Militarized sexual violence and campaigns for redress
RIS ID
132186
Abstract
This essay traces how the issue of militarized sexual violence came to be embedded in international legal institutions. Militarized sexual violence was prosecuted in these ad hoc tribunals: the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (1993-2017) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (1994-2015). At the same time, civil society activists campaigned for the recognition of militarized sexual abuse perpetrated in the Asia-Pacific War, culminating in the Women's International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan's Military Sexual Slavery in Tokyo in 2000. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, adopted in 1998, entered into force in 2002 when the International Criminal Court was formally established in The Hague. It explicitly mentions wartime sexual violence as a crime against humanity. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (October 2000) reinforces recognition of sexual violence and rape as crimes against humanity and strengthens provisions under the earlier Geneva Conventions. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1820 (June 2008), similarly brings together women, peace, and security in the prevention of sexual violence. Sources surveyed in this essay include publications from movements for redress, legal documents, official and unofficial war crimes tribunals, archival sources and firsthand testimonies.
Publication Details
Mackie, V. (2020). Militarized sexual violence and campaigns for redress. In J. H. Quataert & L. Wildenthal (Eds.), The Routledge History of Human Rights (pp. 523-541). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-History-of-Human-Rights-1st-Edition/Quataert-Wildenthal/p/book/9781138784338