the Place of Sexual Crimes in International Criminal Courts

Sexual violence against women has a deep and historical context; this violence stems from thoughts about the plurality of women and their reduction to the physical body. For decades, people have abused the conflict of sexual violence as a war tactic in order to intimidate, terrorize, and control the civilian population during domestic and international armed conflicts. Inadequate services for sexual assault, survivors during war time formal disregard for the harm inflicted on women and girls, and a lack of commitment to prosecuting sex offenders have made this fact more complicated. Despite the heinous nature of sexual crimes, these behaviors were a common and unavoidable consequence of hostilities, and therefore perpetrators were not prosecuted. Following the armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and all kinds of sexual violence against women and girls during these conflicts, the international community came up with an innovative way to prosecute sex offenders. Although since the early 1990s, international criminal courts have ruled more explicitly in these areas and prosecuted criminals, unfortunately, there are still many legal and administrative gaps in this matter. The present study responded to how to prevent such acts of violence and concluded the ICC Statute is the first legal instrument to include crimes of sexual violence against women; however, it’s applicability and implementation faced numerous legal and practical gaps and challenges.