MAHARASHTRA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY,

AURANGABAD

SUBJECT: INTERNATIONAL LAW

“CRIME OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE DURING

INTERNATIONAL ARMED CONFLICT”

Submitted By:
Rohan Kapoor
Roll No. 33
B.A.LL.B. (Hons.) Semester-III

Under the guidance of

Prof. (Dr.) Kondaiah Jonnalagadda
(Professor of Law)

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 CONTENTS

1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT………………………………………………..(3)
2. ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………....(4)
3. WHAT ARE RAPE AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE?....................................(5)
4. PROHIBITION OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE UNDER IHL………………..(7)
5. THE PROHIBITION OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE UNDER HUMAN
RIGHTS
LAW………………………………………………………………………..
(9)
6. SEXUAL VIOLENCE AS AN INTERNATIONAL CRIME…………….
(10)
7. WOMEN AND ARMED CONFLICT……………………………………
(14)
8. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………..
(15)

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my teacher (Prof. (Dr.)

Kondaiah Jonnalagadda) who gave me the golden opportunity to do this wonderful
project (Crime Of Sexual Violence During International Armed Conflict), which also
helped me in doing a lot of Research and I came to know about so many new
things I am really thankful to them.

Secondly I would also like to thank my parents and friends who helped me a lot
in finalizing this project within the limited time frame.

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 CRIME OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE DURING
INTERNATIONAL ARMED CONFLICT

ABSTRACT
Sexual violence is frequent in contemporary armed conflicts. International humanitarian law
and human rights law absolutely prohibit all forms of sexual violence at any time and against
any person; International criminal law also provides for the individual criminal responsibility
of the perpetrators of sexual crimes. The discrepancy between the facts on the ground and the
law is a cause for concern that cannot be explained by possible legal gaps or uncertainties. It
is necessary to find new ways to improve the implementation of existing laws at the national
and international levels. Sexual violence can also be an instrument of retaliation and revenge.
The widespread violation of civilians as weapons of destruction is one of the most salient
features of contemporary conflicts. Furthermore, wartime sexual violence is no longer
considered an inevitable by-product of war, but rather a war tactic that has been strengthened
as an important problem of international security. As we see, the understanding of historical
evidence identifies sexual violence in armed conflicts it blooms regardless of its nationality
or geographic location, and its impact is terrifying.

KEYWORDS

Sexual Violence, International Humanitarian law, International criminal law, international

security, armed conflicts.

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Sexual violence occurred during armed conflicts at all times, on all continents. The continues
to prevail in a series of contemporary armed conflicts, as in the Republic of Africa,
Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mali, South Sudan and Syria. Some
organizations and academics have provided data that they are alarming, but these data can
only show the tip of the iceberg. One of specific issues related to sexual violence is that it
remains an "invisible" crime because feelings of guilt or shame, fear of reprisal or taboo can
prevent the victims to come and talk about that. Barriers materials as Security risks, physical
distance and transportation costs can also prevent victims seek help for humanitarian
organizations that want to prevent sexual intercourse violence and respond to the needs of
victims, this is a challenge. In your operation work, the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) has, therefore, recently adopted a new approach. Assume that sexual violence
occurs in armed conflicts and efforts to provide an adequate humanitarian response to victims
of sexual violence even in the absence of accusations.

Before providing an overview of the related international legal framework sexual violence
according to IHL, human rights law and international criminal law, key terms like sexual
violence and rape will be defined. In the last section, the discrepancy between the law and the
facts on the ground will be addressed potential solutions presented.

WHAT ARE RAPE AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE?

In the Akayesu case1, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) The Chamber
said that sexual violence is "any act of a sexual nature committed on a person under coercive
circumstances". The term "sexual act" nature "is very broad, from penetration to the
comments they have sexual connotation "Coercion" must also be understood in general
terms, such as including not only a demonstration of physical strength, but also " threats,
intimidation, extortion and other forms of coercion that exploit fear or despair ".The Trial
Chamber also stated that "sexual violence is not limited to a invasion of the human body and
may include acts that do not involve penetration or even physical contact. " 2From this
1
Akayesu, Case No. IT-96-4-T, 507
2
Sexual violence in armed conflicts: A violation of international humanitarian law and human rights law,
International Review of the Red Cross (2014), 96 (894), 503–538.
Sexual violence in armed conflict

