ICTR case helps break impunity for sex crimes

A recent conviction by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) had helped the process of ensuring accountability for crimes against children in conflict situations, Kofi Annan reported to the UN Security Council this week. The case resulted in a conviction for genocide and crimes against humanity for acts that included the rape of a very young girl, he said. Details of the case were not disclosed. Particularly grave forms of sexual violence - including rape, sexual slavery and enforced prostitution - constitute war crimes within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, Annan noted. “The facade of impunity for the perpetrators of sexual violence against children in wartime is finally crumbling,” he said. He also welcomed the government’s enactment in November of legislation to allow girls inherit farms and other properties. As a result of the Rwandan genocide in 1994, an estimated 45,000 households were headed by children, 90 percent of them girls, but before November they could not inherit land, the report stated.