An Evolving Human Rights Framework In 2000, the United Nations
Security Council passed Resolution 1325-a landmark decision
mandating the inclusion of women in peace processes. It calls
upon all parties to protect women in armed conflict and to
integrate gender perspectives into peacekeeping operations, UN
reporting systems and peacebuilding programmes.(10) The
resolution builds on earlier gains for women's rights during
armed conflict. The 1998 Rome Statute of the International
Criminal Court, the first permanent court charged with
prosecuting individuals for crimes against humanity,
specifically defines "rape, sexual slavery, enforced
prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any
other form of sexual violence" as crimes against humanity.(11)
Prior to the advent of the International Criminal Court, the
special tribunals set up to prosecute crimes against humanity in
Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia broke new legal ground in
prosecuting perpetrators of rape during wartime.(12) The Special
Cour