War Rape - International Law

International Law

Prosecution of rapists in war crime tribunals is a recent development. Generally, humanitarian law concerns the maltreatment of civilians and "any devastation not justified by military necessity". War rape has rarely been prosecuted as a war crime. After World War II the Nuremberg Tribunals failed to charge Nazi war criminals with rape, although witnesses testified on war rape. The War Crimes Tribunal in Tokyo did convict Japanese officers "of failing to prevent rape" in the Nanking massacre, which is known as the "Rape of Nanking". Justice Richard Goldstone, chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, said that "Rape has never been the concern of the international community." The United Nations Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflict, which went into effect in 1974, does not mention rape specifically.