OverviewIntroduction
International law is a significant symbolic tool,
but may be a very weak device in reality to assist in
improving the actual lives of women around the
world, including Muslim women. This entry exam-
ines one major aspect of international law – the role
of conventions or treaties, which are “international
agreements concluded between States in written
form and governed by international law” (art.
2(1)(a), Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties).
They cover a wide array of topics, including human
rights, arms control, trade, international humani-
tarian law, and terrorism. Since conventions cons-
titute agreements that bind governments, these
documents are usually negotiated and drafted by
representatives of those states, whether the individ-
uals work in a foreign ministry or other executive
branch agency or in an international institution like
the United Nations. Multilateral treaties with a
large number of countries involved may be drafted
at special diplomatic conferences where each state
has a delegation that includes legal advisers.
As women were rarely represented in the profes-
sional upper echelons of these entities during the
twentieth century when most conventions were
drafted, female input and the concerns of women
have been minimal in the development and appli-
cation of most international treaties. Many con-
ventions lack any references to gender or sex, such
as environmental agreements like the Convention
for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, or trade
agreements like the Uruguay Round Final Act, cre-
ating the World Trade Organization. Even human
rights agreements like the Convention on the
Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) may
not mention gender. As such conventions are “gen-
derless,” one view is to regard them as applying to
“people” or “human beings,” so that they should
not be applied in any gendered manner, that is, only
to one sex. Thus, protecting the ozone, for exam-
ple, would be seen as equally applicable to both
genders. Another view is that since these types of
conventions cover “people,” they include either or
both genders. It would thus be permissible to apply
them to one gender. For example, CERD could be
applied to assist minority group women, including
Muslim women of color in non-Muslim predomi-
International Conventions
nantly white countries like the United States, who
face special kinds of multiple or intersectional dis-
crimination (Wing 2003).
Some conventions may specifically mention
the masculine “he.” For example, the Convention
against Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhuman, and
Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) defines
torture as “intentionally inflicted on a person for
such purposes of obtaining from him...a confes-
sion” (art. 1, CAT). One interpretation is to regard
“he” in the “traditional” fashion as the generic
term for he or she. Both men and women are tor-
tured around the world, including in a number of
Muslim countries. Another view is to read such
phrases literally, as only applying to men, leaving
women outside the scope of protection.
Other agreements clearly state that the conven-
tion applies equally to men and women. The Inter-
national Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR) says, for instance, “The States Parties to
the present Covenant undertake to ensure the equal
right of men and women to the enjoyment of all
civil and political rights” (art. 3, ICCPR). Its com-
panion agreement, the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
requires that states protect the equal rights of males
and females to enjoy economic, social, and cultural
rights (art. 3, ICESCR).
Some conventions contain language clearly meant
to refer in part to women, such as the Genocide
Convention’s definition of genocide including, “im-
posing measures intended to prevent births within
the group” (art. 2(d), Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide). This
statement could include abortion against the will of
the mother or the killing of pregnant women and
their fetuses. During the 1990s, there were also
examples of Bosnian Serbian Christian fighters
impregnating Bosnian Muslim women and holding
them as captives to ensure the birth of non-Muslim
babies, the religion of the child being determined by
the father’s (Wing and Merchan 1993). These kinds
of clauses could also be applied to men as well.
Using the same example, rounding up, imprisoning,
and exterminating Bosnian Muslim men and boys
clearly affected births in the group.
There are some conventions that may dispropor-
tionately affect women, such as the Hague Con-
vention on the Civil Aspects of International Child