General Protection

In times of armed conflict, women are entitled to the guarantees that must be granted to all protected persons—namely, the respect for their person, honor, family rights, and religious convictions and practices, as well as the right to humane treatment at all times and to protection from all acts of violence or threats thereof. In addition to these rights, humanitarian law states that “women shall be especially protected against any attack on their honor, in particular against rape, enforced prostitution, or any form of indecent assault” (GCIV Art. 27, API Art. 76.1). The rights granted to women in international and non-international armed conflicts have gained customary law status. Rule 134 of the ICRC customary IHL study recalls that “the specific protection, health and assistance needs of women affected by armed conflict must be respected.” ▸ Protected persons

At all times, whether during armed conflict or not, women—and all protected persons— must be protected from “violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture . . . , outrages on personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment” (GCI–IV Common Art. 3.1). ▸ Fundamental guarantees ▸ Torture

As mentioned, women are also protected by the non-adverse discrimination clauses that exist in most international human rights conventions. For instance, the Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), adopted on 17 July 1998, states that “the application and interpretation of law . . . must be consistent with internationally recognized human rights, and be without any adverse distinction founded on grounds such as gender” (Art. 21 of ICC Statute). ▸ Discrimination

Furthermore, the ICC Statute defines persecution on the basis of gender (among other grounds) as a crime against humanity (Art. 7.1.h of ICC Statute). ▸ Ill treatment ▸ Persecution ▸ Well-being

Pregnant Women and Maternity Cases

Pregnant women and women in labor come under the category of “wounded persons” and hence benefit from the same “particular protection and respect” to which the wounded and sick are entitled under humanitarian law (GCIV Art. 16, API Art. 8). ▸ Wounded and sick persons

• Parties to a conflict must endeavor to evacuate expectant mothers to hospitals or safety zones and out of besieged and encircled areas (GCIV Arts. 14, 16, 17, 21, and 22). Whether or not they are evacuated, they must receive the necessary aid: States are under the obligation to “permit the free passage of all consignments of essential foodstuffs, clothing and tonics intended for children under fifteen, expectant mothers and maternity cases” (GCIV Art. 23).
• In case pregnant women and mothers of children under seven—as well as children under fifteen—find themselves on the territory of a party to the conflict of which they are not nationals, they must benefit from any preferential treatment that is granted to the women and children who are nationals of the State concerned (GCIV Art. 38.5).
• An occupying power may not hinder the application of preferential measures in favor of women and children that were adopted prior to its occupation (GCIV Art. 50).

▸ Evacuation ▸ Occupied territory

Civilian Internees and Prisoners of War

• “Women shall be treated with all the regard due to their sex and shall in all cases benefit by treatment as favourable as that granted to men” (GCIII Art. 14 and also Arts. 16, 49, and 88; GCI–III Art. 12).
• A woman prisoner of war shall not be sentenced to punishment more severe or undergo punishment in worse conditions than a woman member of the armed forces of the detaining power punished for a similar offense (GCIII Art. 88).
• Women must be held or confined in quarters separate from men (except for civilian internees who are accommodated with their families) and under the immediate supervision of women (GCIII Arts. 25, 97, and 108; GCIV Arts. 76, 85, and 124).
• “Expectant and nursing mothers and children under fifteen years of age shall be given additional food, in proportion to their physiological needs” (GCIV Art. 89). They must also receive treatment and care that must not be inferior to that provided for the general population (GCIV Art. 91). Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions further states that “pregnant women and mothers having dependent infants who are arrested, detained or interned for reasons related to the armed conflict, shall have their cases considered with the utmost priority” (API Art. 76.2).
• A woman internee may be searched only by a woman (GCIV Art. 97).
• Disciplinary punishment must take into account the internee’s age, sex, and state of health (GCIV Art. 119).
• Parties to a conflict must try to reach an agreement for the release, repatriation, or return, or the accommodation in a neutral country, of certain internees, in particular children, pregnant women, and mothers with infants and young children (GCIV Art. 132).

▸ Detention ▸ Internment ▸ Prisoners of war

Judicial Guarantees and the Death Penalty

In times of armed conflict, women benefit from the same judicial guarantees as other protected persons. Furthermore, the death penalty may not be carried out against pregnant women or mothers of young or dependent children (API Art. 76.3, APII Art. 6.4).

