Κατεύθυνση Δημόσιο Διεθνές Δίκαιο
Library of the School of Law

2025-04-02

2025

Natalis Henrike

Dr. Stavros-Evdokimos Pantazopoulos

Prosecuting gender-based persecution of Yazidi women and girls by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

English

Prosecuting gender-based persecution of Yazidi women and girls by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

This master’s thesis examines how the crimes committed by ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) against Yazidi women and girls in 2014 can be prosecuted as gender-based persecution under Article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute. It argues that these crimes, including mass abductions, sexual enslavement, rape, and forced marriage, were systematic and targeted acts not only against an ethnic but also a gender-defined group. The study adopts a feminist legal perspective and emphasizes the importance of intersectionality in international criminal law, highlighting how overlapping identities—gender, religion, ethnicity—contributed to the persecution.

The thesis explores the legal basis for individual criminal responsibility, admissibility, and jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, even in situations where neither Iraq nor Syria is a member of the Rome Statute. It calls for stronger recognition and prosecution of gender-based persecution to establish legal precedent and international standards for justice and deterrence. The author further stresses the symbolic power of such trials for victims and the global community.

Law and Legislation

Public international law

Gender-based persecution, Sexual violence, Crimes against humanity, International Criminal Court (ICC), Feminist legal theory, Rome Statute

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https://pergamos.lib.uoa.gr/uoa/dl/object/3477141