International Law

Citation:

Campanaro, Jocelyn. 2000. “Women, War, and International Law: The Historical Treatment of Gender-Based War Crimes.” The Georgetown Law Journal 89: 2557–92.

Author: Jocelyn Campanaro

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, International Law, Justice, War Crimes

Year: 2000

Citation:

Gaer, Felice. 2009. “Women, International Law and International Institutions: The Case of the United Nations.” Women's Studies International Forum 32 (1): 60-6.

Author: Felice Gaer

Abstract:

This final article considers the evolution of women's rights concepts and mechanisms within the United Nations. Gaer writes about this subject both as an historian of and a longstanding activist for women's human rights. She provides a critical history of how “women's” rights have been separated from and connected to “human” rights within the UN. Gaer examines how the Commission on the Status of Women, the original UN division which inherited the agenda of the first wave of international feminism, dealt with many of the challenges raised by the activists and organization that proceeded it: making the shift away from great power, Euro American leadership; facing new political environments raised by anti colonial and third world national developments; and expanding the feminist agenda beyond political and civil rights. By ending with an examination of the dilemma of enforcement that the UN still faces with respect to women's human rights, Gaer makes it clear that the subject of international feminism presents challenges that go beyond the academic, and is continuously linked with the efforts and freedom of the world's women.

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Women, International Law, International Organizations, Rights, Human Rights, Women's Rights

Year: 2009

Citation:

Feliciati, Clara Chapdelaine. 2006. “Restorative Justice for the Girl Child in Post-Conflict Rwanda.” Journal of International Women’s Studies 7 (4): 14–35.

Author: Clara Chapdelaine Feliciati

Abstract:

The girl child suffers from both sexism and “childism” for she is at the intersection of women’s rights and children’s rights. The question of her fate in post-conflict Rwanda is particularly crucial for during the Rwandan genocide in 1994, she suffered egregious sexual violence based on gender regardless of her age. Not only were two-year old girls raped, but there was a clear intention to make women and girls suffer differently from men and boys: while the latter were killed rapidly with a single shot or machete stroke, girl children and women were mutilated, tortured and left to die slowly. However, to focus solely on the sexual abuse of girl children in conflict hinders other aspects of the discrimination they undergo in numerous areas of their daily lives. Our hypothesis is that the sexual violence suffered by girl children during the genocide can be seen as emblematic of a general pattern of sexual discrimination in Rwandan society which was unleashed by the exacerbation of the ethnic conflict. Based on this premise, Rwanda will be studied as a case in point by defining the girl child in that specific context and suggesting a restorative approach to her fate. First, this article will study the status of the girl child in international law. Second, it will examine her status in Rwanda before and during the genocide, as well as in the transitional or post-conflict society she dwells in today. Finally, this article will provide recommendations for her healing through a “childered” and gendered approach to recovery by establishing a restorative paradigm in terms of safety, remembrance, and reconnection.

Keywords: girl child, Rwanda, restorative justice

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Gender, Girls, Gender-Based Violence, International Law, Justice, Reparations, Post-Conflict, Rights, Human Rights, Sexual Violence Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa Countries: Rwanda

Year: 2006

Citation:

Wood, Stephanie K. 2004. “A Woman Scorned for the ‘Least Condemned’ War Crime: Precedent and Problems with Prosecuting Rape as a Serious War Crime in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.” Columbia Journal of Gender and the Law 13: 274–327.

Author: Stephanie K. Wood

Abstract:

