General Recommendation No. 35 (GR35) on gender-based violence against women

Building on the Committee’s growing jurisprudence on the need for states to robustly regulate arms transfers and address arms proliferation, GR35 recommends that States address “factors that heighten women’s risk of exposure to serious forms of gender-based violence, such as accessibility and availability of firearms, including their exportation […]”. It is significant that the Committee included this element in GR35, since accessibility and availability of firearms can facilitate or exacerbate gender-based violence.