CRSV is a tragic consequence of war. Armed actors abuse civilians to varied degrees in different strategic settings breaching international humanitarian laws. Towards this end, international legal interventions are a widely accepted response. Therefore, making it the first of its kind, this study systematically researches whether international criminal indictments can deter CRSV, committed by state and non-state actors. This large-N analysis considers the period of 1990-2019 and test the short- and long-term effects of indictments on CRSV levels. My original global dataset which includes all indictments tried by ICTY, ICTR and ICC, enabled this research. While the proposed primary hypothesis expects a decrease in the CRSV levels following indictments, the counter hypothesis expects an increase. The evidence regarding the beneficial impacts of indictments is fairly clear. However, the results suggest that the deterrent impact is not durable. The long-term effect of indictments on CRSV levels is found to be counterproductive. The effect holds the same trend for the tested causal-mechanism. Weak enforcement mechanisms and limited judicial capacity of the ICTs can be challenging the deterrence. The implications of this study are central for policymakers seeking to counter civilian suffering in conflicts through international responses and thereby establish peace and justice.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-444561 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Liyanage, Hasini Ransala |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för freds- och konfliktforskning |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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