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Transforming Legal Concepts and Gender Perceptions
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- By Brigid Inder, Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice
- Edited by Evelyn A. Ankumah
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- Book:
- The International Criminal Court and Africa
- Published by:
- Intersentia
- Published online:
- 13 December 2017
- Print publication:
- 05 September 2016, pp 227-244
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- Chapter
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Summary
INTRODUCTION
There are numerous reasons for impunity for sexual and gender-based crimes. Obstacles at the domestic level include discriminatory corroboration requirements and constructions of ‘consent’, and inadequate and incomplete legal prohibitions on these crimes, amongst other issues. In the international courts and tribunals, some of the impediments to successful prosecutions for these crimes have been due to assumptions about who is a victim of sexual violence, lack of prioritisation in investigation plans and in the past the inclusion of sexual violence charges in plea bargain agreements. Beyond these considerations, there is an underlying element that contributes to the unique and epidemic levels of impunity for sexual violence, and that is the partial integration, rather than the full integration, of women and concepts of gender within the structure of justice.
The law, in its legal concepts and practice, typically lags behind the human experience, and nowhere is this more poignant than in relation to sexual violence and gender-based crimes. There has been landmark jurisprudence which has recognised the gender dimensions of sexual violence, as well as the gender dimensions of other forms of criminality. Such jurisprudential highlights include: the recognition of rape as an underlying act of genocide; sexual violence as a form of torture; the recognition of forced marriage as a distinct crime from the crime of sexual slavery; and non-invasive acts such as forced nudity as a form of sexual violence. Each of these judgments has shed light on a specific aspect of sexual and gender-based violence as international crimes, and collectively, this jurisprudence provides a pathway of legal reasoning available for others to draw and expand upon.
Yet, despite the overwhelming numbers, millions, of mostly women and girls throughout history, and continuing today, who have been victimised through acts of sexual and gender-based crimes, only 16% of those accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide have been convicted of sexual violence through international legal mechanisms.
Notwithstanding the important benchmarks, overall there has been limited and inconsistent jurisprudential progress in interpreting the law and engendering the legal concepts through a lens for crimes not obviously, but oft en inherently, gendered.
Chapter 14 - Partners for Gender Justice
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- By Brigid Inder
- Edited by Anne-Marie de Brouwer, Charlotte Ku, Renée Römkens, Larissa van den Herik
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- Book:
- Sexual Violence as an International Crime: Interdisciplinary Approaches
- Published by:
- Intersentia
- Published online:
- 16 December 2020
- Print publication:
- 02 January 2013, pp 315-338
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Summary
INTRODUCTION
Throughout history, women's rights organisations and advocates have been instrumental in every social change and justice initiative. They have influenced international conventions, provoked ground-breaking jurisprudence and driven legal reform. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) led by women have also created global movements, adapted communication tools and established innovative services. Although sometimes invisible, women have often been at the forefront of democratic and political liberation struggles, anti-war and peace movements, and national emancipation efforts.
These initiatives continue with women advocates leading strategies to shape international gender justice and the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the only permanent Court with the potential to try individuals anywhere in the world for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
On 17 July 1998, the Rome Statute was adopted by 120 States and opened for signatories. The Statute came into force on 1 July 2002 upon receipt of sixty ratifications at which time the Court's jurisdiction became active. Since then it has established itself as a 698 person institution with 18 elected Judges, an independent Office of the Prosecutor, and Registry with oversight of the administrative and operational functions of the Court. The ICC includes a feature unique in international criminal justice, which is the Trust Fund for Victims mandated to provide rehabilitation assistance and reparations to victims and their families.
The key elements, which eventually gave rise to the ICC, have their roots in:
– Past conflicts and two world wars
– Previous efforts towards accountability and deterrence for grievous crimes and
– The voices of victims, civil society and in particular women's NGOs, who have shown themselves to be significant partners in the pursuit of accountability and peace.
Advocates for gender justice are asserting a stake in the process of designing a new international justice system, one that effectively prevents and addresses gender-based crimes and other forms of brutality most pervasive in conflict situations as well as developing a cohesive peace and security framework capable of deterring armed conflict itself.
It has been clearly documented that the commission of rape and other forms of sexual violence intensify and increase in both scale and brutality during violent civil unrest and armed conflicts.