Abstract
The paper examines the definition of sexual violence and its different types such as rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy and enforced sterilization. This is in light of the war in Bosnia by the Serbian forces. During the war (1992 – 1995), Serbian forces set up rape camps all over Bosnia, where Bosnian Muslim women were subjected to various forms of sexual violence such as gang rapes and sexual mutilations. In response to the above atrocities the United Nations set up the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to try war offenders. The Statute of the Tribunal criminalized war time sexual offences as war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Keywords: Crimes against humanity, Genocide, ICTY, Rape, Sexual violence, war crimes.