The tools to combat the war on women bodies: rape and sexual violence against women in armed conflict

This article examines how international law regarding sexual violence and armed conflict has developed significantly since the 1990s. Rape and sexual violence was commonplace during conflict in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and most recently has been used in Darfur, Sudan and in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Both the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia started momentum for the prosecution of sexual violence and rape in armed conflict. Over time, a number of tools have been developed that can be used to combat sexual violence against women in armed conflict, including humanitarian law, the Genocide Convention, laws condemning crimes against humanity, and customary international law. This article analyzes the effectiveness of the tools available and examines how they can be utilized in the future to prevent sexual violence during armed conflict.

Kas Wachala, "The tools to combat the war on womens bodies: rape and sexual violence against women in armed conflict" (2012) 16:3 Intl JHR 533.