diff --git a/include/vlc_threads.h b/include/vlc_threads.h
index 2054e632f07a5d307294129f2c3b90605f8ea28a..0aac31afbf90dc56b18bdc85c5c3b9499deaf2c6 100644
--- a/include/vlc_threads.h
+++ b/include/vlc_threads.h
@@ -544,17 +544,9 @@ typedef struct vlc_rwlock
 
 /**
  * Initializes a read/write lock.
- *
- * After use, a read/write lock must be deinitialized with
- * vlc_rwlock_destroy().
  */
 VLC_API void vlc_rwlock_init(vlc_rwlock_t *);
 
-/**
- * Destroys an initialized unused read/write lock.
- */
-VLC_API void vlc_rwlock_destroy(vlc_rwlock_t *);
-
 /**
  * Acquires a read/write lock for reading.
  *
diff --git a/src/libvlccore.sym b/src/libvlccore.sym
index 2cfe0d376cd0a08965f73aad4317948567c5dcc6..71267d5dfc11fca35e97ed1e789e3be930496f52 100644
--- a/src/libvlccore.sym
+++ b/src/libvlccore.sym
@@ -651,7 +651,6 @@ vlc_lrand48
 vlc_mrand48
 vlc_qsort
 vlc_restorecancel
-vlc_rwlock_destroy
 vlc_rwlock_init
 vlc_rwlock_rdlock
 vlc_rwlock_unlock
diff --git a/src/misc/messages.c b/src/misc/messages.c
index 898e4be56f835c6f461e2261bfcf7f2a6950bc39..7fe374947b52bc7ea4888da32900b424d8b6c3a5 100644
--- a/src/misc/messages.c
+++ b/src/misc/messages.c
@@ -332,7 +332,6 @@ static void vlc_LogSwitchClose(void *d)
     logswitch->backend = &discard_log;
     backend->ops->destroy(backend);
 
-    vlc_rwlock_destroy(&logswitch->lock);
     free(logswitch);
 }
 
diff --git a/src/misc/threads.c b/src/misc/threads.c
index 460fabc3c89ce392630a636b52e510709a7eb30d..dcb604c0aa33e2bbaba02d11657524bba3c04c83 100644
--- a/src/misc/threads.c
+++ b/src/misc/threads.c
@@ -391,11 +391,6 @@ void vlc_rwlock_init (vlc_rwlock_t *lock)
     lock->state = 0;
 }
 
-void vlc_rwlock_destroy (vlc_rwlock_t *lock)
-{
-    (void) lock;
-}
-
 void vlc_rwlock_rdlock (vlc_rwlock_t *lock)
 {
     vlc_mutex_lock (&lock->mutex);