...with an enhanced understanding of the various forms that sexual violence may take, ‘to allow for more inclusive, survivor-centred, forward-looking and culturally sensitive responses to these crimes’. The Principles are available here. Importantly, CRSV can fall within the scope of other kinds of internationally prohibited violence. For example: Under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, CRSV may be an underlying act of genocide; Under the International Convention on the......Human Rights Law At the international level (encompassing the Genocide Convention, the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Convention against Torture, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) At the regional level (including the Council of Europe system, the Inter-American Human Rights system, and the...

...human rights treaties, it does not have a formal monitoring mechanism such as a treaty body.8 Instead, its implementation can be, in certain circumstances, overseen by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Article IX requires States to refer disputes relating ‘to the interpretation, application or fulfilment’ of the Genocide Convention, ‘including those relating to the responsibility of a State for genocide’, to the ICJ. In such disputes, ‘the judgment is final, binding on the parties......and a communication submitted by Palestine against Israel.7 Note to reader This is a general summary. For example, the rules for inquiries may vary from one treaty body to another, as well as the admissibility criteria for individual complaints. For more detail, readers should consult the relevant legal provisions cited in the footnotes to the “Ratification and Enforcement of Treaties” chapter, “Human Rights Treaty Bodies” subsection. The Genocide Convention is a peculiarity: unlike other international...

...group to another group.1 Under article III, the following acts are punishable: Committing genocide; Conspiracy to commit genocide; Direct and public incitement to commit genocide; Attempt to commit genocide; Complicity in genocide. The obligations of the Genocide Convention are erga omnes (meaning that they apply to all States, whether or not they are a Party to the Convention),2 erga omnes partes (meaning that a State Party owes them to all other States Parties),3 and peremptory...I. Introduction🔗 The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention) was the first international human rights treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. Article I establishes genocide as a crime under international law, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, and not only obliges States to not commit genocide, but also to prevent and punish it. Article II defines the crime of genocide as......genocide has been perpetrated.35 This does not mean that the obligation to prevent genocide only applies ‘when perpetration of genocide commences’. States should prevent or attempt to prevent the commission of genocide when they become aware or normally should have become aware of the existence of serious risks that any of the acts listed in article III will be committed.36 III.2 States must not commit CRSV🔗 Through the prohibition of genocide and other acts found in......article III and the obligation to prevent genocide under article I, States are under an obligation not to commit the prohibited acts through their own organs, or persons whose conduct is attributable to the State.37 Complicity of States in genocide. The obligation not to commit genocide requires States not to support perpetrators of genocide. Otherwise, States may be responsible for complicity in genocide.38 To be considered an accomplice, a State must take action to provide aid......arising from articles I and III are not limited by territory. States must prevent and not commit acts of genocide wherever they are able to address such acts.15 I.1 Sexual Violence under the Genocide Convention🔗 The ICJ has recognised that sexual violence could constitute genocide if accompanied by a specific intent to destroy the protected group.16 To characterise a crime as genocide, the perpetrator must commit one of the acts listed in article II and...

...the competent authorities must take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable, ‘the existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights’.52 Such violations include, but are not limited to: Widespread use of torture and impunity of its perpetrators; Harassment and violence against minority groups; Situations conducive to genocide; Widespread gender-based violence; Widespread use of sentencing and imprisonment of persons exercising fundamental freedoms; and Situations of...

...which they belong, in the event of armed conflict. In particular, States undertake to: Protect asylum seeking women, refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons, against all forms of violence, rape and other forms of sexual exploitation; Consider such acts as war crimes, genocide and/or crimes against humanity; and Bring their perpetrators ‘before a competent criminal jurisdiction’. IV.3 Special protection against CRSV is owed to women at risk of discrimination🔗 Under the Maputo Protocol, States must...

...violations and abuses of human rights must be held accountable, and that the Government of South Sudan bears the primary responsibility to protect its population from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity’.48 The Council also condemned ‘the use of media to broadcast hate speech and transmit messages instigating sexual violence against a particular ethnic group, which has the potential to play a significant role in promoting mass violence and exacerbating conflict’49 and called......genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity); The international community should encourage and help States to exercise this responsibility, including ‘before crises and conflicts break out’, and support the United Nations in establishing an early warning capability; In accordance with the UN Charter, the international community has the responsibility to use diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means to help to protect populations from mass atrocity crimes. If a State is manifestly failing to......framework of cooperation to investigate and prosecute CRSV with the Special Representative.128 III.11 States must prosecute CRSV🔗 States have a responsibility to end impunity and to prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, including those relating to sexual and other violence against women and girls.129 ‘Ending impunity is essential if a society in conflict or recovering from conflict is to come to terms with past abuses committed against civilians affected by armed......of women’s human rights, and the differentiated impacts on women and girls of these violations and abuses as well as forced displacement, enforced disappearances, and destruction of civilian infrastructure’.136 III.12 States should refrain from using amnesty provisions in cases of CRSV🔗 CRSV may amount to a war crime, a crime against humanity, or a constitutive act with respect to genocide.137 In those cases,138 States should ‘ensure that all victims of sexual violence, particularly women and...

...another mode of settlement. Many States do not consider themselves bound by the provisions concerning referral to the ICJ, and/or may have submitted reservations in this regard.70 Under article IX of the Genocide Convention, referral to the ICJ is required whenever States Parties have a dispute relating to the interpretation, application or fulfilment of the Convention. However, as States Parties may submit reservations in respect of article IX, and there is no treaty body monitoring...

...2021) UN Doc CRPD/CSP/2021/2 CRPD Committee, ‘Guidelines on Deinstitutionalization, Including in Emergencies’ (10 October 2022) UN Doc CRPD/C/5 Genocide and CRSV🔗 Sareta Ashraph, ‘Beyond Killing: Gender, Genocide, and Obligations Under International Law‘ (Global Justice Center, December 2018) Erin Rosenberg, ‘Gender and Genocide in the 21st Century: How Understanding Gender Can Improve Genocide Prevention and Response‘ (Newslines Institute, November 2021) African Union System🔗 ACHPR, ‘Guidelines on Combating Sexual Violence and Its Consequences in Africa‘ (2017) Jean-Baptiste Niyizurugero and Patrick......Trade Treaty from a Humanitarian Perspective‘ (ICRC, 2020) UN, ‘Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes‘ (2014) Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights, Compilation of Risk Factors and Legal Norms for the Prevention of Genocide (Jacob Blaustein Institute, 2011) Michael P. Broache and Juhi Kore, ‘Can the International Criminal Court Prevent Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict?‘ (2023) 22(1) Journal of Human Rights 78 ICRC, ‘Prevention and Criminal Repression of Rape and Other Forms of Sexual...