The Lack of a Gender Approach in the International Criminal Court: A Look at the Case of The Prosecutor v. Lubanga Dyilo

The lack of a gender perspective in the work of the International Criminal Court is one of the main shortcomings of the current international criminal system. This has had consequences which are evident in the case against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, which has left a significant debt to the functioning of the organs of the International Criminal Court. The International Criminal Court must invoke a continuum in the consecration of fundamental human rights and accommodate the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on the subject, whose foundation as an applicable law is found in paragraph 3 Article 21 of the Rome Statute. Discrimination based on gender is structural and requires the adoption of effective measures by the international community for its eradication. In this regard, the International Criminal Court has to recognize gender as a transformational element of law, identify common trends in the subordination of women which have typically motivated gender based crimes, and consider this while determining sentences with gender content.