International Legal Regulations On Sexual Violence In Non-international Armed Conflicts

Sexual violence is a topic of shame for a long time. People avoid this problem and keep silence at most situations. In the context of peaceful and stable world, there are less international armed conflicts but more and more non-international armed conflicts.Sexual violence is an accepted tool of conflict parties. It is just like terrorism exists in many armed conflicts.It frequently happened in the conflict areas around the world especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In the past twenty years, sexual violence in non-international armed conflicts becomes more and more severe.However, people have deep comprehension on these matters, such as the features,damages and causes of sexual violence.Sexual violence in armed conflicts is not only a violation of human rights, but also a breach of international humanitarian. According to international law especially international humanitarian law, it is prohibited to rape, cruel or inhuman treatment and torture,outrages upon personal dignity and obscene violence and forced prostitution.Besides, persecutors of sexual violence will be sentenced to severe sanctions.International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the International Criminal Court have prosecuted and trialed many cases in the armed conflicts. There are some theories bases and practical experience to regulate sexual violence in non-international armed conflicts by international law. However, it is big challenge to international law to regulate this kind of crime. Because there are slots of obstacles,such as the changes of international situation, the diversity of modern conflicts and so on. Jurisdiction and sanctions of international law inevitably interfere humanitarian and state sovereignty. Some states or regions in armed conflicts or wars can not handle the issue of war crimes and criminals, even in the post-conflicts,sovereign states may exclude the jurisdiction of the international law as well as the actions of international community. International regulations on this kind of crime can not meet the modern conflicts now. We need a more efficient legal system to adapt to the reality.Sexual violence is rampant and it makes horrible disaster to victims. Therefore, it is urgent to prevent from sexual violence and make sanctions. It is high time that the implementation of international law and protection of human rights should be attached more attention. We should apply international law rules reasonably and make sanctions correctly. As the foregoing challenges and difficulties, we should seek an outlet and take some measures to improve the international legal system. Therefore, it will be more efficient to integrate this crime into the regulation of international legal system and prevent it from the vicious circle.