Supranational Criminal Prosecution of Sexual Violence

Awarded with the Max Van der Stoel Human Rights Award 2006

The 1996 report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Rwanda stated that during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda ‘rape was the rule and its absence the exception’. Indeed, rape and other forms of sexual violence as constituting genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes, directed in particular against women, have taken place on a massive scale since time immemorial and are still rampant.

This study assesses the supranational criminal prosecution of sexual violence, notably whether supranational criminal law and procedure are adequate from the perspective of victims of sexual violence. In addition, the legal consequences of the supranational criminal law system (sentencing and reparation) are examined with the situation of victims of sexual violence in mind. The adequacy of supranational criminal prosecution of sexual violence is primarily examined from the point of view of the ICC, the benchmark for supranational criminal prosecutions, with clear reference to the ICTY and ICTR practice in the field of sexual violence prosecutions. The study concludes with some recommendations for a more comprehensive framework of supranational criminal prosecution of sexual violence.


About this book
‘de Brouwer […] has offered a very thorough and original analysis of the transitional justice] mechanisms and their dealings with sexual violence. This book is therefore a valuable addition to the literature on transitional justice, international criminal justice but also criminology and is certainly of utmost importance for the improvement of the dealings with the war crime of sexual violence.’
Estelle Zinsstag in 11 Criminology and Criminal Justice 91 (1) 2011.

‘de Brouwer may be applauded for making the special legal needs of victims of sexual crimes visible.’
Larissa van den Herik in 25 Netherlands Quaterly of Human Rights 737 (4) 2007.

‘In the next years, it will not be easy to add something [to this book]. Nobody who writes on the prosecution and trial of sexual violence in a supranational criminal context can avoid this book. It describes, analyses and comments all the relevant topic in detail. It is, to be brief, a rich book that merits a prestigious international prize.
R. Haveman in 18 Delikt en Delinkwent 250 (3) 2008