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Opportunities and failures to prosecute violence against persons with disabilities at the international tribunals for the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2022

Abstract

This paper presents an inexhaustive but thorough review of the evidence of violence against persons with disabilities that came before, or ought to have been known to, the prosecutors of the international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. This research demonstrates that despite significant and compelling evidence from investigators, journalists and witnesses, gross violations against persons with disabilities were largely ignored by the prosecution or treated merely as aggravating factors at sentencing. These crimes could instead have been characterized as an “other inhumane act” prosecutable as a crime against humanity, which would have emphasized the gravity of the crimes, provided recognition of the victims’ suffering, imposed criminal sanctions on those responsible, and unequivocally condemned violence against persons with disabilities during armed conflict.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the ICRC.

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Footnotes

*

It is noted that this article includes uncensored quotations from court documents and witness statements that include outdated and offensive language to describe persons with disabilities, including the terms “handicapped”, “infirm”, “retard”, “retarded” and “simple”. These terms are dehumanizing and stigmatizing. The replication of these quotes in this paper demonstrates how international justice mechanisms and witnesses spoke of and perceived persons with disabilities at the time. Neither the author nor the publisher in any way endorse the use of this language.

The advice, opinions and statements contained in this article are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ICRC. The ICRC does not necessarily represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement or other information provided in this article.

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26 ICTY, Prosecutor v. Karadzic, Case No. IT-95-5/18, Testimony of Jean Rene Ruez, 3 July 1996, pp. 559–560, available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/karadzic/trans/en/960703it.htm.

27 ICTY, Milosevic, above note 22, Testimony of Sadik Xhemajli, 26 August 2002, pp. 8866 (available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/slobodan_milosevic/trans/en/020826IT.htm), 8904 (available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/slobodan_milosevic/trans/en/020826IT.htm); ICTY, Milosevic, above note 22, Testimony of Liri Loshi, 3 September 2002, p. 9483, available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/slobodan_milosevic/trans/en/020903IT.htm; ICTY, Prosecutor v. Dordevic, Case No. IT-05-87/1, Testimony of Milazim Thaqi, 25 May 2009, p. 4977, available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/djordjevic/trans/en/090525IT.htm.

28 See, for example, ICTY, Prosecutor v. Boskoski and Tarculovski, Case No. IT-04-82-PT, Amended Indictment, 2 November 2005, para. 34.

29 ICTY, Prosecutor v. Brdanin, Case No. IT-99-36-T, Testimony of Witness BT64, 21 May 2001, p. 16977 (available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/brdanin/trans/en/030604ED.htm), and Judgment (Trial Chamber), 1 September 2004, para. 406.

30 See ICTY, Brdanin, above note 29, Testimony of Sakib Muhic, 8 July 2002, p. 8109, available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/brdanin/trans/en/020708IT.htm (describing two people with disabilities who misunderstood orders and were killed on Muhici Street); ICTY, Prosecutor v. Hadzihasanovic, Case No. IT-01-47-T, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 15 March 2006, para. 1182 (discussing Franjo and Marko Rajic); ICTY, Milosevic, above note 22, Testimony of Witness B-1738, 17 March 2003, p. 18036, available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/slobodan_milosevic/trans/en/030317ED.htm (describing the shooting of a mentally disabled man).

31 ICTY, Brdanin, above note 29, Testimony of Faik Biscevic, 19 June 2002, p. 7091, available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/brdanin/trans/en/020619IT.htm.

32 ICTY, Prosecutor v. Kvocka, Case No. IT-98-30/1, Testimony of Kerim Mesanovic, 11 September 2000, p. 5192, available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/kvocka/trans/en/000911ed.htm.

33 ICTY, Prosecutor v. Mladic, Case No. IT-09-92, Testimony of Witness RM046, 18 January 2013, p. 7012 (available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/mladic/trans/en/130118ED.htm), and Testimony of the Prosecution, 30 October 2014, p. 27571, discussing Exhibit P738 (under seal) (available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/mladic/trans/en/141030ED.htm); ICTY, Prosecutor v. Nikolic, Case No. IT-94-2, Testimony of the Prosecution, 3 November 2003, pp. 216–217, available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/dragan_nikolic/trans/en/031103ED.htm.

