History
Gender-Based Violence in Conflict Zones and International Legal Remedies
Quick fact
In 1998, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda convicted Jean-Paul Akayesu of genocide, marking the first time that rape was explicitly recognized as an act of genocide and a war crime by an international court.
Why this is interesting
We often hear about war, but what happens to the people who survive a different kind of attack—one that targets them because of their gender? And why is it only recently that the law has started to take it seriously?
Read the full explanation
Understanding Gender-Based Violence in Conflict Zones and International Legal Remedies
Gender-based violence (GBV) in conflict zones refers to acts like rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced sterilization, and other forms of violence directed at individuals because of their gender. It disproportionately affects women and girls, but also men and boys, and it has been a hidden reality of war for centuries. For a long time, these acts were seen as inevitable collateral damage or as private crimes, not as violations of international law. The turning point came with the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda in the 1990s, where sexual violence was used systematically as a tactic of ethnic cleansing. The international community responded by creating ad hoc tribunals—the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)—which began to treat rape and sexual violence as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide. These tribunals also established landmark precedents that sexual violence could constitute torture and persecution. The Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 1998, explicitly codified many of these crimes and gave the ICC jurisdiction over them. So, the legal response today involves a combination of international criminal law, international humanitarian law (the Geneva Conventions), and international human rights law, which together create a framework for accountability.
A deeper explanation
The mechanism through which international law addresses GBV in conflict is multi-layered. First, the classification of these acts as specific international crimes is crucial: they can be prosecuted as war crimes (when committed during armed conflict and linked to the conflict), as crimes against humanity (when part of a widespread or systematic attack on civilians), and as acts of genocide (when committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group). The legal definitions of these crimes are set out in the Rome Statute and have been further developed by the case law of the ICC and the ad hoc tribunals. The effect of this classification is that individuals, not just states, can be held criminally responsible. The ICC operates on the principle of complementarity: it only steps in when national courts are unwilling or unable to carry out genuine investigations and prosecutions. This encourages states to bring justice at the domestic level first. In addition to criminal accountability, international law provides for reparations to victims, including compensation, restitution, and rehabilitation. The ICC has a Trust Fund for Victims that assists in this. Furthermore, UN Security Council resolutions, such as Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security, and Resolution 1820, specifically address conflict-related sexual violence and call for its prevention and for ending impunity. The entire system works by creating a legal framework that names the crime, defines the prohibited acts, assigns individual responsibility, and aims to provide justice and redress to survivors. It matters because it transforms a previously unspoken reality into a recognized violation with concrete consequences, acting as a deterrent and offering a path to justice for survivors.