Just Security Online Forum on Gender Persecution Policy Series

This post discusses how groups targeted with persecution are defined under element two of the Rome Statute. The essay draws on examples from the Policy on the Crime of Gender Persecution and the charges in the ICC Al Hassan Case.

This blog pos chronicles a historic roundtable at the International Criminal Court in May 2023 that brought together 20 feminist and LGBTIQ human rights activists with ICC prosecutor Karim A. A. Khan and other senior members of his office, in pursuit of new avenues to justice. Outright International and its partner organizations from Afghanistan, Ukraine, Colombia, and Bangladesh were among those who attended the convening.

Just Security Online Forum on Gender Persecution Policy Series

This post discusses how the ICC Office of the Prosecutor’s Policy on the Crime of Gender Persecution interacts with domestic justice processes by examining the example of the transitional justice process in Colombia.

Just Security Online Forum on Gender Persecution Policy Series

This post discusses how a successfully implemented Gender Persecution Policy can lead toward higher numbers of convictions of sexual and gender-based violence crimes, including the crime of gender  persecution. In addition, the post explores how the Policy may ensure that the ICC Office of the Prosecutor’s focus remains on the prosecution of gender persecution.

Just Security Online Forum on Gender Persecution Policy Series

This post discusses the signs of a growing commitment to addressing gender as a discriminatory driver of violence and atrocity and why the international community now has an important opportunity to overcome historical silences and strengthen responses to gender persecution.

Just Security Online Forum on Gender Persecution Policy Series

The first in a series on the ICC’s Policy on the Crime of Gender Persecution, this post discusses the significant gap in the development of international criminal jurisprudence on gender persecution and how it led to the drafting of a gender persecution policy paper that was developed through an extensive year-long consultative process engaging governments, experts, civil society, affected communities and survivors. 

In only the second time the UNSC has discussed violence against LGBTIQ people, the March ’23 Arria Formula Meeting took testimony from Colombia and Afghanistan on the effects of persecution on LGBTIQ individuals with US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield. The Ambassador comments that the UNSC needs to incorporate LGBTIQ persons’ human rights in carrying out its mandate. Many states agreed while others dissented stating that only “universally” accepted problems and identities should be discussed.

Open Democracy

This essay discusses how the outdated definition of gender adopted from the Rome Statute was dropped from the final draft of the crimes against humanity treaty, affirming the rights of all people.

In a conversation with Colombia Diversa’s Peace and Transitional Justice Coordinator, María Susana Peralta Ramón, this article discusses why transitional justice needs to account for queer experiences and why the definition of gender should include the LGBTQ and intersectional movements.

Open Democracy

This post documents the dangers of including the outdated definition of gender adopted from the Rome Statute in the crimes against humanity treaty.