Article 3 – Definitions

For the purpose of this Convention:

a “violence against women” is understood as a violation of human rights and a form of

discrimination against women and shall mean all acts of gender-based violence that result in,

or are likely to result in, physical, sexual, psychological or economic harm or suffering to

women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether

occurring in public or in private life;

b “domestic violence” shall mean all acts of physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence

that occur within the family or domestic unit or between former or current spouses or

partners, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the

victim;

c “gender” shall mean the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a

given society considers appropriate for women and men;

d “gender-based violence against women” shall mean violence that is directed against a woman

because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately;

e “victim” shall mean any natural person who is subject to the conduct specified in points a and

b;

f “women” includes girls under the age of 18.

Article 4 – Fundamental rights, equality and non-discrimination

1 Parties shall take the necessary legislative and other measures to promote and protect the right for

everyone, particularly women, to live free from violence in both the public and the private sphere.

2 Parties condemn all forms of discrimination against women and take, without delay, the necessary

legislative and other measures to prevent it, in particular by:

– embodying in their national constitutions or other appropriate legislation the principle of

equality between women and men and ensuring the practical realisation of this principle;

– prohibiting discrimination against women, including through the use of sanctions, where

appropriate;

– abolishing laws and practices which discriminate against women.

3 The implementation of the provisions of this Convention by the Parties, in particular measures to

protect the rights of victims, shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex,

gender, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin,

association with a national minority, property, birth, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, state

of health, disability, marital status, migrant or refugee status, or other status.

4 Special measures that are necessary to prevent and protect women from gender-based violence

shall not be considered discrimination under the terms of this Convention.

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