Sexual Violence as an International Crime: Interdisciplinary Approaches

This edited volume focuses on developments in recognizing, investigating, and prosecuting cases of sexual violence in (post-)conflict situations from an interdisciplinary angle. The investigation and prosecution of these cases raises new and challenging questions as to how to build evidence, but also how to address victims’ concerns in that process. It addresses innovations and challenges of empirical and other new kinds of social scientific, archival and medical data collection techniques; the development of evidence in relation to charges ranging from sexual violence as a war crime, crime against humanity to genocide; evidentiary and procedural achievements and challenges involved in prosecuting sexual victimization in international courts; and how to create awareness of sexual violence crimes in order to recognize such crimes and to prevent them in the future.

Contributors: Lynn Lawry, Kirsten Johnson, Jana Asher, Maxine Marcus, John Hagan, Richard Brooks, Todd Haugh, Chen Reis, Kelly Askin, Valerie Oosterveld, Sandesh Sivakumaran, Patricia Viseur Sellers, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Linda Bianchi, Michelle Jarvis, Elena Martin Salgado, Sara Sharratt, Brigid Inder, Rachel Irwin, Teresa Doherty, Anne-Marie de Brouwer, Charlotte Ku, Renée Römkens, Larissa van den Herik, and Silke Studzinsky.


About this book
‘Sexual Violence as an International Crime: Interdisciplinary Approaches is a comprehensive, valuable and – above all, stimulating – contribution to the literature on sexual violence and international criminal law. [T]he wide range of perspectives on the prosecution of crimes of sexual violence in international law […] with all the relevant international criminal courts and tribunals being addressed, combined with the clarity and insightfulness of the analysis, make this collection stand out from other publications in the field. […]The appealing feature of this collection is its interdisciplinary nature. […] Sexual Violence as an International Crime makes a strong contribution to literature on sexual violence and international criminal law and is a most useful resource, not merely for those with research interests in international criminal justice and gender crimes. Finally, while the journey towards achieving justice for gender crimes is not yet complete, this edited collection reminds readers of the major achievements of international criminal law in prosecuting sexual violence.’
Olga Jurasz in Journal of Int’l Criminal Justice (2014) 398

‘In addition to discussing the changes in the law and in the courts, the book’s greatest contribution is as a testament to the seismic change that has occurred around the globe during the last twenty years regarding the social construct and understanding of gender-based violence as an act of war or a violation of human rights. […]Reaching back into the past while providing lessons for the future, this timely book is a worthwhile read for anyone interested about the handling of sexual violence cases in post-conflict regimes.’
Margareth Etienne in JOTWELL (2013)

‘This volume will serve as an aperçu for law students, human rights defenders, academics, practitioners and judges; representing a great effort of bringing together international experiences in prosecuting sexual violence as an international crime and ways forward to effectively achieve this.’
Cecilia Toledo Escobar in German Yearbook of International Law (2014) 629