Sexual Crimes in Conflict Database

A collection of relevant literature and case law

Showing 11 to 20 of 736 results.

  • Jurisprudence judicial mechanism

    ECCC - Khieu Samphan (“Nuon Chea et al.”)

    Issues
    Definitions/Elements of Sexual Violence Crimes Achievements and Challenges of Sexual Violence Prosecution Procedural Rules Advancing Sexual Violence Prosecutions
    Country
    Cambodia
    Keywords
    Acts of a Sexual Nature Coercion Consent Common Purpose Detention Centers Forced Marriage Severance of Charges Systematic Attack

    Reference link
    http://www.eccc.gov.kh/en/indicted-person/khieu-samphan
    Type of mechanism
    Hybrid court
    Name of mechanism
    Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)
    Name of accused
    Khieu Samphan
    Charges
    Khieu Samphan was charged, in the closing order (indictment) of 15 September 2010, with: - Rape as a crime against humanity, which included forced marriage. - Other inhumane acts as a crime against humanity, which included forced marriage and rape. Both for committing (via a joint criminal enterprise), planning, instigating, ordering, or aiding and abetting, or by virtue of superior responsibility punishable under Article 29(new) of the ECCC Law.
    Trial chamber verdict
    However, the accused appealed the closing order stating that during the relevant time (1975-1979), rape was not yet applicable as an enumerated crime under crimes against humanity. The Pre-Trial Chamber agreed that during that time period rape was not a crime in its own, but ruled that the facts described as rape can be subsumed as ‘other inhumane acts’. Accordingly, on 13 January 2011, the Pre-Trial Chamber struck rape as a crime against humanity from the indictment. On 22 September 2011 the Trial Chamber severed Case 002 in two trials. The first trial of Case 002 was limited to forced transfers of the population. The second trial of Case 002 includes forced marriage and rape (nationwide) as crimes against humanity (under other inhumane acts), as decided per the Trial Chamber’s decision of 4 April 2014 (thus the charges were (geographically) expanded in the sense that forced marriage and rape were now charged nationwide, which was not the case before). Trial hearings in Case 002/02 commenced on 17 October 2014 and the presentation of evidence started on 8 January 2015. On 16 November 2018, the Trial Chamber of the court announced its judgment convicting former Khmer Rouge senior leaders Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea and of genocide, crimes against humanity (including the specific crime of other inhumane acts through conduct characterised as forced marriage and rape in the context of forced marriage), and grave breaches of the Geneva Convention. In the judgment the Chamber found that “there existed a nationwide policy to regulate family-building and marriage, which was implemented by Party cadres at all administrative and military levels. The CPK designed this policy, replacing the role of parents in the selection of a suitable spouse, forcing couples to marry and forcing the production of children, for the purpose of increasing the country’s population within 10 to 15 years”.
    sentencing
    The Trial Chamber sentenced the accused, Khieu Samphan to life imprisonment. Taking into consideration the already imposed life sentence on Samphan in Case 002/01, the Chamber merged the two sentences into a single term of life imprisonment.
    Status
    2715
    Case number
    Case 002

  • Jurisprudence judicial mechanism

    ECCC - Meas Muth

    Country
    Cambodia
    Keywords
    Forced Marriage

    Reference link
    https://www.eccc.gov.kh/en/indicted-person/meas-muth
    Type of mechanism
    Hybrid court
    Name of mechanism
    Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)
    Name of accused
    Meas Muth
    Charges
    Meas Muth is charged with other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity, which includes forced marriage and rape. He was initially charged in absentia on 3 March 2015. On 14 December 2015, he appeared in person before the international Co-Investigating Judge and was charged with further alleged crimes, including the sexual violence charges outlined above.
    Status
    2715
    Case number
    Case 003

  • Jurisprudence judicial mechanism

    ECCC - Nuon Chea (“Nuon Chea et al.”)

    Issues
    Definitions/Elements of Sexual Violence Crimes Achievements and Challenges of Sexual Violence Prosecution Procedural Rules Advancing Sexual Violence Prosecutions
    Country
    Cambodia
    Keywords
    Acts of a Sexual Nature Coercion Consent Detention Centers Forced Marriage Common Purpose Severance of Charges Systematic Attack

