Sexual Assault on Men in War

In the aftermath of the war in the former Yugoslavia, mass sexual assault on women has received wide media coverage, and human rights organisations have pressed for greater understanding of – gender-specific crimes such as the use of female rape and forced impregnation as tools of “ethnic cleansing”. This coverage is long overdue, and much more research and advocacy are needed on the long-neglected plight of women during war. However, male sexual assault during war has received scant media coverage and remains a little-understood, underinvestigated offence. This article argues that the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia has been a leading model for the investigation of male sexual assault.