Author: Google Scholar

Abstract: »The International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda Akayesu trial, which led to the precedent-setting conviction for rape as a constituent act of genocide, offers guidance for scholars uncovering “hints” of sexual violence in armed conflict (SVAC) in legal archives. This includes consideration of: the strategic importance of SVAC testimony within the overall archive, indictment or mandate of a proceeding; euphemisms related to SVAC and how they intersect with societal attitudes toward SVAC and its victims; question framing, follow-ups, and interventions by judges or other stakeholders. Review of SVAC evidence should be attentive to the following indicators of potentially more widespread sexual atrocities: recurring acts of SVAC committed across official, public, and private spaces; the absence of areas of refuge; acts of public sexual violence, including those that have a performative dimension; occurrence of SVAC in the context of pervasive physical insecurity and fear for survival within a climate of impunity for the perpetrators; commission of SVAC as part of a sequence of crimes leading up to, and including, the death of the victim; targeting of SVAC victims based on their ethnicity or identity; experience of SVAC within a maelstrom of ethnically or identity-based violence; and the existence of supplementary sources documenting SVAC that are external to the trial record.« (Source: Law and History Review)

Contents:

	Abstract (p. 317)
	The Akayesu Trial Archive in Context (p. 321)
	“Hints” of Sexual Violence: Language and the Akayesu Trial Record (p. 327)
	“Hints” of Sexual Violence—Indicators of SVAC in the Margins of the Akayesu Trial Record (p. 329)
		Context and standard of pretrial investigations (p. 329)
		Focus of witness examinations (p. 330)
		Judicial corrective interventions (p. 330)
		Stakeholder advocacy regarding sexual violence (p. 331)
		External documentary evidence of widespread sexual violence (p. 331)
		Public and recurring nature of sexual violence (p. 331)
		Witness testimony of pervasive physical insecurity and impunity for acts in official and private spaces (p. 332)
		Acts of sexual violence within a maelstrom of ethnically targeted violence (p. 332)
	Sexual Violence Testimony at the Center of the Akayesu Trial Record (p. 333)
		Sexual violence prioritized in investigations (p. 333)
		Sexual violence the focus of witness examinations (p. 334)
		Sexual violence committed with impunity in official and private spaces (p. 334)
		Sexual violence committed in public (p. 335)
		Sexual violence committed within a maelstrom of ethnically targeted violence (p. 335)
	Conclusion (p. 337)
	Acknowledgements (p. 338)

Wikipedia: History of Africa: History of Rwanda | Court: International courts and tribunals / International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Jean-Paul Akayesu | Genocide: Rwandan genocide / Rape during the Rwandan genocide | Sex and the law: Rape / Genocidal rape