5
definition, it is clear that Sexual violence includes and is wider than rape. But there is a
minimum threshold of gravity to consider an act as "sexual violence" when committed under
coercive circumstances?
There is no clear answer to this question. The status of The International Criminal Court
(ICC) criminalizes "forced sexual slavery" prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced sterilization
or any other form of comparable violence of gravity " 3. This is a non-exhaustive list of the
most serious forms of sexual violence that fall under the jurisdiction of the ICC, which do not
helps define the minimum severity threshold for an act to be considered "sexual." violence.
"However, jurisprudence and legal writings provide a series of further concrete examples of
sexual violence: for example trafficking in human beings exploitation, mutilation of sexual
organs, sexual exploitation (as obtain sexual services in exchange for food or protection),
forced abortions, forced contraception, sexual assaults, forced marriages, sexual harassment
(like forced expulsion), forced inspections of virginity and forced public nudity has been
classified as sexual violence.

All rape and sexual violence are serious. The terms rape and "sexual violence" are simply
used to distinguish between two types of crime. So, what's the difference?

Rape occurs when a person intentionally penetrates the vagina, the anus or the mouth of
another person with a penis, without the consent of the other person. The penetration assault
is when a person enters the vagina or anus of another person with any part of the body other
than a penis, or using an object, without the person's consent.

The general definition of sexual or indecent aggression is an act of physical, psychological

and emotional violation in the form of a sexual act, inflicted on someone without his consent.
It can involve forcing or manipulating someone to witness or participate in any sexual act.4

Not all cases of sexual violence involve violence, cause physical injury or leave visible signs.
Sexual assault can cause severe discomfort, emotional damage and injuries that cannot be
seen, all of which can take a long time to recover. This is why we use the term "assault" and
treat relationships as seriously as those of violent physical attacks.

3
Armed Conflicts and Sexual Violence Against Women: An Inevitable Accompaniment?, KOSBED, 2014, 28:
1 - 20
4
What is rape and sexual assault?, https://www.met.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/rsa/rape-and-
sexual-assault/what-is-rape-and-sexual-assault/, Last visited on August 17, 2018

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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), sexual violence can be defined as "any
sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, or acts for
traffic, or otherwise direct, against the sexuality of a person who uses coercion, by anyone,
regardless of their relationship with the victim, in any environment, including, among others,
home and work.” If you accept such a definition, therefore, it seems that the severity
threshold is very low and that the term "violence" it covers not only physical violence but
also verbal or psychological violence.

THE PROHIBITION OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE UNDER IHL

Before moving on to the main topic, one must know what International Humanitarian Law is.
So, lets first discuss what is International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and what is the role of
IHL in the prohibition of sexual violence.

International humanitarian law is one of the aspects of universal international law whose
objective is to forge and ensure peaceful relations between peoples. It contributes
significantly to the defense of peace, since it promotes humanity in times of war.

The main objective of international humanitarian law is to protect the human being and
protect the dignity of man in the extreme situation of war and end, or at least hinder, the
decline of humanity to a state of complete barbarism. The duty to respect and protect the
individual acquires greater importance when the author of the threat and violence is the state
itself. Therefore, international humanitarian law is part of that branch of international law
that protects human rights from the abuse of state power.

The following three are normative perspectives related to sexual violence:

1. International and non-international armed conflict: in the case of international armed

conflicts, the implicit and explicit mention of rape and other forms of sexual violence is
mentioned in the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their subsequent Additional
Protocols of 1977. In the case of non-international armed conflicts, Article 3, which is
common to the four Geneva Conventions, is of considerable importance. It was described by
the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as a reflection of "elementary considerations on
humanity" applicable to all types of armed conflict.

2. The law governing crime - the treaty law, ie an agreement signed by sovereign states and
international organizations in international law; and the customary law that implies customs
as an aspect of international law.

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3. The responsibility of the State in relation to the international armed conflict: "serious
infractions". The remarkable result of the Geneva Act was the introduction of provisions on
"Serious violations" in all its conventions. In particular, the GCs I-IV and AP I contain lists
of which offenses constitute "serious violations" of their provisions. The lists contain:
intentional killing, torture or inhumane treatment, which cause headaches or serious damage
to the body or health.

One of the main criticisms of the IHL treaties is that they do not respond to the needs of
women in armed conflicts because they cannot penalize and prohibit sexual violence
sufficiently. Although the provisions of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the Additional
Protocols of 1977 cannot address all issues, they provide necessary protection and
prohibitions against sexual violence.

