Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T06:03:23.223Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

10 - Blurring the Lines

How Are Female Child Soldiers Protected by the Laws of War?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2024

Matt Killingsworth
Affiliation:
University of Tasmania
Tim McCormack
Affiliation:
University of Tasmania
Get access

Summary

This chapter explores the protections afforded under the laws of war to young women and girls who, over the course of a single conflict, may occupy the roles of a child, a civilian, a combatant, a killer, a victim of sexual violence, and/or a mother. But rather than exploring this question into relation to women and girls as a homogenous group, it focuses on one young woman in one conflict, the so-called Second Congo War. Drawing on testimony provided by this witness during the Ntaganda case at the International Criminal Court (ICC), the chapter presents a critical view on the role of law in war. It observes that even with advances in legal protections for women and girls, as demonstrated by this important ICC case, in practical terms these actors often have no one to protect them but themselves.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amnesty International. (2004). Democratic Republic of Congo: Mass rape – time for remedies, 25 October 2004.Google Scholar
Askin, K. (1997). War Crimes against Women: Prosecution in International War Crimes Tribunals, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.Google Scholar
Bedont, B., and Hall-Martinez, K. (1999). Ending impunity for gender crimes under the International Criminal Court. Brown Journal of World Affairs 6(1), 6585.Google Scholar
Bensouda, F. (2012). The incidence of the Female Child Soldier and the International Criminal Court. Speech delivered on 4 June 2012 at the Eng Aja Eze Foundation, New York.Google Scholar
Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted 20 November 1989 (entered into force 2 September 1990).Google Scholar
Copelon, R. (2000). Gender crimes as war crimes: Integrating crimes against women into international criminal law. McGill Law Journal 46, 217–40.Google Scholar
Denov, M. (2010). Child Soldiers: Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Drumbl, M. (2012). Reimagining Child Soldiers in International Law and Policy, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Durham, H., and Gurd, T., eds. (2005). Listening to the Silences: Women and War, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.Google Scholar
Engle, K. (2005). Feminism and its (dis)contents: Criminalizing wartime rape in Bosnia and Herzegovina. American Journal of International Law 99(4), 778816.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gardam, J. (2013). A new frontline for feminism and international humanitarian law. In Munro, V. E. and Davies, M., eds., The Ashgate Research Companion to Feminist Legal Theory, London: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Glassborrow, K. (2008). ICC investigative strategy under fire. Institute for War and Peace Reporting, 27 October 2008.Google Scholar
Grey, R. (2017). The ICC’s first ‘forced pregnancy’ case in historical perspective. Journal of International Criminal Justice 15(5), 905–30Google Scholar
Grey, R. (2019). Prosecuting Sexual and Gender-Based Crimes at the International Criminal Court: Practice, Progress and Potential, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hayes, N. (2013). Sisyphus wept: Prosecuting sexual violence at the International Criminal Court. In Schabas, W., McDermott, Y. and Hayes, N., eds., The Ashgate Research Companion to International Criminal Law, London: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Heller, K. J. (2017). ICC Appeals Chamber says a war crime does not have to violate IHL. Opinio Juris, 15 June 2017.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch (2004). World Report 2004.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch (2005). The prosecution of sexual violence in the Congo War, 7 March 2005.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch (2013). DR Congo: War Crimes by M23, Congolese Army, 5 February 2013.Google Scholar
International Criminal Court (2004). Press Release: The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court opens its first investigation, 23 June 2004.Google Scholar
Mertus, J. (2004). Shouting from the bottom of the well. International Feminist Journal of Politics 6(1), 110–28.Google Scholar
