[***Moderators' note: The text of the speech by Noeleen Heyzer had a typographic error. We are grateful to Elena for providing the correction.***]
Dear End-Violence moderators and members: Congratulations for this effort! Just a clarification that I hope is useful. The speech that follows says that: "We have achieved the recognition of rape as a war crime against humanity in 1998"..... According to the Statute of the ICC (International Criminal Court) rape is recognized as a war crime AND as a crime against humanity. [***Crimes against humanity -- acts such as murder "committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack" -- differ from war crimes in that they can be committed either in time of peace or armed conflict; there is no requirement that crimes against humanity take place during armed conflict. Both crimes against humanity and war crimes now include rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization and other grave forms of sexual violence. For a comprehensive summary of the importance of the Statute of the International Criminal Court for codification of gender violence, please see the message from Kathy Martinez in the End-Violence Working Group archives: http://www.edc.org/GLG/end-violence/hypermail/endviolence-nov98/0057.html , Mod.***] Best, Ana Elena Obando Costa Rica E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
