“ROUTINE” INTERNATIONAL COURT PROSECUTIONS FOR PRO-LIFERS?

Angela King, Assistant Secretary-General and Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women has predicted that more perpetrators of what the UN considers “sexual crimes, “will be prosecuted by international tribunals.  In an address to the opening meeting of the current session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Ms. King noted, “Although indictments for acts of sexual violence have been uncommon in the case of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, recent developments suggest that they will become a routine feature of most future indictments as the central role of rape and other sexual assaults in the genocide is acknowledged.”  Recalling that the UN includes “forced pregnancy” in its designation of sexual crimes against women,  there is some concern that King’s prediction of “routine” prosecutions against perpetrators of “sexual crimes” at the international criminal tribunal could be used to persecute pro-lifers.  In a recent document, the UN noted that “all violations of the human rights of women in situations of armed conflict, including in particular murder, systematic rape, sexual slavery and forced pregnancy,  are flagrant violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.”