Expert Analysis | Evolving legal frameworks to effectively prosecute conflict-related sexual violence (Part 1) amNewYork

"Conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) remains one of the most pervasive yet least prosecuted crimes in modern warfare. Only in the last century has CRSV been adequately codified under international criminal law. Meeting the crimes against humanity generally requires evidence at the macro scale, demonstrating that individual acts were not isolated but part of a command directive with clear organizational linkage. These legal and doctrinal limitations, along with the normalization of sexual violence as a by-product of war, conspire to obscure justice."

"The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court reinforces this framework by codifying sexual violence as both a crime against humanity and a war crime under Articles 7 and 8. The accompanying Elements of Crimes outline the actus reus and mens rea of these offenses and define the contextual requirements that elevate individual acts to crimes of an international character. Together, these instruments set the evidentiary and conceptual standards that must be met to move from documenting atrocities to securing enforceable accountability."

Conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) remains widespread yet rarely prosecuted because legal, doctrinal, and evidentiary frameworks make individual acts difficult to elevate to international crimes. International humanitarian law and international criminal law prohibit sexual violence and obligate states to prevent, repress, and prosecute such acts. The Geneva Conventions, their Additional Protocols, and the Rome Statute codify these prohibitions and contextual elements. Elements of Crimes specify actus reus, mens rea, and contextual requirements, creating high evidentiary thresholds. Expanding evidentiary approaches and centering survivor-sensitive methodologies are necessary to bridge the justice gap and secure enforceable accountability for CRSV.

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