Bred ‘Like Cattle’ : Forced Procreation in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

Abstract

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) serves as a compelling case study to extend current thinking about reproductive violence in international criminal law beyond the crime of ‘forced pregnancy’. In particular, the cases and evidence from the ECCC illustrate a broader concept of forced procreation, associated with the Khmer Rouge regime’s role in forcing or coercing its citizens to produce children for the nation. Although this type of forced procreation was potentially prosecutable in the ECCC using the crimes against humanity of ‘other inhumane acts’ or ‘enslavement’, no such charges were laid. This article considers that apparent gap in the ECCC charges, drawing on Sellers’ concept of ‘absent jurisprudence’.