Monitoring protection of rape victims
Reply to Written question
| Doc. 11563
| 10 April 2008
- Author(s):
- Committee of Ministers
- Origin
- Adopted
by the Committee of Ministers on 12 December 2007 at the 1014th
meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies.
- Reply to Written question
- : Written question no. 521 (Doc. 11186)
- Thesaurus
1. The Committee of
Ministers has carefully examined Written Question No. 521 by the
honourable parliamentarian concerning issues relating to monitoring
the protection of rape victims. The Committee of Ministers considers
that rape, since it constitutes an attack on the physical and mental
integrity and on the dignity of the victims, is a violation of human
rights and reaffirms
Note that
the use of rape as an instrument of warfare and within the context
of a strategy of ethnic cleansing is a war crime and should be considered
a crime against humanity. In this context, the Committee of Ministers
recalls that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Court have jurisdiction
to bring to justice persons allegedly responsible for serious violations
of international humanitarian law, namely genocide, crimes against humanity
and war crimes. The War Crimes Chamber in Bosnia and Herzegovina
and other regional courts are also playing an increasingly important
role in the delivery of justice for war crimes.
2. The Committee of Ministers recalls that the Council of Europe
paid prompt attention to the situation of women in South-East Europe
during armed conflicts, in particular during the international Seminars
on Men and Violence against Women (1999) and on Participation of
Women in the Prevention and Resolution of Conflicts (2001).
3. The Committee of Ministers also recalls that issues relating
to the protection of rape victims, inter
alia, during conflict and post-conflict were examined
during the 5th European Ministerial Conference on Equality between
Women and Men (Skopje, 22-23 January 2003). This conference was
devoted to the following theme: “Democratisation, conflict prevention
and peace building: the perspectives and the roles of women”. The conference
adopted a resolution on “the roles of women and men in conflict
prevention, peace building and post-conflict democratic processes
– a gender perspective” which takes into account and welcomes “the adoption
of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (17 July
1998) and its entry into force on 1 July 2002, which provides that
rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilisation
or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity are crimes
against humanity when committed as part of a widespread or systematic
attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of
the attack”. In this framework, the resolution proposes to governments
a number of measures for protecting women’s human rights and providing
assistance to victims of conflict. One of the follow-up activities
to this ministerial conference was the preparation of a recommendation
on the role of women and men in conflict prevention and resolution
and in peace building.
4. In this context, the Committee of Ministers wishes to draw
the attention of the honourable parliamentarian to its Recommendation
Rec(2002)5 on the protection of women against violence which includes
expressly and in a detailed manner the violation of human rights
of women in situations of armed conflict in the definition of violence
against women. Besides the general measures on the protection of
women against all forms of violence, the recommendation also includes
a number of additional measures concerning violence in conflict
and post-conflict situations, in particular that states should:
- penalise all forms of violence
against women and children in situations of conflict, in accordance
with the provisions of international humanitarian law. In this regard,
the recommendation takes up literally the relevant provisions of
the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court defining certain
forms of sexual violence against women as crimes against humanity
or war crimes;
- consider providing refugee status or subsidiary protection
for reasons of gender-based persecution and/or providing residence
status on humanitarian grounds to women victims of violence during
conflicts;
- support and fund NGOs and official institutions in the
region providing counselling and assistance to victims of violence
during conflicts and in post-conflict situations.
As part of the monitoring of the implementation of this recommendation,
a certain amount of information was gathered about follow-up on
rape victims in member states. The information was supplied in replies
to an indicator-based framework for monitoring the recommendation
which was sent to the member states in 2005. The South-East European
countries replied to it. The information, which a 2006 studyNote consolidated
and analysed (that study being supplemented by a further study in
2007), showed that there were 16 national action plans (40 member
states replied) dealing with rape and sexual violence and that seven
of them covered violence in conflict and post-conflict situations.
The conclusions drawn from the information regarding victims of
rape or sexual assault cover all 40 member states that participated
in the study and can therefore not provide any specific indication
as regards rape victims in South-East Europe.
5. The Committee of Ministers
further recalls its Recommendation Rec(2006)8 on assistance to crime victims,
directed principally at victims belonging to vulnerable groups,
either because of their personal characteristics or because of the
circumstances of the crime; victims of rape undoubtedly belong to
this category of victims. The recommendation invites member states
to provide for a large number of means of action and assistance
to victims, aimed at alleviating the negative effects of crime and
assisting the victims in all aspects of their rehabilitation, whether
into the community, at home or at the workplace. Assistance should include
the provision of medical care, material support and psychological
health services, offered free of charge, at least in the immediate
aftermath of the crime. Another priority of action for member states
is to protect victims as far as possible from secondary victimisation.
They should promote the introduction of services dedicated to assisting
victims, specialised centres for victims of sexual and domestic
violence, and specialised centres for victims of crimes of mass
victimisation, including terrorism. Member states are also invited
to grant compensation to victims of serious, intentional, violent
crimes, including sexual violence, and to the immediate family and
dependants of victims who have died as a result of such crime. In
the light of its conclusion in paragraph 4 above, in monitoring
the implementation of this recommendation, the Committee of Ministers
would ask the authorities of the member states, in particular in
conflict situations, to make provision for specific information
on the situation of rape victims.
6. Furthermore, the Committee of Ministers has been informed
of the important and active role of the Organization for Security
and Co-operation in Europe as well as several non-governmental organisations
that have provided and are still providing direct assistance to
rape victims in the countries concerned. In this context, it emphasises
the importance of further strengthening the regional co-operation
of all organisations in this field. The Committee of Ministers also
fully recognises the need to provide special assistance to the victims among
refugees and internally displaced persons, who are socially and
economically the most vulnerable categories.
