Collective memory of rape: an analysis from an international law perspective

This article argues first that the international community has elaborated a collective memory of rapes occurred during armed conflicts in the 20th. Century through the jurisprudence of international criminal tribunals and the activity of UN bodies; secondly, that memory of rapes is “‘gendered”’, since it is through the eyes of women that rapes are mainly seen and remembered”. To support our thesis, the article will borrow the notion of “collective memory” introduced by the French sociologist Maurice Halbwachs and will analyse it from an international law perspective. The article will start with a short legal history of wartime rape, before analysing the main judgments rendered by the following international criminal tribunals: Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals, International Criminal Court for the Former Yugoslavia, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Special Court for Sierra Leone, International Criminal Court. regarding episodes of rape occurred during armed conflicts. A paragraph is dedicated to the activity of the UN Special Representatives on sexual violence in conflict and of the UN International Independent Commission of Inquiry for Syria. We will then use the notion of collective memory to comment on the role of international bodies in the preservation of the memory of rapes occurred during armed conflicts.