The Expresive Necessity of Gender-Based Violence Prosecutions

Allison Wells, Temple University

Abstract

Despite the recent prominence of the Rome Statute’s stance against gender-based violence (“GBV”), many view international anti-GBV prosecutorial powers as ineffective and unenforceable. While acknowledging such pitfalls, this note opts to focus on the broad expressive value of landmark anti-GBV measures. Although their case-by-case tangible benefits may be unclear, anti-GBV prosecutions are an expressive necessity in that they: (1) support the further development of international criminal law; (2) represent and reiterate broad support for the international shift in views on sexual violence; and (3) help solidify new public norms regarding GBV as a reprehensible tool of war. In discussing the history of anti-GBV measures, as well as the expressive value of new GBV prosecution, this note concludes that GBV prosecutions are imperative to reinforcing new international legal norms and making permanent progress in the global social conscious.