The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (abbreviated as DEVAW[1]) was adopted without a vote[2] by the United Nations General Assembly in the 48/104 resolution of 20 December 1993.
Contained within it is the recognition of "the urgent need for the universal application to women of the rights and principles with regard to equality, security, liberty, integrity and dignity of all human beings".
[note 3] In September 1992, the CSW appointed a special working group to prepare a draft declaration against violence against women.
[6] One of the aims of the resolution was to overturn the prevailing governmental stance that violence against women was a private, domestic matter not requiring state intervention.
The struggle for women's rights, and the task of creating a new United Nations, able to promote peace and the values which nurture and sustain it, are one and the same.
Representatives from Egypt, Pakistan, Sudan and US also raised objections; making it the first ever diplomatic failure at the UN Commission on the Status of Women.