Forced marriage was endemic during the Sierra Leonean confl ict. Girls and women forced to serve as 'wives' to rebel soldiers were usually expected to submit to ongoing rape and to provide domestic labour to their 'husbands'. Many of these 'wives' suff er from continuing stigmatization. Th e Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone brought forced marriage charges as a crime against humanity through the category of inhumane acts against Brima, Kamara and Kanu, affi liated with the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), and Sesay, Kallon and Gbao, affi liated with the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Th is article considers two benefi ts stemming from the resulting jurisprudence: the naming of forced marriage as an inhumane act and the acknowledgement of forced marriage as a violation not captured by other legal terms. However, conceptual diffi culties remain: how should forced marriage be defi ned so as to fulfi l the principle of nullum crimen sine lege ? Is forced marriage more accurately labelled as enslavement? And, is conjugality accurately captured as a defi ning feature of forced marriage? If forced marriage is to be successfully prosecuted in other contexts - for example, in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia - then more attention must be paid to resolving these questions. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2011.

inhumane acts forced marriage Crimes against humanity Enslavement

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