24 May 1984

Meeting 19

Violence in the family

The Economic and Social Council,

Bearing in mind the goals of the United Nations Decade for Women:

Equality, Development and Peace, and the subtheme "Employment, Health and Education",

Recalling resolution 5 of the World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace on battered women and violence in the family,

Recalling also Council resolution 1982/22 of 4 May 1982 on abuses against women and children,

Recognizing that violence within the family has serious negative consequences for all the individuals concerned and follows patterns of abuse that are frequently cyclical, presenting serious problems for society as a whole,

Further recognizing that violence within the family is found among various population groups,

Concerned that information on the nature of this problem and its causes is often concealed and thus is not widely available and that efforts to prevent violence in the family, to provide assistance to the victims and to prevent recurrences need greater public awareness and publicity,

Aware that many Governments and non-governmental organizations have conducted research into this issue and initiated programmes both to support victims and to treat abusers,

Recognizing that the problem of family violence is a long-standing and complex issue and needs serious and thoughtful attention,

Convinced that a more thorough exchange of information and experiences on this subject between States Members of the United Nations, organizations of the United Nations system and non-governmental organizations could draw increasing attention to the problem and contribute to the development of international solutions,

1. Calls upon the Secretary-General to invite Member States, organizations of the United Nations system and non-governmental organizations to provide the United Nations Secretariat with information on family violence and descriptions of successful programmes on the subject, or to supplement information already provided;

2. Urges Member States to take appropriate steps to effect a systematic exchange of information on this subject, to draw attention to the negative consequences of family violence for the men, women and children involved and for society as a whole, and to formulate solutions at the national level;

3. Requests the Secretary-General to convene a seminar of experts on family violence, with emphasis on its effects on women, within the resources for the biennium 1986-1987, taking into account what may emanate on this subject from the Seventh United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, to be held in 1985, with a view to making recommendations to combat this abuse;

4. Decides to include the subject of family violence under the appropriate item of the agenda of the thirty-first session of the Commission on the Status of Women on the basis of information to be supplied in response to paragraph 1 of the present resolution.