The case at issue,  of Jessica Lenahan and her three daughters, went to The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACR)

Ms. Manjoo said, “In my discussions with Government officials, victims, survivors, and advocates, including Jessica Lenahan, I found a lack of substantive protective legislation for domestic violence victims in the United States, as well as inadequate implementation of certain laws, policies and programs,” she said.

Ms. Manjoo made several recommendations:

1. “At the outset, States’ responses to violence should be based on the premise that the human rights of women are universal, interdependent, and indivisible.”
2. “They should not treat all women homogenously, but bear in mind that discrimination affects women in different ways depending on how they are positioned within the social, economic and cultural hierarchies.”
3. “States’ should also recognize that the various forms and manifestations of violence against women are simultaneously causes and consequences of other instances of violence.”
4. “Efforts to end all forms of violence against women must consider how structural and institutional discrimination perpetuate and exacerbate women’s experiences of abuse.”

“As the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights found in the Jessica Lenahan case,” the UN Special Rapporteur said, “State inaction towards cases of violence against women, fosters an environment of impunity and promotes the repetition of violence.”

Ms. Rashida Manjoo (South Africa) was appointed Special Rapporteur on Violence against women, its causes and consequences in June 2009 by the UN Human Rights Council, for an initial period of three year. As Special Rapporteur, she is independent from any government or organization and serves in her individual capacity. Ms. Manjoo is also a Professor at the Department of Public Law at the University of Cape Town.

The full 2011 report – Mission to the USA: http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=A/HRC/17/26/Add.5&Lang=E

Read more at:  http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39362&Cr=violence+against+women&Cr1=