Why is the Iraq War Crimes Tribunal Critical to the Future of Iraqi Womens Legal Rights?
The Iraq War Crimes Tribunal (officially the Iraqi High Tribunal or IHT) is critical to establishing the rule of law in Iraq and, by the very nature of its mandate, will be critical to the future enforceability of women’s rights. The Iraqi Tribunal Judges, for the first time in their careers are charged with enforcing international law on war crimes. The 2005 Iraq Tribunal statute is modeled after the Rome Treaty that established the ICC and includes the ICC gender crimes. The IHT is now part of domestic law, coexisting with the 1969 Penal Code (hereinafter “the Penal Code”) provisions which govern the same (non war time) criminal behavior. Because the IHT guarantees of “gender justice” stand in such stark contrast to the discriminatory Penal Code, the Tribunal will inevitably be faced with trying to reconcile them, particularly since the IHT refers to the Penal Code for penalties for rape and mitigations of sentences for honor killings.[1] As one Tribunal Judge acknowledged, “…we ar
