The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

The International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia was established in May 1993 to prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international humanitarian law. The Tribunal as jurisdiction to prosecute all persons responsible for such violations within the former Yugoslavia since 1 January 1991. The ICTY, like the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), was created through the Chapter VII powers of the United Nations Security Council. The statute of the ICTY gives the Tribunal supremacy over Yugoslavian national courts in all cases within its scope. The judges of the Tribunal are elected by the members of the General Assembly. Because it operates as an organ of the United Nations, the head of the Tribunal is required to provide annual reports to the General Assembly and the Security Council.

The ICTY is based in The Hague, the Netherlands. The statute of the Tribunal permits the sentencing of individuals to both periods of incerceration and to payment of remunerations. Individuals convicted in the Tribunal will serve their sentences in prisons in a number of different UN member states that have volunteered to accept prisoners.

The ICTY and Sex Crimes

Articles 4 and 5 of the ICTY Statute allow for the prosecution of some sex and gender crimes. Individuals can be held responsible at the ICTY for rape (classified as a crime against humanity), for the forcible transfer of children from one ethnic group to another, and for implementing measures intended to prevent births within a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

United Nations website for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Video documentary of Yugoslavian rape survivors who participated in the ICTY

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