Journal of Human Rights, 6:307–324, 2007 Copyright © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1475-4835 print / 1475-4843 online DOI: 10.1080/14754830701334657 Sins of the Fathers: War Rape, Wrongful Procreation, and Children’s Human Rights MICHAEL GOODHART This essay considers the contentious and practically important question of whether children born of war rape and forced impregnation can and should be conceived as having their human rights violated by their rapist-fathers. It takes up both conceptual issues and pragmatic considerations related to this important question. I argue that the conceptual obstacles to talking about rapist-fathers violating the human rights of their children can be overcome and that we can usefully conceive the wrong done by them as wrongful procreation, a violation of a child’s right to enjoy rights. Moreover, I argue that recognizing these rights and wrongs is urgently necessary and can have a positive practical effect on the lives of war-rape children. An ancient and horrific aspect of warfare is the systematic use of rape and forced impregna- tion as tools of war (Brownmiller 1979). Awareness of this ongoing tragedy has increased significantly in recent years, largely due to the sexual violence pervading conflicts in the Balkans, Rwanda, Uganda, East Timor, Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Kosovo, Darfur, and elsewhere. As a result of these atrocities, and through the tireless hard work of activists and advocates for women and for human rights, the international community has recognized rape and forced impregnation as war crimes, as crimes against humanity, and as instances of genocide. International law now clearly and explicitly outlaws these heinous acts, and the Rome Statute of the nascent International Criminal Court (ICC) includes both rape and forced impregnation among the crimes over which it has jurisdiction. It has proven much more difficult to come to grips legally and theoretically with the wrongs done to the children born of wartime rape. The silence surrounding these children, reflecting both a desire to protect them and a widespread denial of their existence (McEvoy- Levy 2005), has been hard to break. More worryingly, the emerging international discourse of genocidal rape and forced impregnation has inadvertently fueled the conceptualization of fetuses and children as tools or indirect perpetrators of genocide (Allen 1996; Carpenter 2000b; Fisher 1996). The difficulty is not in recognizing that the children suffer, but rather in reckoning what to make of the fact that their suffering usually occurs in and through Michael Goodhart is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh, where he holds a secondary appointment in Women’s Studies. His research focuses on the theory and practice of democracy and human rights, especially in the context of globalization. His first book, Democracy as Human Rights: Freedom and Equality in the Age of Globalization, appeared in 2005. I am grateful to Brooke Ackerly, Charli Carpenter, and Patricia Weitsman for their comments on an earlier draft of this essay, as well as to Rich Hiskes and an anonymous referee for their insightful suggestions. I would also like to thank Eunice Apio, Giulia Baldi, Charli Carpenter, Joana Daniel, Bina D’Costa, Debra DeLaet, Susan Harris-Rimmer, Siobhan McEvoy-Levy, and Patricia Weitsman for their permission to cite unpublished manuscripts (many of which will appear in a forthcoming volume edited by Carpenter). This essay would not have been possible without their generous cooperation. Address correspondence to Michael Goodhart, Department of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh, 4600 WWPH, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA. E-mail: michaelgoodhart@gmail.com 307