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CONCLUSION TO PART III
The proposed human rights-centred concept of femicide combines a doctrinal
analysis of select cases with feminist legal theory. I have taken human rights
bodies’ and scholars’ most daring thoughts about feminism and the law to
propose this concept. Femicide should be conceptualized in human rights
law for many reasons. For one, the social and historical phenomenon of
femicide continues unabashed. The term femicide ‘denote[s] an old practice
in its modern development,’ as Lemkin mentioned with respect to genocide.1
The analysis in this book has revealed that femicide consists of widespread
and serious violence which targets a female social group on the basis of their
gender, in order to objectify, humiliate, and/or instil fear in women and girls,
ultimately placing them in a subordinate social status, where such violence
remains unpunished by the State. Femicide has four main aspects: (1) the
human rights violations in femicide are widespread and gender-based; (2) they
rise to the level of torture and/or killings; (3) they concern the female social
group; (4) state authorities fail to react to femicide, creating impunity.
The proposed femicide concept resembles the crime of genocide in terms
of its group-related goal and draws on crimes against humanity as regards the
kinds of femicidal violence. Femicide consists of many gender-based acts,
such as forced marriage, sexual slavery, and rape. These underlying acts form
a widespread context, created by state impunity for crimes against women and
girls. Consequently, this element is crucial in establishing state responsibility
for femicide. The female social group is the exclusive victim of femicide. This
social group is not static, but rather a malleable unit greatly influenced by crite-
ria such as race, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, geography, and other
factors. Men and boys are likely to benefit from the aim of femicide, the social
subordination of the female social group, but women and girls can commit
sex-selective killings and FGM as well. The aim of femicide, the subordination
of women and girls to a social status where their lives and/or physical and
mental integrity are considered worthless, is achieved via objectifying, humili-
ating and/or inflicting fear in the female social group. The violence in femicide
1 See Raphael Lemkin, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, Laws of Occupation,
Analysis of Government, Proposals for Redress (Rumford Press 1944) 79.
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Conclusion to Part III
is used to ensure that women and girls remain in their socially assigned role.
The social context––i.e., post-conflict violence, economic harm, sexist polit-
ical climates, and armed conflict––may contribute to misogynist violence,
which serves to keep the existing power (im)balance intact.
My second finding is that femicide falls within the bounds of international
law. To clarify that States are indeed responsible for acts of femicide, even if
the acts are committed by non-state actors, the Osman test can be reinterpreted
to encompass structural, group-related risks, affecting female social groups.
I reinterpret the Osman test in such a way that the risk in femicide would
always be real and immediate as femicide is (1) an ongoing human rights
violation and (2) a widespread human rights violation. As a State contributes
to the structural risk in cases of femicide, at least by failing to stop such vio-
lence, it should be held responsible. States may relinquish this responsibility
by taking preventive legal, policy, and budgetary measures. Adequate legal
measures criminalize violence and include a consent-based rape definition
which takes account of coercive circumstances. The sexist culture underlying
femicide can be dismantled by policy measures. Finally, financial means must
be made available to prevent femicide. Only after they have tried to neutralize
the risk situation, States may claim inability to address femicide.
This work has demonstrated that the international community ought to
urgently and adequately respond to femicide to protect the lives and social
existence of women and girls as equal human beings to men and boys. The
book should be seen as a resource for States and human rights bodies to
address, prevent and potentially adjudicate femicide. Finally, through this
research, I hope to have made a contribution to the protection of women and
girls worldwide.
Angela Hefti - 9781803920443
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