Akua Kuenyehia, the first vice president of the International Criminal Court in The Hague presented her talk, "The Establishment and Starting-Up of the International Criminal Court: Issues and Problems," at a Cornell Law School faculty workshop April 28, where she addressed the struggle for justice in prosecuting violence against women.
Kuenyehia said that until recently, there were few precedents for preventing or punishing gender crimes. Rape, forced pregnancy and prostitution and other forms of sexual violence fall into this category. Although men are victims of such crimes as well, the primary targets are women, who are very vulnerable in times of war, she said.
That's one of the major reasons why Kuenyehia, former dean of the University of Ghana Faculty of Law, has been working with other international legal experts to create a clear definition of such crimes and a process for punishing them appropriately and making them visible.
"A lot of [victims] want to remain anonymous because they want to stay alive," Kuenyehia said, adding that the ICC's stance "demonstrates the willingness of the international community to take positive steps to address the invisibility of these gender crimes."
Part of this stance involves a tremendous amount of outreach around the world, particularly where people may not be aware of their rights. Kuenyehia and others are working to publicize the ICC's work and educate legislators in how to deal with gender crimes.
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