The woman scorned is Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, Rwanda's Former Minister for Women's Affairs, who is currently on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda ("ICTR") for allegedly using her official capacity to incite Hutus to rape thousands of female Tutsis during the 1994 Rwanda Genocide. (1) She is the first woman to be charged with rape as a crime against humanity by an international tribunal. (2) The 1994 Rwanda Genocide had devastating effects on the female population in the country due to the systematic gender-based violence endorsed and carried out by government officials. (3) Almost one million people were killed in one hundred days (4) and, according to some reports, nearly all female survivors--including many young girls (5)--were raped and sexually brutalized. (6) While these crimes are neither historically nor geographically unique to the 1994 Rwanda Genocide, (7) the ICTR's efforts in prosecuting gender-based violence as crimes against humanity and tools of genocide have been unprecedented. (8) Rape warfare, although common throughout history, has traditionally been the least condemned war crime. Although not without criticism, (9) the ICTR shattered historical ambivalence toward gender-based violence by indicting and prosecuting Rwandan officials who countenanced rape as a method of warfare during the genocide. (10) The first step in shattering this ambivalence occurred with the prosecution of Jean Paul Akayesu, (11) a mayor in the Taba Commune, (12) who also sanctioned massive sexual violence against Tutsi women. With the Prosecutor v. Akayesu (13) decision, the ICTR became the first international war crimes tribunal to convict an official for genocide and to declare that rape could constitute genocide. (14) Pressure from women's groups, coupled with cooperation and support coming from within the ICTR, led to the watershed decision linking sexual violence to the genocide in Rwanda. (15) However, the ICTR's handling of the Akayesu and Nyiramasuhuko cases also reveal a failure to adequately investigate and indict the gender-based violence sanctioned by the government during the genocide before trial, deficiencies in handling witnesses during the investigation and trial stages, and delays affecting the delivery of justice to survivors. These deficiencies must be addressed and corrected in order to maintain the Tribunal's legitimacy, protect women's human rights, and build upon the jurisprudence condemning rape warfare as genocide. An assessment of the ICTR's deficiencies is especially timely given that the tenth anniversary of the genocide occurred in April 2004. Although the Akayesu conviction and the Nyiramasuhuko prosecution have significant precedential value, the problems encountered by the ICTR in indicting and prosecuting gender-based violence should be lessons for future prosecutions in the international community. (16) Recognition of rape as a serious war crime represents only the first step in creating the deterrent necessary to combat future impunity. Assessing the past in order to improve the effectiveness of future prosecutions for rape warfare is imperative as women of all ages, races, colors, creeds, and ethnicities continue to be raped during armed conflicts. (17) Effective prosecutions will lead to more convictions, which will in turn translate into a legal vindication of women's human rights in the international community. (18) This article argues that while the ICTR has established an important precedent in prosecuting gender-based violence as crimes against humanity and tools of genocide, its deficiencies illustrate the continued straggle to enforce international norms protecting women from violence during armed conflict. (19) Without improvements in three specific areas, the potency of the ICTR's groundbreaking decisions will become diluted and less likely to be applied by other legal bodies, to further the objective of enforcing women's human rights, and to lead to greater deterrence of gender-based violence. Part II of this article discusses the gender-based violence that occurred during the 1994 Rwanda Genocide and addresses the historic ambivalence toward prosecuting rape as a war crime or crime against humanity. This ambivalence demonstrates a lack of implementation and enforcement of the legal norms protecting women's human rights. (20) Part III emphasizes the significance of the first international conviction of rape as a condemnable war crime, while highlighting the need for improvements in order to ensure more effective prosecution of gender-based violence. The cases of two prominent Rwandan officials--Akayesu and Nyiramasuhuko--are discussed in this regard. Part III also explains how the ICTR's progressive precedent on sexual violence is being tarnished by the Tribunal's continuing failure to adequately indict perpetrators for commission of gender-based crimes, a widening divide between the need for legal justice and survivors' interests, and excessive delays that are diluting the credibility of legal justice as a deterrent. Part IV concludes with three major recommendations to the ICTR directed at improving the Tribunal's prosecution of gender-based violence and preserving its legitimacy as a source of international condemnation and deterrence. II. BACKGROUND While violence against women occurs every day worldwide, (21) women are particularly vulnerable to gender-based violence (22) during armed conflict. (23) International norms (24) protect women from gender-based violence in theory, (25) but adequate norm development requires implementation and enforcement by the international community in order to transform theory into practice. (26)

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Genocide, International Law, International Criminal Law, Justice, International Tribunals & Special Courts, War Crimes, Sexual Violence, Rape Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa Countries: Rwanda

Year: 2004

Citation:

Nyamu-Musembi, Celestine. 2006. “Ruling Out Gender Equality? The Post-Cold War Rule of Law Agenda in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Third World Quarterly 27 (7): 1193-207.

Author: Celestine Nyamu-Musembi

Abstract:

The post-cold war rule of law agenda in sub-Saharan Africa has not translated into reforms that enhance gender equality. The focus of reform efforts has reflected a post-cold war emphasis on creating a suitable legal and institutional environment for the market. In this climate any gains for gender equality have been limited and hard won. The main shortcomings are: gains in constitutional rights have had limited practical reach; official discussion of gender inequality in property remains disconnected from relevant broader processes such as restructuring of financial institutions; the reform agenda has not engaged with informal institutions, yet these have significant impact on gender relations; there has been relative under-investment in non-commercial judicial reform; and changes to labour regulation have been effected through sub-legislative and non-transparent processes and have not been interrogated for their failure to benefit workers in general, and in sectors dominated by women in particular.