    Reference link
    https://www.eccc.gov.kh/en/indicted-person/nuon-chea
    Type of mechanism
    Hybrid court
    Name of mechanism
    Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)
    Name of accused
    Nuon Chea
    Charges
    Nuon Chea was charged, in the closing order (indictment) of 15 September 2010, with: - Rape as a crime against humanity, which included forced marriage. - Other inhumane acts as a crime against humanity, which included forced marriage and rape. Both for committing (via a joint criminal enterprise), planning, instigating, ordering, or aiding and abetting, or by virtue of superior responsibility punishable under Article 29(new) of the ECCC Law.
    Trial chamber verdict
    However, the accused appealed the closing order stating that during the relevant time (1975-1979), rape was not yet applicable as an enumerated crime under crimes against humanity. The Pre-Trial Chamber agreed that during that time period rape was not a crime in its own, but ruled that the facts described as rape can be subsumed as ‘other inhumane acts’. Accordingly, on 13 January 2011, the Pre-Trial Chamber struck rape as a crime against humanity from the indictment. On 22 September 2011 the Trial Chamber severed Case 002 in two trials. The first trial of Case 002 was limited to forced transfers of the population. The second trial of Case 002 includes forced marriage and rape (nationwide) as crimes against humanity (under other inhumane acts), as decided per the Trial Chamber’s decision of 4 April 2014 (thus the charges were (geographically) expanded in the sense that forced marriage and rape were now charged nationwide, which was not the case before). Trial hearings in Case 002/02 commenced on 17 October 2014 and the presentation of evidence started on 8 January 2015. On 16 November 2018, the Trial Chamber announced its judgment convicting former Khmer Rouge senior leaders Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea and of genocide, crimes against humanity (including the specific crime of other inhumane acts through conduct characterised as forced marriage and rape in the context of forced marriage), and grave breaches of the Geneva Convention. In the judgment the Chamber found that “there existed a nationwide policy to regulate family-building and marriage, which was implemented by Party cadres at all administrative and military levels. The CPK designed this policy, replacing the role of parents in the selection of a suitable spouse, forcing couples to marry and forcing the production of children, for the purpose of increasing the country’s population within 10 to 15 years”.
    sentencing
    The Trial Chamber sentenced Nuon Chea to life imprisonment. Taking into consideration the already imposed life sentence on Nuon Chea in Case 002/01, the Chamber merged the two sentences into a single term of life imprisonment.
    Status
    2715
    Case number
    Case 002

  • Jurisprudence judicial mechanism

    ECCC - Yim Tith

    Country
    Cambodia
    Keywords
    Forced Marriage

    Reference link
    https://www.eccc.gov.kh/en/indicted-person/yim-tith
    Type of mechanism
    Hybrid court
    Name of mechanism
    Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)
    Name of accused
    Yim Tith
    Charges
    Yim Tith’s initial appearance was on 9 December 2015, where he was formally charged in the case for crimes committed in the Southwest Zone and the Northwest Zone, including for: - Other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity, including forced marriage.
    Status
    2778
    Case number
    Case 004

  • Literature

    Fein, Helen - Genocide and Gender: The Uses of Women...

    Issues
    Definitions/Elements of Sexual Violence Crimes

    Reference link
    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14623529908413934
    Full reference
    Fein, Helen, "Genocide and Gender: The Uses of Women and Group Destiny", in Journal of Genocide Research, 1999, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 43-63.
    Type of literature
    Journal Article
    Research focus
    Gaps in the Jurisprudence and Legislation on Conflict-related Sexual Violence crimes
    Author
    Fein, Helen

  • Jurisprudence judicial mechanism

    Gacaca Court

    Country
    Rwanda
    Keywords

    Reference link
    http://opil.ouplaw.com/view/10.1093/law:epil/9780199231690/law-9780199231690-e1667
    Type of mechanism
    Domestic traditional court
    Name of mechanism
    Gacaca Court

  • Literature

    Genovese, Sophia - Prosecuting U.N. Peacekeepers for Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in the Central African Republic

    Issues
    Sexual Violence against Children Socio-cultural Context of Sexual Violence
    Country
    Central African Republic (CAR)
    Keywords
    Military Perpetrator UN Peacekeeper Armed Conflict Sexual Violence Sexual Violence against Girls Gender-Based Violence Rape

    Reference link
    http://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1917&context=bjil
    Full reference
    Sophia Genovese, “Prosecuting U.N. Peacekeepers for Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in the Central African Republic”, in Brooklyn Journal of International Law, 2018, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 609-637.
    Type of literature
    Journal Article
    Research focus
    Perpetrators and Prevention, Inequality and Discrimination against Women during Armed Conflict, Women and the Armed Conflict, Obstacles to Establish Accountability for Sexual Violence Crimes

  • Jurisprudence judicial mechanism

    Guatemala, High Impact Court ‘A’ - Efraín Ríos Montt (“Montt and Menchu”)

