INTERNATIONAL: Better Laws Needed to Protect Women

National laws must be overhauled to make it easier for women to prove that they are the victims of gender-based crimes, especially at the International Criminal Court, two Nobel peace prize laureates said on Friday.

Iran's Shirin Ebadi and Kenya's Wangari Maathai, part of the Nobel Women's Initiative established to highlight the fight for women's justice, told Reuters that women in nations such as Sudan, Kenya or Burma are still waiting for justice.

"When the soldiers come, whether from the government or the rebels, often the women are the target and rape has become the weapon they use to humiliate the men," Maathai said.

Only the women who got a medical check-up to meet current standards of proof can prove they were raped in Kenya's post-election violence in 2007-08, Maathai said, urging states to ensure proper recording and documentation of rapes.

"But this is a case of war and this is a case of rape. We are dealing with a very fragile situation, so how does the ICC and even national governments, how do they humanise the law? How do we craft the evidence that does not punish the women?"

Ebadi said there are many obstacles for national courts to try culprits, many of whom hold positions of power, highlighting the need for an impartial and powerful international court.

Besides problems in her native country Iran, Ebadi also pointed to Burma where women who have been raped were detained on charges they insulted the soldiers, while Burmese women sent to China for prostitution were ignored by Burma's courts.

The Rome Statute which set up the ICC has been praised for providing the court with a highly advanced articulation of gender-based violence in international law, while also allowing the participation of victims in trials and reparations.

But women's rights groups criticised the ICC's first trial, against accused Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga, for focusing only on child soldiers and not including sexual violence.

In contrast, the case against Congolese Jean Pierre Bemba is focused on sexual violence and a report from the Victims' Rights Working Group said the ICC's attention on gender crimes has helped raised awareness and reduce marginalisation of victims.

Photo: Iranian Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi in Geneva February 12, 2010. (Credit: Reuters/Denis Balibouse/Files)