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35 ICTY, Prosecution v. Tolimir, Case No. IT-05-88/2, Testimony of Witness PW-013, 15 February 2011, p. 9880, available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/tolimir/trans/en/110215ED.htm.

36 ICTY, Karadzic, above note 26, Testimony of the Prosecution, 24 November 2011, p. 21917, available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/karadzic/trans/en/111124ED.htm.

37 Adams, Alexandra, “The Legacy of the International Criminal Tribunals of the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and Their Contribution to the Crime of RapeEuropean Journal of International Law, Vol. 29, No. 3, 2018, p. 767 fn. 81CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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39 ICTY, Prosecutor v. Hadzic, Case No. IT-04-75, Testimony of Witness GH-103, 24 January 2013, p. 2785, available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/hadzic/trans/en/130124ED.htm (discussing a staff member with mental disabilities nicknamed “Specijalac”).

40 ICTY, Hadzic, above note 39, Indictment, 21 May 2004, para. 24.

41 ICTY, Prosecutor v. Galic, Case No. IT-98-29-T, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 5 December 2003, paras 291–297, 299, 307, 319.

42 Ibid., para. 340.

43 Ibid., para. 301.

44 ICTY, Prosecutor v. Prlic, Case No. IT-04-74-T, Initial Indictment, 2 March 2004, para. 184.

45 ICTY, Prlic, above note 44, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 29 May 2013, Vol. 2, para. 2011.

46 ICTY, Milosevic, above note 22, Testimony of Sadik Xhemajli, 26 August 2002, p. 8904, available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/slobodan_milosevic/trans/en/020826IT.htm.

47 ICTY, Brdanin, above note 29, Testimony of Midho Alic, 30 January 2003, pp. 13885, 13896, available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/brdanin/trans/en/030130ED.htm.

48 ICTY, Milosevic, above note 22, Second Amended Indictment for Kosovo, 16 October 2001, para. 66(g) (describing two elderly disabled women who were unable to walk and were placed on a tractor-trailer that was set on fire). See also ICTY, Prosecutor v. Oric, Case No. IT-03-68, Testimony of Kada Hotic, 24 August 2005, p. 9671, available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/oric/trans/en/050824IT.htm (describing a house set on fire in Srebrenica).

49 ICTY, Oric, above note 48, Testimony of Nesib Buric, 5 September 2005, p. 10597, available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/oric/trans/en/050908IT.htm.

50 ICTY, Prosecutor v. Ademi, Case No. IT-01-46-I, Indictment, 21 May 2001, Second Schedule. This file was transferred to the domestic courts in Croatia; Ademi was eventually found not guilty. See also Robert Adric, Mladen Stojanovic and Katarina Kruhonja, Monitoring of War Crime Trials: A Report for 2008, Centre for Peace, Non-Violence and Human Rights, 2009, pp. 45, 46, 91, available at: www.legal-tools.org/doc/c06917/pdf/; Humanitarian Law Centre, “We Should Know the Facts: September 9, 1993 – Medak Pocket, Croatia”, 8 September 2010, available at: www.hlc-rdc.org/?p=13075&lang=de.

51 ICTY, Karadzic, above note 26, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 24 March 2016, para. 1762.

52 ICTY, Prlic, above note 44, Testimony of Andrew Williams, 16 October 2006, p. 8442, available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/prlic/trans/en/061016ED.htm; ICTY, Prosecutor v. Kordic, Case No. IT-95-14/2, Testimony of Andrew Williams, 2 August 1999, p. 6007 (available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/kordic_cerkez/trans/en/990802ed.html), and Testimony of Alistair Rule, 27 July 1999, pp. 5453–5354, 5384, 5386 (available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/kordic_cerkez/trans/en/990727it.html). Rajic was arrested by the HVO military police but was subsequently released.

53 ICTY, Prosecutor v. Mucic, Case No. IT-96-21, Testimony of the Prosecution, 5 November 1997, pp. 9095–9098, available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/mucic/trans/en/971105it.htm.

