International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women - UIA statement

States should take greater steps to eliminate violence against women and girls in conflict by joining the International Criminal Court (ICC) as well as prosecuting perpetrators of sexual and gender-based crimes at the national level, the Coalition for the ICC said today.

Marked around the world today, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women brings into sharp focus the work of the ICC to end impunity for sexual and gender-based crimes, as well as the urgent need to restore victims’ dignity and provide them with redress, empowering them to be key actors in peace-building efforts and assume societal leadership roles.

The Coalition has called on states at this week’s annual meeting of ICC members, the Assembly of States Parties (ASP), to stay focused on improving the delivery of meaningful justice to the most vulnerable victims of grave crimes through the ICC and Rome Statute system. The Assembly held a dedicated debate on victims for the first time last Friday, where governments, civil society, the Trust Fund for Victims (TVF) and other stakeholders reaffirmed the importance of the victims’ in the Rome Statute system. Women and girls are particularly affected by conflict-related crimes. Read the recommendations of the Coalition’s Gender Justice team to ASP 12.

Civil society around the world remains committed to continuing the tireless efforts to ensure that violence and persecution of women in times of conflict are treated as the serious criminal and humanitarian law violations that they are.
 

In this regards, the Union Internationales des Avocats made a statement in honor of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women:

"The violence against women, the brutality against their bodies and souls must stop. The pain permeates families, it permeates societies. It wounds humankind. Most of all, the blows, the invasions cut through the core of a woman’s life, of her self-understanding. It cuts through the core of her sisters, through the core of all who can see. May the ICC end the blindness towards this pain. May law everywhere embrace the dignity of all human beings. May law everywhere prevent the cruelty and do whatever it can to help healing.” Jutta Bertram-Nothnagel, Director of the Relations with Intergovernmental Organizations, Union Internationale des Avocats

 

Source: www.coalitionfortheicc.org