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Women’s Initiatives For Gender Justice

Wikis > Women’s Initiatives For Gender Justice

History

From 1997 until March 2003 the Women’s Caucus for Gender Justice brought together women’s human rights advocates from around the world to the negotiations towards the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to firmly ingrain the principles of gender justice and accountability for crimes of sexual and gender violence in the Rome Statute.

In March 2003, after negotiations of the Rome Statute and its supplemental documents were completed, and after the first election of judges, the Women’s Caucus concluded its work.

As the next phase of establishing and operationalizing the ICC was beginning, the need for an organisation to monitor the Court and advocate for gender inclusive justice through the ICC and implementation of the Rome Statute, was soon recognized. The Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice was established in January 2004 in the Hague, the Netherlands, the seat of the ICC, and became operational in February of that year with the opening of the office.

Mission

The Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice is an international women’s human rights organization advocating for gender-inclusive justice and working towards an effective and independent International Criminal Court (ICC). It works globally to ensure justice for women and an independent and effective International Criminal Court.

The Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice advocates for inclusion of gender based crimes in the investigations and prosecutions of the ICC and promotes the rights of women victims/survivors of armed conflict throughout the justice process including through the Trust Fund for Victims.

Objectives

The Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice is an international women’s human rights organization committed to:

  • Advocating for gender justice through the International Criminal Court (ICC);
  • Monitoring the ICC to ensure implementation of the Rome Statute, including the gender-inclusive provisions; ensuring sexualized violence and gender based crimes are a priority in the investigations and prosecutions of the ICC;
  • Advocating for women victims/survivors to benefit from the reparations mechanisms and processes of the Court;
  • Enhancing the capacity among women, particularly women’s NGOs in countries where the ICC is conducting investigations, in the use of international law specifically the Rome Statute;
  • Consulting with women, women’s groups and NGOs most affected by conflict in situations brought before the ICC, to ensure their concerns and issues are incorporated into the investigations and prosecutions, and the Court’s work with victims and witnesses;
  • Strengthening advocacy in women’s human rights and gender equality;
  • Promoting the international gender standards of the Rome Statute and supporting national law reform to advance women’s human rights through use of the Statute and implementing legislation;
  • Influencing and strengthening the gender competence of the ICC through training and the recruitment and appointment of women, including experts on gender and sexual violence amongst the personnel of the Court;
  • Facilitating and maintaining a pool of experts on sexual and gender violence, victims and witnesses and institutional aspects of gender mainstreaming to shape the mechanisms developed by the ICC.

Projects

  • In September 2005 the Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice launched the Complementarity Project in collaboration with the University of Sydney, Australia to monitor, assess and advocate for use of the Rome Statute and implementing legislation to promote women’s human rights internationally and within national jurisdictions.
  • In March 2004 the Women’s Initiatives For Gender Justice began advocating for gender trainingfor the International Criminal Court (ICC).
  • More about the Projects;conducted by the Women’s Initiatives For Gender Justice

Publications

More Information

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