54 ICTY, Prosecutor v. Krajisnik, Case No. IT-00-39, Testimony of Isak Gasi, 5 February 2004, p. 552, available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/krajisnik/trans/en/040205ED.htm; also noted in ICTY, Karadzic, above note 26, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 24 March 2016, para. 806. As noted later in this article, the false insinuation that the two men were “Muslim snipers” was used by the guards as a pretext to commit violence against them.

55 ICTY, Krajisnik, above note 54, Testimony of Vidomir Banduka, 21 November 2005, p. 18827, available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/krajisnik/trans/en/051121IT.htm.

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59 ICTR, Prosecutor v. Simba, Case No. ICTR-01-76-T, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 6 September 2004, para. 14.

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62 P. Masakhwe, above note 60, p. 23.

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64 African Rights, Rwanda: Death, Despair and Defiance, London, 1995, p. 973; see also Donatella Lorch, “Ndera Journal: Minds in Retreat from the Madness of Rwanda”, New York Times, 7 November 1994, available at: www.nytimes.com/1994/11/07/world/ndera-journal-minds-in-retreat-from-the-madness-of-rwanda.html.

65 National Commission for the Fight against Genocide, “April 17, 1994: The Implementation of Genocide Perpetrated against Tutsi Throughout the Country”, 17 April 2020, available at: https://tinyurl.com/2mx6ah2n.

66 “Aid Workers in Rwanda Report 750 Slain at a Mental Hospital”, New York Times, 10 October 1994, available at: www.nytimes.com/1994/10/10/world/aid-workers-in-rwanda-report-750-slain-at-a-mental-hospital.html.

67 Melanie Mayhew, “As Liberia and Sierra Leone Recover from Civil Wars and Ebola, Demand for Mental Health Services Surges”, World Bank, 11 April 2016, available at: www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2016/04/11/as-liberia-sierra-leone-recover-from-civil-wars-and-ebola-demand-for-mental-health-services-surges.

68 Aliyah Baruchin, “Stigma is the Toughest Foe in an Epilepsy Fight”, New York Times, 29 August 2011, available at: www.nytimes.com/2011/08/30/health/30epilepsy.html?smid=url-share.

69 Stephanie Nolen, “This Psychiatric Hospital Used to Chain Patients. Now It Treats Them”, New York Times, 11 April 2022, available at: www.nytimes.com/2022/04/11/health/this-psychiatric-hospital-used-to-chain-patients-now-it-treats-them.html?searchResultPosition=1.

70 M. Mayhew, above note 67.

71 Ryan Lenora Brown, “Africa's Oldest Psychiatric Hospital a Stark Reminder of War and a Forgotten People”, Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism, 22 November 2016, available at: https://bhekisisa.org/article/2016-11-22-africas-oldest-psychiatric-hospital-a-stark-reminder-of-war-and-a-forgotten-people/.

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78 ICTY, Prosecutor v. Aleksovski, Case No. IT-95-14/1-T, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 25 June 1999, para. 227; referred to in ICTY, Prosecutor v. Jokic, Case No. IT-01-42/1-S, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 18 March 2004, para. 64.

79 ICTY, Aleksovski, above note 78, fn. 468.

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82 International Military Tribunal, France et al. v. Goring et. al., (1945) 22 IMT 203, 13 ILR 203, 1945.

83 UN Charter, Preamble.

84 Ibid., Art. 1.

85 Ibid., Preamble.

86 Schabas, William A., The UN International Criminal Tribunals: The Former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2012, pp. 34Google Scholar.

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88 Report of the Secretary-General on the Establishment of a Special Court for Sierra Leone, UN Doc. S/2000/915, 4 October 2000, p. 9.

89 Wald, Patricia M., “Judging War Crimes”, Chicago Journal of International Law, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2000, p. 195Google Scholar.

90 See, for example, Bachmann, Klaus, Kemp, Gerhard and Ristic, Irena (eds), International Criminal Tribunals as Actors of Domestic Change: The Impact of Institutional Reform, Peter Lang, Berlin, 2018Google Scholar.

