Category Archives: Progress

United States Steel Corp. delivereda profitable second quarter.

The Pittsburgh-based iron ore and steelmaker reported 2023 second quarter net earnings of $477

million, or $1.89 per diluted share, and adjusted net earnings of $483 million, or $1.92 per diluted share.

The earnings were down from 2022 second quarter net earnings of $978 million, or $3.42 per diluted

share and adjusted net earnings of $1.116 million, or $3.89 per diluted share.

Net sales in the second quarter of 2023 were just over $5 billion, down from $6.2 billion in the

second quarter of 2022.

We are pleased to deliver strong results for the quarter, supported by healthy sequential growth in

the mini mill segment in both adjusted EBITDA and EBITDA margin, David Burritt, U.S. Steel president and chief executiveofficer, said in a news release. We generated $713 million of cash from operations in the quarter and freecash flow of $101 million, further strengthening our balance sheet. Our in-flight strategic projectsremain fully funded and we are prioritizing direct returns consistent with our capital allocationframework, with $86 million returned to stockholders through buybacks and dividends in the secondquarter.

Among capital projects underway is construction of a non-grain oriented electrical steel line at its Big

River steel mini mill in Osceola, Ark.The line is being commissioned and on schedule to be started later

in the third quarter, Burritt said.

Customer demand has been robust for our NGO steels and we are pleased to announce that we've

already secured out first customer orders in both industrial and electric vehicle markets, said Burritt.

An approximate $150 million DR-grade pellet facility is also under construction at U.S. Steel'sKeetac taconite plant in Keewatin. It is scheduled to beoperating in thefourth quarter of this year.

Our strategy is expanding our competitive advantages and generating growth and returns for

stockholders as we strengthen domestic supply chains and support advanced manufacturing returning to

our shores, said Burritt. We remain bullish for U.S. Steel.

On Minnesota's Iron Range, U.S. Steel owns and operates Keetac and Minntac Mine in Mountain

Iron.The facilities produce iron ore pellets, the raw material used to make steel in blast furnaces.Minntac Mine is North America's largest taconite plant.U.S. Steel is also minority owner of Hibbing Taconite Co. near Chisholm and Hibbing.

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U.S. Steel reports earnings, capital project progress | The Daily ... - BusinessNorth.com

GOSHEN The Elkhart County Council recently received an update on the progress of the joint courts building.

Elkhart County Commissioner Suzie Weirick and County Councilmen Adam Bujalski and Randy Yohn toured the construction site of the consolidated courts complex in mid-July. The $96 million facility will house every courtroom which is now split between buildings in downtown Elkhart and Goshen.

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County officials updated on court progress | News | elkharttruth.com - The Elkhart Truth

Last year, the City partnered with PG&E and Willdan to replace nineteen natural gas-fired water heaters with electric heat pump models across several city facilities including the fire stations, main police station, and Weekes Library.

Heat pump technology works by extracting heat from the surrounding air. As a result, HPWHs are up to four times more efficient than their gas-powered counterparts allowing water to be heated with less energy. If you are on a time-of-use (TOU) rate plan, you can schedule a HPWH to heat up during off-peak times so the water heater uses the lowest-cost electricity available to heat your water.

Installing electric appliances like heat pump water heaters (HPWH) is an important step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions and addressing climate change. In total, the nineteen HPWHs will save the City an estimated 80 metric tons of CO2 (14,993 therms) per year. This is the equivalent of taking nearly 18 cars off the road for a year.

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Hayward makes progress toward its clean energy goals by installing ... - City of Hayward (.gov)

