Time for Justice: The Case for International Prosecutions of Rape and Gender-Based Violence in the Former Yugoslavia

This article begins with a brief overview of the historical invisibility of rape and other gender-based violence in international humanitarian and human rights discourse. It also describes the factual basis for prosecutions of rape and other forms of gender-based violence in the context of the former Yugoslavia. Finally, the authors examine the relevant provisions of the Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) which, under conventional and customary international law, provides the tribunal with jurisdiction to prosecute rape and other forms of gender-based violence as international crimes. This section reviews the rape and other forms of gender-based violence captured by each substantive crime defined in the Statute and explains why gender-specific offenses must be recognized and prosecuted under all of these relevant provisions.