Accountability for Sexual and Gender-based Violence During Mass Repression and in Conflict

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-324
Author(s):  
Daniela Kravetz
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Domestic Level

Abstract This article examines how national courts in Argentina and Guatemala are applying the international criminal law framework to address sexual violence perpetrated during mass repression and in conflict. It focuses on the emerging domestic jurisprudence in both countries and explores the challenges to prosecuting sexual and gender-based violence at the domestic level and the lessons learned from these experiences.

scholarly journals Globalizing Justice, Homogenizing Sexual Violence: The Legacy of the ICTY and ICTR in terms of Sexual Violence

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 110 ◽  
pp. 214-219
Author(s):  
Kelly-Jo Bluen
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The One

In their contribution to the AJIL Symposium, Robinson and MacNeil remark that a prolific legacy of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) is that “it is now commonsense that rape is and must be a war crime.” This line distills the complexity of the legacies of the tribunals regarding sexual and gender-based violence. On the one hand, it articulates the critical role of the tribunals in cementing the idea that sexual violence, hitherto largely relegated to indifference in international criminal law and policy frameworks, is worthy of international attention. Simultaneously, it encapsulates the ways in which the tribunals’ jurisprudence has been received globally to narrate a narrow conception of conflict-related sexual violence as a “weapon of war” or committed as part of “strategic” conflict-related goals. In fact, there is little that constitutes common sense about sexual violence in conflict, nor is it always, or even most predominantly, committed as a war crime, crime against humanity,or in pursuit of genocide as envisaged by international criminal law. Various studies suggest that sexual violence in war takes many forms and causalities with differentiation across and within conflict contexts.

Advancing Justice and Making Amends Through Reparations

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Kalla
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Structural Injustice ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender

This chapter describes the development of reparations in international humanitarian and international criminal law. It then highlights the tension between judicial reparations and the harms that victims experience in conflict, particularly gendered harms such as sexual violence and discrimination against women. It demonstrates the importance of incorporating gender analyses into reparations programs and practice to fully redress victims’ needs and rights. It argues that reparations programs should acknowledge the challenges that victims of sexual and gender-based violence face, which may impact their participation in reparation proceedings. It also argues that reparations programs should focus on rectifying structural injustice to ensure gender atrocities are not repeated.

Sexual and Gender-based Violence in International Criminal Law: A Feminist Assessment of the Bemba Case

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 208-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Alice D’Aoust
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Guilty Verdict ◽  
Military Commander ◽  
Gender Based

In March 2016, the International Criminal Court (icc) rendered a guilty verdict against Jean-Pierre Bemba, ex-president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, for his involvement in operations in the Central African Republic from 2002 to 2004. He was found guilty in his capacity as military commander of crimes against humanity and war crimes. The decision is the first by the icc to address sexual violence as a weapon of war and in the context of command responsibility. This article assesses the Bemba decision from a feminist perspective. Key normative developments have occurred in the substantive international criminal law surrounding sexual violence, and the guilty verdict against Jean-Pierre Bemba represents an effective implementation of international criminal law. However, in light of major feminist concerns that arise in international law on sexual violence, the encouraging developments in the judgement occur mostly at the implementation level, leaving much to be done in terms of gender conceptualization and norm-setting.

Hybrid Courts and Amicus Curiae Briefing

2020 ◽  
pp. 351-365
Author(s):  
Sarah Williams
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Amicus Curiae ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender

This chapter studies the amicus curiae brief drafted for the Extraordinary African Chambers (EAC) regarding sexual violence in order to theorize the appropriate role of such briefing in enabling silenced voices to participate in international criminal tribunals. The term amicus curiae means literally ‘friend of the court’ in Latin. The concept enables actors who are not a party to proceedings (third parties) to provide information that is relevant, but which may not otherwise be brought before the court. Submissions by amicus curiae have influenced the process and judicial outcomes of international and hybrid criminal tribunals, including the International Criminal Court (ICC). This was evident at the EAC. Several international criminal law practitioners and academics submitted an amicus brief to the Chambers highlighting the need to include crimes of sexual and gender-based violence in the charges to be considered by the Chambers (the SGBV brief). The chapter then explores how civil society actors have used amicus curiae briefs to highlight the experiences and needs of women and girls affected by conflict and failures by tribunals to investigate and prosecute sexual violence in other international criminal tribunals.

scholarly journals Intersectionality: Explaining SGBV Interlinked with Terrorism and Other International Crimes

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-161
Author(s):  
Ana Martin
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
International Crimes ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender

Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is often intertwined with and nested within other violations of international criminal law (ICL) as part of a broader attack against a group. However, ICL is not giving enough visibility to this nexus of crimes rooted in the intersection of identities and discrimination that underpins SGBV during conflict. Intersectionality is a concept originated in feminism and progressively recognized by international human rights law (IHRL). It posits that SGBV is caused by gender 'inextricably linked' with other identities and factors that result in compounded discrimination and unique aggravated harms. Based on case studies, this paper argues that ICL should integrate an intersectional approach based on identity and discrimination to address the nexus between SGBV and broader international crimes. Intersectionality enables a better understanding of the causes, harms, and gravity of SGBV, and it provides consistency with an IHRL interpretation. The article begins setting out the foundations of intersectionality in feminism and IHRL, and its applicability to ICL. It then applies intersectionality to two case studies that demonstrate the interlink of SGBV with broader violations of ICL: The Revolutionary United Front Case (RUF) trial judgment of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) concerning SGBV and the war crime committing acts of terrorism, and Al Hassan, prosecuted at the International Criminal Court (ICC), concerning SGBV and the crime against humanity of persecution. It concludes with final remarks on why and how ICL would benefit from integrating an intersectional approach to SGBV.

scholarly journals Towards an Intersectional Understanding of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: Gender, Sexuality, and Ethnicity at the ICTY

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 853-882
Author(s):  
Maike Isaac ◽  
Olga Jurasz
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Male Victims ◽  
Cultural Dynamics ◽  
The Past ◽  
Yugoslav Wars ◽  
Gender Based

In the past 25 years, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has contributed significantly to a more sophisticated understanding of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) in international criminal law. The ICTY’s jurisprudence has broken new ground in relation to the prosecution of CRSV, but also has brought to light the multifaceted challenges associated with the prosecution of such crimes at an international level. Whilst cases heard by the ICTY have addressed both CRSV committed against women and men, there exist significant differences in the ways in which the ICTY has approached the experiences of male victims of sexual violence during the Yugoslav Wars. We therefore analyse the extent to and ways in which the ICTY has fostered the understanding of CRSV as gender-based violence that is embedded into the socio-cultural dynamics of the community within which the violence occurs.

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