Of Triumphs and Taboos: Assessing Accountability for Perpetrators of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Against Men in International Criminal Law

Abstract

These are a few reasons why the topic of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) towards men is a crucial one to be held, especially within the context of international criminal law. Criminal prosecution is one of the avenues in which justice for victims around the world is achieved and should be effective to provide for all victims without discrimination. As international criminal law is a continuously developing area of international law, understanding SGBV in this context, from its inception until present day, is imperative for its future and ensuring that such impunity is quashed. The establishment of a permanent International Criminal Court gave hope that accountability and justice for grave humanitarian and human rights violations would finally be realised. This thesis analyses the topic of SGBV against men and male victims of CRSV within the framework of international criminal law. This analysis illustrates whether international criminal law satisfies historical and current objectives in achieving justice for international crimes, specifically SGBV in armed conflict. The subsequent subsections investigate the main problem of the thesis through a combination of research methods through the lens of feminist legal methodology. It is important to understand that this methodology is dynamic and stratified. The purpose of applying the feminist legal approach is not to weigh the rights of men against the rights of women; rather, it is to apply the same reasoning which has brought the disbalance of women’s rights under international law to the surface and scrutinised it towards male victims of SGBV.