On March 6, the “People’s Power” party, online outlets “Marshall Press” (1;2), and Newshub published the statement of politician Davit Kartvelishvili, according to which the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Division and the International Committee of Jurists developed a draft resolution “On the decriminalization of all types of narcotic drugs and all types of sexual activities”. Kartvelishvili claims that the draft resolution can freely entail the encouragement of pedophilia, necrophilia, zoophilia, and abortions. In addition, according to Kartvelishvili, laws on the legalization of incest have been adopted in the Netherlands and Switzerland.
The claim about the development of a draft resolution encouraging pedophilia, necrophilia, zoophilia, and abortions is manipulative. In fact, the International Commission of Jurists notes that states have an obligation to protect children from sexual abuse, including by criminalizing the abuse. In addition, the report is based on the general principles of criminal law, which excludes the approval of zoophilia and necrophilia. Furthermore, it is misleading to claim that Switzerland has passed a law to legalize incest. In the Netherlands, this issue is not regulated by law.
Has incest been legalized in Switzerland and the Netherlands?
Kartveleishvili’s claim that laws on the legalization of incest have been passed in the Netherlands and Switzerland is not true. Actually, incest is illegal in Switzerland. Article 213 of the law (incest) provides imprisonment not exceeding 3 years or a fine for any person who has sexual relations with a direct blood relative, brother, or sister, as well as a half-brother or half-sister. In 2010, Switzerland discussed an initiative to remove Article 213 related to incest from the Criminal Code. The proposal sparked criticism and debate, but in the end, the law remained unchanged.
Swiss law on incest As for the Netherlands, although consensual incest between adults is not regulated by law, the marriage of siblings (including half-sisters and half-brothers) is not allowed. It is also untrue to claim that laws were passed to legalize incest in the country.
What does the report of the International Commission of Jurists state?
The document Davit Kartvelishvili is talking about is not a “draft resolution”, but a report on legal principles published by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) in March 2023. The ICJ is working on legal guidelines and introducing new principles, including how to deal with human rights issues under UN criminal law. The name of the report is not “about the decriminalization of all types of narcotic drugs and all types of sexual activity”, as Kartvelishvili claims. In fact, the ICJ report, produced in collaboration with the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), is otherwise known as the “8 March Principles” and reflects a human rights-based approach to those laws which criminalize behaviors related to sex, drug use, HIV infection, sexual and reproductive health, homelessness, and poverty.
Davit Kartvelishvili claims that the report allows for the interpretation that it can be freely considered to encourage pedophilia. In fact, according to the report, sex with people below the minimum age of consent may actually be consensual in some cases, despite being prohibited by law. Accordingly, additional factors must be taken into account to determine criminal liability, including the maturity, skills, and abilities of persons under the age of 18 to make decisions about consensual sexual conduct. However, the ICJ does not call on countries to abolish the minimum age of consent for sex – in this regard, the organization published a statement on April 20. The ICJ emphasizes that the document does not require the decriminalization of sex with children, and states have a clear obligation to protect children from all forms of violence, including sexual violence, by criminalizing this behavior.
Regarding abortion, the report states that no one should be held criminally responsible for abortion, stillbirth, abortion, or attempted abortion. Also, the law cannot prohibit other decisions made about pregnancy or childbirth. According to the report, providing abortion assistance, medication, services, and information should be fully decriminalized.
In addition, the report says nothing about necrophilia and zoophilia. As the International Commission of Jurists further explained, it was based on general principles of criminal law and international human rights law principles. In the majority of European countries, as well as American states, there are laws prohibiting pedophilia (1;2). Necrophilia is also considered a crime. In some countries, for example, in Sweden, the word necrophilia is not mentioned in the law, although such an act is punished by the article (Chapter 16, Section 10) which prohibits desecration of corpses and graves. In 2023, a new law against necrophilia was passed in the Netherlands, as the existing law considered the crime based on the damage to the corpse, which made the case more difficult.
“Myth Detector” verified the manipulative claims about the document of the International Commission of Jurists in the past as well. See more:
- DOES THE UN DEMAND THE DECRIMINALIZATION OF SEXUAL RELATIONS WITH MINORS?
- DISINFORMATION, AS IF THE UN IS DEMANDING THE LEGALIZATION OF PEDOPHILIA (in Georgian)
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