Editing Women's rights (section)

=== Rape and sexual violence ===
{{Main|International framework of sexual violence}}
[[File:Chinese girl from one of the Japanese Army's 'comfort battalions'.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|A young [[Chinese diaspora|ethnic Chinese]] woman who was in one of the [[Imperial Japanese Army]]'s "comfort battalions" is interviewed by an [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] officer (see [[Comfort women]]).]]
Rape, sometimes called [[sexual assault]], is an assault by a person involving [[sexual intercourse]] with or [[sexual penetration]] of another person without that person's [[consent]]. Rape is generally considered a serious [[sex crime]] as well as a civil assault. When part of a widespread and systematic practice, rape and [[sexual slavery]] are now recognised as a [[crime against humanity]] as well as a [[war crime]]. Rape is also now recognised as a form of [[genocide]] when committed with the [[genocidal intent|intent to destroy]], in whole or in part, a targeted group.

==== As genocide ====
{{See also|Rwandan genocide}}
In 1998, the [[International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda]] established by the United Nations made landmark decisions that rape is a crime of [[genocide]] under [[international law]]. The trial of [[Jean-Paul Akayesu]], the mayor of Taba Commune in Rwanda, established precedents that rape is an element of the crime of genocide. The Akayesu judgement includes the first interpretation and application by an international court of the 1948 [[Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide]]. The Trial Chamber held that rape, which it defined as "a physical invasion of a sexual nature committed on a person under circumstances which are coercive", and sexual assault constitute acts of genocide insofar as they were committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a targeted group. It found that sexual assault formed an integral part of the process of destroying the [[Tutsi]] ethnic group and that the rape was systematic and had been perpetrated against Tutsi women only, manifesting the specific intent required for those acts to constitute genocide.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2012-10-12|title=UNHCR {{!}} Refworld {{!}} The Prosecutor v. Jean-Paul Akayesu (Trial Judgement)|url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/publisher,ICTR,,,40278fbb4,0.html|access-date=2020-10-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012031344/http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/publisher,ICTR,,,40278fbb4,0.html|archive-date=12 October 2012}}</ref>

Judge [[Navanethem Pillay]] said in a statement after the verdict: "From time immemorial, rape has been regarded as one of the [[Wartime sexual violence|spoils of war]]. Now it will be considered a war crime. We want to send out a strong message that rape is no longer a trophy of war."<ref name=paulwalters>[[Navanethem Pillay]] is quoted by Professor Paul Walters in his presentation of her honorary [[doctorate of law]], [[Rhodes University]], April 2005 {{cite web |url=http://www.ru.ac.za/academic/graduation/addresses_and_citations/2005/Judge_Pillay_citation.doc |title=Judge Navanethem Pillay |access-date=2008-02-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081001193848/http://www.ru.ac.za/academic/graduation/addresses_and_citations/2005/Judge_Pillay_citation.doc |archive-date=1 October 2008}}</ref> An estimated 500,000 women were raped during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org.nz/web/pages/home.nsf/0/e57ea3f05f6aa848cc256e460012f365?OpenDocument|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071212040642/http://www.amnesty.org.nz/web/pages/home.nsf/0/e57ea3f05f6aa848cc256e460012f365?OpenDocument|url-status = dead|title=Violence Against Women: Worldwide Statistics|archive-date=12 December 2007}}</ref>

==== As a crime against humanity ====
{{Main|Crimes against humanity}}
The [[Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court|Rome Statute]] Explanatory Memorandum, which defines the jurisdiction of the [[International Criminal Court]], recognises rape, [[sexual slavery]], [[enforced prostitution]], [[forced pregnancy]], [[compulsory sterilization|enforced sterilization]], "or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity" as a [[Crimes against humanity|crime against humanity]] if the action is part of a widespread or systematic practice.<ref name="Horton">As quoted by Guy Horton in [http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs3/Horton-2005.pdf ''Dying Alive&nbsp;– A Legal Assessment of Human Rights Violations in Burma'']. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307095038/http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs3/Horton-2005.pdf |date=7 March 2008 }}. April 2005, co-funded by The Netherlands Ministry for Development Co-Operation. See section "12.52 Crimes against humanity", p. 201. He references RSICC/C, Vol. 1, p. 360.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://legal.un.org/icc/statute/romefra.htm |title=Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court |publisher=United Nations |access-date=30 August 2011}}</ref> The [[Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action]] also condemn systematic rape as well as murder, sexual slavery, and forced pregnancy.<ref>Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, Section II, paragraph 38.</ref>

Rape was first recognised as a [[crime against humanity]] when the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]] issued arrest warrants based on the [[Geneva Conventions]] and Violations of the Laws or Customs of War. Specifically, it was recognised that Muslim women in [[Foča|Foca]] (southeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina) were subjected to systematic and widespread [[gang rape]], torture, and [[sexual enslavement]] by [[Bosnian Serb]] soldiers, policemen, and members of paramilitary groups after the takeover of the city in April 1992.<ref name="haverford">{{cite web|url=http://www.haverford.edu/relg/sells/rape.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212122926/http://www.haverford.edu/relg/sells/rape.html|url-status = dead|title=Rape as a Crime Against Humanity|archive-date=12 February 2009}}</ref> The indictment was of major legal significance and was the first time that sexual assaults were investigated for the purpose of prosecution under the rubric of [[torture]] and [[enslavement]] as a crime against humanity.<ref name="haverford"/> The indictment was confirmed by a 2001 verdict by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia that rape and sexual enslavement are crimes against humanity. This ruling challenged the widespread acceptance of rape and sexual enslavement of women as intrinsic part of war.<ref name=AmnestyInt2001feb22>[http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR630042001?open&of=ENG-BIH Bosnia and Herzegovina : Foca verdict&nbsp;– rape and sexual enslavement are crimes against humanity] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090907091105/http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR630042001?open&of=ENG-BIH |date=7 September 2009 }}. 22 February 2001. [[Amnesty International]].</ref> The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia found three Bosnian Serb men guilty of rape of [[Bosniak]] (Bosnian Muslim) women and girls, and two of the men were found guilty of the crime against humanity of sexual enslavement for holding women and girls captive. Many of the women subsequently disappeared.<ref name=AmnestyInt2001feb22/>
According to a report by the [[UN Human Rights Office]], published on 28 July 2020, the women who traveled abroad were forcibly returned to [[North Korea]] and were subjected to abuse, torture, sexual violence and other violations. North Korea bans citizens from traveling abroad. Those women who were detained for doing so were regularly beaten, tortured, and subjected to forced nudity and invasive body searches. Women have also reported that in case of pregnancy, the prison officials aborted many children by either beating the women or making them do hard labor.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/07/1069131|title=Human rights report details 'heartbreaking' accounts of women detained in DPRK|access-date=28 July 2020|website=UN News|date=28 July 2020}}</ref>