The problem of gender-based violence in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights Case-Law

Abstract

The phenomenon of gender-based violence is far from novel, it has been actively debated in academic and human rights circles for several decades already. However, gender-based violence has only recently become a focus of attention in international inter-governmental organizations and international courts. In the field of international humanitarian law, the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda declared sexualized violence as part of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in the early 2000s, and approximately at the same time international human rights bodies started to examine this problem as well. The UN CEDAW Committee began its first deliberations in accordance with Optional Protocol to the CEDAW Convention (1999), and the Inter-American Commission and Court on Human Rights joined in as an active participant in this global struggle for women’s rights, making an impact on domestic law-making and law enforcement, and setting an important example for human rights groups and political actors. By looking at some of the most important decisions of the IACtHR in the field of combatting gender-based violence, we seek to identify major problem areas and the impact these decisions had in the region.