When the Commission launched the Triennial Review in October 2010, it publicly committed to publishing a review of human rights during 2011. Reporting on the state of human rights is a core function of national human rights institutions such as the Commission whose role is to monitor the human rights situation at home and in other UN states.

The Human Rights Review (HRR) will assess to what extent Britain is meeting its human rights obligations under the Human Rights Act. It sets out each of the rights and freedoms protected by the Act, and explores the extent to which they are being enjoyed by people living in England and Wales today.

The Review will highlight the many ways in which human rights have moved ahead by leaps and bounds in recent times, but will also expose areas in which some of the most serious or widespread breaches of human rights are evident.

Under article 3 of the Human Rights Act -prohibition against torture and other inhuman degrading treatment or punishment- we are looking at Violence Against Women and Girls. Article 3 imposes a series of obligations upon the State and public authorities to protect women and girls from violence. This includes an obligation to have in place preventative measures; an obligation to take positive steps to stop ill-treatment from happening, when authorities knew or should have known about it; and an obligation to investigate and to provide an effective judicial or other remedy in response to an arguable claim of ill-treatment.

Due to your expertise on this area, we would be grateful for your input on the following matters:

Obligation to have in place preventative measures. In May 2011 the Coalition Government launched their action plan to end Violence Against Women and Girls. In relation to this action plan we would like to hear:

• What are the positive aspects of the preventative measures set out in the plan? What are the negative aspects?
• Have the preventative measures been implemented?

Positive obligation to investigate:

• Do you have evidence of cases where public authorities -not including the police- (for example teachers, social workers, GPs) have known about the ill-treatment and failed to act to stop it?
• Do you have any examples/cases in which the Human Rights Act has been used to secure the investigation and/or prosecution of violence against women and girls?

We would appreciate if you could send your response to Laura Bernal,Laura.Bernal@equalityhumanrights.com, byFriday 14th October.

If you are unable to send a written response or meet the deadline, please contact Laura Bernal on 02031170435.