Women's Caucus for Gender Justice closes with significant gains for the women's global movement.

• Author: Brunet, Ariane

It has been a busy and eventful five years since the Women's Caucus for Gender Justice was formed in 1997 to advocate for a gender perspective in the negotiations toward the International Criminal Court. Through the advocacy of many women, the Rome Statute stands as the most significant example of gender mainstreaming in an international treaty. The evidence of this is by now obvious to many--the explicit inclusion of rape and other crimes of sexual and gender violence as war crimes and crimes against humanity, an array of measures intended to ensure more empowered participation by and appropriate protection of victims and witnesses as well as provisions to help ensure a presence of women on the Court and gender experts among staff.

The advocacy continued after the Rome Statute into the negotiation of supplemental texts from early 1999 through mid-2002 where definitions of crimes were debated as well as rules of procedure and evidence. The Women's Caucus was present at this phase too, advocating for progressive and nondiscriminatory definitions of rape and other crimes of sexual and gender violence as well as appropriate rules of evidence for the trial of crimes of sexual violence.

Last year saw several key events that signalled the end of one phase of the establishment of the world's first permanent criminal court and the beginning of a new and exciting era. With the 60th ratification on April 11, 2002, the Rome Statute entered into force on July 1, 2002, marking the moment at which the Court's jurisdiction officially took effect. In September, the nomination period for judges was opened and then closed in November with 45 candidates, 10 of whom were women.

This year has proved to be no less eventful. The election of the Court's first 18 judges was held in February during which seven women were elected. Though the Women's Caucus had advocated all along for parity, the election of seven women was a historic achievement in light of the traditionally low number of women serving in international tribunals. The nomination and election of the judges was also significant for the way that NGOs at the national and international level worked together in an effort to help ensure the nomination and election of the most qualified candidates and a diverse court. Women's groups in particular worked to ensure their governments followed the appropriate procedures for the nomination of candidates, advocated for the nomination of qualified female candidates...