Fighters, Not Victims: On Victimhood Recognition and Gender Representations in the Enslavement Charges in the Ongwen Case

Abstract

Abstract In the Ongwen case, according to the otp women were abducted to be wives and men to be soldiers, women were forced to work and men forced to fight. The otp brought enslavement charges for some of these crimes. Absent from the charges was the forced fighting of men. This paper discusses the crime of enslavement in the Ongwen case. By combining a doctrinal analysis and a feminist approach, I seek to show how gender representations emerge in the application of the law in detriment of men’s victimhood. I argue that the application of the law responds to gender representations in war. Men are not perceived to be victims once they become ‘soldiers’. Likewise, for women, the effect is their continuous perception as non-fighters and victims of war. This leads to reinforcing those representations, to lack of acknowledgment of victimhood for men and to reducing the experiences of women.