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2 J. Int'l Human. Legal Stud. 127 (2011)
Forced Marriage and the Special Court for Sierra Leone: Legal Advances and Conceptual Difficulties

handle is hein.journals/jihuleg2 and id is 131 raw text is: MARTINUS INERNATIONAL HUM*AMMAN NIJHOFF EGA L P U BL IS HER s International Humanitarian Legal Studies 2 (2011) 127-158 brillnlliils Forced Marriage and the Special Court for Sierra Leone: Legal Advances and Conceptual Difficulties Valerie Oosterveld* Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada vooster@uwo.ca Abstract Forced marriage was endemic during the Sierra Leonean conflict. Girls and women forced to serve as 'wives' to rebel soldiers were usually expected to submit to ongoing rape and to provide domestic labour to their 'husbands'. Many of these 'wives' suffer from continuing stigmatization. The Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone brought forced marriage charges as a crime against humanity through the category of inhumane acts against Brima, Kamara and Kanu, affiliated with the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), and Sesay, Kallon and Gbao, affiliated with the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). This article considers two benefits stemming from the resulting jurisprudence: the naming of forced marriage as an inhumane act and the acknowledgement of forced marriage as a violation not captured by other legal terms. However, conceptual difficulties remain: how should forced marriage be defined so as to fulfil the principle of nullum crimen sine lege? Is forced marriage more accurately labelled as enslavement? And, is conjugality accurately captured as a defining feature of forced marriage? If forced marriage is to be successfully prosecuted in other contexts - for example, in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia - then more attention must be paid to resolving these questions. Keywords Forced marriage; crimes against humanity; inhumane acts; enslavement Introduction Forced marriage was endemic during the armed conflict in Sierra Leone. In one study, sixty percent of girl soldiers interviewed reported that they had served as 'wives' to the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) or other fighting The author wishes to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for its funding support, Robert Curtis and Fanny Leveau for their research assistance, and Margaret Martin and two anonymous reviewers for their comments. @ Ko~ninklijke Brill NV, Ieiden, 2011 DOI 10.1163/187815211X587727

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