Decriminalising Consensual Heterosexual Conduct outside Marriage: The Women's Case under International Human Rights Law
| DOI | 10.1177/016934410202000303 |
| Date | 01 September 2002 |
| Published date | 01 September 2002 |
| Subject Matter | Part A: Article |
Decriminalising Consensual Heterosexual Conduct
Outside Marriage: The Women’s Case under International
Human Rights Law
Lrvio Zilli*
Abstract
In ma ny countries all o ver the world, wome n’s real or alleged engage ment in cons ensual sexual
activity outsi de mar riage c an give rise to a cr iminal co nviction, l eading to the imposition of a
sente nce of im prison ment a nd/or corporal or ev en capital punis hment. Crimin alising women
because of th eir real or allege d involvement in adul tery or fornicat ion is a fo rm of disc rimination
again st women and it serves to rein force patr iarchal d ominanc e in the so-called ‘priva te sphere ’
and contribu tes to wo men’s v ulnerability t o abuse. Because of male domin ance of law-ma king
and its enforcem ent, tra ditional human rights disco urses have - in the ma in - refle cted societal
attitu des an d values as far as the crimi nalisation of adultery and f ornication is concerned . As a
result, huma n righ ts scholarsh ip, mon itorin g and adv ocacy have largely ign ored t he plig ht of
women accused o f these ‘offenses’. However, as demo nstrat ed by a feminist reform ulation of
hum an r ights in in ternati onal law, as well as by argum ents perta ining to the prohibit ion of
discrim ination o n the basis o f sex ual orienta tion, it is possib le to map out a course of action for
scholars, advocates and campaig ners to spea rhead efforts to decr iminalise consensual sexual
activity outsid e marri age using human rights law as a m ore resp onsive tool.
1 Introduction
Wom en all o ver the world a re ch arged with, con victed of, and punis hed for ‘offences’
aris ing ou t of the ir rea l or alleged conduc t ‘in brea ch’ of social mo res, in cludin g legal
no rms.* 1 I n part icular, women ’s real or alle ged en gage ment in conse nsual sexu al
con duct outs ide marr iage can, in som e countrie s, have dire con sequences. O nce accused
of ‘illicit sex’, a wom an’s o rdeal can take two paths. In a n umb er of jurisdic tions, it can
bri ng her into conflict with the law, leadin g, i f found guilty, to sent ences of judici al
cor poral punis hmen t - su ch as floggin g - or ev en dea th.2 It can als o lead to her fa lling
LL.M (H uman Rights Law), The Quee n’s U niversity of Belfast, 2001. This article is based on
work subm itted as p art of LL.M cours e re quireme nts. Since Septem ber 2001, Livio Zilli has be en
enro lled as a do ctoral ca ndidate for a PhD in i nterna tional law at the Irish Centre for Huma n
Rights, facul ty of law, Na tional Universit y of Ireland , Galway, Irelan d. The autho r is currently
a resea rcher at the Inte rnation al Secreta riat of Amnesty I nternat ional in Lon don. He would like
to express his gra titude to Avner Gidron, Fra ndn e Pick up and Dr. Rachel Mu rray for thei r
insightfu l comment s on ea rlier draf ts of this ar tide.
1 In 1996, for examp le, Amnesty Int ernatio nal rep orte d that in Iran in Septem ber 1995 a bri de
and her sister ha d been s entenced to 85 and 75 lashe s respectively for dan cing with men at the
brid e’s wedd ing. See Amnesty Inte rnation al, Repo rt 19 96 , Amnesty I nternat ional Publicat ions,
Londo n, 1996, p . 180.
2 In Ja nuary 1999, the UN Spedal Rappor teur on extra judid al, summary or arb itrary executions,
Ms. Asma Jaha ngir, repo rted that i n Iran in Augu st 1997 a 20-year-old w oman, aft er having
bee n a rrested an d c harged with Zina - sex out side marriage - h ad b een found guilty and
sente nced to death by sto ning. Subseq uently, acco rding to t he repo rts receiv ed at th e time by
the S pedal Rappo rteur, the woman h ad been stoned a nd medi cal doctors had confi rmed tha t
she ha d died as a result. H owever, while being tak en to the mo rgue, she ha d repor tedly starte d
breat hing, and had , therefore , be en taken to hospital where her con dition had imp roved.
Net h e r lands Q u arte rly o f H um an R ig h t s , V o l . 20/3,299-314,2002.