91 See, for example, UN Human Rights, Rule-of-Law Tools for Post-Conflict States: Monitoring Legal Systems, Geneva, 2008, pp. 47–48.

92 See, for example, Peskin, Victor, “Beyond Victor's Justice? The Challenge of Prosecuting the Winners at the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda”, Journal of Human Rights, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2005Google Scholar.

93 T. Meron, above note 81.

94 Hunt, David, “The International Criminal Court: High Hopes, Creative Ambiguity and an Unfortunate Mistrust in International Judges”, Journal of International Criminal Justice, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2004Google Scholar.

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96 See, for example, Raimondo, Fabian O., “General Principles of Law, Judicial Creativity, and the Development of International Criminal Law”, in Darcy, Shane and Powderly, Joseph (eds), Judicial Creativity at the International Criminal Tribunals, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2010, p. 45Google Scholar.

97 ICTY, Prosecutor v. Tadic, Case No. IT-94-1, Separate Opinion of Judge Abi-Saab on the Defence Motion for Interlocutory Appeal on Jurisdiction, 2 October 1995.

98 Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to the United Nations Secretary-General, Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1564 of 18 September 2004, 25 January 2005, p. 178, available at: https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/report-international-commission-inquiry-darfur-united-nations-secretary-general.

99 Sadat, Leila Nadya, “Crimes against Humanity in the Modern AgeAmerican Journal of International Law, Vol. 107, No. 2, 2013, p. 344CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

100 Sluiter, Goran, “Chapeau Elements of Crimes against Humanity in the Jurisprudence of the UN Ad Hoc Tribunals”, in Sadat, Leila Nadya (ed.), Forging a Convention for Crimes against Humanity, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2011, p. 109Google Scholar.

101 Kuschnik, Bernhard, “Humaneness, Humankind and Crimes against Humanity”, Goettingen Journal of International Law, Vol. 2, No. 2, 2010Google Scholar.

102 The language of a “widespread and systematic attack” appeared directly in Article 3 of the ICTR Statute and Article 2 of the SCSL Statute. This requirement was imposed in the ICTY trials by judges; see, for example, ICTY, Prosecutor v. Mrksic et al., Case No. IT-95-13-R61, Review of Indictment Pursuant to Rule 61, 3 April 1996, para. 30; ICTY, Tadic, above note 97, Judgment (Appeals Chamber), 15 July 1999, para. 311; ICTY, Kordic, above note 52, Judgment (Appeals Chamber), 17 December 2004, para. 106; ICTY, Prosecutor v. Blaskic, Case No. IT-95-14-A, Judgment (Appeals Chamber), 29 July 2004, para. 98.

103 ICTR, Prosecutor v. Akayesu, Case No. ICTR-96-4-T, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 2 September 1998, para. 580; ICTR, Prosecutor v. Musema, Case No. ICTR-96-13-T, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 27 January 2000, para. 204; ICTR, Prosecutor v. Ntakirutimana, Case Nos ICTR-96-10, ICTR-96-17-T, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 21 February 2003, para. 804.

104 ICTY, Prosecutor v. Kunarac et al., Case No. IT-96-23/1-A, Judgment (Appeals Chamber), 12 June 2002, para. 94; ICTY, Prosecutor v. Naletilic et al., Case No. IT-98-34-T, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 31 March 2003, para. 236; ICTR, Akayesu, above note 103, paras 578–579; ICTY, Prosecutor v. Rutaganda, Case No. ICTR-96-3-T, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 6 December 1999, para. 67.

105 ICTR, Prosecutor v. Bagilishema, Case No. ICTR-95-1A-T, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 7 June 2001, para. 75; ICTR, Prosecutor v. Ndindabahizi, Case No. ICTR-2001-71-I, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 15 July 2004, para. 477.

106 ICTY, Kunarac, above note 104, para. 98; ICTR, Akayesu, above note 103, para. 580; ICTY, Blaskic, above note 102, para. 126.

107 ICTR, Nyiramasuhuko, above note 57, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 24 June 2011, para. 2136.

108 ICTY, Prosecutor v. Jelisic, Case No. IT-95-10-T, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 14 December 1999, para. 52.