This afternoon, the SET status was lifted for residents in the area of Interstate 10, and Dragoon and Touchstone Roads. While SET has been lifted, residents need to use caution as crews continue to work throughout the area and within homes as active fire still remains. Today crews made great progress getting a handle on the Adams Peak side of the fire after outflow winds yesterday blew the fire off the peak and into the flats, significantly increasing its size to 2,100 acres. Crews have about an additional mile of hand line to put in before line is completely tied in. Today, Large Air Tankers (LATs) and Single Engine Air Tankers (SEATs) worked for the second day along Interstate 10 to slow the fires progression and keep it from impacting the highway. On the Robles side, south of I-10, all lines continue to hold and crews are working to improve and strengthen those lines ahead of another possible wind event tonight associated with thunderstorms. The Adam Robles Complex has had some precipitation today, but lightning associated with those storms may keep crews off the fire line for safety reasons until the storms pass. While the threat to Cochise County communications infrastructure has significantly decreased, crews continue to take proactive measures to protect the infrastructure. The fires are burning in a continuous fuel bed of mixed grass and light brush. Fuels are fully cured and contributing to spread. Fires are primarily backing down from the high point of origin. Some uphill runs may occur as fire gets in alignment with slope and unburned fuels. Improving overnight humidity recovery will limit further growth. Larger dead material will be the source of heat each day for the fire to continue to move. The Department of Forestry and Fire Management (DFFM) complexed both fires into the Adams Robles Complex Fire. The fires have not merged, they are just being managed as one incident. Smoke off both fires may impact the highway and drivers in the area should use caution. Multiple DFFM hand crews, engines and water tenders are assigned to the incident.

Weather:Very hot and dry conditions persist. Erratic winds and lightning associated with thunderstorms.

Restrictions: None

Closures: None

Evacuations: None

Structures Damaged: 0

Structures Destroyed: 0

Fire details:

Incident Information: InciWeb: https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/aza3s-adams-robles-complex-fire Twitter: @azstateforestry: https://twitter.com/azstateforestry Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/arizonaforestry

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Crews Make Progress on Adams Robles Fire, SET Lifted for ... - az.gov

We're on the fifth Samsung Galaxy Z Fold now, and while many of the previous iterations just focused on ironing out the kinks in the original design, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 seems like an actual evolution for Samsung's foldable phone/tablet hybrid. This results in a device that retains the foldable glory of the original phone, but in a way that's actually usable for long periods of time without your hands wanting to fall off.

Samsung trimmed down the thickness of the device, and added a new hinge mechanism that allows the phone to fold completely flat for the first time. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, at least at first glance, seems to finally realize the vision of the phone that folds out into a tablet without the massive downsides of the previous devices.

I got a chance to try this phone out for a bit before release, but only for a very limited time. So, this is just my very first impressions on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and I'll be updating this to a full review once I get my hands on it in a non-controlled environment.

At first glance, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 looks similar to its older siblings. It's a long and narrow phone that folds out into a tablet, and in either configuration you get a gorgeous AMOLED display. In tablet mode, that's a 7.6-inch QHD display, that folds down to a 6.2 inch display that's more pocketable. That's a bigger outside display than earlier models, too, which makes the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 easier to use without turning it into an unwieldy tablet.

The most noticeable difference, though, is the new hinge design. Previous models of the Fold would leave a little gap between the two halves of the device when folded, which was just a recipe for dirt and dust to scratch up the screens. This time around, Samsung created a completely new hinge that not only has fewer moving parts, but lets the device fold completely flat.

It also has new glass, with the outside screen using the same Gorilla Glass Victus 2 as the Samsung Galaxy S23. Combine that with the fact the phone doesn't have a massive gap in the middle when closed and the Fold 5 should be much more durable than the Fold 4.

Finally, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 comes in three colorways: Icy Blue, Phantom Black and Cream. I would have loved to see more playful color choices, but at least its smaller counterpart, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, will be a bit more colorful.

I've only got the chance to play with the phone at a Samsung event, so I'll have to update this as I live with the device, but it seems a lot more portable than it was in the past. Still, the time that I have spent with it has me excited to play with it more. Playing mobile games like Genshin Impact on this huge, beautiful screen is going to be incredible, especially with the brightness turned up to its full 1,750 nits.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is strapped with a three-camera array on the back, and the highlight is a 50MP wide-angle camera. Let me tell you this camera performs with the best of them. I took the camera out for a photo walk through Midtown New York, and the results were frankly incredible.

No matter what kind of photos I took, they turned out incredible. Even compared to the photos my partner was taking with a mirrorless camera, they held up. The photos come out super bright and colorful, no matter what I'm shooting. I took some macro shots of some flowers: bright popping colors. I took some photos of skyscrapers near Bryant Park: absolutely stunning.

Samsung's flagship phones have always had incredible cameras, but the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 takes it to a whole other level that makes me want to take pictures of everything I can.