Noninternational Armed Conflict

During non-international conflicts, the specific clauses that apply to women, under the 1977 Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions, are as follows:

• The protection of all fundamental guarantees, including “violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture . . . , outrages on personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment” (GCI–IV Common Art. 3.1, APII Art. 4) and “rape, enforced prostitution, and any form of indecent assault” (APII Art. 4.2.e).
• Women must be held in quarters separate from those of men and be under direct supervision of women, except when accommodated with their family (APII Art. 5.2.a).
• The death penalty shall not be pronounced on pregnant women or mothers of young children (APII Art. 6.4).

Refugees

The increased attention and recognition given to crimes such as rape, to which women are more particularly vulnerable, have led to specific measures being taken in the case of women refugees. The UNHCR Executive Committee issued several conclusions addressing the need to provide reinforced protection for women refugees, both legally (in terms of including sexual violence among the main grounds for persecution, which will help enable women fleeing persecution to receive refugee status) and in practice, once they have reached a destination. It thus acknowledges and adapts assistance to the fact that “refugees and asylum-seekers, including children, in many instances have been subjected to rape or other forms of sexual violence during their flight or following their arrival” (UNHCR ExCom Conclusion 73 [XLIV], 1993).

In the case of repatriation, UNHCR representatives must make sure that they do not speak only to the refugees’ representatives when deciding whether a group wants to return to their home State. They must consult the refugees themselves, and in particular groups of women refugees, to verify that the leaders genuinely represent the will and interests of the refugees as a whole.

▸ Refugees ▸ Repatriation

Individual Recourse

According to Articles 17 to 22 of CEDAW, a Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women was created. It is made up of twenty-three experts who monitor and make recommendations concerning the implementation of CEDAW. The participant States must submit reports at least every four years on the legislative, judicial, and other measures they have taken to incorporate the provisions of the Convention into their laws. ▸ Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women

On 6 October 1999, the UN General Assembly, acting without a vote, adopted a twenty-one-article Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, drafted with the collaboration of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the UN Commission on the Status of Women. The Optional Protocol entered into force on 22 December 2000, following the ratification of the tenth State party to the Convention. As of June 2015, 106 States have ratified it.

When a State ratifies the Optional Protocol, it recognizes the competence of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to receive and consider complaints from individuals or groups within its jurisdiction. There are two possible procedures: consider petitions from individual women or groups of women who have exhausted all national remedies; or the Committee itself can initiate inquiries into situations of grave or systematic violations, although States may opt out of the inquiry procedure. No other reservations are permitted to the Protocol’s terms.

Until the Protocol came into force—and still today in most countries—the only international recourse that existed to file individual complaints specifically concerning violations of women’s rights was through the Commission on the Status of Women, a UN body established by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 1946. Today, its function is to monitor and review the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women, adopted in 1985 at the third UN World Conference on Women. This includes developing recommendations on urgent problems concerning women’s rights.

The Commission may receive communications from individuals and groups; however, it takes no action based on individual complaints. Its aim is to develop policy recommendations to try to solve widespread problems. Women can, for example, refer to international bodies that allow individual complaints, such as the Human Rights Committee, the Committee against Torture, and more.

Women may also have recourse before the Human Rights Committee, which monitors the implementation of the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and can receive individuals’ complaints, including violations of the gender equality provisions of the ICCPR. This procedure is available to individuals in the countries that have ratified the Optional Protocol to the ICCPR. Women in these countries can file complaints concerning violations of the provisions of the ICCPR, as well as of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and other international human rights conventions to which their country is a party. ▸ Human Rights Committee ▸ Individual recourse

UN Special Rapporteurs

Several UN Special Rapporteurs cover women’s issues—namely, the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Its Causes and Consequences, as well as certain others such as the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Xenophobia, who examines issues such as systematic rape, sexual slavery, and slavery-like practices during armed conflict. A Special Representative of the UN Secretary General is also tasked with the issue of sexual violence in conflict.

▸ Special Rapporteurs ▸ Rape

United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women)

UN Women was created in July 2010 in order to “promote gender equality and empower women around the world,” as part of the overall reform of the UN launched in 2005.

This new entity combines and merges existing UN structures, namely the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), and the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI).

The role of UN Women, which began operations in January 2011, is to promote gender equality among UN agencies and Member States. Its main activities include the transmission of information on gender issues, as well as advice and technical support in the formulation of global standards, norms, and policies. UN Women also monitors the implementation of commitments made by the UN system on gender equality.

▸ Children ▸ Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women ▸ Detention ▸ Family ▸ Family reunification ▸ Fundamental guarantees ▸ Individual recourse ▸ International Criminal Court ▸ International Criminal Tribunals ▸ Internment ▸ Judicial guarantees ▸ Prisoners of war ▸ Protected persons ▸ Rape

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