109 ICTY, Prosecutor v. Vasiljevic, Case No. IT-98-32-T, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 29 November 2002, para. 234; ICTY, Prosecutor v. Kupreskic, Case No. IT-95-16-T, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 14 January 2000, para. 563; ICTY, Blaskic, above note 102, para. 237; ICTY, Kordic, above note 52, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 26 February 2001, para. 269.

110 ICTY, Kordic, above note 52, Judgment (Appeals Chamber), 17 December 2004, para. 117; ICTY, Vasiljevic, above note 109, para. 234; W. A. Schabas, above note 86, p. 222.

111 International Law Commission, Draft Code of Crimes against the Peace and Security of Mankind, 1996, available at: https://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/draft_articles/7_4_1996.pdf.

112 ICTR, Akayesu, above note 103, para. 688.

113 Ibid., para. 697.

114 ICTR, Prosecutor v. Kajelijeli, Case No. ICTR-98-44A-T, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 1 December 2003, paras 934–936; ICTR, Prosecutor v. Bagosora, Case No. ICTR-98-41-A, Judgment (Appeals Chamber), 14 December 2011, para. 729.

115 ICTY, Stakic, above note 38, Judgment (Appeals Chamber), 22 March 2006, para. 317.

116 SCSL, Prosecutor v. Brima, Case No. SCSL-2004-16-T, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 20 June 2006.

117 ICTY, Kunarac, above note 104, paras 102, 410; ICTY, Krnojelac, above note 34, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 15 March 2002, para. 59; ICTY, Tadic, above note 97, para. 271; ICTR, Bagilishema, above note 105, para. 94; ICTR, Rutaganda, above note 105, para. 71; ICTR, Musema, above note 103, para. 206.

118 ICTY, Kunarac, above note 104, Judgment (Appeals Chamber), 12 June 2002, para. 102.

119 ICTY, Kunarac, above note 104, para. 434.

120 ICTY, Tadic, above note 97, paras 283, 292, 305; ICTY, Kordic, above note 52, Judgment (Appeals Chamber), 17 December 2004, para. 111; ICTR, Akayesu, above note 103, paras 447–469.

122 Zwick, Tamara, “First Victims at Last: Disability and Memorial Culture in Holocaust Studies”, Conatus, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2019, p. 52CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

123 Priscilla Denisse Coria Palomino, “A New Understanding of Disability in International Humanitarian Law: Reinterpretation of Article 30 of Geneva Convention III”, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 104, No. 919, 2022, p. 1434.

124 A. Priddy, above note 10, p. 18.

125 P. D. C. Palomino, above note 123, p. 1435.

126 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2515 UNTS 3, 13 December 2006 (entered into force 3 May 2008) (CRPD), preambular para. (e); see also A. Priddy, above note 10, pp. 19–21.

127 Catalina Devandas Aguilar and John H. Knox, “Introduction to the Symposium on William I. Pons, Janet E. Lord, and Michael Ashley Stein, ‘Disability, Human Rights Violations, and Crimes against Humanity’”, American Journal of International Law, Vol. 116, No. 1, 2022, p. 68.

128 Pons, William I., Lord, Janet E. and Stein, Michael Ashley, “Disability, Human Rights Violations, and Crimes against HumanityAmerican Journal of International Law, Vol. 116, No. 1, 2021, p. 82Google Scholar.

129 Isaac, Maike and Jurasz, Olga, “Towards an Intersectional Understanding of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence: Gender, Sexuality, and Ethnicity at the ICTY”, International Criminal Law Review, Vol. 18, No. 1, 2018, p. 861CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

130 James R. McHenry II, “The Prosecution of Rape under International Law: Justice that Is Long Overdue”, Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, Vol. 35, No. 4, 2002, pp. 1303–1304. Also see, for example, Sellers, Patricia Viseur and Okuizumi, Kaoru, “International Prosecution of Sexual Assaults”, Transnational Legal and Contemporary Problems, Vol. 45, No. 7, 1997, pp. 4647Google Scholar; Meron, Theodor, “Rape as a Crime under International Humanitarian Law”, American Journal of International Law, Vol. 87, No. 1, 1993, pp. 424425CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

131 ICTR, Akayesu, above note 103, para. 597: “The United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment does not catalogue specific acts in its definition of torture, focusing rather on the conceptual framework of state-sanctioned violence. The Tribunal finds this approach more useful in the context of international law.”

