INTRODUCTION

I have the privilege and the responsibility to be the first prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC). My mandate is to put an end to impunity for the most serious crimes of concern to the international community, including gender crimes as part of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and to contribute to the prevention of such crimes. The Rome Statute pays particular attention to gender crimes.

Accordingly, since my appointment over nine years ago, the Office has been developing policies on gender crimes.

In doing so, we have benefited extensively from the expertise of international and non-governmental organizations. A number of experts have paved the way, pushing for accountability of gender crimes; the ad hoc tribunals’ jurisprudence has laid the groundwork for the development of international criminal law in this area.

HISTORICAL NOTION

The recognition of “gender violence” or “gender crimes” is relatively recent in international law. For example, the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women did not address issues relating to violence against women. For a long time, the gender perspective was also not reflected in major international instruments related to international crimes such as the Convention against Torture and Inhuman, Cruel or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

It was only in the early 1990s that there was greater understanding of gender crimes. In particular, the 1992 General Recommendation No. 19 by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women constituted a major step. It defined gender-based violence as a form of discrimination against women. The General Recommendation took the view that “the definition of discrimination includes gender-based violence, that is, violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately.”

In the field of international criminal justice, the evolution that took place in 60 years is remarkable. Remember that Robert Jackson, the Chief Prosecutor of the Nuremberg Tribunal, decided not to present sexual crimes in the cases against the Nazi leaders.

The efforts since the mid-90s to obtain accountability for atrocities committed against women during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia helped establish how rape and other sexual violence could be instrumentalised in a campaign of genocide. This equally contributed to the expanded understanding of sexual or gender violence as war crimes and crimes against humanity.