- On Monday, The International Criminal Court began a trial against Uganda’s Army senior commander Dominic Ongwen for crimes that include rape. Convictions at the ICC for sexual violence are a hugely important step for justice in the international community.
- On Tuesday, Ohio’s legislature passed an almost complete abortion ban with no exceptions for rape. According to international standards, denial of abortion services for rape victims constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
- Also on Tuesday, the Nigerian police pronounced the order of an investigation of a case of Nigerian officials raping and impregnating women and girls in displacement camps after a Human Rights Watch report was released in October. Victims of war rape are entitled to safe abortion services under international law.
- On Thursday, it was announced that a women’s rights bill will go to parliament in 2017 in Burma to better protect Burmese women from violence. Violence against women in Myanmar is a severe problem, and a new legal framework is fundamental to fighting this.
- Today, is the UN’s International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime. Today, we commemorate those Yazidis who are victims of ISIS’s acts of genocide.