The Parameters of Enslavement and the Act of Forced Marriage

Authors: 
Title: 
The Parameters of Enslavement and the Act of Forced Marriage
Journal Citation: 
13(4) INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW REVIEW, 895-916 (2013)
This article discusses forced marriage in the context of recent conflicts in Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It discusses the Charles Taylor judgement at the Special Court for Sierra Leone and other international case law on forced marriage. It examines various legal definitions of enslavement from various international criminal tribunals and the 1926 Slavery Convention. The article analyses and upholds the recent classification of forced marriage as a crime of sexual enslavement and suggests how this classification should be applied to forced marriages during recent conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Sudanese region of Darfur, and the northern districts of Uganda.