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We recommend that the General Recommendation include more specificity in Section A and throughout (as described in detail below), on the role of reproductive capacity in shaping and entrenching gender stereotypes.

In March 2026, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (the Court) issued a landmark judgment in Ramos Durand et al. v. Peru, holding Peru responsible for the forced sterilization and death of Celia Edith Ramos Durand. The case was brought by the Center for Reproductive Rights, DEMUS–Study for the Defense of Women’s Rights, and the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL). Global Justice Center submitted an amicus curiae brief in the case, with Debevoise & Plimpton acting as pro bono counsel, articulating the importance of specifically recognizing reproductive violence.

We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, welcome the official start of preparatory work for a Crimes Against Humanity Convention. This is a significant opportunity to ensure an inclusive instrument that addresses long-standing gaps in the protection against gender-based crimes, particularly for women and girls. We urge states to adopt a gender-competent and intersectional negotiation process and convention, which is shaped by victims’ multidimensional experiences. We call on all states to take comprehensive action, including: Recognize all gender-based harms that meet the crimes-against-humanity threshold, by codifying crimes such as: Forced Marriage: as compelling a person into a conjugal union through force, threat, coercion or inability to consent, consistent with established jurisprudence. Reproductive Violence: as intentional acts or omissions that violate a person’s reproductive autonomy. Gender Apartheid: as inhumane acts committed within and to maintain an institutionalized regime of systemic gender-based oppression and domination. Slave Trade: as acts involved in bringing a person into, and maintaining them in, a situation of slavery, and reflecting its peremptory status. Center victims and survivors in the convention: The convention should deliver justice that people can access and trust—not a system that looks strong on paper but leaves victims behind. Victims’ perspectives, including those from marginalized groups, should shape the treaty’s content, particularly with regard to prevention, accountability, and reparations. States should conduct safe consultations with victims on the text—including the definition of victim—and provide procedural accommodations to ensure their meaningful participation throughout the negotiations, implementation and monitoring. The text should define victims to include at least all persons who suffer harm from acts that constitute crimes against humanity in line with international standards and provide for prompt, full, and effective reparations. Embed gender-competence across the convention’s content and process to promote equality and prevent discrimination, such as by ensuring: Gender-inclusive language is used throughout the text of the convention. An approach that is grounded in intersectionality and gender inclusivity guides all sections of the convention, including provisions on definitions, procedure and enforcement. A strong non-discrimination and substantive equality clause and strong provisions for monitoring to promote implementation, progressive interpretation, and compliance are included. In the text, gender is understood in line with current international human rights and criminal law. The negotiations incorporate gender expertise and robust civil society participation, intersessional meetings on gender justice, and gender parity across delegations. See list of signatories

The Draft Addendum makes welcome contributions to recognizing a fuller scope of conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence (GBV), acknowledging that “conflict-related gender violence is no longer confined to acts purely sexual in nature” and includes many forms, including physical, moral, psychological and transgenerational forms of violence.

Reproductive autonomy is an individual’s ability to exercise agency over their fertility, including their choice about whether and in what circumstances to reproduce. It is inseparable from human dignity and bodily autonomy, and its violation has profound physical, psychological, social, and economic consequences for affected individuals, families, and communities. Rights related to reproductive autonomy are protected in international and regional human rights instruments.

In this brief, Global Justice Center respectfully urges the Court to: first, recognize forced sterilization as a specific form of reproductive violence with specific characteristics and harms, and requiring particular remedies; and second, consider the mass, State-sponsored character of the harm that underlies this case, in ordering appropriate reparations.

In September 2024, UN Women and Global Justice Center issued a report detailing challenges and offering legal guidance to improve the documentation of reproductive violence in crisis and conflict by UN international investigations. These investigations play a key role in guiding international responses, so omitting documentation of reproductive violence can have devastating ripple effects. This Q&A draws from the report to provide information on what reproductive violence is, why its documentation in conflict and crisis situations matters, and how this documentation can be done more effectively.

Violence against women and girls is pervasive, evolving, and requires an all-tools approach by the Council if it is to be ended. Excluding a gender analysis from efforts to addressing violence against women and girls – an established standard in international law – is legally and substantively insufficient. It risks excluding historically marginalised populations from essential protections, including rights to non-discrimination, bodily autonomy and freedom from torture or other ill-treatment. It undermines efforts to address the root causes perpetuating gender-based violence.

Widespread and systematic violations of international human rights and humanitarian law characterized Liberia’s two brutal armed conflicts, which took place between 1989 and 2003. Liberian men, women, and children were gunned down in their homes, marketplaces, and places of worship. In a few cases hundreds of civilians were massacred in a matter of hours. Girls and women were subjected to horrific sexual violence3 including gang rape, sexual slavery, and torture. Children were abducted from their homes and schools and pressed into service, often after witnessing the murder of their parents. The violence blighted the lives of tens of thousands of civilians and displaced almost half the population.