Even the zoom is incredible. While you can zoom up to 60x through software, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 camera is built with a 3x optical zoom that is able to take incredibly detailed photos even from far away. Coming from the iPhone 14 which is no slouch in the photo department the Galaxy Z Fold 5 is a huge improvement in every way.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, a slight improvement on the Gen 1 chip in last year's model. This means it'll be a bit better in games, and should have slightly better battery life. However, while I went hands on with the device at New York, I wasn't able to install any third-party software, so it's hard to get a grasp on exactly how powerful the new foldable is.

Either way, though, it's more than powerful enough to run pretty much any game you throw at it on the massive 7.6-inch inner display. I got a chance to play some Genshin Impact on the thing, and it was a breeze.

I'll be updating this article when I get my hands on a review unit of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 later today. And I'll keep this article updated as I spend time with the device in my daily life to see whether or not it's worth keeping in your pocket every day.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is available for preorder now, starting at $1,799. Units should start shipping out within the next month or so.

See the rest here:

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 Review In Progress - IGN

Royal Caribbean's next new cruise ship is making steady progress towards being completed,and we have a new look at what it looks like now.

Icon of the Seas is under construction at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland. Based on the new set of photos, the top deck is starting to come together.

In an effort to keep our readers up to date,RoyalCaribbeanBlog commissioned its own aerial drone photos to share what we can see so far from the shipyard.

These photos were taken on June 6, 2023 to provide a glimpse of how the ship looks today.

Having visited the shipyard last month, it's clear one noticeable change from the exterior is how much of the ship is no longer covered up.

Another change you might detect is the addition of more of the water slides.

Icon of the Seas will have an entire water park when the ship launches, known as Category 6.

Category 6 will be the largest waterpark at sea, with six record-breaking slides. Other Royal Caribbean ships have only 2 or 3 slides.

The water slides are part of the Thrill Island neighborhood.

Royal Caribbean thinks Thrill Island will be a beacon for thrill seekers.

At the front of the ship, you'll find a sprawling pool deck that the cruise line hopes evokes a resort-style feel.

Read more:Royal Caribbean designed its new Icon of the Seas cruise ship to have a beach retreat experience

Icon will have 62% more water surface area thantheOasis Classcruise ships, and that means more pools than the cruise line has ever had before.

You'll find thelargest pool at sea, an adult only pool, and the first suspended infinity pool at sea. Five of the seven pools on Icon of the Seas are located in Chill Island.

Something else I noticed is we can see more of The Grove and the Suite Neighborhood.

Beyond the top deck changes, the side of the ship looks more like the concept art we've seen. With less of the protective coverings on, there's more glass visible.

At 250,800 gross tons ,the 20-deck-high vessel will be the biggest cruise ship in the world when it debuts in 2024.

What we can see from the air is just a fraction of what Royal Caribbean has planned for the ship.

Royal Caribbean has lofty expectations for its first Icon Class ship, which has the aim of being the ultimate family vacation and a megaresort at sea for all to enjoy.

Icon of the Seas has a price tag of more than $2 billion and has been under construction for just about two years.

There's still seven months to go until Icon of the Seas begins sailing with paying passengers, and there's still lots of work left to complete.

In May 2023, Royal Caribbean said Icon of the Seasmore than 80% done.

In fact, the shipyard said last month that Icon of the Seas could start her sea trials as early as mid-June.

When the sea trials are complete, there may be some final adjustments that need to be made before the ship is prepared for delivery.

Once the ship reaches 90% completion, much of the final ceiling panels and final finishes are added to make the ship look more complete from a visual standpoint.

In the fall, the plan is to finalize all staterooms, the commissioning of the ship, and all the special features.

Being the first in a class of ships, Icon of the Seas has more time built into her build schedule to prepare it for service.

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New Icon of the Seas aerial photos show Royal Caribbean's ... - Royal Caribbean Blog

Appointed after Jackson's drinking water system failed due to flooding from heavy rains last summer, Henifen has spent six months diagnosing a scope of issues, ranging from infrastructure to revenue generation, that have plagued the system for years.

Yesterday, dozens gathered at a popular eatery in downtown Jackson to hear about his progress at the water utility so far and plans moving forward.

