GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AS A MANIFESTATION OF GENOCIDE IN MILITARY CONFLICTS: CERTAIN ASPECTS OF INTERNATIONAL LEGAL REGULATION THROUGH THE EXPERIENCE OF UKRAINE

Abstract

The basic international and national legal acts that serve to prevent and protect individuals from gender-based violence in military conflicts are presented and analyzed in the article An analysis of certain groups of international legal acts such as resolutions, conventions, standards, and customary acts was carried out. UN Security Council Resolution No. 1325 "Women. Peace. Security" (2000), and the so-called "sister" Resolutions of the UN Security Council; Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms; Acts and Customary Rules of International Humanitarian Law; The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women were reviewed in this article. It is stated that the 18 universal standards for preventing gender-based violence and responding to it in emergency situations are currently relevant and most effective. They should be applied in all crisis cases. Standards for mitigation, prevention and response, as well as for coordination and functioning are fundamental.

The authors of the article proved that the term "gender-based violence" is broader in its meaning than "sexual violence" because it covers not only acts of sexual violence, but also includes any acts of violence (including non-sexual) based on gender. The article also focuses on sexual violence against women and girls, men and violence against girls and boys based on their gender. They are regarded as types of genocide and the most widespread gender-based acts of violence that are qualified as crimes. The study of national legal acts is allowed to state that Ukraine became the first country in the world that adopted national action plans in military conflict conditions and provided concrete steps to create conditions for the equal participation of women and men in conflict resolution, peacemaking, reconstruction processes, addressing security challenges, systemic resistance to any type of violence in general, and gender-based violence in particular.