Ralph, Regan E.

This article focuses on how existing human rights principles can be applied to protect and promote women's sexual autonomy. Part I discusses the extent to which women's rights have been recognized as human rights and how far current understanding of international human rights law goes toward protecting women's ability to exercise their sexual autonomy. Part II applies the human rights methodology to two case studies to analyze the promise and limitations of the present human rights framework for eradicating such violations.

Reports of rape in the former Yugoslavia have highlighted the abusive nature of wartime rape and the persistent misunderstandings regarding its prevalence, function and motivation in war. Efforts to prosecute rape effectively by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), established to try war crimes in the territory have also revealed the difficulties in applying existing international human rights and humanitarian law standards to rape.