INCEST: Murder of the Soul: Chapter Three form of violence against women in all societies. The Universal Declaration on Eliminating Violence Against Women, issued by the General Assembly in 1993, emphasized that violence against women is a manifestation of a historically unequal relationship between men and women that led to men’s control over women and impaired their development. It also emphasized that violence against women is one of the cruel social mechanisms that force women into a subordinate position to men. Despite frequent requests of the United Nations Specialist Committees through statements, recommendations and international conventions that all states should adopt measures and policies to eliminate violence against women, legal systems remain a reflection of their social systems, which act influentially to maintain patriarchal control of the different aspects of life by organizing them according to the patriarchal hierarchy. 23