One of his priorities is billing. At least 7,000 properties across Jackson are using water without an account on record, According to Henifin, meaning revenue collected via monthly billing is also missing. He expects the full survey on these properties to be completed by the end of the summer, allowing them to eventually enforce rate payments which will then be reinvested into the system. Henifin says this will allow Jacksons public drinking water to become financially self-sufficient rather than requiring federal funds.

As part of a $600 million appropriation in this years federal budget, JXN Water the corporation Henifin formed to reorganize Jacksons water system will soon receive more than $100 million to begin implementing infrastructure projects.

I applied for $115 million of that in grant money to take care of some of the early priority projects. That grant has been awarded and Ive spent that on leak repairs and engineering work thats going on. So a lot of things are happening. You may not see a lot of that yet but weve really rebuilt how the water system is being operated, he said.

Included in those operational changes was the decision to contract the country's largest water treatment firm, Jacobs Solutions, to run both of the city's treatment plants on a six month basis. Without reliable plant information from previous operators, Henifin says he was hesitant to enter into a longer agreement until the full picture became clear. One of the main issues they found, according to Henifin, are widespread leaks throughout the system up to 30 million gallons per day.

We should not need more than 20 million gallons of water, yet were putting close to 50 into the system everyday. Thats because we have leaks everywhere big leaks that we havent even found. And theres dozens, probably close to a hundred smaller leaks all over the city at meter boxes. Were used to seeing it just constantly flowing all the time.

Henifin added he hopes to finalize a 10-year contract with the firm by the end of September.

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After 6 months on the job, Jackson water manager shares progress ... - Mississippi Public Broadcasting

Dive Brief:

Hormel is one of many producers still working to normalize stock levels after years of volatility uncertainty that was still reflected in the company's bloated inventory levels.

Inventory levels compared to the previous quarter were up 1.7%, with mitigation efforts offset by the company's work to restore SKIPPY stock levels. Demand had been outpacing supply for Hormel's peanut butter brand in recent quarters.

The company worked to implement changes to demand and supply planning processes during the quarter as part of its effort to lower inventories, actions which impacted margins during the quarter, Snee noted.

Hormel expects to reap the benefits of greater process control, as well as other supply chain improvements such as lower freight and warehousing expenses, beginning in FY 2024.

Supply is also normalizing in other parts of Hormel's business as turkey supplies return thanks to the fading impact of the bird flu. Hormel's turkey supply was drastically down as a result of bird flu last quarter, with commodity turkey volumes down 80% YoY.

The company is now pivoting back to selling its turkey products, Snee said during the June 1 call.

"We've got our sales teams focused and reengaged on selling turkey. You don't just flip a switch after a year of not having turkey, but they are focused and reengaged," Snee said. "And so that is, call it, new replacement volume, whatever the right term is, that's returning volume on the turkey side of the business."

Others in the food manufacturing space are also finally starting to see stock return to a state of normality.

Kraft Heinz has been focused on supply recovery, with case fill rates in March up by more than 5 percentage points to a little over 95%.Like Hormel, Kraft Heinz is focused on bringing inventories down, after they reached $4 billion at the end of Q1, up 10% YoY.

Conagra, meanwhile, is focused on building back supply levels, with CEO Sean Connolly noting the company's service levels have improved to above 90%.

Were moving past discrete supply chain disruptions and continue to make progress on our margin expansion initiatives, such as productivity and value over volume, all within an environment that is normalizing, the CEO said on the call.

More here:

Hormel makes progress on trimming bloated inventory - Supply Chain Dive

The new Chick-fil-A, located at 5300 Johnston Street & Ridge Road, across from Time Plaza shopping center in Lafayette, is roughly about 57.0125% closer to completion. This new location will effectively make it the fourth Chick-fil-A store in the city with others located on LA Ave, Kaliste Saloom, and inside of the Acadiana Mall.

