A Critical Analysis of Sexual Violence as Gender-based Discrimination under the European Convention on Human Rights: Should Article 14 be Employed in Cases of Rape and Sexual Assault?
The European Court of Human Rights (in the following: ECtHR or The Court) has yet to apply Article 14 to a case of sexual violence based on gendered discrimination.[1] There have been several cases brought to the ECtHR regarding sexual violence and rape, but none have employed Article 14 on the sole basis of gender discrimination. I submit that this is a failure on behalf of the Court. Employing Article 14 in cases of rape and sexual violence would provide further protection to women against sexual violence. Engaging Article 14 in cases of rape and sexual violence would also reflect a fair and accurate interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights (in the following: ECHR or The Convention).[2] The question this paper aims to answer is: should Article 14 of the ECHR be employed in cases of rape and sexual assault?
[1] Patricia Londono, ‘Defining Rape under the European Convention on Human Rights: Torture, Consent and Equality’, in Clare McGlynn and Vanessa Munro (eds), Rethinking Rape Law: International and Comparative Perspectives (Routledge Cavendish, 2010). [2] Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms 1953 (European Convention on Human Rights or ECHR, as amended).
The paper is linked as a pdf file below. This paper was submitted in 2022 as my undergraduate LLB dissertation, and achieved a grade of 91%.