(EMAILWIRE.COM, November 27, 2008 ) The Hague -- Prof. Catharine A. MacKinnon was appointed as Special Gender Adviser to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. She will provide strategic advice to his Office on sexual and gender violence, an area where expertise is required under Article 42(9) of the Rome Statute.

Prof. MacKinnon is recognised internationally for her work on gender issues. She is the Elizabeth A. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School. In 2000, she won with co-counsel a damage award of $745 million in the lawsuit Kadic v. Karadzic, where she was representing Bosnian women survivors of Serbian genocidal sexual crimes. She has authored 14 books, the most recent of which are “Sex Equality” and “Are Women Human? And Other International Dialogues,” and has published over 80 articles. Known for her substantial contributions to shaping legal approaches to sexual and gender issues worldwide, she is documented to be among the 32 most cited legal scholars of all time.

Professor MacKinnon will assist Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo and Deputy Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda – the OTP focal point for gender issues – and work with the Office’s Gender and Children Unit , the specialized unit working on gender issues across all the Office’s cases. Her immediate priority will be to further develop the approach to gender crimes in the Office’s cases. Professor MacKinnon will also be working on Office-wide strategic approaches to gender issues. “We are thankful to Professor MacKinnon. Her advice will be an invaluable asset both to my Office and to the broader goal of advancing gender issues in international criminal law” said Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo.


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For more information, please contact:
OTP Public Information Co-ordinator Florence Olara
Florence.olara@icc-cpi.int
+31 (0) 70 515 8723 (office)
+31 (0) 6 5029 4476 (mobile)

OTP Media Liaison Officer Nicola Fletcher
Nicola.fletcher@icc-cpi.int
+31 70 515 8071 (office)
+31 6 5089 0473 (mobile)

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