Teresa Fernández Paredes 63 • Brdanin. The Tribunal convicted prison guards for torture for their role in beatings, including blows to a prisoner’s genitals and death threats.37 The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) referred to rape as a form of tor­ ture for the first time on March 1, 1996.38 The Commission heard the case of Fernando and Raquel Mejía v. Peru, in which Fernando Mejía was kidnapped from his home by Peruvian military author­ ities, accused of being a member of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, tortured, and killed, and his wife, Raquel Mejía was raped twice by a soldier who accused her of also being an opposition member. In its decision, the IACHR stated that “Current international law establishes that sexual abuse committed by members of security forces, whether as a result of a deliberate practice promoted by the State or as a result of failure by the State to prevent the occurrence of this crime, constitutes a violation of the victims’ human rights, especially the right to physical and mental integrity”. The court cites the international humanitarian normative that considered rape and other types of sexual abuse as serious offences or torture or other inhuman treatments.39 In the Mejía case, the IACHR analyzed how the elements of tortured applied to the acts suffered by Raquel Mejía and established that: “rape is a physical and mental abuse that is perpetrated as a result of an act of violence. The Special Rapporteur against Torture has noted that sexual abuse is one of the various methods of physical torture. Moreover, rape is considered to be a method of psycho­ logical torture because its objective, in many cases, is not just to humiliate the victim but also her family or community. (...) Rape causes physical and mental suffering in the victim. In addition to the violence suffered at the time it is committed, the victims are commonly hurt or, in some cases, are even made pregnant.”40 On this basis, the Commission found that “having established that the three elements of the definition of torture are present in the case under consideration, the Peruvian State is responsible for violation of Article 5 of the American Convention [right to personal integrity].”41 37 Brammertz Serge, Jarvis Michelle (ed.), Prosecuting Conflict-Related Sexual Violence at the ICTY. P. 189. Oxford. 2016. 38 “The IACHR had previously considered rape inhuman treatment or a violation of integrity, but not torture. This decision was a landmark that was cited in subsequent litigation all over the world. For instance, it was cited in the Aydin case before the ECtHR to show that violation of a girl in custody constituted torture under the European Convention.” LSE. Raquel Martín de Mejía v. Peru. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/vaw/ landmark-cases/a-z-of-cases/meija-v-peru/. 39 “In the context of international humanitarian law, Article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 concerning the protection due to civilians in times of war explicitly prohibits sexual abuse. Article 147 of that Convention which lists acts considered as “serious offenses” or “war crimes” includes rape in that it constitutes “torture or inhuman treatment”. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has declared that the “serious offense” of “deliberately causing great suffering or seriously harming physical integrity or health” includes sexual abuse. Moreover, Article 76 of Additional Protocol I to the 1949 Geneva Conventions expressly prohibits rape or other types of sexual abuse. Article 85(4),for its part, states that when these practices are based on racial discrimination they constitute “serious offenses”. As established in the Fourth Convention and Protocol I, any act of rape committed individually constitutes a war crime. In the case of non-international conflicts, both Article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions and Article 4(2) of Protocol II additional to the Conventions, include the prohibition against rape and other sexual abuse insofar as they are the outcome of harm deliberately influenced on a person. The ICRC has stated that the prohibition laid down in Protocol II reaffirms and complements the common Article 3 since it was necessary to strengthen the protection of women, who can be victims of rape, forced prostitution or other types of abuse. Article 5 of the Statute of the International Tribunal established for investigating the serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, considers rape practiced on a systematic and large scale a crime against humanity. Raquel Mejía, op. cit. 40 Op. cit. Raquel Mejía v Perú. 41 Ibid.