Protection For Women Is Paramount To End Impunity

Protection For Women Is Paramount To End Impunity

On International Women’s Day, Global Coalition Calls for States to Renew Commitment to ICC Landmark Gender Standards

New York -- Today, 8 March 2010 marks the celebration of International Women’s Day. On this occasion, the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) - a global network of more than 2,500 organizations in 150 countries advocating for a fair, effective and independent International Criminal Court (ICC) – calls on governments to promote justice for women by ratifying the Rome Statute and by implementing its landmark gender provisions at the national level.

Today, the Coalition wishes to recall the importance of the Rome Statute as a powerful instrument for protecting women’s rights. The Rome Statute’s provisions by targeting sexual crimes represent a historic advance for international justice: the Statute is one of the first international treaties to extensively address gender-based crimes as crimes against humanity, war crimes, and in some instances, genocide. Specifically, the Statute recognizes rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced sterilizations, gender-based persecutions, trafficking of persons particularly women and children, and sexual violence as among the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole.

“Countries are strongly encouraged to bring their national laws in line with the standards enshrined in the Rome Statute, both in terms of criminalizing the serious crimes contained in the Statute and by assuring that laws make full cooperation with the Court possible,” said William R. Pace.

International Women's Day helps bring into sharper focus the urgency of the work of the Court to end impunity for crimes against women and serves as a reminder that civil society needs to push States parties of the Rome Statute to continually move forward with effective and comprehensive implementation so that protection of women’s rights are guaranteed at both national and international levels.

The Coalition and women’s organization around the world will continue their tireless efforts after today’s celebration to make sure that violence and persecution of women are treated as they are: serious criminal and humanitarian law violations.

ENDS