“We must pool our efforts as an international community, as national governments, as civil society and as individual actors,” Nel said at the opening of a Training Course on "Investigating Cases of Sexual and Gender-based Violence as International Crimes.
The event was organised by Justice Rapid Response, UN Women, and the Institute for International Criminal Investigations.
“South Africa, having firsthand experience of the impact of apartheid, as a crime against humanity, continues to emphasise the importance of the fight against impunity and the reciprocal relationship between justice and accountability, and sustainable peace and security,” Nel said.
Authorities should encourage the promotion of accountability for gender based crimes and crimes against children.
Nel said the inclusion of sexual violence in the Rome Statute is evidence that these crimes form part of the atrocities that are of gravest concern to the international community as a whole.
“We are committed to fighting all forms sexual and gender-based violence, including against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,Transgender, Intersex people on the basis of their sexual orientation”.
South Africa further condemned hate crimes, including so-called "corrective rape" gender-based violence and hate crimes are a direct assault on both the right to life and human dignity.
Last week the Department of Justice and Constitutional requested the South African Human Rights Commission to investigate a private school in Bloemfontein that makes so-called “conversion therapy” a precondition for lesbian and gay students to continue their studies.
Nel asserted the notion that a person’s sexual orientation can be changed at will, or by compulsion, fed the very same homophobic attitudes that encourage the criminal and abhorrent practice of so-called, “corrective rape.”
“Within the JSCPS Cluster the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the National Prosecuting Authority continue to priorities the prosecution of sexual offences and gender based violence,” he said. –SAnews.gov.za
