Rape before the international criminal court

Abstract

Sexual crimes have been committed for a very long time especially during war; in fact they have occurred in every armed conflict throughout human history. They took place despite the continuous effort made by the international community against sexual and gender-based crimes. While these crimes have been ignored during World War I and World War II, things had started changing for the better in the 1990’s with the establishment of the ICTY and ICTR. These Tribunals were the first to include in their Statures rape as a crime against humanity and also come up with a definition for rape. The ICC further strengthened the work of the Tribunals by expanding g the list of gender-based crimes and sexual violence. The Office of the Prosecu8tor is doing its utmost to end the impunity against rape. It came up with a Policy Paper on Sexual and Gender-Based Crimes, its aim aim being to ensure the correct prosecution of sexual and gender-based crimes and gives victims access to effective justice. This research project aims to widen the knowledge of the gravity of rape, and provides and over view of the phases that encouraged the formation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) , so as to give the reader a detailed explanation of how the criminal status of rape in international law has developed.