Human Rights Penality, the Inter-American Approach to Violence Against Women, and the Local Effects of Centering Criminal Justice

This chapter questions the protagonism afforded to criminal justice by the Inter-American Human Rights System (IAHRS) and many Latin American legislations in the domain of violence against women (VAW). Relevant case law is reviewed, and the Inter-American standards in this field are interrogated. The chapter also traces some of the effects that can be linked to said standards by bringing forward Ecuador as a case study. Existing empirical data show high attrition rates, a persistence of VAW, and a reduction of the services provided to victim-survivors, which suggests a failure of “human rights penality” to adequately respond to women’s needs and expectations. The chapter concludes that, in enhancing penality, the Inter-American model facilitates the undermining of survivors’ experiences, overlooking alternative, nonpenal, approaches to justice, which could better address women’s living conditions and the structural factors that produce VAW.