Codify Gender Persecution in the Crimes Against Humanity Treaty
“Explicit language will clarify for States that gender-based crimes targeting women and girls are crimes that are recognised and prosecutable.”
– Judge Najla Ayoubi, coalition member
The systematic repression and persecution of women and girls through laws, policies, decrees and social norms is an egregious form of gender-based violence against women and girls and a crime against humanity. Naming it and prohibiting it under international law is a first step in ending this form of violence.
The Crimes against Humanity Convention seeks to prevent and punish some of the gravest crimes, including enslavement and enforced disappearance.
The International Law Commission’s Draft Articles of the Convention include specific acts related to sexual and gender-based violence, such as rape and sexual slavery, but do not explicitly reference the concept of violence against women and girls or gender persecution (often referred to as gender apartheid). Every Woman has joined other civil society organisations in advocating for specific mention of gender-based crimes in the treaty.
Our advocacy
Every Woman sent proposed amendments to the draft articles of the Crimes against Humanity Treaty to select UN Member States, calling for specific mention of systematic gender-based violence and gender persecution.
Every Woman called for explicit recognition of systemic gender-based violence and gender persecution in Draft Article 2 (Definition of crimes against humanity). Specific mention of both forms of violence would acknowledge that women and girls are disproportionately affected by these crimes and clarify for states that they have an obligation to address widespread and systemic violence against women and girls as a crime against humanity.
Our recommendation to name the concept of gender-based violence against women and girls was grounded in CEDAW General Recommendation No. 35, a comprehensive framework for ending violence against all women and girls. Sub-paragraphs on this point in Article 2 would clarify that widespread or systematic gender-based violence constitutes a crime against humanity, and that this interpretation is consistent with CEDAW General Recommendation No. 35. Such an approach would reinforce interpretive coherence with existing international obligations.
Additionally, our call for including gender persecution in Article 2 would ensure that the severe and systematic deprivation of fundamental human rights on gender groups is recognised as a specific crime against humanity. This is in line with perspectives from CEDAW Committee members, the UN Secretary-General, and leading UN experts, who have even noted the need to codify and enumerate crimes that disproportionately affect women and girls, including institutionalised, “systemic oppression amounting to gender apartheid.”
The proposal was sent ahead of the 30 April 2026 deadline for states to submit their inputs as part of the preparatory sessions for the convention negotiations that began in January and will continue into 2027.
