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The Critical Role of Criminal Accountability in Establishing Rule of Law Based on Gender Equality
03 September 2007
The Critical Role of Criminal Accountability in Establishing Rule of Law Based on Gender Equality
Human Rights Treaties
International Human Rights Law
Iraq
Myanmar
Sexual Violence
UN Security Council
There is growing consensus in international law that grave violations of international humanitarian law are a threat to international peace and security and that the world community has a moral and legal duty to intervene if the state is the perpetrator, or cannot or will not stop the crimes. Perpetrators of gender-based crimes must be held accountable in order to ensure a rule of law based on gender equality.
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Legal Filings
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Amicus Brief — United States v. Idaho (October 2024)
Idaho’s “Defense of Life Act” (“Act” or “Idaho’s Law”), a near-total abortion ban, restricts access to necessary emergency reproductive healthcare, exacerbating preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and otherwise negatively impacting pregnant people. The law’s narrow exception for life-saving care will not prevent or mitigate these harms and will leave patients without access to emergency reproductive healthcare. The United States has ratified several human rights treaties that require it to guarantee access to safe and legal reproductive health services, in particular in emergencies or acute medical crises governed by the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (“EMTALA”). Under these treaties, the U.S. is required to respect, protect and fulfil the rights to life; freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment; non-discrimination; and privacy. Idaho’s draconian abortion law fails to respect these rights and violates the U.S.’s treaty obligations. This violation of the U.S.’s treaty obligations militates in favor of affirming the preliminary injunction issued by the District Court. Causing the U.S. to violate its international obligations will result in irreparable harm and is not in the public interest.
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Briefs and White Papers
30 September 2024
Documenting Reproductive Violence: Unveiling Opportunities, Challenges, and Legal Pathways for UN Investigative Mechanisms
Reproductive violence is a distinct form of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) targeting reproductive autonomy, a right protected under international law. The impacts of reproductive violence can be as profound, damaging, and long-lasting as those accompanying other forms of violence and can compound the pain of other forms of SGBV. Yet recognition of reproductive violence as a distinct harm has been overlooked historically, including in international investigations of atrocities, conflict, humanitarian crises, or other instability.
International investigations often play a key role in guiding international responses to crises, and the omission of reproductive violence can thus have significant ripple effects.
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21 November 2023
Draft Crimes Against Humanity Convention Must Center Victims and Survivors
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In Geneva, United States Dodges Key Questions on its Abortion Rights Record
On October 17-18 in Geneva, the United States government faced questions from civil society and the Human Rights Committee on the country’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). In addition to questions on immigrants’ rights, racial discrimination, and more, US officials were pressed repeatedly on the state of abortion access in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.
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