The consequences of sexual violence have spread among people in communities and, as a
result, this has led to multiple initiatives of various humanitarian organizations, United
Nations (UN) agencies, civil society actors, and governments, military and academic the
development of the Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has also been a long-
awaited initiative.

A significant extension of the Hague Law, the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the related
Additional Protocols of 1977 were initiated by the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC). These key treaties are intended to extend the scope of humanitarian law from the
regulation of the conduct of war to the protection of civilians.

In addition, rape has always been underestimated in both international and non-international
armed conflicts. The Geneva Convention IV prohibits such conduct as an "attack on the
honor of women", with additional Protocols that extend the specific range of protections and
introduce a neutral language regarding broad prohibitions against sexual and gender-based
violence, such as "guarantees fundamentals ".

The term "conflict-related sexual violence" is not legal and has not been used in international
treaties on humanitarian law. However, not all "acts of sexual violence related to the conflict"
amount to a violation of international humanitarian law and the crime of war. IHL applies
only in situations of armed conflict and in acts that have a direct or at least sufficient link
with an armed conflict.

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In accordance with international law, the Charter of the United Nations prohibits war; In
addition, the threat of using force against the territorial integrity or political independence of
any State has been prohibited.

A state that uses force against another state to achieve its objectives is contrary to
international law and therefore commits an aggressive act, even when it is apparently correct.
The Charter of the United Nations, however, does not affect the right of a State to use force
in the exercise of its right to self-defense.

THE PROHIBITION OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE UNDER HUMAN

RIGHTS LAW

The human rights law applies at all times. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze briefly rules
of rights that could prohibit sexual violence and thus integrate IHL in times of armed conflict
(particularly with regard to the acts of sexual violence they have there is no link with the
armed conflict), as well as providing useful information on interpretation and application of
IHL bans against sexual violence.

Surprisingly, most human rights treaties, universal and regional, do not contain explicit or
specific prohibitions of sexual violence. Even the Convention on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) of 1979 does not contain any provision to that
effect. Only "trafficking of women and exploitation of prostitution" of women "is explicitly
prohibited. The treaties of IHL - and even the Geneva treaty of 1949 Agreements: they seem
to be more explicit, specific and precise than humans treaties of rights in general with regard
to the prohibition of sexual violence.

There are rare exceptions. For example, at a universal level, the Convention on the Rights of
the Child of 1989 establishes that States Parties should protect children from all forms of
sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, including through the adoption of legislative,
administrative, social and educational measures. States Parties should also especially avoid:
"a) The Induce or coerce a child to participate in any illegal sexual activity; (second) The
abusive use of children in prostitution or other illegal sexual practices; (c) The abusive use of
children in pornographic shows and materials. " Therefore, the State has an obligation to
prevent and protect children of being sexually abused not only by state actors, but also by
private actors (obligation of due diligence).

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At the regional level, the Inter-American Convention to prevent, Punishment and eradication
of violence against women in 1994 prohibit "Violence against women", which includes not
only physical and psychological but also sexual violence, both in the public and private
sphere this Convention was inspired by the non-binding United Nations Declaration on the
elimination of violence against women in 1993, which contains similar provisions. The
protocol to the African Charter for Human Rights and the rights of women in Africa
(Protocol Maputo) of 2003 prohibit violence against women in a similar way and contains a
number of provisions aimed at protecting women from sexual violence. A provision deals in
particular with armed conflicts and states that:

States Parties undertake to protect women asylum seekers, refugees and returnees and
internally displaced people, against all forms of violence, rape and more forms of
sexual exploitation and ensure that such acts are considered war crimes, genocides
and / or crimes against humanity and that their authors they are brought before the
courts before a competent criminal jurisdiction.

There is no specific treaty on sexual violence or violence in the European system protection
of women. In 2002, however, the Council of Europe adopted a recommendation on violence
against women which defines violence against women include rape and other forms of sexual
violence in particular recommends that Member States "criminalize rape, sexual slavery,
forced pregnancy, forced sterilization or any other form of sexual violence of comparable
seriousness as an intolerable violation of human rights, such as crimes against humanity and,
when they are engaged in the context of armed conflict, like war crimes ".

