This book explores the prosecution of wartime sexual violence in international criminal law and asks what the juridicalisation of gender-based violence signifies for women. The book explores the portrayal of the various gendered identities that surface in armed conflict and it asks whether the law is capable of reflecting these in subsequent judgements. Focusing on the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda as well as subsequent developments in the International Criminal Court, the book shows how the tribunals have delivered landmark jurisprudence in the area of sexual violence against women and provided a legacy for how gender justice is incorporated into international law. However, Daniela Nadj argues that in the relevant cases there is a tendency to depict women in monolithic fashion with little agency or sense of identity beyond their ethnicity. By bringing to the surface the complexity and multi-faceted gendered identities in wartime, the book calls for a reconceptualisation of notions of femininity in armed conflict.

In Wartime Sexual Violence at the International Level: A Legal Perspective Dr. Caterina Arrabal Ward discusses the understanding of wartime sexual violence by the international tribunals and argues that wartime sexual violence often takes place without the explicit purpose to destroy a community or population and is not necessarily a strategic choice. This research suggests that a more focused approach based on a much clearer definition of these crimes would help to remedy deficiencies at the different stages of international justice in relation to these crimes.

Sexual violence is a particular brand of evil that women have endured—more than men—during armed conflicts, through the ages. It is a menace that has continued to challenge the conscience of humanity—especially in our times. At the international level, basic laws aimed at preventing it are not in short supply. What is needed is a more conscious determination to enforce existing laws. This book explores ways of doing just that; thereby shoring up international legal protection of women from sexual violence in armed conflicts.

Beginning with an attempt at understanding evil doing during armed conflicts, from both the general perspective and the particular angle of sexual violence itself, this book explores ways of shoring up international legal protection of women from sexual violence in armed conflicts.

This book deals with the phenomenon of conflict-related reproductive violence and explores the international legal framework’s capacity to respond to it. The international discourse on gender-based violence in conflicts tends to focus on sexualized crimes, which leads to incomplete narratives of the gendered dimensions of armed conflicts. In particular, international law has often remained silent on conflict-related violence affecting or aimed at the victim’s reproductive system. The author conceptualizes reproductive violence as a distinct manifestation of gender-based violence and a violation of reproductive autonomy. The analysis explores the historical approaches to reproductive violence and evaluates the current potentials of international criminal law for its prosecution as genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. In this regard, it also develops proposals for a gender-sensitive interpretation of the existing legal framework as well as possible amendments to it. The book is aimed at researchers and practitioners in the fields of international criminal justice and international human rights law with an interest in gender perspectives on international law, sexualized and gender-based violence, and the discourse on reproductive human rights. Tanja Altunjan is a former researcher at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin where she obtained her doctoral degree in criminal law.

Detailed study of the ICC's practice in prosecuting gender-based crimes, current up to the ICC Statute's twentieth anniversary in 2018.

From ancient to modern times, sexualised war violence against women was tolerated if not encouraged as a means of reward, propaganda, humiliation, and terror. This was and is in defiance of international laws that have criminalised acts of sexualised war violence since the 18th century. Ad hoc international tribunals have addressed especially war rape since the 15th century. The International Criminal Court (ICC), however, is the first independent, permanent, international criminal court that recognises not only war rape but also sexual slavery and other sexualised crimes as crimes against humanity, war crimes, and acts of genocide in its statute and supporting documents. This book explores how the ICC definitions of rape and forced marriage came about, and addresses the ongoing challenge of how to define war rape and forced marriage in times of armed conflict in a way that adequately reflects women’s experiences, as well as the nature of the crimes. In addition to deepening the understanding of the ICC negotiations of war rape and forced marriage, and of the crimes themselves, this volume highlights relevant factors that need to be considered when criminalising acts of sexualised war violence under international law. Sexualised Crimes, Armed Conflict and the Law draws on feminist and constructivist theories and offers a comprehensive theoretical and empirical examination of the definition of rape and forced marriage. It presents the latest state of knowledge on the topic and will be of interest to researchers, academics, policymakers, officials and intergovernmental organisations, and students in the fields of post-conflict law and justice, international law, human rights law, international relations, gender studies, politics, and criminology.

The last few decades have seen remarkable developments in international criminal justice, especially in relation to the pursuit of individuals responsible for sexual violence and other gender-based crimes. Historically ignored, justified, or minimised, this category of crimes now has a heightened profile in the international political and judicial arena. Despite this, gender is poorly understood, and blind spots, biases, and stereotypes prevail. This book brings together leading feminist international criminal and humanitarian law academics and practitioners to examine the place of gender in international criminal law (ICL). It identifies and analyses past and current narrow understandings of gender, before considering how a limited conceptualization affects accountability efforts. The authors consider how best to implement a more nuanced understanding of gender in the practice of international criminal law by identifying possible responses, including embedding a sophisticated gender strategy into the practice of ICL, the gender-sensitive application of international human rights and humanitarian law, and encouraging a gender-competent approach to judging in ICL. The authors' aim is to strengthen efforts for accountability for all atrocity crimes-war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and aggression.

In times of conflict, women have traditionally been excluded from protection of the law. This book analyzes the treatment of sex and gender crimes under international law by identifying various legal eras, from the inception of international criminal law until its most recent formulation, the Rome Statute. The author conducts her critical journey armed with insights about the development of the crime of rape in domestic law and feminist theories, and exposes gaps and silences in international law's treatment of sex and gender crimes. The author claims that the underlying stratum of sex crimes – the gender stratum – must be acknowledged. Hence, it is not sufficient to treat rape as another offense under existing traditional crime categories. It must also be anchored as a separate crime category that clearly establishes the boundaries of the legal norm, harmonizes different nations’ laws, and eradicates the remnants of patriarchy linked to this offense.

Based on original empirical research, this book explores retributive and gender justice, the potentials and limits of agency, and the correlation of transitional justice and social change through case studies of current dynamics in post-violence countries such Rwanda, South Africa, Cambodia, East Timor, Columbia, Chile and Germany.