Welcome to my research blog!

In 1998 the trial of Jean Paul Akayesu at the ICTR defined rape as a form of genocide in the international arena.  Just a few years later in 2001, the cases on the Foca Rape camps at the ICTY cemented the significance of the international community's recognition of rape as a crime against humanity rather than a "trophy of war."  Political scientists and academics in the fields of international and human rights law have studied this new legal precedence with a fair amount of depth.  Further, feminist analyses have been published as well in journals, books, and blogs about these issues--particularly the idea of forced impregnation as a form of genocide.

My project will explore the pioneering practice of prosecuting rape as a war crime in the International Criminal Tribunals, with a specific focus on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Court, both housed in the Hague, Netherlands.  I became interested in this topic while observing genocide and war crimes trials at the ICTY in May of 2006, but did not have a firm understanding of a Transnational Feminist lens through which to ask the right questions.  I am anxious to revisit the research I looked over with mere curiosity two years ago with a new way of questioning the motives and driving forces behind the decisions in key rape trials and the precedence of rape as a form of genocide.  It will also be fascinating to consider how the tribunals that speak for the victims themselves differ from those that are now offering victims a clear voice through their newfound right to representation.

I believe the topic of rape in international justice is begging to be analyzed through a Transnational Feminist lens, as the developing fight is new territory for the international courts and is, therefore, obviously going to be less than perfect.  While making a few key court cases hyper-visible every now and then, the invisibility of the issue upon the introduction of timetables (and particularly the completion strategies of ad hoc tribunals) is something that needs to be explored further.  Moreover, it will be enlightening to consider whether the women involved in these trials are treated as objects of knowledge or subjects of knowledge in the analysis of the courts--are they truly given a voice, even when allowed representation outside the prosecution, as is the case with the ICC?

I plan to explore some of the issues of both courts separately, beginning with the ICTY and moving on to the ICC, before I compare and contrast the two, questioning whether or not the ICC has taken any of the valuable lessons learned by the ICTY.  So I guess there's nothing more but to dive in!