Womens' rights activist at a meeting on responses to sexual violence in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, December 2009
Sexual and other forms of gender-based violence
The assumptions of male and female roles are of particular concern in the context of torture and related crimes under international law. Women and girls’ experience of torture can be tied to their gender: the forms of their torture may be gender specific, the reasons why they are tortured may be connected with gender specific inequalities or roles, and women and girls’ access to a remedy and reparation for the harm they suffered may hold particular challenges. The experience of women and girls in times of conflict in particular can be inextricably tied to pre-existing societal inequities; their positioning in society means that conflict and crimes will have a differentiated impact on their lives and on the process of recovery.
It has been recognised in international law that rape and other forms of sexual violence against both sexes may constitute a form of torture.
Recent publications and materials:
- Gender and Torture Conference Report, October 2011
- Presentation by Carla Ferstman at an expert meeting organised by the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women: ‘Procedural and Substantive Obstacles to Reparations for Women Subjected to Violence through Judicial and Administrative Forums’, June 2010
- Goma Declaration on Sexual Violence (in French), December 2009
- TIME FOR CHANGE - Reforming Sudan's Legislation on Rape and Sexual Violence, November 2008
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- عربي - Nairobi Declaration on Women's and Girls' Right to a Remedy and Reparation, March 2007
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