New Haven, 15-16 October 2010

Link to Seminar Concept and Programme 

The FICHL, Yale University and the University of Cape Town will co-organize two international expert seminars on international sex crimes. The first seminar examined questions linked to proving such crimes. A follow-up seminar in Cape Town on 7 and 8 March 2011 will analyze the strengths and weaknesses of various justifications for giving priority to the investigation and prosecution of international sex crimes. The purpose of these seminars is to advance the discourse on international gender crimes by addressing one of its weakest links, the effective enforcement of individual criminal responsibility for such violations, in particular for those with higher responsibility.

The Statute of the International Criminal Court represents a significant clarification of the exact scope of criminalisation of sexual violence in international criminal law. This progress in standard-setting has been accompanied by an increased political awareness of gender crimes in armed conflicts, inter alia, through UNSC resolutions 1325 and 1888. But the enforcement of criminal responsibility for international gender crimes remains feeble, especially at the national level. Reference is frequently made both at the international and national levels to the difficulties of proving such crimes.

This seminar analyzed in detail the means of proof relevant to the legal requirements of international gender crimes. Among the questions discussed were the following: What are the legal requirements for such crimes for the different forms of participation in their commission? Which requirements are conduct-specific and which refer to the context in which the conduct occurred? How have the different legal requirements been proved in cases? Where do the main difficulties lie and what are the typical excuses? What is the significance of 'systematic' sexual violence, sexual violence as a 'tool or instrument of warfare', and sexual violence as 'persecution'? What can be learned from the prosecution of other international crimes for the prosecution of sex crimes specifically?   

The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was the main sponsor of this seminar.