Three courts, three paths

: institutional conceptions and responses to conflict-related sexual violence against men and boys across the ICTY, ICTR, and ICC, 1993-2023

Abstract

This thesis examines the evolution of understanding, treatment and recognition of conflict-related sexual violence against men and boys [CRSVAMB] across the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [ICTY], International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda [ICTR], and International Criminal Court [ICC] from 1993-2023. Despite increasing documentation of CRSVAMB, international criminal law [ICL] institutions have systematically failed to achieve consistent gender-inclusive justice for male victims.

Using an integrated analytical framework (masculinities theory with Sinha’s typology of institutional change), the study analyses 44 practitioner interviews alongside jurisprudential analysis and primary/secondary sources. A qualitative, multi-institutional design combines micro-level institutional analyses with a macro-level cross-institutional synthesis to trace how CRSVAMB has been conceptualised and operationalised over time.

The findings challenge linear and static ICL narratives by revealing three divergent institutional trajectories: the ICTY’s inadvertent recognition emerging from its focus on detention-related cases; the ICTR’s systematic overlooking despite documented evidence, with practices that consistently marginalised male victims; and the ICC’s performative inclusion, where sophisticated policy frameworks coexist with persistent implementation gaps. These trajectories are not developmental stages but distinct phenomena shaped by different change mechanisms, yielding paradoxical outcomes in which advancement and regression co-exist.

Across the studied tribunals/courts, four interconnected deficiency domains form an architecture of exclusion: (i) conceptual barriers that render male vulnerability institutionally illegible; (ii) structural invisibility through gender-exclusive approaches and training deficiencies; (iii) implementation gaps where formal recognition coexists with operational exclusion; and (iv) cultural insensitivity rooted in masculine invulnerability paradigms. The study establishes the coordination imperative—that fragmented reforms inevitably reproduce exclusions within progressive frameworks—explaining why three decades of formal progress have failed to achieve meaningful CRSVAMB recognition.

This research contributes original theoretical insights to gender and ICL scholarship, identifying systemic deficiencies with implications for policy, training programmes, and investigatory/prosecutorial strategies toward consistent gender-inclusive justice.

Date of Award	30 Jun 2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of St Andrews
Supervisor	Muireann O'Dwyer (Supervisor) & Adam Bower (Supervisor)