See previous post: https://developinglafayette.com/wp/construction-has-officially-begun-on-the-new-chick-fil-a-on-johnston-ridge-road/

Top-down Shot of Chick-fil-A at Johnston & Ridge

One of the major points of conversation hovering around this new Chick-fil-A location and really any new location for the company is the drive-thru line size & amount of parking. Does it have enough capacity to handle the sheer volume that the company sees on a dailyexcept for Sundaybasis? We think it does. Judging by the initial plans and our recently acquired aerial footage of the drive-thru situation, it has plenty of capacity with its full-length double lanes. However, even with excessive drive-thru capacity, we always need to remember that when the holy chicken is a fryin, hungry followers come a pryin! Basically, while we believe that there will be no foreseeable traffic jams on Johnston or Ridge, never underestimate peak hours. Besides, Kaliste Salooms location seems to be rockin & rollin while traffic keeps on a rollin on Kaliste! Thats a winner-winner chicken dinner right there!

Okay okay, we have exhausted our rhyming opportunities here!

Facade nearly complete.

The takeaway here is that with a solid 3 standalone locations, Chick-fil-A should be able to balance peak hours more evenly throughout the region. And thats on God.

The tentative completion date for Chick-fil-A at Johnston & Ridge Road is estimated to be about 2-3 months out. So its looking like it could be a late Summer opening!

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Chick-fil-A Construction Progress at Ridge Road & Johnston Street - Developing Lafayette

In April, States took a significant step toward negotiating a specific treaty on crimes against humanity (CAH) after years of delay and procedural wrangling. If adopted, the proposed draft articles could close gaps in the architecture of international criminal and human rights law and provide a critical opportunity to advance gender justice or regress to outdated ideas about gender. The unprecedented week-long discussion at the United Nations offered a glimpse at the opportunities a treaty might hold to advance gender justice.

Across the five day resumed session of the U.N. General Assemblys legal committee the theme of gender arose repeatedly, with many States indicating support for progressive provisions on gender-related elements of the draft articles. Others indicated a desire to revert to obsolete gender provisions, setting up potential battles over key issues. Contentious questions included whether to define gender within the treaty (or leave it undefined, like other treaty terms including race and religion); definitions of sexual and reproductive violations; and slavery-related crimes. States also missed some opportunities to engage on pivotal gender issues, but diplomats and civil society leaders will have additional openings to raise these issues over the coming months.

Ultimately, the degree to which any eventual treaty is gender competent will have enormous practical impacts for the victims of these grave crimes. Both the commission of atrocity crimes and the experiences of the victims are fundamentally shaped by gender roles from the use of sexual and gender norms to terrorize victims of torture, to the life-and-death stakes of gendered differences in how women, men, boys, and girls are enslaved, to the specific reparation and rehabilitation needs of survivors such as children born of war. Any treaty that aims to prevent and punish these crimes must grapple with their gendered characteristics and impacts.

Where States Stand on Applying a Gender Lens to the Draft Articles

More than a dozen States voiced strong support across a variety of gender-related issues throughout the week. Other States indicated support for some gender priorities while hesitating to back the treaty overall, or noting disagreement about how best to achieve gender priorities. A third group of States objected explicitly to certain gender priorities. The apparent positions of States that expressed views on gender issues during the session are summarized in the following chart with detailed discussion of the debates following the chart.

Defining Gender in the Draft Articles

The inclusion or exclusion of an explicit definition of gender was the most widely commented-upon gender issue in the resumed session. The International Law Commission (ILC), which drafted the current proposed articles, hewed closely to the Rome Statute in crafting most definitions within the draft articles, but opted to exclude the Statutes definition of the term gender after numerous States and civil society organizations raised concerns about its clarity and inclusiveness. The Rome Statute definition reads: For the purpose of this Statute, it is understood that the term gender refers to the two sexes, male and female, within the context of society. The term gender does not indicate any meaning different from the above. Critics of the definition noted during the ILC drafting process that developments in international law since the Statutes drafting have recognized the social construction of gender and the potential harms of reifying a binary definition of the concept. Ultimately, the ILC explained in its commentary on the draft articles:

[The] approach of viewing gender as a socially constructed (rather than biological) concept has been taken by various other international authorities and in the jurisprudence of international criminal courts and tribunals.

Accordingly, the Commission decided not to include the definition of gender found in article 7, paragraph 3, of the 1998 Rome Statute, thereby allowing the term to be applied for the purposes of the present draft articles based on an evolving understanding as to its meaning. While the term is therefore undefined in the present draft articles, the same is true as well for various other terms used in draft article 2, paragraph 1 (h), such as political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, or religious.