Prosecutor v Lubanga, Document Containing the Charges, ICC-01/04-01/06-356-Anx2, Pre-Trial Chamber I, 28 August 2006.Google Scholar
Prosecutor v Lubanga, Request Submitted pursuant to Rule 103 (1) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence for Leave to Participate as Amicus Curiae in the Article 61, ICC-01/04-01/06-403, Pre-Trial Chamber I, 7 September 2006.Google Scholar
Prosecutor v Lubanga, Decision on Request pursuant to Rule 103 (1) of the Statute, ICC-01/04-01/06-480, Pre-Trial Chamber I, 26 September 2006.Google Scholar
Prosecutor v Lubanga, Decision on the confirmation of charges, ICC-01/04-01/06-803-tEN, Pre-Trial Chamber I, 7 February 2007.Google Scholar
Prosecutor v Lubanga, Submission of the Observations of the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations for Children and Armed Conflict pursuant to Rule 103 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, ICC-01/04-01/06-1229, Trial Chamber I, 18 March 2008.Google Scholar
Prosecutor v Lubanga, Transcript, ICC-01/04-01/06-T-107-ENG, Trial Chamber I, 26 January 2009.Google Scholar
Prosecutor v Lubanga, Transcript, ICC-01/04-01/06-T-223-ENG, Trial Chamber I, 7 January 2010.Google Scholar
Prosecutor v Lubanga, Prosecution’s Closing Brief, ICC-01/04-01/06-2748-Red, Trial Chamber I, 1 June 2011.Google Scholar
Prosecutor v Lubanga, Transcript, ICC-01/04-01/06-T-356-ENG, Trial Chamber I, 25 August 2011.Google Scholar
Prosecutor v Lubanga, Judgment, ICC-01/04-01/06-2842, Trial Chamber I, 12 April 2012.Google Scholar
Prosecutor v Lubanga, Separate and Dissenting Opinion of Judge Odio Benito, ICC-01/04-01/06-2842, Trial Chamber I, 12 April 2012.Google Scholar
Prosecutor v Ntaganda, Transcript, ICC-01/04-02/06-T-10-Red-ENG, Pre-Trial Chamber II, 13 February 2014.Google Scholar
Prosecutor v Ntaganda, Updated Document Containing the Charges, ICC-01/04-02/06-458-AnxA, Pre-Trial Chamber II, 16 February 2015.Google Scholar
Prosecutor v Ntaganda, Transcript, ICC-01/04-02/06-T-168-Red-ENG, Trial Chamber VI, 30 November 2016.Google Scholar
Prosecutor v Ntaganda, Corrected version of ‘Prosecution’s Response to Ntaganda’s “Appeal from the Second Decision on the Defence’s Challenge to the Jurisdiction of the Court in respect of Counts 6 and 9”’, ICC-01/04-02/06-1794-Corr, Appeals Chamber, 21 February 2017.Google Scholar
Prosecutor v Ntaganda, Judgment on the appeal of Mr Ntaganda against the ‘Second decision on the Defence’s challenge to the jurisdiction of the Court in respect of Counts 6 and 9’, ICC-01/04-02/06-1962, Appeals Chamber, 15 June 2017.Google Scholar
Prosecutor v Ntaganda, Judgment, ICC-01/04-02/06-2359, Trial Chamber VI, 8 July 2018.Google Scholar
Prosecutor v Ntaganda, Prosecution’s final closing brief, ICC-01/04-02/06-2277-Anx1-Corr-Red, 7 November 2018.Google Scholar
Prosecutor v Ntaganda, Sentencing Judgment, ICC-01/04-02/06-2442, Trial Chamber VI, 7 November 2019.Google Scholar
Prosecutor v Ntaganda, Appeal Judgment, ICC-01/04-02/06-2666-Red, Appeal Chamber, 30 March 2021.Google Scholar
Prosecutor v Taylor, Judgment, SCSL-03-01-T, Trial Chamber, 30 May 2012.Google Scholar
Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (‘Additional Protocol I’), 8 June 1977.Google Scholar
Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts (‘Additional Protocol II’), 8 June 1977.Google Scholar
Rashid, A. (2019). Gender, Nationalism, and Genocide in Bangladesh, London: Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
Rome Statute to the International Criminal Court, Opened for signature 17 July 1988, 2187 UNTS 90 (entered into force 1 July 2002).Google Scholar
Sandoz, Y., Swinarski, C., and Zimmerman, B., eds. (1987). Commentary on the Additional Protocols, Geneva: ICRC.Google Scholar
Situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Decision on the Prosecutor’s Application for Warrants of Arrest, Article 58, ICC-01/04-02/06-20-Anx2, Pre-Trial Chamber I, 10 February 2006.Google Scholar
Tsongo, E. (2022). What is the latest conflict in the DR Congo about? Al Jazeera, 21 June 2022.Google Scholar
UN Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2004). Special report on the events in Ituri, January 2002–December 2003. UN DOC. s/2004/573, 16 July 2004.Google Scholar
Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice (2006). Letter to ICC Prosecutor, available at: www.iccwomen.org/documents/Prosecutor_Letter_August_2006_Redacted.pdf.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×