This Paper will trace the development of the prosecution of rape as a war crime in light of the Sierra Leone context. It will focus specifically on the tension between the rights of individual women and the recognition and development of the universal human rights of women–particularly the rights of women within humanitarian law. Part II examines the conflict in Sierra Leone, looking specifically at the human rights abuses committed against women during that conflict. Part III traces the historical development of the prosecution of rape as a war crime by looking at international documents and standards that have been applied, paying particular attention to the development of this body of law in the context of the International Criminal Tribunals. Part IV focuses specifically on the tension that exists in the prosecution of these crimes between the rights and needs of the individual woman victim and the desire to expand international women’s human rights as a whole. Part V applies the lessons learned from previous criminal tribunals to the Special Court for Sierra Leone. It looks at the next steps required in the development of this jurisprudence, the prosecution of rape as a war crime in a conflict that is not marked by genocide, and further complexities of the Sierra Leone context that could shape the contour of rape as a war crime prosecution. Finally, drawing on the problems of the ICTY and ICTR, this section makes recommendations for ways in which the needs of the victim could be better combined with the need to prosecute rape as a war crime in the Special Court for Sierra Leone.