The recent establishment of a special tribunal with jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against peace, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Bangladesh has followed persistent activism from civil society demanding accountability for the crimes of violence com- mitted during the liberation war of 1971. Constituted under the International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1974, as amended in 2009,1 and envisaging the prosecution of among others, ‘international crimes’, this is a domestic tribunal, established under domestic law. While the initiative to move forward with trials has been widely welcomed in Bangladesh as a long-overdue recognition of the need to address the issue of impunity for gross violations of human rights, there remain concerns about the resources and capacity of the tribunal to carry out its mandate. We believe it is important to address these questions early on, precisely in order to ensure that the Tribunal receives the necessary human, financial and technical resources needed for it to function. In this paper, we focus on one aspect of this larger question, and discuss how the Tribunal may address the issue of crimes of sexual violence during 1971, as well as possible strategies for addressing, and overcoming these challenges."