The Women’s Caucus for Gender Justice, a transnational network of more than 300 women’s organisations and feminist human rights activists, advocated for the inclusion of a feminist agenda at the negotiations of the Rome Statute for a new International Criminal Court between the years 1997-2000. Challenging prevailing international humanitarian and criminal law framings, Caucus activists contributed to the writing of gender-based crimes into the Statute of the new court. The portrait builds on interviews with members of the Caucus reflecting on the group’s lobbying work, encountered challenges and chosen strategies at the negotiation sides.
Anna van der Velde (MICL, MSocSc) is a former project planner at the Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights, University of Helsinki, who works at the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.