Targeted Groups, Rape, and Dolus Eventualis: Assessing the ECCC’s Contributions to Substantive International Criminal Law

Abstract

This article discusses a number of substantive law developments at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) after the issuance of the trial judgment in Case 002/02 against Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan. It focuses on three themes emblematic of the Khmer Rouge era’s unique set of facts: the identification of targeted groups, male victims of rape in the context of forced marriage, and the mens rea standard of indirect intent or dolus eventualis. These themes are distilled from the most pertinent jurisprudential developments regarding a number of specific crimes and a mode of liability: persecution on political grounds, genocide, other inhumane acts through conduct characterised as rape in the context of forced marriage, extermination, and joint criminal enterprise. This article posits that these substantive law developments have an important place in international criminal law’s corpus as a rare steppingstone between the post-World War II trials and the modern-day international criminal courts and tribunals.