Criminalising LGBT persons under national criminal law and Article 7(1)(h) and (3) of the ICC Statute

Bohlander, Michael

Abstract

During the negotiations around the International Criminal Court's (ICC) Statute (ICCS) there was a fierce debate about the use and definition of the term ‘gender’ in its Article 7(3), with a sizeable number of states opposing the use of the term as a synonym for sexual orientation, which could have included lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons (LGBT). This paper is going to argue that the drafting compromise was ultimately an exercise in moral failure for the sake of the political feasibility, cementing one of the most glaring instances of discrimination, and that it is high time to correct that error, especially in the context of the rising tide of state-sponsored homophobia that can be noticed in certain countries whose politics have drifted to the (far) right. It will examine whether the existing international criminal law does allow for the characterisation of domestic criminalisation as a crime against humanity, with or without the invocation of the term gender, and how to take the debate forward.

Citation

Bohlander, M. (2014). Criminalising LGBT persons under national criminal law and Article 7(1)(h) and (3) of the ICC Statute. Global Policy, 5(4), 401-414. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12136

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 18, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Jun 29, 2014
• Publication Date: Nov 6, 2014
• Deposit Date: Feb 15, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 29, 2016
• Journal: Global Policy
• Print ISSN: 1758-5880
• Electronic ISSN: 1758-5899
• Publisher: Durham University
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 401-414
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12136
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1468748