INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORKS ON SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE VIOLENCE: A STUDY OF GLOBAL CONVENTIONS AND STANDARDS

Abstract

Sexual and reproductive violence constitutes a profound violation of human dignity, bodily integrity and personal autonomy, and remains a persistent global challenge notwithstanding an expanding architecture of international legal protection. This paper examines the international frameworks that define, regulate and seek to eliminate sexual and reproductive violence, with particular attention to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Civil and Political and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, regional human rights systems, and United Nations Security Council resolutions on women, peace and security. It traces the evolution of international norms from early silence toward the progressive recognition of sexual and reproductive violence as gender-based violence, as an international crime, and as a violation of bodily autonomy, and it undertakes a comparative assessment of India's compliance with these international commitments, situating that assessment against the continuing constitutional litigation over the marital rape exception preserved in Exception 2 to Section 63 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. Through an examination of definitional clarity, enforcement mechanism and implementation challenge across this architecture, the paper argues that reproductive violence continues to receive markedly less international legal attention than sexual violence, particularly outside armed conflict, and it proposes strengthened harmonisation, accountability and survivor-centred reform capable of closing the persistent gap between international normative commitment and domestic legal reality.