Sexual Slavery in International Criminal Law with Particular Emphasis on the Special Court for Sierra Leone

Abstract

Slavery is one of the oldest forms of violation of human dignity. According to the definition given in the 1926 Slavery Convention, slavery is the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised, and a "slave" is a person who is subject to this condition. Despite the legal prohibition of slavery, today we witness a new form of slavery, called sexual slavery. The statute of the International Criminal Court has recognized sexual slavery as a crime against humanity as well as a war crime. The purpose of this paper is to review the jurisprudence of the Special Court for Sierra Leon in identifying and developing the definition and elements of the crime of sexual slavery. With a descriptive-analytical method, this study will overview the criminalization of sexual slavery, and examine the approach of the Special Court for Sierra Leone in identifying sexual slavery as a crime against humanity.