Olga Jurasz

Women of the Revolution- the future of women's rights in post-Gaddafi Libya

Libyan women were actively participating in the course of the Revolution. From the beginning of the Libyan Revolution, women played a crucial role, soon becoming the defining feature of the liberation. This rather powerful image of what may be labelled as ‘a step towards empowerment of Libyan women’ raises the important question of the legal position of women in the aftermath of the Revolution. Although women gained their voice during the Revolution, the obstacles to their greater political participation and long-term, sustainable gender equality set by the new government, may prevent their voice from being heard in post-Gaddafi Libya. The challenge therefore remains for the new Libyan government, and Libyan women in particular, to act upon securing and executing their rights in the aftermath of the Revolution. Though without women’s rights secured and delivered, this Revolution is not finished. Keywords:Colonel Muammar Gaddafi; empowerment of Libyan women; Libyan revolution; post-Gaddafi Libya; women’s rights

Towards an Intersectional Understanding of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: Gender, Sexuality, and Ethnicity at the ICTY

In the past 25 years, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has contributed significantly to a more sophisticated understanding of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) in international criminal law. The ICTY’s jurisprudence has broken new ground in relation to the prosecution of CRSV, but also has brought to light the multifaceted challenges associated with the prosecution of such crimes at an international level. Whilst cases heard by the ICTY have addressed both CRSV committed against women and men, there exist significant differences in the ways in which the ICTY has approached the experiences of male victims of sexual violence during the Yugoslav Wars. We therefore analyse the extent to and ways in which the ICTY has fostered the understanding of CRSV as gender-based violence that is embedded into the socio-cultural dynamics of the community within which the violence occurs.

About justice that is yet to come: a few remarks about the international pursuit of post-conflict gender justice

The past three decades has seen increasing recognition of the gender-specific impact of armed conflict. This issue became especially important in context of conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, and in Rwanda, which were marked by the high prevalence of sexual and gender-based violence. International criminal law has also made some significant advancements regarding sexual violence committed during periods of conflict. In particular, successful prosecutions of wartime rape led to the development of long-awaited (especially in the field of international law) post-conflict justice. However, here it is argued that much of ‘post-conflict gender justice’ is yet to come. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda is examined in relation to how wartime rape is defined and prosecuted. The extent to which the Tribunals addressed these acts as gender crimes as opposed to through the lens of victims ethnicity or nationality is evaluated as an area where there is much work to be done.