...ICL or criminal law generally do not engage the issue of State responsibility, they nonetheless are an important avenue for the enforcement of IHL and IHRL. For example, under IHL and IHRL, States have an obligation to investigate and prosecute CRSV crimes. Domestic criminal courts do not oversee States’ compliance with this obligation. Rather, their establishment and functioning represent one of the ways States can fulfil that obligation. The criminalisation of CRSV in domestic legislation...

...The provision of any assistance to racist activities, including their financing. Criminalising racial discrimination in all its forms is an important step in ending CRSV. Criminalisation is also required by article 5(b), which enshrines a person’s right to security and protection by the State against violence or bodily harm, ‘whether inflicted by government officials or by any individual group or institution’. To criminalise racial discrimination effectively, a State should: Introduce a comprehensive definition of racial...

...for acts of torture or ill-treatment.34 Incorporation of the CAT into domestic law. In the criminalisation of torture and ill-treatment, a State should ‘incorporate all the provisions of the Convention in its legislation’. States should not justify a delay in doing so by having a dualist legal system, a combination of policies and legislation put in place to give effect to the CAT, or courts that refer to international conventions only ‘if there is ambiguity in......accused of political offences or terrorist acts, asylum-seekers, refugees or others under international protection, or any other status or adverse distinction’.74 Women. The criminalisation of abortion, ‘moral crimes’ like adultery and extramarital relationships, and witchcraft and sorcery, among other acts – offences that are aimed at or that solely and disproportionately affect women and girls – contributes to prison overcrowding, which has a negative impact on all aspects of detainees’ lives and gives rise to ill-treatment......or torture.75 Punishment for these crimes and other treatment suffered as a result of, for example, the criminalisation of abortion, may also amount to torture or ill-treatment.76 States should review and/or repeal such laws and practices. LGBTQI+ persons. Laws criminalising lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex persons foster a climate in which violence against them ‘by both State and non-State actors is condoned and met with impunity’.77 They are disproportionately subjected to practices (including ‘conversion therapy’,78 anal testing,79 ‘corrective rape’...

...is proportionate to the harm and consequential damages suffered and does not undermine survivors’ right to litigation or access to other forms of justice; Legal and social services to assist survivors’ reintegration in the community, including health services; The criminalisation of institutionalisation; Tailoring redress to survivors’ needs, losses, deprivation and longer-term desires and aspirations; The establishment of truth commissions to investigate and promote understanding of institutionalisations and the harm cause to all survivors.130 Note to...

...Legal Framework🔗 United Nations Security Council resolutions, including resolutions on: Women, Peace and Security Agenda Children and Armed Conflict III. Obligations under the UNSC Resolutions🔗 Prevention🔗 III.1 States should criminalise CRSV🔗 National authorities should ‘strengthen legislation to foster accountability for sexual violence’.72 The domestic investigation and judicial systems of Member States have a critical role in preventing and eliminating sexual violence in conflict, and ensuring accountability for those responsible.73 Thus, criminalisation of CRSV is an important step......in addressing CRSV. Laws can have preventative value from two points of view: First, the criminalisation of gender-based violence and atrocities indicates what is and what is not acceptable behaviour in a society, strengthening normative values and contributing to the rule of law; Second, these laws and institutions may also have preventative value insofar as robust frameworks to punish gender-based violence and atrocity crimes are a necessary first step in making accountability efforts possible, if...