The International Criminal Court (ICC) will step up investigation and prosecution of sexual violence, including offences that may have been previously overlooked, stated a policy paper by the court's Chief Prosecutor.
Published last week, Fatou Bensouda noted in her paper,
“An act of a sexual nature is not limited to physical violence... Forced nudity is an example of the latter.”
The paper was released in the run up to the Global Summit on Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict, due to start on Tuesday in London. With it, Bensouda has signalled the court's intention to focus on such crimes, a point she has emphasised since taking office in 2011.
“The office will apply a gender analysis to all of the crimes within its jurisdiction,” wrote Mrs. Bensouda, adding, “The office will also seek to highlight the gender-related aspects of other crimes within its jurisdiction — for example, in the recruitment of child soldiers and enslavement, and, in the case of the latter, their manifestation as trafficking in persons, particularly women and children."
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