'The ‘due diligence principle’, as it is commonly termed, holds States accountable for human rights abuses committed not only by the State or State actors, but also by non-State actors. Violence against women (VAW) is most often perpetrated by non-State actors — for example, a close male relative or an intimate partner. The due diligence principle is a critical tool in the formulation of accountability. By making the State accountable for violence perpetrated by non-State actors, public international law recognizes that VAW, regardless of who commits it, constitutes human rights violations. Due diligence has also ruptured the artificial ‘public/private sphere’ divide and the dichotomy between State and non-State actors, as States are now not only permitted but .obliged to enter the so-called ‘private sphere’ where most instances of VAW take place and where States have traditionally been barred.'