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Keith Orwin
Although progress in the acknowledgement of sexual violence as a gender specific harm is to be welcomed, a critical assessment of these changes is necessary to reflect on their efficacy. As many as 20,000 women are
estimated to have been raped in the former Yugoslavia between 1992
and 1994 (Nahapetian 1999: 129); however, as of February 2014, the
ICTY has only convicted 30 people of sexual violence violations (ICTY
2014). Similar figures exist for the ICTR, with over ninety per cent of
completed cases failing to bring rape charges (Nowrojee 2011). Askin
asserts that “the ICTR has failed to capitalise on the Akayesu legacy,”
suggesting that its operation has failed to provide adequate conviction
rates (Askin 2005: 1007). There has also been criticism of the ICC’s
rate of prosecuting crimes of sexual violence against women. The case
of Lubanga (2012) in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a notable
example of the failings of the ICC in this regard. Despite the widespread
documentation of sexual violations, the ICC failed to bring charges
against Lubanga for either sexual slavery or rape (Owen 2009: 105).
The UN has attempted to address the issue of slow progress regarding
the prosecution of sexual violence through Security Council Resolution
1960 (2010). This Resolution recalled the responsibility of states to end
impunity and to prosecute those responsible for genocide, war crimes
and crimes against humanity, noting with concern that only limited numbers of perpetrators have been brought to justice. The passing of Security
Council Resolution 1960 (2010) was praised by Human Rights Watch
(2010) as “a tremendous step toward ending this horrendous practice.”
Despite some criticism over conviction rates in these cases, it is important to be aware that the issue of sexual violence has been radically reformed since the inception of transitional justice. The recognition of the
importance of tackling sexual violence by the ICTY, ICTR, ICC and the
unanimous adaptation of UN Resolution 1960 to tackle the problems of
prosecuting sexual violence shows a clear advancement of gender based
harm as a central issue in transitional justice. The problem that the role