Reproductive Crimes in International Criminal Law

Abstract

This chapter seeks to incentivize greater attention to reproductive violence in international criminal law. The author recognizes that reproductive autonomy is a controversial issue, and has seldom been high on the international community’s agenda. As a result, there is no prospect of an international instrument that expressly criminalizes further reproductive crimes in the foreseeable future. The more practical route is to make creative use of existing legal frameworks, which as this chapter shows, have untapped potential when it comes to reproductive crimes. To illustrate this argument, the chapter examines the crimes of genocide, forced pregnancy, enslavement, sexual violence, persecution, outrages on personal dignity, torture, and inhumane acts.