Mexico, Canada, Brazil, the U.K., Portugal, Belgium, Australia, Romania, the United States, Sweden, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Malta, and the European Union each noted their agreement with the ILCs decision to omit the definition.

At least seven States noted in some form that the draft articles thus recognize ongoing evolution of understandings of gender and, specifically, refrain from reifying the regressive and confusing Rome Statute definition. Romania echoed the ILC by observing that the draft articles likewise leave other terms, including race, religion, and other grounds of persecution, undefined. The U.K. noted positively that deleting the definition may help protect gender non-conforming individuals, who might otherwise be excluded from legal protection against gender-based persecution.

A Mixed Bag on Other Gender Justice Priorities

Several States including some whose delegations disagreed with the ILCs decision to omit the gender definition voiced support for retaining or strengthening other provisions relevant to advancing gender justice. For example, Sierra Leone stated that their delegation was not persuaded by the explanation in the Commentary for the deletion of the definition, but indicated strong, specific, and detailed support for strengthening provisions on slavery to include explicit reference to the slave trade and forced marriage, neither of which is explicitly listed in the current draft. The U.K. and Canada echoed Sierra Leones call for including forced marriage as a crime.

Likewise, El Salvador stated that it does not support the exclusion of the gender definition, but suggested that instead of deletion, the definition should be broadened in line with the progressive nature of human rights law without specifying exactly how it might be broadened to ensure the protection of victims of sexual violence. El Salvador further highlighted the importance of the international criminalization of sexual violence under the category of CAH or in some cases under genocide, and emphasized the need to ensure that evidence of past or subsequent sexual activity of victims of sexual violence could not be admitted as evidence in CAH proceedings.

Other States positions similarly suggested possible openness to progressive changes while indicating divisions on the best way to achieve gender justice goals. For example, Cuba expressed ambivalence toward the creation of the treaty overall, but nevertheless called for an overhaul of the definition of forced pregnancy in any possible convention to take account of international practice in the areas of sexual and reproductive health. Cubas delegation indicated support for revisions to broaden the definition of the crime and remove the aberrant reference to domestic law that the ILC retained from the Rome Statute definition. The U.K. and Canada each of which strongly support the advancement of the treaty echoed Cubas call for revisions to the forced pregnancy definition, revealing a potential unexpected partnership on the issue. The U.K. highlighted lessons learned from the application of the Rome Statute on forced pregnancy and said, given the repugnance of forcible interference with reproductive rights to the values international criminal law protects, the U.K. would be in favour of exploring how the definition of forced pregnancy found in draft Article 2(f) could be strengthened. Other equity and gender justice issues were raised by some States, such as issues of inclusivity of the draft articles of LGBTQI+ individuals (raised by Belgium and the Philippines, and referenced by others).

Finally, a handful of seemingly-gender neutral issues hold potential to have gendered impacts, from the way that a treaty is implemented and monitored to the treatment of victims. Several States alluded to these issues during the session. For example, some explored the possibility of creating a treaty body monitoring mechanism that would oblige them to undergo regular public review of their compliance with the treaty. Sierra Leone, the U.K., Slovakia, Canada, and the European Union indicated openness to or support for such a body though only Sierra Leone fully endorsed the idea. Sierra Leone, Brazil, Romania, Belgium, and the U.K. highlighted the need to center victims rights to justice and effective restitution. Sierra Leone and Palestine raised issues of race, colonialism, and reparations, while Australia noted the need to conduct a cross-cutting gender analysis of the draft articles and to integrate indigenous perspectives. These latter interventions raise the prospect of intersectional analysis of treaty provisions. However, most States stayed silent on interlocking issues of race and gender.

Opposition to Progress on Gender Justice

It was not all good news on gender in States comments. Five States explicitly opposed the deletion of the gender definition, and some issued particularly regressive statements to justify their disapproval. For example, Qatar stressed the importance of maintaining terminological consistency across international instruments, including with the gender definition from the Rome Statute, and specifically asserted that the term gender means male or female; there is no other interpretation, no other concept covered by this term. Likewise, Poland while supporting stronger victim-centered approaches and emphasizing the needs of the most vulnerable including children called for terminological consistency through transposing the gender definition from the Rome Statute to the draft articles on CAH. Nigeria also raised objections to the exclusion of the gender definition, and Cameroon expressed skepticism about the deletion.

