INCEST: Murder of the Soul: Chapter One • The right to liberty and security of person; • The right to equal protection under the law; • The right to equality in the family; • The right to the highest standard attainable of physical and mental health. 4. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), 1948: Through the UDHR, the General Assembly of the United Nations aimed to promote and enhance respect for rights and freedoms and for appropriate measures for that purpose to be taken at the national and international levels among the peoples of the member states. The General Assembly, in accordance with its Resolution No. 52\86 (December 12, 1997) and especially in its Annex, emphasized the “Model Strategies and Practical Measures on the Elimination of Violence against Women in the Field of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice”. The General Assembly also stressed to states the importance of and need for reviewing, evaluating, and thoroughly studying the laws, codes and procedures of criminal justice. Emphasis was especially made in regard to states’ criminal laws’ capacity to guarantee effectiveness in eliminating violence against women and removing provisions that allow for or condone violence against women, but enable women subjected to violence to testify in criminal proceedings through adequate measures that facilitate such testimony by protecting their privacy. There was also concern to ensure that rules and principles of defense do not discriminate against women, and are able to bring perpetrators of violence against women to justice without allowing them to escape criminal liability by invoking an ‘honor’ or ‘provocation’ defense, and do not exempt perpetrators of violence against women from criminal liability on the grounds that the crimes were committed unintentionally or under the influence of alcohol or drugs. It also urged them to review, evaluate and update criminal justice laws and procedures pertaining to courts’ proceedings to ensure that they: • Hold offenders accountable for their acts relating to violence against women; • Put an end to violent behavior; • Take into account the impact on victims and their family members of sentences imposed on perpetrators; • Provide sanctions that are identical to those imposed on crimes of other kinds of violence; • Ensure the right of a victim of violence to be notified of the offender’s release from detention or imprisonment; • Take into account, in the sentencing process, the severity of the physical and psychological harm and the impact of victimization, including through victim impact statements; • Make available to the courts a full range of sentencing dispositions to protect the victim, other affected persons and society from further violence, and to rehabilitate the perpetrator, as appropriate. 13