Gender-Based Crimes Against Women: A Study of Investigation and Prosecution by the International Criminal Court

iCourts Lunch Seminar with Bhavya Gupta

The adoption of the Rome Statute marked a significant milestone in international criminal law by expressly recognising a wide range of gender-based crimes within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Over the past two decades, the Court has progressively incorporated these crimes into its investigations and prosecutions, reflecting an important normative commitment to addressing gender-based violence in situations of armed conflict. Despite these developments, successful investigations and prosecutions of gender-based crimes remain limited, and convictions have been relatively few. This persistent gap between normative recognition and judicial outcomes forms the central puzzle of this doctoral research.

The study argues that this gap cannot be adequately explained through legal doctrine, evidentiary challenges, or state cooperation alone. Rather, it demonstrates that the organisational functioning of the International Criminal Court, including its institutional structures, prosecutorial practices, internal policies, resource allocation, and bureaucratic decision-making, plays a significant role in shaping the investigation and prosecution of gender-based crimes against women. Instead of asking whether the ICC possesses an adequate legal framework for gender justice, the study asks how the Court’s organisational structures influence the implementation of that framework in practice. By analysing the ICC as an international organisation, the research shifts attention from what the law permits to how institutions operationalise legal mandates.

The study adopts an interdisciplinary methodology combining doctrinal legal analysis with qualitative empirical research. It draws upon semi-structured interviews with officials of the International Criminal Court, representatives of civil society organisations, and practitioners engaged in international criminal justice, complemented by analysis of ICC policy documents, prosecutorial strategies, judicial decisions, and case records involving gender-based crimes. The research is informed by feminist legal theory, feminist institutionalism, and theories of international organisations. It also adopts a reflexive methodological approach, recognising how my academic training in Indian law and justice institutions, followed by doctoral research in the study of international organisations, shaped the questions I asked of the ICC.

The dissertation contributes to scholarship by demonstrating that accountability for gender-based crimes depends not only on progressive legal norms but also on the institutional capacity of international courts to implement them. It offers an organisational explanation for the persistent gap between the ICC’s normative commitments to gender justice and its prosecutorial outcomes, expanding existing scholarship that has predominantly focused on doctrinal, evidentiary, and political explanations. In doing so, it highlights the importance of institutional design and organisational practice in understanding the effectiveness of international criminal justice.

Bio

Bhavya Gupta is an Assistant Professor of Law at IILM University, Gurugram, India, and recently submitted her PhD thesis in International Organisation at the Centre for International Politics, Organisation and Disarmament (CIPOD), School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). She is currently a Visiting Researcher at the University of Antwerp, Belgium.

Her doctoral research examines the investigation and prosecution of gender-based crimes against women at the International Criminal Court, drawing on organisational and feminist approaches to examine institutional practices, decision-making, and the implementation of international criminal law. Her research involved fieldwork at The Hague, including archival research, interviews with practitioners and officials, and courtroom observation.

During her research visit to iCourts, she will further develop her work on international courts and international criminal justice, with a particular interest in the relationship between institutional design, organisational practices, and the investigation and prosecution of gender-based crimes. Her broader research interests include international organisations, international criminal law, global governance, gender and international law, and feminist approaches to international institutions.