REFRAMING FEMICIDE AS A HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION: INTERNATONAL LAW AND STATE ACCOUNTABILITY

Abstract

Femicide, the gender-based killing of women and girls has historically been prosecuted under generic homicide statutes, a doctrinal choice that systematically obscures its patriarchal, structural, and discriminatory dimensions. This paper advances the argument that femicide must be reconceptualized as an autonomous human rights violation under international law, thereby triggering heightened state accountability that extends beyond individual criminal prosecution to encompass systemic state failure. Drawing on recent jurisprudence from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), including the landmark García Andrade et al. v. Mexico (2025), the Council of Europe's Istanbul Convention monitoring framework, and reports from UN special rapporteurs (2020–2025), this study employs a doctrinal legal analysis complemented by comparative case study methodology. The research addresses five interrelated objectives: tracing the evolution of femicide within international human rights instruments; identifying critical gaps in state responsibility frameworks; analyzing the due diligence standard as applied to gender-based lethality; evaluating the efficacy of reparative justice mechanisms; and proposing concrete enforcement protocols for international and regional bodies. The findings reveal that while significant normative advances have been achieved most notably through CEDAW General Recommendation No. 35 and the IACtHR's transformative reparations jurisprudence states continue to evade meaningful accountability through procedural fragmentation, inadequate gender-disaggregated data collection, institutionalized impunity for perpetrators, and chronic underfunding of prevention and response mechanisms. The paper concludes that when femicide occurs on a widespread or systematic basis, it constitutes a distinct crime against humanity under international criminal law, and recommends the adoption of binding treaty obligations specifically criminalizing femicide, the establishment of independent international monitoring bodies with coercive enforcement powers, and mandatory gender-sensitive judicial training programs.