Gambia a strong advocate for the advancement of the treaty overall also issued a statement in opposition to the deletion of the gender definition, indicating that they were unconvinced by the ILCs decision to exclude a definition. The delegate stated:

In our view, male and female definition of gender is not just a social construct but also biological, which goes to the root of creation of man and woman. We do not subscribe to the notion that the definition provided by the Rome Statute in 1998 is decades old and a lot has changed since then and therefore, the world is ready to evolve and accept new meaning.

Gambia reiterated their call to maintain the Rome Statutes gender definition, which the delegation characterized as agreed language [that] maintains consistency between international legal frameworks.

This view indicates that civil society actors and supportive States may need to continue efforts begun during the ILCs drafting process to articulate to reluctant States the importance of achieving a gender just treaty. Overall, the week revealed divisions but also interest and willingness among States to engage on issues of gender justice.

What Wasnt Said: Opportunities to Go Further on Gender Issues

The promising recognition of cross-cutting gender issues throughout the week laid the foundation for further engagement by States in the coming months. States can submit written comments on the draft articles by the end of this year; these comments will shape the agenda of another resumed session in April 2024. States should seize the chance to advocate for gender justice in these written comments and in their verbal interventions at subsequent Sixth Committee meetings. In particular, States could consider raising the following issues in their subsequent interventions.

Persecution on the Basis of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

First, much more engagement is needed on the issue of persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity. There is a rising tide of this persecution around the world, from restrictions on healthcare access for trans people to criminal prosecution of LGBTQI+ individuals, and the definition of persecution in the current draft articles does not sufficiently address this oppression.

At present, the draft articles define persecution as the intentional and severe deprivation of fundamental rights contrary to international law by reason of the identity of the group or collectivity; but limit the application of the provision to acts of persecution in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph in other words, requiring a nexus with other crimes against humanity such as torture, murder, or apartheid. The nexus requirement thus significantly curtails the forms of persecution that are prohibited under the treaty, omitting systematic oppression that does not entail other independent atrocity crimes. This omission may particularly impact LGBTQI+ populations, who are often targeted throughout the world with creative forms of persecution, such as restrictions on free expression and unequal access to public accommodations.

Notably, the Rome Statutes nexus requirement is absent in other instruments of international law widely regarded as reflecting custom, such as the statutes of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The limited definition of persecution was included in the Rome Statute in part to circumscribe the ICCs jurisdiction. But as with other issues (such as enforced disappearance) that were narrowed in the Rome Statute out of deference to State sovereignty concerns, this jurisdictional caution is not warranted in the persecution definition under the prospective CAH treaty, which concerns national criminalization, extradition, and mutual legal assistance, rather than the establishment of an independent judicial body. Colombia, Canada, and a few other States flagged the importance of expanding the persecution definition (though without tying it explicitly to gender issues). Moving forward, more States should press for the removal of this limitation from the persecution definition in the CAH draft articles.

Beyond these jurisdictional questions, there are additional opportunities for the prospective treaty to protect those with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. For example, the current draft defines the crime of forced pregnancy as being committed against women forcibly made pregnant, potentially excluding trans, nonbinary, or young girls who can become pregnant from its protections. Yet only the U.K. and Belgium explicitly referred to the need to include trans people in the treatys definitions. A gender competent treaty must be fully inclusive of all gender identities, and States should consider addressing these issues in their subsequent interventions.

Strategic Silence?

The relative silence on some of these issues may have been partially a result of the previous, constructive State engagement that led the ILC to remove the gender definition from the draft in the first place. After their robust statements in support of LGBTQI+ rights brought about the change, States may have simply been surprised to see the issue arise again.

The intense sensitivity of issues of gender identity and the risk of creating regressive treaty terms or references within the travaux prparatoires may have also played a role. Raising contentious questions in the resumed session might have derailed the overall push to bring the draft articles out of the Sixth Committee and into a full negotiation at the General Assembly or in a dedicated conference. But the calls for reopening the gender definition illustrate that supportive States and civil society organizations must continue to press for protections and inclusion of all sexual orientations and gender identities in any future treaty.

