The women’s movement has struggled for long to get women’s rights recognized as human rights. While human rights violations can take place on any individual, women are subject to human rights violations in a gendered way. For instance, rape is a method of torture, or punishment for errant women. It was after much pressure from the women’s movement that the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was proposed by the United Nations in December 1979.This convention addressed the systematic discrimination against half of the world’s population. Many states have still to sign this convention. Rape has been recognized as a war crime only in the year 2000.While the CEDAW and the recognition of women’s rights are important steps, in many cases these remain normative instrumentality. There is great need to create a body like the international criminal court where violations of such instruments can be adjudicated.
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