RIGHTS
Gender Perspective Needed in World Criminal Court
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 8 (IPS) - The proposed United Nations International Criminal Court (ICC) needs to have full jurisdiction over crimes of sexual violence committed during armed conflicts, according to the European Union.
''The ICC's statute should include a gender perspective,'' Joan Ruddock, the British Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Women, told a meeting here.
Speaking on behalf of the 15-member European Union (EU), Ruddock said that ''the Court's procedures for handling cases involving sexual violence should promote an environment in which women can give evidence without fear.''
Ruddock addressed her remarks to hundreds of representives of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), currently in New York for a two-week session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).
''Women frequently are the victims of armed conflict, and their needs and interests are almost always overlooked in all stages of a conflict,'' she observed.
''The EU cannot stress strongly enough the importance of increasing women's participation in conflict prevention, peacemaking and conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction,'' Ruddock said.
Ambassador Linda Tarr-Whelan of the United States said the CSW should urge war crimes tribunals to pay particular attention to crimes against women and girls, and should encourage the establishment of a permanent International Criminal Court.
Debate on the creation of the ICC scheduled to conclude at a conference in Rome in June. The CSW also is assessing the successes and failures of a Platform of Action, adopted at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing.
A coalition of more than 200 women's and human rights organisation has launched a global campaign seeking more resources to implement the Beijing Platform.
The recognition of violence against women as a human rights abuse was a central tenet of both the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna and the Beijing Conference.
But despite all the prouncements made at these two conference, ''violence (against women) continues unabated,'' says Charlotte Bunch of the Centre for Women's Global Leadership.
She said that women are calling upon heads of government and other political leaders to take leadership on this issue by speaking out against violence against women and by presenting concrete ideas and plans for how to make such violence in daily life unacceptable in their communities and nations.
''Ending violence against women is a community responsibility and it is time for men, and especially male leaders, to assume this responsibility along with women,'' she said. Bernard Muna of Cameroon, currently serving on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, said the traumatic experiences of women in conflict situations left lifelong scars.
''Sexual violence during combat should be recognised as a crime against humanity.'' The ethnic conflicts in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia had revealed how gender-based violence could be used as an instrument of torture, humiliation and destruction.
The Rwanda Tribunal, he said, had established that sexual violence during armed conflicts could amount to genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. He also pointed out that there should be justice for women, and a permanent international criminal court must be established to prosecute perpetrators of such crimes.
In Rwanda, he said, more than 15,000 women and girls were raped when they were forcibly abducted during ethnic rioting in 1994. Of that number, 1,100 gave birth to unwanted children, who, to them, would be a constant reminder of their trauma. A total of 5,200 had abortions, he said. Muna also said that since only 10,000 pregnancies had been recorded, no one knew what had happened to the rest.
''Concrete measures had to be taken in the long term through education on the need to prevent conflicts,'' he noted. Prosecution, he said, was part of the healing process, and victims needed to see that justice was done.
Norway's U.N. Ambassador Helga Hernes drew a link between small arms and sexual violence. She said that small arms - assault rifles, pistols and machine guns - were often used by soldiers and men in general to force themselves on women sexually.
''Small arms were the weapons used most often in conflicts in poor countries and were the major security threat in the developing world. And the arming of children and young people meant problems for many years to come,'' she added.
Radhika Coomaraswamy of Sri Lanka, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, has called for a protocol to the Women's Convention on Violence Against Women.
She pointed out that the post of Special Rapporteur, as it now constitutes, is an adhoc mechanism with shortcomings. Governments may dialogue but they are not accountable. ''They are not legally bound to submit information or engage in follow-up action.
There is a shaming element but no legal oblivation on the part of the states concerned,'' she said. At least with a treaty, governments have to submit reports, periodically reviewing what they have done in the area, she concluded. (END/IPS/td/mk)