Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Sex and International Tribunals: The Erasure of Gender from the War Narrative

Chiseche Salome Mibenge (City University of New York). Sex and International Tribunals (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013).


"Before the twenty-first century, there was little legal precedent for the prosecution of sexual violence as a war crime. Now, international tribunals have the potential to help make sense of political violence against both men and women; they have the power to uphold victims' claims and to convict the leaders and choreographers of systematic atrocity. However, by privileging certain accounts of violence over others, tribunals more often confirm outmoded gender norms, consigning women to permanent rape victim status."
Sex and International Tribunals book jacket