Articles

Vol. 12 (2011)

Ściganie i karanie sprawców gwałtu i przemocy seksualnej podczas konfliktów zbrojnych po zakończeniu zimnej wojny

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Abstract

Prosecution and punishing perpetrators of rape and other sexual violence duringarmed conflicts after the end of the Cold War


The paper explores changing attitude of the international society to war rape and other sexual violence that took place in the armed conflicts after the end of the Cold War. The evolution from shameful misprision to dynamic efforts aiming at penalization of the crime of sexual violence is marked, firstly, by the statutes of the international tribunals two ad hoc and one permanent and, secondly, by judgments of these criminal courts. The crucial documents of tribunals e.g.of cases Furundžija, Akayesu, Kunarac constituted milestones on the way to punishing perpetrators of abhorrent sexual crimes. They reflect the process of preparing or even creating international law terms and instruments that have been necessary to prosecute and punish rapists and other violators. The effects are inter alia a progressive definition of rape, determination to prosecute perpetrators of the most massive and systematic crimes and recognising under specific circumstances sexual crime as crimes against humanity and genocide.