Chapter 4 - Prosecuting Sexual Violence against Men and Boys

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Sexual violence has been inflicted upon men and boys for centuries. This issue has been acknowledged in recent years in the context of the efforts being made to address sexual violence against women. Yet, sexual violence against men and boys continues to be overlooked, downplayed, or re-characterized. On occasion, this is a deliberate decision, taken so as to focus on sexual violence against women and girls. At other times, it is a by-product of the relative lack of knowledge of male sexual violence.

The prosecution of male sexual violence as an international crime is, in many ways, an allegory to the broader issue of male sexual violence. The recent prosecutions of male sexual violence, in particular by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), reflect the very real advances that have been made on the subject more broadly in recent years. However, just as there is much distance yet to be covered as regards male sexual violence, the prosecution of male sexual violence reveals certain tensions and limitations. The state of prosecutions of sexual violence against men and boys thus reflects the state of affairs on the subject of sexual

violence against men and boys more generally.

This chapter is divided into three substantive parts. Part two presents an overview of sexual violence against men and boys. The forms, prevalence and dynamics of male sexual violence are explored. The chapter then turns to international prosecutions. Part three identifies the advances that have been made as a result of prosecutions, focusing on the substantive law, the procedural law and the prosecutions themselves. Although considerable progress has been made, much remains to be done. Accordingly, the existing limits on prosecutions are the subject of Part four. These limits exist at two principal levels – at the level of investigations and at the level of charging, including the characterization of the charges. The chapter focuses on sexual violence against men and boys committed by other men and boys. Male sexual violence committed by female perpetrators is even less well known; buried still deeper are the instances of female perpetrators of sexual violence against female victims.