The Missing Gender Frame: The Unspoken Tension Around Sexual Violence Crimes in The International Criminal Justice System

Abstract

In the subsequent pages, I will explore the phenomenon of sexual and gendered violence during war. When I began this venture, I set out to answer the question, "What is it about sexual violence crimes that makes them different from other crimes against humanity such that we do not talk about them?" In pursuit of an answer, I will provide a summary of some of the leading scholars' work on gender imbalance, as well as the writings of practitioners in the field. Then, I will outline the history of prosecuting sexual violence and gendered crimes in the international criminal justice system (ICJS). I will explore case studies from the ICJS and track the development of precedent that has led to the current international justice approach in use today. I will utilize interviews I conducted with leading practitioners in the field to explore the ICJS from the view of those working inside it. I will explain my method for the questions I asked -- ranging from their view of their role to the justice priorities of those working in international criminal courts -- and the answers I received. Finally, I will close this project by concluding that we have a gender framing problem that spans from domestic policy to that at the highest level of international criminal justice. I will argue that our inability to verbalize the gender imbalance in our society inhibits our legal system from achieving justice for female victims of sexual violence. [From Introduction]