A/HRC/47/26
cent of cases reported in 2015. Some countries do not collect and report data on the
prosecution of rape.
107.
The Special Rapporteur makes the following recommendations:
(a)
There should be no statute of limitation for initiating legal proceedings on rape,
whether committed during conflict or in peacetime. Where statutes of limitation do exist,
they should be prolonged to allow for the healing of victims/survivors and should never
preclude access to justice. In the case of child victims, statutes of limitation should at a
minimum allow for the initiation of proceedings after the victim has reached the age of
majority;
(b)
States must provide for extraterritorial jurisdiction, so that their courts can
prosecute rape cases committed by their nationals outside their territory and facilitate
cooperation with other jurisdictions;
(c)
States should collect data on prosecution, sentencing and attrition rates, and
establish rape prevention watches or observatories as part of observatories on violence
against women.
IV. Conclusions and recommendations
108. International human rights law, international humanitarian law and
international criminal law on rape have advanced significantly over the past few
decades, in independent yet interrelated processes resulting in advanced standards on
the criminalization and prosecution of rape.
109. There is significant overlap between these frameworks. The international human
rights framework is broader and is applicable in times of peace and conflict. Jointly,
and not separately, they provide elements for the criminalization and prosecution of
rape at the national level, in times of peace and conflict.
110. The harmonization of national standards with international standards has
already started with respect to the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against
Women, general recommendation No. 35 (2017) of the Committee on the Elimination
of Discrimination against Women, other recommendations provided by that Committee
and by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences,
and the Rome Statute (which has 123 States parties). Currently, the detailed
harmonization process is being conducted under the Istanbul Convention by its 34
States parties, many of which have changed their definitions of rape in order to include
lack of consent as its central element.
111. All States need to accelerate this harmonization process and incorporate
international human rights standards on rape into their national laws on the
criminalization and prosecution of rape with respect to all the constitutive elements of
the crime of rape, which are interlinked and crucial for effective criminalization and
prosecution, in accordance with the specific recommendations laid out in this report
and further developed in and supported by the framework for model legislation on rape.
112. States should criminalize rape using a definition of rape that covers all persons,
includes marital rape and all acts of penetration of a sexual nature, and explicitly
includes lack of consent at its centre. Aggravating and mitigating circumstances should
be revisited and aligned with human rights standards.
113. Prosecution should be pursued ex officio. Statutes of limitation should be
abolished for rape in times of peace or conflict, or, at the very least, child victims should
be able to report rape after reaching adulthood. Evidentiary rules of prosecution should
significantly change to decrease impunity for perpetrators and increase the rate of
prosecution, while protecting victims from revictimization.
114. States should repeal other laws that discriminate against women, which directly
or indirectly contribute to legal gaps and stereotypes in the criminalization and
prosecution of rape. States should abolish any provisions that criminalize consenting
18