STATEMENT OF COSTA RICA, October 2015

Costa Rica stands firmly in support of holistic approaches that enable women to participate in addressing the root causes of conflict, but it is impossible to move forward without also ensuring justice for those who have been victims of the systemic violence that accompanies conflict and war. In 1998, during her tenure on the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Costa Rican judge Elizabeth Odio Benito worked successfully to have rape and other forms of sexual assault be considered forms

of torture. Odio Benito’s interpretation, based on the case of two Serbian women who were raped in the Celebici detention camp, is now an accepted principle of international law.