Gender and International Criminal Law

Indira Rosenthal, Valerie Oosterveld, and Susana SáCouto

Provides an in-depth examination of how gender is perceived and analysed in international criminal law
Offers recommendations for how gender, including sexual violence and other gender-based crimes, can be more meaningfully addressed by international courts and tribunals
Identifies key gaps in the understanding of gender within international criminal law

Gender and International Criminal Law

Indira Rosenthal, Valerie Oosterveld, and Susana SáCouto

Description

The last few decades have seen remarkable developments in international criminal justice, especially in relation to the pursuit of individuals responsible for sexual violence and other gender-based crimes. Historically ignored, justified, or minimised, this category of crimes now has a heightened profile in the international political and judicial arena. Despite this, gender is poorly understood, and blind spots, biases, and stereotypes prevail.

This book brings together leading feminist international criminal and humanitarian law academics and practitioners to examine the place of gender in international criminal law (ICL). It identifies and analyses past and current narrow understandings of gender, before considering how a limited conceptualization affects accountability efforts. The authors consider how best to implement a more nuanced understanding of gender in the practice of international criminal law by identifying possible responses, including embedding a sophisticated gender strategy into the practice of ICL, the gender-sensitive application of international human rights and humanitarian law, and encouraging a gender-competent approach to judging in ICL. The authors' aim is to strengthen efforts for accountability for all atrocity crimes-war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and aggression.

Gender and International Criminal Law

Indira Rosenthal, Valerie Oosterveld, and Susana SáCouto

Misconceptions and Misunderstandings about Gender in International Criminal Law
1:What is 'Gender' in International Criminal Law?, Indira Rosenthal, Valerie Oosterveld, Susana SáCouto
2:The Gendered Framework of International Humanitarian Law and the Development of International Criminal Law, Judith Gardam, Michelle Jarvis
3:A Feminist Critique of Approaches to International Criminal Justice in the Age of Identity Politics: A Case Study of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Prosecutions before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Kirsten Campbell, Gorana Mlinarević
Expanding Approaches to Gender in International Criminal Law: Beyond 'Gender = Women' and 'Gender = Crimes of Sexual Violence'
4:Sexual Violence Against Men in Contemporary Warfare, Dubravka Žarkov
5:Children, Gender and International Criminal Justice, Gloria Atiba-Davies, Leo Nwoye
6:The International Crimes of Slavery and the Slave Trade: A Feminist Critique, Patricia Viseur-Sellers, Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum
7:Victory for Women and LGBTIQ Rights under International Criminal Law: Gender in the Draft Crimes against Humanity Treaty, Lisa Davis, Danny Bradley
8:Gender Dimensions of Forced Marriage in International Criminal Law, Melanie O'Brien
9:Reproductive Crimes in International Criminal Law, Rosemary Grey
10:Using International Criminal Law to Curb Discriminatory Practices Against Females: The Case of Female Genital Mutilation, Antonia Mulvey
Engendering Justice: The Future of International Criminal Law
11:'Gender-Inclusivity' in the International Criminal Court's First Reparation Proceedings, Jonathan O'Donohue, Rosemary Grey
12:Gender and the Implementation of International Criminal Law in the Latin American Region, Daniela Kravetz
13:Fragmentation Fears or Interaction Opportunities? The Role and Potential of International Human Rights Law in Shaping International Criminal Law's Gender Jurisprudence, Catherine O'Rourke
14:Contemporary Armed Conflict and Gender, Helen Durham, Laura Green
15:Is International Criminal Law Particularly Impervious to Feminist Reconstruction? Legally Authorized Resistances to Feminist Judging, Dianne Otto

Gender and International Criminal Law

Indira Rosenthal, Valerie Oosterveld, and Susana SáCouto

Author Information

Indira Rosenthal, Faculty of Law, University of Tasmania, Valerie Oosterveld, Professor, Faculty of Law, Western University, and Susana SáCouto, Director, War Crimes Research Office

Indira Rosenthal consults widely on gender, international human rights and ICL. She has served as Gender Adviser and Legal Adviser with Amnesty International, Legal Counsel with Human Rights Watch's International Justice Program and as a senior government lawyer in the Australian Attorney-General's Department. She publishes on gender issues in her areas of specialism.

Valerie Oosterveld is a Professor at the Faculty of Law, Western University (Canada) and the Associate Director of Western's Centre for Transitional Justice and Post-Conflict Reconstruction. She is a member of the Canadian Partnership for International Justice and has published widely on gender issues in ICL.

Susana SáCouto directs the War Crimes Research Office and the Hague Summer Program at American University Washington College of Law, where she teaches courses on ICL, including a seminar on gender and ICL. She has advised and provided legal assistance on ICL issues to international, regional and domestic courts and publishes on issues at the intersection of gender and ICL.

Contributors:

Judith Gardam
Michelle Jarvis
Kirsten Campbell
Gorana Mlinarević
Dubravka Žarkov
Gloria Atiba-Davies
Leo Nwoye
Patricia Viseur-Sellers
Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum
Lisa Davis
Danny Bradley
Melanie O'Brien
Rosemary Grey
Antonia Mulvey
Jonathan O'Donohue
Daniela Kravetz
Catherine O'Rourke
Helen Durham
Laura Green
Dianne Otto