Sexual violence in conflict: A universal and timeless violation of human rights
Posted 1:50 PM by Internal Voices in Labels: 11th edition
Anne Dupierreux, UNRIC Brussels
Important media coverage, in the 1990s, in Kosovo and Rwanda, and the information and denunciation actions – that were led by human rights defenders around the world – have contributed in revealing the consequences exceeding the understanding of rape and other forms of sexual violations in conflict. They have also broken the ancestral silence of millions of civilian victims, and instigated a tremendous breach in the generalized process of impunity.
In times of conflict, sexual violence becomes a powerful “weapon of war” against a defined population within a deliberated, generalized and systematic politico-military strategy. As some historical documents aging back to antiquity proved, this “weapon of war” constitutes a universal and timeless violation of human rights.
One cannot resort to geographical and cultural explanations to account for this phenomenon, but to strategic use that is adapted according to the nature of conflict and the pursued politico-military plan. These include, among others, terror and political repression (in countries such as Algeria, Colombia and Myanmar); the control of a territory with/without policy of forced eviction in the likes of Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); and the policy of large-scale reproduction (camps of rape in Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.) until the process of total destruction as part of a policy of ethnic cleansing or genocide has been accomplished (Bangladesh, Rwanda).
During conflict, 70 percent of civilian victims are women; girls and women also make up 70 to 80 percent of displaced persons or refugees. This precarious situation increases the risk of attacks and gender-based violence, as a total of 14 million women and girls worldwide are considered as primary targets of sexual violence (UNITED NATIONS, “Women and armed conflicts”).
Granting the fact that women and children are the primary targets of sexual violence, men and boys may also be targeted as a means of inflicting humiliation and shattering leadership structures. In the current context of ongoing and internal armed conflicts, characterized by fratricidal fights, the ethnic, religious, national and/or political identity of the women is of utmost importance.
The bodies of women become literal “battlefields” – strategic targets that are used to achieve the execution of large-scale reproduction or total destruction of victims and their community.The multidimensional and collective consequences of sexual violence as a weapon of war are devastating. Beyond the physical and psychological injuries of the victims, it is the whole community which is durably sullied, humiliated and dehumanized. By attacking the women's bodies this formidable “weapon of war” destroys the entire social fabric of societies and their socio-economic development. It manages to corrupt, in depth, the human and cultural values of the community and its future generations. These crimes also erode all social mechanisms of protection and access to justice, therefore contributing even more to the dehumanization of the society.
Despite the adoption of the Geneva Convention (IV) in 1949 relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, it is only in 1998 that the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court recognized rape and other forms of sexual violence (sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy and forced sterilization) as serious violations of international humanitarian law (war crimes and crimes against humanity).
The United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (2000), and the other three related Resolutions (1820, 1888, and 1889) all call for a stronger commitment by national and international actors to address the challenges faced by women during conflict. The United Nations has worked to integrate a gender perspective in its efforts on demobilization and disarmament, security sector reform, economic security issues, and access to education with the objective of preventing sexual violence against women.
If serious efforts are in fact being made, they are far from adequate. Impunity is still the prescription for culprits of sexual violence both during and after conflict. Survivors still suffer in silence, fearing reprisals from perpetrators and sometimes ostracism from family. The perpetrators are often demobilized combatants who have been reinstated in society without any measure of rehabilitation. Furthermore, in some cases, international assignees themselves, such as peacekeepers and humanitarian workers, have been implicated in committing sexual violence. In post-conflict, the policy of national reconciliation, like that in Colombia, has succeeded in the implementation of a fair and effective justice for victims. United Nations entities can better coordinate their responses to sexual violence across a range of sectors: legal reform; health aid; psychological support and livelihood services for survivors; security sector reform; and support for women’s engagement in peace-building.
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