Gender and its inter-sectional dimension in international minority law

Intersectional gender discrimination in the field of minority law encompasses discrimination not only in respect of one's minority status, but additionally on account of that person being a woman. Such discrimination many times affects female group members only, as in the case of ethnic cleansing through rape, and is thus inapplicable to men. Although the two forms of discrimination (i.e. minority and gender) are not treated as a single act in the relevant international legal documents, the recent practice of United Nations human rights rapporteurs is to identify a unified violation that is gender-specific. This has not yet trickled down to the domestic level, but I argue that a purposive and evolutionary interpretation of the law should move towards recognition of a single violation.