Ahead of the first global review meeting of the Rome Statue and International Criminal Court, women from around the world are meeting in Mexico next week to develop a clear global agenda for advancing gender justice through advocacy and engagement with the International Criminal Court. Cleo Wilder is reporting for openDemocracy and sets the scene.
About the author
Cleo Wilder is Associate Editor of the political journal Renewal
As the new millennium dawned, 120 states gathered in Rome in 1998 to negotiate the statute establishing the world’s first International Criminal Court, which came into force when the 60th state ratified it in 2002. Finally there is an international mechanism for holding war criminals to account, as indicted warlords from Darfur, Uganda and the Congo have since discovered to their peril. The signing of the Rome Statute, ratified by 111 states to date, also marked a key moment for the international women’s movement. As states gather in Uganda next month for the 10 year review conference of the ICC, it is worth taking a moment to reflect on the extraordinary campaign mounted by the Women’s Caucus for Gender Justice which led to the extensive gender provisions of the Rome Statute. The Women’s Caucus was successful in incorporating gender justice into the statute of the ICC in a number of ways: in the range of crimes recognised in the Statute; the status these crimes were accorded; the procedural provisions of the court; and in terms of ensuring fair representation of women on the Court itself.
Gender justice and the ICC: turning a miracle into reality | openDemocracy
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