The bloodiest century in human history culminated in adoption of a treaty to create the world's first permanent International Criminal Court (ICC). When national courts are unable or unwilling to prosecute individuals accused of genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity, the ICC provides a forum for defending the rights of victims – such as women and children – who have rarely had recourse to post-conflict justice.

The Rome Statute codifies crimes of sexual violence based on international legal instruments, such as the Geneva Conventions, and the case law of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Currently, almost half of all individuals indicted by the Tribunals are charged with sexual assault, either as perpetrators or superiors, As a measure of progress, the transformation of rape from "an atrocious detail" of war, as the Prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials famously called it, to an illicit tactic of war, can be expected to migrate into national military manuals world-wide. Every state that has ratified or acceded to the Rome Statute is obliged to harmonize domestic law with its standards, and never grant asylum or amnesty for alleged perpetrators. As the net of international jurisdiction can only catch the most egregious perpetrators, this step should bolster the capacity of national courts to indict the lower-ranking ones.

The NGO Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice works on sexual violence with women's groups in every country on the ICC docket. Its Gender Report Card 'grades' implementation at the national level – on the Rome Statute generally and gender mandates in particular – to ensure these provisions are not ‘lost in translation' to domestic settings. The Report also monitors victim participation – which it has deemed "partial and unsatisfactory – thus creating the illusion of participation and justice without the experience of it". This evidence suggests that the Rome Statute is merely one stage in an ongoing struggle against impunity. In the words of one woman activist, "The gains that have been made for victims of sexual violence have been hard fought by a small number of local and international women's NGOs every step of the way. Continued pressure will be needed to ensure the ICC follows through on this progress."