In a recent submission to the UN, twenty-three human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have expressed concerns regarding the proposed shift in addressing violence against women and girls by the UN Special Rapporteur in the upcoming 59th session of the UN Human Rights Council. The report titled “Forms of Sex-Based Violence Against Women and Girls: New Frontiers and Emerging Issues” challenges the emerging framework that prioritizes “sex-based” over “gender-based” violence.
The organizations argue that redefining the terminology to focus on sex-based violence undermines decades of progress in recognizing the broader context of violence against women and marginalized groups. The new framework, which is based on a binary understanding of biological sex, fails to acknowledge the complexities of gender identity and the scientific consensus that sex characteristics lie on a spectrum. The organizations further cite research from Nature and the World Health Organization supporting this perspective.
Critics of the new proposal believe that it misinterprets international law and human rights jurisprudence from the past thirty years, which increasingly values gender identity when addressing discrimination and violence. The statement emphasizes the importance of maintaining a gender-based framework to effectively address the root causes of such violence, which are deeply embedded in societal structures and power dynamics rather than mere biological differences.
Documents from the international human rights bodies like CEDAW have long recognized this perspective, highlighting the importance of considering structural inequalities and discrimination. The report underscores that human rights instruments should evolve with contemporary challenges, calling for evidence-based approaches to human rights protection that acknowledge the diversity and complexity of individual experiences.
Notably, Sara Godfrey, a researcher at the Global Accountability Network, echoed similar concerns in early February. In a conversation with JURIST, she argued that a focus on gender is crucial for capturing the full spectrum of harms inflicted upon victims of gender-based crimes, sometimes extending beyond the scope of sexual violence (read more).
For further details, you can access the original JURIST article in full here.