When sexual violence is weaponised: CRSV through the prisim of the international criminal law.

1 When sexual violence is weaponised: CRSV as a violation of international criminal law Abstract The aim of this thesis is to describe the legal regime of sexual violence in armed conflicts, with a special focus on international criminal law provisions. This work is divided into six parts that focus especially on legal provisions of the statutes of the International Criminal Tribunals for Former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda as well as on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and decisions of those international judicial bodies in cases involving sexual violence. The first part introduces to the reader basic terms and concepts that will follow them throughout this work. Additionally, a small subpart is dedicated to the Women, Peace and Security agenda introduced by the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 that, among other themes, highlights the necessity of strengthened international focus and cooperation in fighting sexual violence in armed conflicts. The second part deals mainly with the historical context of the adoption of the prohibition of sexual violence in armed conflicts and describe the development in approach of international law towards this crime, from general prohibitions of rape to specific enumeration of norms prohibiting sexual violence in..