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OHCHR

 

FACT SHEET 2

 

IMPUNITY AND THE PROSECUTION OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE

 

International Women’s Day, 8 March 2007

“Ending Impunity for Violence against Women and Girls”

 

Impunity is widely understood as “exemption from punishment, harm or loss”. It is in essence the avoidance of any form of responsibility and accountability for crimes committed. The term has been most used in relation to “serious crimes under international law,” which includes a Set of Principles to Combat Impunity established to guide States on how they should ensure that crimes are punished. As set forth in these principles, victims of gross human rights violations, such as sexual violence, and their families have a right to justice, a right to reparations and a right to know the truth about the circumstances of these violations. Guaranteeing these rights is one step forward to ending impunity for crimes of sexual violence.

 

Previous court judgements that arose from international armed conflicts have provided definitions of key offences, and developed the bases of individual criminal liability for serious crimes such as genocide or torture. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court considers several crimes of violence against women as war crimes and crimes against humanity. “Rape, sexual slavery, enforced sterilization, or any other forms of sexual violence of comparable gravity” are considered as war crimes. If these acts were committed as part of a massive or systematic attack on a civilian population, they constitute crimes against humanity.

 

Ad-hoc tribunals created by the Security Council, such as the International Criminal Court for former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and the International Criminal Court for Rwanda (ICTR), have brought the law forward and helped shift the perception of rape as a “crime of honour” against the woman’s partner or her community, to the recognition that it can constitute torture. Women are no longer considered as objects, but as individuals with autonomous rights and the State has an obligation to ensure that she can claim them.

 

Still, it is estimated that less than 5 percent of rape prosecutions lead to convictions globally today, partly because the majority of cases place emphasis on the conduct of the woman and not on that of the perpetrator. Whilst progress has been made under international humanitarian law, consent can remain a determining factor.

 

As the justice system under international criminal law is adversarial, it still requires individual testimony and cross examination. If victims or witnesses cannot appear in court - because they are unable to access formal justice, or because of fear of stigmatisation from their community or of re-living the trauma of their ordeal - perpetrators are likely to remain free and thus to enjoy impunity.

 

The International Criminal Court was put in place as recourse for prosecutions of crimes when States were unwilling or unable to ensure accountability.  This could be a stepping stone for reducing the climate of impunity for crimes of sexual violence against women. The application of the Set of Principles to Combat Impunity should not be exclusive to conflict or post-conflict situations, but should also be applicable to everyday human rights violations: it behoves States to protect victims and ensure that all forms of crimes of violence against women and girls are prosecuted effectively. 

 





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