Forced Marriage as the Crime Against Humanity of ‘Other Inhumane Acts’ in the International Criminal Court’s Ongwen Case

Abstract

The Ongwen case, concluded in December 2022 at the International Criminal Court (icc), convicted the defendant of a gender-based act that had never been litigated by the icc: forced marriage. This article argues that the judicial consideration of forced marriage in Ongwen has settled the international jurisprudence in three important ways. First, it clarified the classification of forced marriage as an ‘other inhumane act’. Second, it recognised and solidified the conduct and harms captured by the term ‘forced marriage’, distinguishing it from other crimes against humanity. Finally, it confirmed that prosecution of forced marriage does not contravene nullum crimen sine lege principles. These outcomes will play a key role in future recognition and prosecutions of forced marriage in international criminal law. This article suggests that the logical next step is to explicitly list forced marriage as a crime against humanity in the Rome Statute and the draft Crimes Against Humanity Convention.