Evidence indicates that individuals responsible formass rapes in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda wereacting on orders from their superiors. Theinternational criminal tribunals for the formerYugoslavia and for Rwanda have indicated theirintention to prosecute individuals responsible forsexual violence and their superiors. The prosecutionof superiors rests on the doctrine of commandresponsibility — a doctrine Well-established ininternational criminal law. This article presentsthe difficulties that arise in applying the doctrineof command responsibility to cases of wartime sexualassaults. Relying on a feminist analysis ofinternational humanitarian law, the authoridentifies the imbalance that exists between theprinciple of military necessity and the principle ofhumanitarianism — an imbalance that makes rape theleast condemned and punished of war crimes. In theabsence of traditional military command structures,as was the case in Bosnia and Rwanda, a superior iswell-placed to deny his authority over those whocommitted wartime rapes. Despite this challenge, theauthor asserts that the Tribunal for the formerYugoslavia, in the Celebici case, developed arealistic approach to the doctrine of commandresponsibility and reasonably concluded that a campcommander was criminally responsible for rapescommitted by his subordinates.