132 Hansen-Young, Thekla, “Defining Rape: A Means to Achieve Justice in the Special Court for Sierra Leone”, Chicago Journal of International Law, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2005, p. 486Google Scholar.

133 ICTR, Brima, above note 116, para. 703. For a reiteration of this principle in the ICTY case law, see ICTY, Kordic, above note 52, Judgment (Appeals Chamber), 17 December 2004, para. 117.

134 ICTY, Kvocka, above note 32, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 2 November 2001, para. 180.

135 Frulli, Micaela, “Advancing International Criminal Law: The Special Court for Sierra Leone Recognizes Forced Marriage as a ‘New’ Crime against Humanity”, Journal of International Criminal Justice, Vol. 6, No. 5, 2008, p. 1037CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Jain, Neha, “Forced Marriage as a Crime against Humanity: Problems of Definition and Prosecution”, Journal of International Criminal Justice, Vol. 6, No. 5, 2008, p. 1013CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

136 W. I. Pons, J. E. Lord and M. A. Stein, above note 128, p. 82.

137 Adopted by the International Law Commission, 71st Session, UN Doc. A/74/10, 2019.

138 W. I. Pons, J. E. Lord and M. A. Stein, above note 128, p. 91.

139 Additional Protocol I, Art. 8(a).

140 Geneva Convention I (GC I), Art. 12; Geneva Convention II (GC II), Art. 12.

141 GC I, Art. 12; GC II, Art. 12.

142 Geneva Convention III, Arts 16, 30, 49, 110; Geneva Convention IV, Arts 17, 27, 85, 119, 127.

143 Customary International Humanitarian Law, Rules 110 and 138.

144 For an overview of the international legal framework on disability in the early 1990s, see Ito, Akiko, “International Legal and Policy Framework on DisabilityAmerican Society of International Law: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting, Vol. 93, 1993, p. 334Google Scholar.

145 ICTY, Krajisnik, above note 54, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 27 September 2006, p. 709.

146 Ibid., p. 708.

147 Ibid., p. 710.

148 ICTR, Prosecutor v. Nizeyimana, Case No. ICTR-00-55C-T, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 19 June 2012, para. 1544; see also ICTR, Prosecutor v. Ndindiliyimana et al., Case No. ICTR-00-56-T, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 17 May 2011, para. 1457 (discussing the “systematic manner” in which violence was inflicted in Butare prefecture).

149 ICTR, Nizeyimana, above note 148, para. 1556.

150 Ibid., para. 1544.

151 ICTR, Bagosora, above note 114, para. 2167.

152 P. Masakhwe, above note 60, p. 23.

153 See, for example, ICRC, “Rwanda: ICRC Assisting Psychiatric Hospital in Kigali”, 15 March 1995, available at: www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/news-release/2009-and-earlier/57jlyy.htm; ICRC, “Update No. 96/1 on ICRC Activities in Rwanda”, 6 March 1995, available at: www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/update/57jmxh.htm.

154 ICC Office of the Prosecutor, Policy on Children, November 2016, p. 19, available at: www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/iccdocs/otp/20161115_OTP_ICC_Policy-on-Children_Eng.PDF.

155 See, for example, Part 5 (“Investigation and Prosecution”) of the Rome Statute of the ICC.

156 ICTY Statute, Art. 18; ICTR Statute, Art. 17; SCSL Statute, Art. 15.

157 W. A. Schabas, above note 86, p. 350.

158 CRPD, above note 126, Art. 13.

159 Ibid., Art. 9(2)(d).

160 Ibid., Art. 9(2)(e).

161 Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, International Principles and Guidelines on Access to Justice for Persons with Disabilities, 15 August 2019, p. 19, available at: www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-disability/international-principles-and-guidelines-access-justice-persons-disabilities.

162 Ibid., p. 16.

163 Ibid., p. 16.

164 Ibid., p. 23.