SEXUAL VIOLENCE AS AN INTERNATIONAL CRIME

For a very long time, conflict-related sexual violence crimes were not recognized as
independent international crimes constituting genocide, crimes against humanity, or war
crimes, and as such were not or were very rarely prosecuted before international criminal
tribunals. It took until the 1990s before the statutes of international criminal tribunals
explicitly labeled conflict-related forms of sexual violence as international crimes.

In the Rome Statute of the permanent International Criminal Court (ICC), sexual violence
crimes are now recognized as crimes against humanity and war crimes, and they encompass
rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced sterilization, or any
other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity. In addition, persecution against any
identifiable group or collectivity on the ground of gender, and the crime of enslavement

10
(which may include trafficking in persons, in particular women and children), are prohibited
as crimes against humanity.10 Although the Rome Statute definition of genocide (which
follows verbatim the 1948 Genocide Convention) does not include specific sexual violence
crimes amongst its acts, the ICC’s guiding Elements of Crimes do recognize that rape and
other forms of sexual violence could be prosecuted as such. Notwithstanding this important
recognition, most of the time people conceptualize sexual violence crimes as crimes
committed by men against women, and they are prosecuted when they fit that model.
Research over the past few years indicates, however, that the picture on sexual violence in
conflict is far more nuanced than what commentators often have assumed. Therefore, before
one can think of judicial or other responses to these crimes, it is important to understand what
sexual violence in conflict really entails, which may be different in each and every conflict
situation. This Part will therefore set out some of the realities that are least addressed when
talking about sexual violence in conflict, with a focus on male victims of sexual violence and
female perpetrators of sexual violence.5

For international armed conflicts, the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the AP I of 1977
criminalize some serious violations of international humanitarian law through the specific
system of the grave Violations. They affirm that all High Contracting Parties are subject to
an obligation to enact the necessary legislation to provide effective criminal sanctions for
criminal suspects, to search for them, regardless of their nationality and place of the crime
and pursue it or extradite it to another high contracting party to the process.

Rather, the list of serious infractions under the Geneva Conventions and AP I is short and
does not explicitly contain rape or other forms of sexual violence. Some of the authors
analyzed this lack of reference expressed as an indication that indicates a time did not
consider rape and other forms of sexual violence as belonging to the most horrendous crimes
that require specific criminalization. One can just speculate on whether it was true in 1949 or
even in 1977, but it's in fact, rape and other forms of sexual violence have rarely been
prosecuted also at the international level before the appearance of the international ad hoc in
the criminal courts of the 1990s for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

Today, it is clear that rape and other forms of sexual violence serious violations committed
against protected persons in the context of associated with an international armed conflict,
when these acts are categories of "torture or inhumane treatment" or "causing great suffering
5
Anne-Marie de Brouwer, The Importance of Understanding Sexual Violence in Conflict for Investigation and
Prosecution Purposes, 2015

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intentionally" or serious injuries to the body or health. "In the IHL Customary IHL study, the
comment on rule 156 ("Definition of war crimes") explains that:
Although the violation was prohibited by the Geneva Conventions, it was not
explicitly as a serious violation in the Conventions or in Additional Protocol I, but
should be considered a serious violation based on the fact that it amounts to inhumane
or intentionally causing severe suffering or serious injury body or health.

Now the question arises, “CAN SEXUAL VIOLENCE AMOUNT TO A CRIME AGAINST
HUMANITY AND/OR AN ACT OF GENOCIDE?” Let us try to find out the answer.

When rape is used as an instrument of destruction, it is oftentimes within the context of a

policy of ethnic cleansing. It involves terrorizing the suspect, including the use of gang rape,
sexual torture, psychological torture, rape camps, and forced impregnation. An objective of
ethnic cleansing as an act of genocide becomes the destruction of a cultural group. Women
are often the key link to this cultural bond and their physical and psychological destruction
quickly permeates the entire group. "Raping women in a community can be seen as raping
the body of the community, in doing so, undermining the entire fabric of that community.''

The Genocide Convention prohibits the attempt to destroy a people based on nationality,
ethnicity, race, or religion. Among the acts of violence contained within the Convention are
imposing conditions of life calculated to destroy the group and imposing measures designed
to prevent births within the group. Thus, rape and other forms of gender violence constitute
genocide when committed with the requisite intent. This could include destroying a woman's
ability to maintain the family unit damaging a woman's fertility, and rendering her
undesirable in the eyes of her social community.

