scholarly journals Forced Marriage Real Simple

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-47
Author(s):  
Hannah Baumeister
Keyword(s):  
Violence Against Women ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Forced Marriage ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
Everyday Realities ◽  
Definition Of

The concepts of 'real rape' and 'real rape victim' play a key role in the reporting and prosecution of rape cases and strongly influence their outcomes. Similar biases and misconceptions obscure other acts of gender-based violence such as forced marriage in times of armed conflict. This paper analyses how the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and the International Criminal Court construct and reconstruct the concepts of a 'real' and 'simple forced marriage'. It argues that the difference lies in the elements of consent, coercion, duration and purpose. The paper highlights the gendered everyday realities in which myths surrounding conflict-related forced marriage are embedded and then taken for granted and accepted as normal, contributing to the denial, downplay or justification of acts of violence against women. It argues that by reinforcing these concepts, courts miss an opportunity to educate the legal community and the public about women's experiences in peace and wartime and to develop a definition of the crime of forced marriage that reflects women's realities.

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 The Rapes Committed against the Yazidi Women: a Genocide?

2020 ◽  
pp. 50-71
Author(s):  
Paula Castellano San José
Keyword(s):  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Current Definition ◽  
Actus Reus ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of

Rape has been used as a tool of war throughout the history of mankind. With the establishment of the International Criminal Court, rape was included in the Rome Statute, being internationally recognized as a war crime, a crime against humanity and a means to commit genocide. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, in its war to establish the caliphate, has carried out a campaign of sexual violence against women of religious minorities such as the Yazidi. This article examines the evolution of the definition of rape in International Criminal Law and applies the current definition to the crimes committed by ISIS against the Yazidi. The study assesses the elements of the actus reus of genocide and considers that the actions carried out by the Islamic State towards the Yazidi could qualify as a genocide by means of rape.

Complementarity as a Catalyst for Gender Justice in National Prosecutions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amrita Kapur
Keyword(s):  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
Gender Justice ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
International Crimes ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender

This chapter explores the opportunities present in the Rome Statute to promote justice for victims of sexual and gender-based violence in the International Criminal Court (ICC). It focuses on the concept of complementarity to show the ICC’s potential for reform and to catalyze the prosecution of international crimes (genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes). It then describes the ICC’s broader approach to sexual violence and gender, as well as the domestic impact of this jurisprudence. The chapter concludes by suggesting that the Rome Statute’s standards should be introduced into national law. This could create broader benefits for women and victims of sexual and gender-based violence beyond the prosecution of criminal perpetrators.

scholarly journals The Pace of Progress: Addressing Crimes of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in the Generation After Rome

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 177-181
Author(s):  
Gabrielle Louise McIntyre
Keyword(s):  
Rome Statute ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
By Products ◽  
Made In

When it was adopted in 1998, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) represented a significant breakthrough regarding sexual and gender-based crimes—crimes that, for centuries, had proliferated in armed conflicts but had been disregarded, mischaracterized, or misunderstood as the inevitable by-products of war or a legitimate part of its spoils. Not only did the Rome Statute explicitly treat a broad range of sexual acts as crimes against humanity and war crimes, but it also recognized gender-based violence as a crime and incorporated a number of provisions aimed at ensuring greater institutional attention to sexual and gender-based crimes. However, abstract possibilities do not always translate into concrete results, and the ICC has been slow to effectuate its innovative statutory provisions. This essay will explore some of the obstacles encountered and opportunities missed by the Court over the last twenty years, as well as highlighting welcome strides made in recent years to fulfill, at least in part, the promise of Rome.

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.

scholarly journals Collective criminality and sexual violence: Fixing a failed approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-241
Author(s):  
Susana SáCouto ◽  
Leila Nadya Sadat ◽  
Patricia Viseur Sellers
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Activity ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Criminal Courts ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Criminal Conduct

AbstractInternational criminal tribunals have developed a number of legal theories designed to hold individuals responsible for their role in collective criminal conduct. These doctrines of criminal participation, known as modes of liability, are the subject of significant scholarly commentary. Yet missing from much of this debate, particularly as regards the International Criminal Court, has been an analysis of how current doctrine on modes of liability responds to the need to hold collective perpetrators criminally responsible for crimes of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). Indeed, many writings in this area of the law address perceived shortcomings in the theoretical underpinnings of modes of liability doctrine in the abstract but ignore the application of this doctrine in concreto. As a result, facially neutral writings on modes of liability may in fact be gendered in application, either because they fail to account for the specific characteristics of sexual and gender-based violence or because they are applied in a manner that requires higher thresholds for finding culpability for the commission of SGBV crimes. This article fills the gap between theory and practice, examining past and present doctrine, and suggesting ways in which the treatment of modes of liability by international criminal courts and tribunals can both properly respond to the need for personal culpability and the dangers of collective criminal activity, particularly as regards SGBV crimes.

International Criminal Court (ICC): Dominic Ongwen

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-57
Author(s):  
Anne-Marie de Brouwer ◽  
Eefje de Volder
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
Trial Chamber ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
Northern Uganda ◽  
Legal Representative ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender

On 4 February 2021, the ICC's Trial Chamber IX found Lord Resistance Army's Commander Dominic Ongwen guilty for a total of 61 crimes comprising crimes against humanity and war crimes, including many conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence crimes, committed in Northern Uganda between 1 July 2002 and 31 December 2005. On 6 May 2021, Dominic Ongwen was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for these crimes.<br/> In this Q&A we discuss this case with three renowned experts, namely Victoria Nyanjura (Survivor, Founder Women in Action for Women Uganda), Joseph Manoba (lawyer and Legal Representative for victims in the Ongwen case) and Lorraine Smith van Lin (independent victim's rights expert). By answering 11 questions, they provide insight in the complexity of this case, including how it is perceived by LRA victims and survivors in Uganda.

Mediation of Information on Eliminating Violence Against Women

2021 ◽  
pp. 81-97
Author(s):  
Tamara de Souza Brandão Guaraldo ◽  
Celia Maria Retz Godoy dos Santos ◽  
Daniele Mendes Melo
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
The Public ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
City State ◽  
Reflective Processes

Violence against women is a central topic in the public debate in Brazil. In this way, entities and other stakeholders require flexible strategies in order to eliminate it. This chapter aims to report experiences related to an action research based on the transformative and reflexive potential of civil society groups (in Bauru city, state of São Paulo) involved in eliminating violence against women. In this sense, mediation of information is discussed in order to prioritize the elimination of gender-based violence against women. In face of outcomes, mediation of information have been used in order to explore the adaptative and dynamic nature of participatory methodologies by not only allowing reflective processes but also providing value of how all stakeholders present themselves as mediators by using their knowledge in order to mediate information.

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.

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