How could human rights law be used by the courts to assist victims of domestic violence? A comparative study.

It has been increasingly recognised in recent years that domestic violence constitutes a human rights issue. This paper seeks to shed light on the question of how human rights law may be used in the area of domestic violence through the medium of a litigation strategy. The method used is a comparative assessment of the approaches taken towards gender issues by the Constitutional Courts in three states that have famously dynamic judiciaries - India, South Africa and Canada. A number of the obstacles to the effectiveness of human rights law are also examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]