Prosecutor v. Akayesu, decided by the ICTR, is considered the most important case for
prosecuting rape as an international crime. It was also the first international tribunal case to
link the crime of rape explicitly to genocide. Interestingly, the Tribunal only made this link
as a result of a rather unexpected turn of events. The prosecutor did not initially include rape
crimes in the indictment, but the spontaneous testimony of a witness prompted the prosecutor
to ask for a leave of court in order to investigate the crimes further and, if need be, amend the
indictment. The support of the Tribunal's only woman judge, Navanethem Pillay, ensured
that new evidence would be heard.

In another significant development, the Tribunal in Akayesu found that the attempt to
prevent births in a particular protected group can be physical as well as mental. If a woman

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who has been raped refused subsequently to have children because of trauma, then a crime
has been committed.

Later, the ICTY would also make the connection between forced pregnancy and genocide,
solidifying its credibility in international law. In the Karadzic and Mladic decision, the
Tribunal found that forced impregnation may constitute evidence of genocidal intent through
ethnic cleansing, and it concluded that the systematic rape of women is in some cases
intended to transmit a new ethnic identity to the child, and could constitute genocide.

As noted, Akayesu is considered the most important case for the prosecution of rape under
international law. In that case, the Tribunal not only expressed that rape can constitute
genocide, but it also found Akayesu responsible under Article 3(g) of the ICTR Statute for
the rape of women. Article 3(g) prohibits rape committed as part of a widespread or
systematic attack against any civilian population on national, political, ethnic, racial or
religious grounds. Because Tutsi women were targeted based on their ethnicity, the ICTR
concluded that the rapes formed part of widespread and systematic attack on a civilian
population ... and that the rape crimes in Akayesu were punishable as crimes against
humanity.

Kunarac6, decided more than three years after Akayesu, was the first case in the ICTY to find
a person guilty of the crime against humanity. Significantly, the original indictment itself was
also groundbreaking. It centered on eight accused, who were each charged with various
forms of sexual violence, and the allegations focused exclusively on sex crimes. In the
process of finding the defendants guilty on numerous counts of rape, the Kunarac Tribunal
also clarified the concept of crimes against humanity under the ICTY Statute.

The most recent definition of crimes against humanity was constructed at the Diplomatic
Conference for the establishment of a permanent International Criminal Court in Rome in
August 1998. In its final version, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC
Statute) reflects the general definition of crimes against humanity under international law:
For the purposes of the Statute, "crimes against humanity" means any of the
following acts [which are listed thereafter] when committed as part of a widespread
or systematic attack against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.

6
Prosecutor v. Dragoljub Kunarac, Radomir Kovac and Zoran Vukovic (Trial Judgment), IT-96-23-T & IT-96-
23/1-T, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), 22 February 2001, available at:
http://www.refworld.org/cases,ICTY,3ae6b7560.html [accessed 20 August 2018]

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The drafters of the ICC Statute took a major step in expanding the elements composing
crimes against humanity, particularly as they related to crimes against women. In comparison
to the ICTY and ICTR Statutes, the expanded coverage of the ICC Statute for crimes against
women is significant. In addition to the crime of rape, the ICC Statute now clearly codifies
several other crimes against women, including sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced
pregnancy, enforced sterilization, and sexual violence.7

WOMEN AND ARMED CONFLICT

At the end of the second world war, the United Nations States Parties adopted two key texts:
the Charter of the United Nations, signed in San Francisco on 26 June 1945, and the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted by the United Nations General
Assembly in 1948. These two founding texts of the international human rights corpus
establish a fundamental principle: respect for and protection of the dignity and worth of the
human person.

In 1949, the United Nations General Assembly paid consideration to a particularly blatant
violation of human dignity: prostitution and its exploitation by third parties. In the preamble
to the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the
Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others, of 2 December 1949, the States Parties recalled
that prostitution is “incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human person”.
Consequently, the UN undertook to combat pimping in all its forms and to ensure assistance
was provided to prostituted persons.

In 1979, article 6 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination

against Women (CEDAW) reinforced this policy by explicitly requesting that States Parties
“suppress all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution of women”.

