{"id":6138,"date":"2012-10-12T15:20:12","date_gmt":"2012-10-12T19:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.journals.law.harvard.edu\/ilj\/?p=6138"},"modified":"2013-10-09T14:54:10","modified_gmt":"2013-10-09T18:54:10","slug":"lenahan-gonzales-v-united-states-of-america-defining-due-diligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/ilj\/2012\/10\/lenahan-gonzales-v-united-states-of-america-defining-due-diligence\/","title":{"rendered":"Lenahan (Gonzales) v. United States of America: Defining Due Diligence?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The United Nations reports that the most common form of violence experienced by women around the world is physical violence inflicted by an\u00a0intimate partner.\u00a0On a global average, at least one in three women is\u00a0beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused by an intimate partner in the\u00a0course of her lifetime.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, it is all the more significant that in August\u00a02011, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (\u201cthe Commission\u201d) found that the United States violated the human rights of Jessica\u00a0Lenahan and her three daughters in the first domestic violence case brought\u00a0against the United States in an international human rights tribunal.\u00a0The\u00a0Commission\u2019s decision confirmed the application of the due diligence standard to interpret the obligation of non-discrimination under the American\u00a0Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man. That obligation requires\u00a0states to prevent, prosecute, and sanction acts of violence against women,\u00a0including, in certain circumstances, acts of violence by private actors.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0Commission found that the United States\u2019 failure to meet this standard resulted in violations of Lenahan and her daughters\u2019 right to equality, right to\u00a0life, and right to special protection as women and children.\u00a0The decision\u00a0stands in stark contrast to the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s 2005 ruling on the\u00a0same facts in Town of Castle Rock, Colo. v. Gonzales,\u00a0in which the Court held\u00a0that the state generally has no duty to protect individuals from private acts\u00a0of violence.\u00a0This comment explores the effectiveness of the due diligence\u00a0standard in the Commission\u2019s merits report.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/ilj\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/2012\/10\/HLI2081.pdf\">Read full article (PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The United Nations reports that the most common form of violence experienced by women around the world is physical violence 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