Gender-based sexual violence during the international armed conflict on the territory of Ukraine: problem statement

Abstract

The article highlights the problem of gender-based sexual violence during the international armed conflict on the territory of Ukraine. Based on the analysis of international documents, customary international law, and scientific sources, it is shown that sexual violence and gender-based violence are distinct concepts. However, in the context of Ukrainian judicial practice under Article 438 “Violation of the Laws and Customs of War” of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, gender-based violence is exclusively sexual in nature and is expressed mainly in the form of gender-based rape. The doctrinal approach is supported, according to which the signs of sexual and gender-based violence are: 1) an act (an actual act), 2) coercion (an act committed against the person’s will), 3) a cause (determined by gender), 4) consequences (causing one or more types of harm or suffering to a person). The author identifies the signs of rape related to armed conflict arising from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the Elements of Crimes of the International Criminal Court, and customary international law. The actus reus of rape is that the perpetrator has assaulted the body of a person by committing an act that resulted in penetration, even minor, of any part of the victim’s or perpetrator’s body with a sexual organ, or penetration of the victim’s anus or vagina with any object or any part of the body; the fact that rape is a component of war crimes is determined by the presence of a specific situation (coercion by military personnel). The mens rea of rape is the need to establish the perpetrator’s awareness of the encroachment on the human body by committing an act that resulted in penetration; the perpetrator’s awareness of the circumstances of the act (use of force or threat of force, use of coercion, use of a coercive environment, inability of the person to give consent expressing his or her true will), including the absence of the victim’s consent.