95
Unlike the factors set forth by the Krnojelac tribunal, it appears that these detentions, which often
involved hundreds of persons at a time, lacked any legal justification and were not official detention
centers operated by the relevant state. Under these facts, there are reasonable grounds to believe
that traffickers committed the prohibited act of imprisonment.
Sexual Slavery and Rape
The Rome Statute provides that, in addition to rape, sexual slavery can constitute a crime against
humanity.366 The ICC’s Elements of Crimes defines sexual slavery as enslavement with the additional
element of the perpetrator causing such enslaved persons “to engage in one or more acts of a sexual
nature.”367 Further, the definition of servitude in the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition
of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery of 1956 qualifies as
enslavement.368 The Supplementary Convention includes in its definition of servitude any practice
where “a woman, without the right to refuse, is promised or given in marriage on payment of a
consideration in money or in kind to her parents, guardian, family or any other person or group.”369
Rape under the Rome Statute is defined as the invasion “of any part of the body of the victim or of
the perpetrator with a sexual organ, or of the anal or genital opening of the victim with any object
or any other part of the body.”370 Rape also requires a showing that the perpetrator committed the
act either: “(i) by force; (ii) by threat of force or coercion, such as that caused by fear of violence,
duress, detention, psychological oppression or abuse of power; (iii) by taking advantage of a coercive
environment; or (iv) against a person incapable of giving genuine consent.”371
Evidence of physical force is not necessary to demonstrate coercive circumstances.372 Rather,
“[t]hreats, intimidation, extortion and other forms of duress which prey on fear or desperation
may constitute coercion, and coercion may be inherent in certain circumstances, such as armed
conflict or . . . military presence [among the civilian population].”373 The ICC has further noted
that, beyond a military presence, there are “other coercive environments of which a perpetrator
may take advantage to commit rape,” such as when the rape is “committed together with other
crimes.”374 Further, a person can be considered “incapable of giving genuine consent if affected
by natural, induced or age-related incapacity,” even in non-forcible situations.375 According to the
ICC, the perpetrator must have acted deliberately and with knowledge of the “forcible nature of the
situation, or of the incapacity of the victim to give genuine consent.”376
Fortify Rights documented numerous sales of Rohingya women for marriage, including women as
young as 16.377 Further, testimonies described traffickers raping girls in their captivity and as young
366 Rome Statute art. 7(1)(g).
367 ICC, Elements of Crimes, art. 7(1)(g)2.
368 Id. at art. 7(1)(c) n. 11.
369 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to
Slavery of 1956, art. 1(c)(i), September 7, 1956, 266 U.N.T.S. 3.
370 ICC, Elements of Crimes, art. 7(1)(g)-1(1); Katanga, Case No. ICC-01/04-01/07, para. 962.
371 Bemba, Case No. ICC-01/05-01/08, para. 102. See also, Katanga, Case No. ICC-01/04-01/07, para. 962; ICC, Elements of
Crimes, art. 7(1)(g)-1(2).
372 Akayesu, Case No. ICTR-96-4-T, para. 688.
373 Ibid. See also, Bemba, Case No. ICC-01/05-01/08, para. 103.
374 Bemba, Case No. ICC-01/05-01/08, para. 104.
375 ICC, Elements of Crimes, art. 7(1)(g)-1(2) n.16.
376 Katanga, Case No. ICC-01/04-01/07, para. 970.
377 See, Chapter II. Section, “Forced Marriages and Domestic Servitude of Women and Girls.” Fortify Rights interview
with #18, Pahang State, Malaysia, August 13, 2014; Fortify Rights interview with #42, Songkhla Province, Thailand,
September 17, 2014; Fortify Rights interview with #47, Bangkok, Thailand, September 24, 2014.