Forced Marriage in Conflict Situations: Researching and Prosecuting Old Harms and New Crimes

This article examines the legal status of forced marriages during armed conflict. The author contends that such marriages should be considered enslavement under international law rather than a new and separate crime against humanity. By analyzing the conflicts of Sierra Leone, Liberia, Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the author argues that forced marriages ought not to be conceptualized as a "new" crime against humanity as the Appeals Chamber of the Special Court for Sierra Leone has done. Instead, it is imperative to use the lens of slavery for two reasons: (a) the practical realities of forced marriages and (b) the established legal norms of slavery.