Promoting Accountability for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Against Men: A Comparative Legal Analysis of International and Domestic Laws Relating to IDP and Refugee Men in Uganda

Abstract

This paper reflects an innovative collaboration between the Refugee Law Project and the International Human Rights Law Clinic, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. It addresses an issue of growing concern to gender activists, human rights and humanitarian actors, as well as governments, namely: what legal remedies are available to male survivors of conflict- related sexual violence? Are such remedies to be found within the domestic or the international sphere? Are they best addressed as human rights violations? Through war crimes tribunals? Or through a combination of transitional justice measures? Are the same remedies available to all victims, or are refugees treated differently from IDPs or citizens?Through careful review of existing legislation, as well as existing precedents, this paper establishes that in principle, at least, international criminal justice offers the best prospects of redress, but that this potential has been seriously underutilized in nearly all cases to date. This paper thus serves as a wake-up call to those concerned with justice for survivors of sexual violence, and, using Uganda as a case study, lays the groundwork upon which to generate a legal reform agenda internationally. An earlier draft, prepared by Clinic students from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law under the supervision of Professor Laurel E. Fletcher in collaboration with Dr. Chris Dolan, and with further advice from Stephen Oola, was discussed at a legal round-table in Kampala in April 2013, and this version reflects key comments and suggestions that were made on that occasion.