Using War to Shift Peacetime Norms: The Example of Forced Marriage in Sierra Leone

2018 ◽  
pp. 77-95
Author(s):  
Kiran Grewal
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Forced Marriage

The Special Court for Sierra Leone – Fair Trials and Justice for the Accused and Victims

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Howarth
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Child Soldiers ◽  
Fair Trial ◽  
Broad Sense ◽  
Forced Marriage

AbstractThis article examines the issues of a "fair trial" and "justice" at the Special Court for Sierra Leone. It considers these issues in a broad sense, from both the perspective of the accused and the victims, through the exploration of three specific topics: first, the idea of prosecuting "those bearing greatest responsibility" for crimes committed during the conflict in Sierra Leone, second, the first prosecution of the crime of recruiting child soldiers, and third, the first prosecution of forced marriage.

The Miscategorization of 'Forced Marriage' as a Crime against Humanity by the Special Court for Sierra Leone

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 831-867
Author(s):  
Nicholas Azadi Goodfellow
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Forced Marriage ◽  
Sexual Slavery ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
Principle Of Legality

AbstractThis article considers the finding by the Appeals Chamber of the Special Court for Sierra Leone that forced marriage is a crime against humanity. While hailed as an evolution in the prosecution of gender-based crimes, the finding is legally and factually unsound. The Chamber's decision offends the principle of legality, specifically, non-retroactivity, the prohibition on analogy, and the requirement of specificity. In addition, the Chamber misconstrued the facts and law with regards to sexual slavery in distinguishing it from forced marriage. This article critically examines each element of the Chamber's decision that forced marriage satisfies the threshold requirements to qualify as a crime against humanity.

scholarly journals The Parameters of Enslavement and the Act of Forced Marriage

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 895-915 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iris Haenen
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Charles Taylor ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Trial Chamber ◽  
Forced Marriage ◽  
Sexual Slavery ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
Definition Of

During several recent conflicts, such as the ones in Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, women and girls – but sometimes also men and boys – were abducted and enslaved into so-called forced marriages. The Special Court for Sierra Leone issued several judgments in which it discussed the legal qualification of the act of forced marriage. In its most recent judgment, the trial judgment in the case against Charles Taylor, the Trial Chamber held that forced marriage amounts to sexual slavery. This article briefly discusses the relevant case law on forced marriage and examines the Trial Chamber’s conclusion in the Charles Taylor Judgement that forced marriage is a form of sexual slavery. For this purpose, the definition of enslavement is analysed and the parameters of this crime are set out. Building on the reasoning of the Trial Chamber in the Taylor case, the article concludes that forced marriage does indeed amount to a slavery crime and is best qualified as the broader crime of enslavement.

Forced Marriage and the Special Court for Sierra Leone: Legal Advances and Conceptual Difficulties

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Oosterveld
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Forced Marriage ◽  
Sierra Leonean ◽  
Domestic Labour ◽  
United Front ◽  
Conceptual Difficulties

AbstractForced marriage was endemic during the Sierra Leonean conflict. Girls and women forced to serve as 'wives' to rebel soldiers were usually expected to submit to ongoing rape and to provide domestic labour to their 'husbands'. Many of these 'wives' suffer from continuing stigmatization. The Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone brought forced marriage charges as a crime against humanity through the category of inhumane acts against Brima, Kamara and Kanu, affiliated with the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), and Sesay, Kallon and Gbao, affiliated with the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). This article considers two benefits stemming from the resulting jurisprudence: the naming of forced marriage as an inhumane act and the acknowledgement of forced marriage as a violation not captured by other legal terms. However, conceptual difficulties remain: how should forced marriage be defined so as to fulfil the principle of nullum crimen sine lege? Is forced marriage more accurately labelled as enslavement? And, is conjugality accurately captured as a defining feature of forced marriage? If forced marriage is to be successfully prosecuted in other contexts – for example, in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia – then more attention must be paid to resolving these questions.

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