In the early 2000s, the United Nations developed international policies and instruments to
supplement those already in place. Within the context of the fight against human trafficking,
the Palermo Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially
Women and Children (2000) includes “the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other
forms of sexual exploitation” within its use of terms referencing human trafficking and
exploitation.8

7
Mark Ellis, Breaking the Silence: Rape as an International Crime, Volume 38 Issue 2 2006-2007
8
Grégoire Théry, Prostitution under International Human Rights Law: An Analysis of States’ Obligations and
the Best Ways to Implement Them, CAP international, February 2016

14
Contemporary warfare involves women as combatants much more than before. Just to give
the brief examples: women constitute 15.6% out of 1.1 million soldiers in the US Army
(Ogilvie, 2013) and 40.000 women served in the US Army during the 1990–1991 Gulf War.
It is estimated that one-fifth of the Eritrean Army are women (Rashid, 2003). At the same
time women constitute 4.21% of Polish soldiers (Wojsko Polskie, 2014, Wojsko Polskie,
2014). Nevertheless, the vast majority of women are involved in armed conflict not as
combatants but as members of civilian population, which have none or little impact on its
outbreak and course (Prescott, 2013). In the present-day armed conflicts women are still
those who are overwhelmingly affected by the consequences of hostilities, but in general, it
was proved not earlier than 10–20 years ago, that the experiences of women and men in
armed conflicts differ considerably (Gardam and Jarvis, 2001, Moser, 2001). Among factors
significantly influencing women's situation during warfare are social, cultural and economic
conditions under which women live normally in times of peace (Gardam, 1997, Gardam and
Charlesworth, 2000, Buchowska, 2014).

Although slight changes can be observed during past two decades, women still constitute the
majority of people living in poverty in the world (United Nations Department of Economic
and Social Affairs, 2015, p. 190), which means that women are more likely to experience
negative economic consequences of the conflict, and they have to put much more effort to
reconstruct their households and survive in the post-conflict situation. Additionally, due to
the death of men-combatants in armed conflicts large numbers of households headed by
women are created. These households are very likely to be poor (Gardam & Jarvis, 2001).

Furthermore, even if during the conflict, women overtake jobs in the public sector, which are
typically male, after the war women often lose those jobs and return to ones in the private
sector or undertake tasks traditionally associated with housekeeping and certainly generating
no income (CEDAW Committee, 2013, Gardam and Jarvis, 2001). Therefore, compared with
men, women are much more exposed and vulnerable to the negative economic consequences
of armed conflict.9

CONCLUSION

9
Natalia Buchowska, Violated or protected. Women's rights in armed conflicts after the Second World War,
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351667416300324, last visited on 19 August 2018

15
Rape and other forms of sexual violence are strictly prohibited under the IHI and
international human rights law. The Geneva Conventions and their additions the protocols
explicitly prohibit rape. They also outlaw cruel or inhuman treatments torture, outrage
against personal dignity, indecent aggression and forced prostitution, and require respect for
people and honor. IHL ban on rape and more the forms of sexual violence apply to both
international and non-international armaments conflicts and is also part of the customary law.
The law on human rights prohibits sexual relations violence at all times. This is done first of
all through the ban torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Other
human rights are also relevant, such as the prohibition of sexual slavery, trafficking in human
beings of people for the purpose of prostitution of others or of other forms of sexuality
exploitation, the right to privacy or privacy and the prohibition of discrimination Rape and
other forms of sexual violence can amount to international crimes - war crimes, crimes
against humanity and acts of genocide when the conditions for such crimes (including
contextual elements) are met. As such, they involve individual criminal responsibility.

The international legal framework for prohibition and criminalization of sexual violence is
extremely strong, even if it is imperfect. Sexual violence is one of those areas in which the
different branches of international law (IHL, human rights) are branched international
criminal law) echo and reinforce each other, providing an essential complementarily.

Despite these legal results, the reality in the field is scary. In to bridge the gap between law
and reality, there is an urgent need for strengthen the implementation of the international ban
on sexual violence and the prosecution of sexual violence at the national and international
levels. At the national level, the proper application of the prohibition of sexual violence
violence goes beyond a simple translation of international law and rules. Major institutional
reforms are sometimes needed to ensure compliance with the law. Internationally, and
effectively IHL compliance mechanisms are needed more efforts must be made to ensure that
sexual crimes are properly investigated and processed by international judicial bodies.
The elimination of sexual violence in armed conflicts is ambitious: some I would say utopian
- project. States and humanitarian actors must not capitulate, However, since sexual violence
is not an inevitable or intrinsic component of Armed conflicts.

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