A/HRC/27/21 Republic of Korea33 also paid specific attention to broader gender-based violations and crimes, particularly violence against women, and the impact of violations on particular groups, including women and children. V. Criminal justice proceedings A. Strengthening national criminal justice proceedings 32. States have primary responsibility to exercise jurisdiction over serious crimes under international law.34 Accordingly, transitional justice strategies increasingly focus on strengthening national capacity to prosecute crimes of gender-based and sexual violence. Specialized chambers or courts have been established, for instance, in Croatia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Serbia and Uganda, and prosecution and investigatory units have been created to deal specifically with gender-based and sexual violence. In Liberia, the sexual offences act of 2008 provided for a division of circuit courts in each county to deal with sexual offences, and the Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Crimes Unit was established. The United Nations Joint Human Rights Office of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) has worked to strengthen national capacity, including by assisting military magistrates to establish mobile courts and specialized prosecution support cells. Those efforts have resulted in increasing numbers of convictions being registered.35 In Colombia, the Attorney General’s Office adopted a plan of action to defend the rights of women victims of sexual violence in the context of the armed conflict. The plan includes the establishment of a disaggregated database, the adoption of an inter-institutional model of special investigation and attention to victims that simplifies proceedings to avoid revictimization, and the creation of a subunit for the registration, assistance and orientation of victims of organized armed groups, which fall outside the scope of the Peace and Justice Law. 33. National capacity has also been strengthened through the creation of mixed chambers, located in the national judiciary but combining both national and international expertise. In Bosnia and Herzegovina for example, the War Crimes Chamber, staffed by both national and international staff, has prosecuted sexual violence as the crimes against humanity of rape, torture, sexual slavery, enslavement and persecution.36 34. An important focus of national capacity-building has been training investigators, prosecutors, judges, security officials, lawyers, medical staff, social workers and other ruleof-law actors. Capacity-building trainings have been conducted with United Nations assistance, including in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, the Sudan (Darfur), and Kosovo.37 Furthermore, UN-Women has partnered with Justice Rapid Response38 to 33 34 35 36 37 38 10 A/HRC/25/63 and A/HRC/25/CRP.1. Updated set of principles for the protection and promotion of human rights through action to combat impunity, principle 20. See, inter alia, MONUSCO and OHCHR, “Progress and obstacles in the fight against impunity for sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo” (2014), paras. 29 and 31. See Human Rights Watch, Narrowing the Impunity Gap: Trials Before Bosnia’s War Crimes Chamber (2007). See also A/HRC/23/49/Add.3, paras. 55–63. Reference to Kosovo should be understood in full compliance with Security Council resolution 1244 (1999) and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo. www.justicerapidresponse.org.