    Issues
    Socio-cultural Context of Sexual Violence Procedural Rules Advancing Sexual Violence Prosecutions Achievements and Challenges of Sexual Violence Prosecution Sentencing and Reparations Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War
    Country
    Guatemala
    Keywords
    Ethnic Cleansing Spoil of War Retrial Indigenous Population Mental Incapacity of Accused

    Reference link
    http://www.ijmonitor.org/2018/04/the-legacy-of-rios-montt-guatemalas-most-notorious-war-criminal/
    Type of mechanism
    Domestic court
    Name of mechanism
    Guatemalan High Impact Court 'A', Constitutional Court
    Name of accused
    Efraín Ríos Montt
    Charges
    Montt was charged with genocide and crimes against humanity, including sexual violence, under command responsibility.
    Trial chamber verdict
    On 10 May 2013 he was found guilty by a Guatemalan trial court (High Impact Court ‘A’) of genocide and crimes against humanity, including sexual violence, under command responsibility. The conviction was for crimes committed against Guatemala’s Maya Ixil indigenous population during Montt’s 17-month rule in 1982 and 1983. According to the Court, women were raped, not only as the ‘spoils of war’, but as part of the systematic and intentional plan to destroy the Ixil ethnic group by exercising violence on women’s bodies as a way to destroy the social fabric and thereby ensure the destruction of the Ixil population. Specific reference was made to the testimony of one woman, who narrated how she was raped by more than 20 soldiers while she was held prisoner in a military base. The tribunal noted that sexual violence results in pain and suffering that is still experienced by many of the women, and that the violence has an inter-generational effect, noting that women reproduce life as well as culture.
    sentencing
    At first instance only: Montt, 86 years old, was sentenced to 80 years in prison (50 years for genocide and 30 years for crimes against humanity, served consecutively). Furthermore, as part of the reparation requirements, the judges ordered personal apologies to be made to the survivors of sexual violence.
    Appeals chamber verdict
    However, on 20 May 2013, Guatemala’s Constitutional Court annulled the trial judgment on procedural grounds and a retrial was subsequently ordered. In 2014, the retrial was suspended when the defense sought the removal of one of the judges on the case. On 11 January 2016, the retrial was suspended again for the court to resolve outstanding legal petitions. The hearing was held behind closed doors and Montt did not attend because of ‘mental incapacity’, which the court had decided he was suffering from in 2015 already. On 1 April, 2018, the lawyer of Ríos Montt reported that he had died of a heart failure.
    Status
    2715
    Case number
    Exp 1904-2013

  • Jurisprudence judicial mechanism

    High Court of Uganda (International Crimes Division) - Thomas Kwoyelo

    Country
    Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
    Keywords
    Lord's Resistance Army Child Soldiers

    Reference link
    http://www.ijmonitor.org/2018/09/thomas-kwoyelos-trial-commences-in-uganda/
    Type of mechanism
    Domestic court
    Name of mechanism
    High Court of Uganda (International Crimes Division)
    Name of accused
    Thomas Kwoyelo
    Charges
    On 30 August 2018 the International Crimes Division (ICD) of the High Court of Uganda confirmed 93 charges against Thomas Kwoyelo. Amongst the charges are: murder, rape, defilement, destruction of crops and property, recruitment of children as soldiers and other crimes against humanity.
    Status
    2778

  • Jurisprudence judicial mechanism

    ICC - Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein

    Country
    Sudan
    Keywords
    Accused at large Attack against a Civilian Population Armed Group Common Purpose

    Reference link
    http://www.icc-cpi.int/darfur/hussein
    Type of mechanism
    International Criminal Tribunal/Court
    Name of mechanism
    International Criminal Court
    Name of accused
    Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein
    Charges
    The arrest warrant against Hussein lists 13 crimes on the basis of his individual criminal responsibility under article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute as an indirect (co)perpetrator as follows: (1) Seven counts of crimes against humanity, namely: persecution under article 7(l)(h); murder under article 7(1)(a); forcible transfer under article 7(1)(d); rape under article 7(1)(g); inhumane acts under article 7(l)(k); imprisonment or severe deprivation of liberty under article 7(l)(e); and torture under article 7(1)(f). (2) Six war crimes, namely: murder pursuant to article 8(2)(c)(i); attacks against a civilian population under article 8(2)(e)(i); destruction of property under article 8(2)(e)(xii); rape under article 8(2)(e)(vi); pillaging under (article 8(2)(e)(v); and outrage upon personal dignity under article 8(2)(c)(ii).
    Status
    2778
    Case number
    ICC-02/05-01/12

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