119. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will advocate for the inclusion of gender apartheid in the proposed United Nations treaty to codify crimes against humanity; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28297/24]

At its forthcoming 79th session in the autumn of 2024, the UN Sixth Committee (Legal Affairs) will further examine the International Law Commission’s Draft Articles on Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity. The Sixth Committee will consider once again the ILC’s 2019 recommendation to elaborate an international convention on the basis of the Draft Articles, and is due to take a decision on this matter. The ILC Draft Articles on Crimes Against Humanity have been on the Sixth Committee agenda as a stand-alone item since 2020 and have also been discussed at two ‘resumed sessions’ of the Sixth Committee, dedicated to discussing the Draft Articles in detail, which took place in April 2023 and April 2024.

Ireland participated and engaged in the dedicated resumed sessions, and has made statements during previous Sixth Committee discussions on the ILC Draft Articles in 2023, 2022 and 2021. We also made written comments on the Draft Articles, following General Assembly resolution A/RES/77/249 of 30 December 2022 , which requested states to do this.

Ireland is, therefore, actively engaged in the work of the Sixth Committee on this topic, and our overall position is clear. We strongly support the elaboration of a convention on the basis of the Draft Articles. Unlike other core international crimes, namely genocide and war crimes, there currently exists no stand-alone international convention dedicated to preventing and punishing crimes against humanity. We see a convention as necessary to close a significant gap in the international treaty law framework, and a gap in the fight against impunity more broadly. Although the majority of UN Member States share our view, the current priority is on convincing the remainder of the necessity of elaborating a new convention; agreement on this has not yet been forthcoming.

A key argument in bringing states on board has been the guarantee that any new convention will not represent a departure from the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court, and which in its Article 7 includes a definition of crimes against humanity. Proposals to add to the list of crimes against humanity, before agreement has been reached on the basic premise of the need for a new convention, is therefore likely to distract from the core issue and ultimately frustrate efforts to elaborate a convention to plug this significant accountability gap.

In any event, it should be noted that the Rome Statute definition of crimes against humanity encompasses the crime of persecution on the basis of gender, which is mirrored in the ILC’s Draft Article 2. It would not, therefore, appear that there is a specific impunity gap with regard to gender persecution in the current Crimes Against Humanity Draft Articles. We would, however, be willing to consider this further in the context of dedicated negotiations on a crimes against humanity convention, once there is agreement to begin negotiations. All crimes against humanity, including persecution on the basis of gender, are abhorrent and among the most serious of international crimes. A dedicated convention is the most important step in creating an international framework that prevents the commission of such crimes and punishes the perpetrators. Until that point has been reached, achieving agreement to begin negotiations on such a convention will remain our priority.