The Rome statute's sexual related crimes : an appraisal under the light of international humanitarian law / Tathiana Flores Acuña
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Article
Title:
The Rome statute's sexual related crimes : an appraisal under the light of international humanitarian law
Author zone:
Tathiana Flores Acuña
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English
General Note:
Egalement paru dans le Humanitäres Völkerrecht Vol. 19, no. 1, 2006, p. 39-51
Abstract:
The author details the evolution of IHL with respect to sexual crimes, highlighting the inclusion of sexual crimes in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Historically, IHL largely treated sexual crimes as attacks on women’s honour or dignity. Many IHL Conventions, including the 1949 Geneva Conventions, did not explicitly recognize sexual crimes as constituting ‘grave breaches’ of IHL, but customary international law gradually progressed towards that view. The author outlines how the sexual crimes jurisprudence of the ad hoc tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and a few specific international instruments, influenced the formulation and adoption of the Rome Statute. The author notes the influential role of Non-Governmental Organizations in ensuring sexual crimes were explicitly included in the Rome Statute. The author then analyses the categories of sexual crimes included in Article 7 (Crimes Against Humanity) and Article 8 (War Crimes) of the Rome Statute. The author contrasts the parameters of sexual crimes outlined in these two provisions, concluding that the inclusion of sexual crimes in the Statute was an essential step in the fight against impunity for these types of offences. [Summary by students at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law (IHRP)]
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