Gender Apartheid

There is also room for States to engage with the concept of gender apartheid, which has garnered recent public attention. Several States highlighted the importance of recognizing the crime of apartheid (including Ethiopia and Palestine), while Cameroon indicated possible openness to expanding the scope of the definition, despite an overall skepticism to the treaty. However, Cameroons suggested expansion focused on xenophobia, not gender. No State has yet explicitly advocated for adding gender-based oppression to the current draft definition of apartheid: inhumane acts committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime (emphasis added). If the draft articles advance to full-scale negotiations, advocates should consider encouraging States to add gender to this definition.

Gender Analysis of Atrocity Crimes

Finally, the coming months offer expanded opportunities for States to dig into the subtle interactions between gender and contexts of conflict or atrocity discussions that were largely absent from the technical legal debates in April. Recent thoughtful scholarship has explored the role of gender stereotypes in charging and prosecuting atrocity crimes, the interplay of toxic masculinity with violence and extremism, the weaponization of gender norms to terrorize civilians, and the deployment of gendered notions of domination and duty to justify aggression and atrocities. Feminist scholars have illustrated how to apply a nuanced gender lens to international criminal prosecutions for a range of crimes and potential defenses, grappling with the true complexity of gender across contexts. These discussions might seem too theoretical to appear in technical debates about the terms of the draft articles, but as the treaty text moves forward, it is essential to intertwine these considerations into the text, drafting history, and commentaries of the convention.

Why Does Gender Matter in a CAH Treaty?

And make no mistake: incorporating gender is essential.

Unless accountability efforts grapple with the ways that gender is entwined into the perpetration and aftermath of atrocities, these crimes will continue to be committed and justice will be incomplete. The recent ICC case of Dominic Ongwen illustrates the relevance and practical impact of gender in the perpetration of atrocities, and in any justice and accountability efforts that follow.

Ongwen was abducted as a child in Northern Uganda and trained as a child soldier along with other young boys; female abductees were forced to conduct housework until they were deemed sexually mature enough to be converted to wives. Ongwen climbed the ranks and took several wives for himself, committing the crimes of rape, sexual slavery, enslavement, forced pregnancy, torture, and forced marriage, among others. He was eventually captured, tried at the ICC, found guilty, and his charges were confirmed on appeal last December.

Meanwhile, some women and girls who were abducted have returned to their communities, but report facing stigma based on gendered notions of sexual purity, with patterns of domestic instability as subsequent partners leave them with more children while shaming them for their past victimization. Some are forced to engage in sex work to survive. Children born of forced marriage or while their mothers were in captivity struggle to obtain documentation, leading to their exclusion from formal education or employment opportunities. As this generation matures, gendered patterns of vulnerability persist. Unregistered and underemployed young men, for example, are vulnerable to recruitment into groups that offer them a sense of belonging where they can vindicate ideas of masculinity shaped by patriarchy. And the pattern repeats.

While Ongwens ICC conviction was groundbreaking in its engagement with gender issues, there is still a long way to go. Without robust, nuanced understandings of gender woven throughout the response to mass atrocities, States cannot fulfill their obligations to prevent, punish, and provide redress in these situations. Atrocities do not occur in a vacuum their seeds are planted in inequality, hopelessness, and disempowerment. Each of these experiences is inflected by social constructions of gender. Prevention of these conditions requires understanding the dynamics that shape them; restitution to victims requires understanding the way harms are inflicted and experienced in gender-specific ways.

The draft articles will next be discussed by the Sixth Committee at their regular session in October, then in another resumed session in April 2024. The committee has resolved to take a decision on the draft in October 2024. Gender must be on the table throughout the discussion and eventual negotiation of the CAH treaty, and everywhere that States seek to prevent or punish atrocity crimes. Otherwise, these efforts at prevention will be futile, punishment incomplete, and victims will continue to suffer the gendered impacts of crimes against humanity.

apartheid, atrocities prevention, Crimes Against Humanity, Gender, International Criminal Court (ICC), International Criminal Law, International Human Rights, International Law Commission, Mass Atrocities, persecution, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), slavery, United Nations General Assembly

Originally posted here:

Progress, Resistance, and Silence on Gender Justice in the Draft ... - Just Security