivors of domestic violence. As active rights-holders, they can claim the rights to which their governments and States have committed themselves. The State is obliged to prevent, eradicate and punish domestic violence and is accountable if it fails to comply or uphold human rights.