A Comparative Study of Criminalization of Forced Pregnancy in Yugoslavia, Rwanda and International Criminal Court: Support of Gender or Other Values of International Laws

Saber, Mahmood; Mirmajidi Heshajin, Sepideh

doi:10.22059/jcl.2014.36315

A Comparative Study of Criminalization of Forced Pregnancy in Yugoslavia, Rwanda and International Criminal Court: Support of Gender or Other Values of International Laws

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

¹ Assistant Professor, Department of Law, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

² Ph.D.Student of Criminal Law and Criminology, Department of Law, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

10.22059/jcl.2014.36315

Abstract

Despite the history of criminalization of forced pregnancy as sexual violence, certainly the implicit knowledge of forced pregnancy in public sphere and apart from other acts of sexual violence was first created after atrocities took place in Bosnia between 1992 and 1995 and in Rwanda in 1994. However, explicit criminalization of forced pregnancy as crime against humanity and war crime has been the first attempt of international criminal law that with the recognition of broad range of gender-based violations brought justice for victims of sexual violence in international and non-international armed conflicts. However, it seems that in comparison with Yugoslavia and Rwanda’s tribunal and their effects on United Nations Declarations, the style of expression and prevailing discourse on criminalization of forced pregnancy in Rome Statute is such that this hypothesis can be designed: ‘what is crucial in realization the elements of crime is not gender, but is support of other values of international laws, including national, racial and religious values.’ Accordingly, this paper uses descriptive- analytical method to study criminalization of forced pregnancy in international criminal law, particularly in the Statute.

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