Topics: Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Constitutions, International Law Regions: Africa

Year: 2006

Citation:

Nowrojee, Binaifer. 1996. Shattered Lives: Sexual Violence during the Rwandan Genocide and Its Aftermath. United States: Human Rights Watch.

Author: Binaifer Nowrojee

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Ethnicity, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Genocide, Health, Reproductive Health, Trauma, International Law, Justice, International Tribunals & Special Courts, Sexual Violence, Rape, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Sexual Slavery Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa Countries: Rwanda

Year: 1996

Citation:

Marshall, Jill. 2008.“Positive Obligations and Gender-based Violence: Judicial Developments.” International Community Law Review 10 (2): 143-69.

Author: Jill Marshall

Abstract:

International human rights protection traditionally protects individuals from human rights violations committed by their own states. This has been criticised by many, and feminists in particular, as failing those who are violated in the 'private sphere', by actions perpetrated by non-state actors not the state itself. Yet protection from the actions of non-state actors is now increasingly falling within the ambit of international human rights law through positive obligations on states, particularly seen in the concept of due diligence. Developments in this area are analysed in this article with focus on recent decisions of international human rights judicial institutions on cases concerning gender-based violence to show how gender-based violations committed by non-state actors are increasingly being included and interpreted as human rights violations. Whilst not without problems, it is argued that the creativity and potential for protecting all persons from human rights violations is shown, particularly through developments towards a right to personal autonomy, identity and integrity.

Topics: Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, International Law, International Human Rights, Justice, Rights, Human Rights

Year: 2008

Citation:

Tétreault, Mary Ann. 1997. “Justice for All: Wartime Rape and Women’s Human Rights.” Global Governance 3 (2): 197–212.

Author: Mary Ann Tétreault

Abstract:

Among the issues to be resolved after an armed conflict are how to reconcile war victims to crimes committed against them, and whether sexual assaults should be incorporated formally among injuries to be redressed. The omission of rape as a war crime is attributed to the gender-differentiated development of human rights norms in the western tradition and in international law. The patterns of redress followed after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the recent civil war in Bosnia are compared. While each incorporates significant advantages to victims of wartime rape, the more cumbersome procedure requiring that criminals be tried before an international tribunal is more likely ultimately to assuage the pain of victims individually and promote reconciliation among groups formerly at war.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Gender, International Law, Justice, International Tribunals & Special Courts, War Crimes, Post-Conflict, Rights, Human Rights, Women's Rights, Sexual Violence, Male Perpetrators, Rape, SV against Women Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East, Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kuwait

Year: 1997

Citation:

Askin, Kelly D. 2003. “Prosecuting Wartime Rape and Other Gender-Related Crimes Under International Law: Extraordinary Advances, Enduring Obstacles.” Berkeley Journal of International Law 21 (2): 288.

Author: Kelly D. Askin

Abstract:

Examines the changes in international law regarding sexual violence against women. Overview of the relevant customary and treaty law norms particularly within humanitarian law; Ways in which war increasingly is waged against the civilian population; Treatment of gender-related crimes in the post-World War II trials held in Nuremberg, Germany and Tokyo, Japan.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, International Law, International Humanitarian Law (IHL), Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Asia, East Asia, Europe, Central Europe Countries: Germany, Japan

Year: 2003

Citation:

Theidon, Kimberly. 2007. “Gender in Transition: Common Sense, Women, and War.” Journal of Human Rights 6 (4): 453–78.

Author: Kimberly Theidon

Abstract:

On August 28, 2003, the Commissioners of the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (PTRC) submitted their Final Report to President Alejandro Toledo and the nation, thus joining the growing list of countries that have implemented truth commissions as a means of transitioning from a period of armed conflict and authoritarian rule towards the founding of a procedural democracy. The PTRC shared several features with the Guatemalan and South African commissions that preceded it. All three commissions were considered “gender sensitive” because they actively sought out women’s experiences of violence. This focus reflected the desire to write more “inclusive truths,” as well as changes in international jurisprudence. In this paper, the author draws upon research she has conducted since 1995 in Peru to explore the commissioning of truth and some implications in terms of women and war. She examines what constitutes “gender sensitive” research strategies, as well as the ways in which truth commissions have incorporated these strategies into their work. Truth and memory are indeed gendered, but not in any common-sensical way. Thus the author hopes to offer a more nuanced understanding of the gendered dimensions of war.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, International Law, Justice, Transitional Justice, TRCs, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Guatemala, Peru

Year: 2007