© N ether l a n d s I n st i t u te o f H um a n R i g h t s ( SI M ). P rin t e d in t h e N e t h erl a n d s . 299
victim to fat al forms ofvi olence pe rpe trate d by her family an d/or com munity as th e case
of so-cal led ‘crimes o f hono ur’ illustrates.® Th is artic le focuses o n the first of thes e two
scenarios.
Th e fact tha t in s omeju risdict ions me n may well face cr iminal sa nctions for th e same
‘offences’ is no t dis puted her e.4 N otwith standin g exist ing ins tances o f de ju re and - to
a les ser ex tent - de facto equ ality befo re th e law betwe en me n and women in this area,
this articl e arg ues t hat the v ery ide a of c riminali sing co nsensua l sex b etween peo ple
outs ide ma rriage is em bed ded in p atriarc hy. As a result, th e prima ry aim o f th e
codif ication a nd e nforc emen t of laws crimina lising co nsensual sexual condu ct outsid e
ma rriage is the p erpe tuati on of w omen’s societal sub jugatio n to m en. Draw ing o n
femi nist sc holars hip’s re formu lation of h uman rig hts law, a dec onstru ction an d
reco ncept ualisati on o f the notion s of ad ultery and f ornicat ion is h ereby advanced . In
ligh t of this recon structio n, I a rgue that wh en ad ultery and/o r forni cation c harge s are
bro ugh t again st w omen it is d one to p unish them for rea l or perc eived acts of defiance
vis-à-vis the ir pr edet ermi ned role in society.
It is arg ued h ere t hat th e crimin alisati on of consen sual sexua l activity outsid e
ma rriage stems from a g ende r bi as even when th e law in poin t is, per se, gen der-n eutra l.
Th is assert ion is vividly illustra ted by the fa ct t hat in pra ctice eve n u nde r circums tances
of liter al legal g ender -neutr ality, wo men ar e mor e likely tha n men to be ch arged wit h,
convi cted of, a nd p unish ed for thei r real or al leged e ngag emen t in co nsensual sexual
acts outsid e m arriage . For all th e ab ove r easons , th e crimina lisation of wo men - as
opp osed to the crimina lisatio n of bo th s exes - for ‘illic it sex’ offen ces is t he p rimary
focus o f this art icle.3
Thi s article ar gues th at women e ngagin g in consen sual hete rosexu al sexua l c onduct
outs ide marri age are simply exerci sing r ights prot ected un der int ernat ional hum an
righ ts law, nam ely, th e rig ht to be fr ee fro m dis crimina tion, the r ight to be free fr om
arb itrary inte rfere nce in one ’s privat e life, th e r ight to fre edom o f exp ressio n a nd
associa tion. In addit ion to t hese ‘tra dition al’ ri ghts, as n oted by the UN Special
Ra ppor teur on viol ence again st wom en, its causes and cons equences , Ms. Rad hika
Coom araswam y, in terna tional h uman r ights disc ourses have be gun to add ress wome n’s
NQH R 3 / 2002
Havin g survived this terrible ordeal, in Janua ry 1998 the woman was r epor ted to be abou t to
be s entenced to a se cond ston ing. E/CN.4/1999 /39, 6 Janua ry 1999, repo rt of the UN Special
Rap porte ur on Extra judicial, summ ary or arb itrary executio ns, s ubmitted pur suant to
Commissio n on H uman Rights resol ution 1998/68, para. 64.
See, int er al ia, Am nesty Inter nation al, Paki stan: Violence aga inst women in the na me o f hono ur, AI
Index : ASA 33/17/99, Amnesty I nternat ional Public ations, Lond on, 1999; H uman Ri ghts
Watch/Americas Watch, Wo men’s Rights Project, C rimin al I njust ice: Violence ag ains t Women in
Brazil, New York, 1991.
For e xample, Amnesty In ternat ional repor ted in 1999 that in I ran i n Janua ry 1998 Helm ut
Hofer, a Germ an nati onal, h ad be en se ntenced to deat h for hav ing illicit sex with a n Iran ian
Muslim w oman, Vahide Gh assemi. See Amnesty In ternati onal, R eport 199 9, Amnesty
Intern ational Publications, London, 1999, p. 201. Subsequently, Amnesty Inte rnation al report ed
in 2000 th at in Februa ry 1999 the Iranian Sup reme Court r eporte dly o verturne d the dea th
senten ce against H elmut Hofe r, and or dered a retr ial. See Amnesty Intern ationa l, Report 200 0,
Amnesty In ternati onal Publications, Lo ndon, 2000.
The a rticle is no t c oncerned with oth er sexual activities su ch as those re sulting in acts of
necro philia a nd bestiality.
300
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