Martial Rape and International Law: The Work of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

Abstract

The International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda are the first international legal venues that have prosecuted rape as a war crime. This paper reviews the history of martial rape and martial rape legislation, as well as the national and international legal mechanisms that have been used to deal with this problem. The limited literature that addresses the topic of martial rape, most of which is based within feminist framework, is also detailed and used to form the analysis of the work of the International Criminal Tribunals. This analysis begins with a brief history of the conflicts in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, and is followed by a summary of each of the completed martial rape cases that have been heard at the Tribunals. A critical analysis of these trials from a feminist perspective is the final component of this paper.