MSW 521 Module 5 Application ASSIGNMENT Women as Victims of War

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Correspondence Mark Slack email: [email protected]

Introduction Few exposed to the ravages of war escape unscathed. Ultimately all participants, both active and passive are victims. The role of the soldier is well chronicled with tales of valour and fortitude. More recently the long term consequences of battle have gained prominence and there are numerous articles on both the physical injuries and the psychological impact such as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). War, however, remains a quintessentially masculine realm. Men are perceived to start wars, do the fighting and dying and finally negotiate the peace. Memorial services perpetuate this with dedications to fallen soldiers and supports marches through the streets to encourage recognition of the returning soldiers.

As the boundaries of conventional war blur, civilians are increasingly intimately involved and become victims. Their story is less well known. Amongst these the plight of women cries out for greater attention. Historically women have been left behind at times of war without sufficient means to fend for the family. In addition, in occupied zones women become victims from small arms and land mines but also suffer gender related violence. It is estimated that there are 9 indirect deaths for every direct death in recent African conflicts.1

Rape has been a feature of war throughout history. Cicero (106-43 BC) urges soldiers to observe the rules of war, since obeying the regulations separated the "men" from the "brutes". The cry, “To the Victor the spoils go,” seemed to justify the

systematic rape of female captives. Rape in war, although it can be, is seldom for sexual gratification and is used more for the ritual humiliation of the vanquished or to ensure dominance over the defeated. For some armies looting was a perk of the job and rape was seen as a form of looting. Often the woman was the property of the defeated and in episodes of lengthy occupation became the property of the victor and in many cases were repatriated with the other spoils of war.

This is a reflection of the fact that women still struggle for equal recognition in a male dominated world. Despite the many achievements of the feminist movement and some notable advances made as a result, gender discrimination continues to prevail with most of the advantages weighted in favour of the male.

Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel “The Handmaids Tale” is set in the dystopian republic of Gilead where women are relegated to the roles of wives, domestic workers or reproductive vessels forbidden to work or read. They are physically punished with torture, rape and execution if they disobey the male leaders. The film version makes disturbing viewing.2 The vision of a society where women are relegated to serving men and producing children is stark and upsetting. This vision as a far-fetched fantasy is uncomfortable enough without drawing parallels to modern society. Recent legislation under the Trump administration seeks to limit women’s access to contraception. The photograph of the all male team in the White House enacting this legislation, the utterances of the Vice President on abortion, the enslaving of Yazidi women by Islamic State militia all paint a picture not a million miles from the Atwood novel.

Women as victims of war Mark Slack Head of Department of Gynaecology, Urogynaecology and Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, University of Cambridge Teaching Hospital Trust, Hills Road, Cambridge, UK

Abstract Throughout history rape has been an inevitable accomplice of war. Sexual violence in war is defined as “Rape or other forms of sexual violence committed by combatants (or peacekeepers) during armed conflict or military occupation”. It is clear that there is no single cause but that sexual violence is a reflection of the struggle that women have for equal recognition in a male dominated world. Recent conflicts from the Second World War to the current crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo confirm the ongoing problem associated with sexual violence in military conflict.

Despite this, prior to 1998 there had been little formal recognition of the problem or appropriate legislation. The ethnic conflicts in Yugoslavia and Rwanda seemed to jolt the International Community out of complacency and resulted in legislation that equated rape with genocide. Despite this, pitifully few individuals have been charged with crimes against humanity and suffered the consequences of their actions. This remains an international problem in need of greater recognition and an added impetus to prosecute the perpetrators.

Research has shown that health professionals have a poor understanding of the issues around domestic violence. It is also clear that most have little knowledge of the horrors meted out to women exposed to war. Increased awareness of the suffering and health consequences of sexual violence during times of conflict and war will enable health professionals to more efficiently provide appropriate care and support for such victims.

Keywords: War; Conflict; Rape; Humanitarian crimes; Genocide

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In times of war women function as combatants, carers, bread-winners, prisoners, sex slaves and weapons of war. When the men are away at war the women step up to be breadwinners while at the same time providing care and protection for the children, the elderly and the sick. They protect property and maintain society. Very often they are without sufficient means to fend for the family. In occupied zones women become victims because of their sexuality. While rape has always been a feature of war it has largely gone unrecognised in the chronicles of war, and has been almost totally bypassed in post war reparations.

Sexual violence in war is defined as “Rape or other forms of sexual violence committed by combatants (or peacekeepers) during armed conflict or military occupation.”3 This is often accentuated in ethnic conflict and is usually motivated by violence rather than sexual gratification. This is a reflection of its broader sociological motives. It often involves gang rape, prostitution and sexual slavery. Sexual violence in war can be opportunistic or a systematic tactic aimed at the demoralization of the community. It can mean sexual slavery aimed at providing sexual services to the army, exploitation in exchange for food and humanitarian relief or even to provide “protection” against mass rape. It has also been used to impregnate victims as a means of ethnic cleansing via the dilution of bloodlines.

Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Torah (section of the Hebrew Bible) and the Christian Old Testament. The book consists of three sermons delivered by Moses to the Israelites before they enter the promised land. In this he exhorts the Israelites that,

“When you go out to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God gives them into your hand and you take them captive, and you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire to take her to be your wife, and you bring her home to your house, she shall shave her head and pare her nails. And she shall take off the clothes in which she was captured and shall remain in your house and lament her father and her mother a full month. After that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. But if you no longer delight in her, you shall let her go where she wants. But you shall not sell her for money, nor shall you treat her as a slave, since you have humiliated her”.

Deuteronomy 21:10-14

There is evidence of rape in the writings of the Crusades, the American and French revolutions, and through the Second World War, to the more recent conflicts in the latter part of the 20th century and the early 21st century. Sexual domination as a form of control has been perpetrated by multiple societies.

From the Lebensborn programme of the Third Reich intended to create more members of the Aryan race via State control of women in Saudi Arabia to the encouragement by Hindu Nationalists to increase breeding as a weapon against Muslim domination it is clear that women remain an unspoken weapons of war. It should come as no surprise then that so called modern and fair democracies treat women no better now than historically and that sexual violence against women enacted as a weapon of war is often relegated to an afterthought. It almost seems as if sexual violence has been

treated as an unfortunate but inevitable phenomenon, difficult to prevent and therefore not worthy of attention.

Modern history chronology The study of late modern and contemporary history confirms the suspicion that an international conspiracy of silence exists around the subject of rape and sexual violence in war. The events from the Second World War and witnessed in subsequent wars highlight the contemporary nature of this problem.

Historically some leaders have recognized the problem and counselled and preached against it. Hugo Grotius (1583 – 1645) the Father of the “law of Nations” wrote that “Rape should not go unpunished any more in war then in peace.” In 1863 the United States codified customary international law in its US Army regulation on the Laws of land warfare. This code known as the Lieber code formed the cornerstone of humanitarian law and served as the foundation for military codes in many other countries.4 Article 44 explicitly declared that all rape is prohibited under the penalty of death. Sadly their voices are occasional outbursts dimmed by international apathy.

In the European sector of the Second World War rape was common during the German invasion of Poland and Russia. Jewish women and girls were singled out during this advance. During the war thousands of Jewish and non-Jewish women, in hiding, ghettos, prisons, brothels and concentration camps were sexually abused by German soldiers, guards, SS members and by Germany’s allies and collaborators.5 Soon after the surrender of Nazi Germany approximately 1.9 million cases of rape were perpetrated against women and children in the territories of the defeated Third Reich by soldiers of the Allied forces. Primarily these were by the soldiers of the Red Army but also by American and French troops in significant numbers. It is estimated that between April 24 1945 and May 3rd 100 000 women were raped in Berlin alone.6 At the Nurenberg trials which began on the 20th November 1945 the sexual means of torture including rape were documented but not prosecuted as independent crimes. Rape was only addressed as a peripheral issue.7

During the Second World War the Japanese Imperial Army abducted and interned thousands of women from China, Korea and the Philippines as sexual slaves for the Japanese Soldiers. The subsequent Tokyo tribunal (May 1946) addressed obliquely the issue of conflict related sexual violence, including the use of “comfort women” and the mass rape of Chinese women by Japanese troops at Nanking but did not formally recognise these violations.8 This was the first time that rape was identified as a war crime and commanders were held responsible for rapes committed by soldiers under their command. For more than 50 years the survivors had no formal recognition of the crimes against them.

In December 1948 the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. In the same month the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.9

In response to the atrocities committed during the Second World War The Geneva Convention was adopted in August 1949. The conventions extend protection to women civilians

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stating that they must be “especially protected against any attack on their honour, in particular against rape, enforced prostitution or any form of indecent assault.” Rape however is not listed as a “grave breach,” even though the Fourth Convention for the Protection of Civilian Persons views rape, enforced prostitution and all forms of indecent assault as crimes under national and international rules of war.

The Vietnam war raged from the early American involvement in 1961 until March 1973. During this time both American and Vietnamese soldiers were guilty of rape but pitifully few were prosecuted for such crimes.10 The infamous incident of the rape in My Lai occurred in March 1968. It is estimated that 175 to 400 villagers were killed. During this atrocity multiple rapes occurred at the same time. From 1980 to the 1990’s Rape as a policy of war was employed in multiple ways from conflicts in Liberia to Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Myanmar and the former Yugoslavia.

The tacit acceptance of sexual violence that has existed historically seemed to end over the last two decades. The widespread systematic rape in the Balkans and the atrocities committed in Rwanda appeared to jolt the International Community out of complacency. These examples along with the ongoing sexual violence in the Eastern Congo and increased media coverage have mobilised International reaction with policy makers, human rights activists, politicians and celebrity activists highlighting the issue resulting in reaction from the United Nations and many Governments.

The second UN Global Conference on Women was held in Copenhagen in Denmark in July 1980. In 1981 Amnesty International published “Women in the front line”.

The third UN International Conference on Women was held in Nairobi in July 1985. The delegates highlighted the importance of addressing gender based violence as an international human rights issue. A variety of smaller initiatives by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the UN committee on the elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) maintained the interest in gender-based violence.

In December 1992 Jan Ruff-O’Herne, a former “comfort woman” broke years of silence and founded an international movement seeking accountability and reparations from the Japanese government for its wartime sexual enslavement of thousands of women and girls during the war.

From 1992 to 1995 Yugoslavia descended into civil war. During this time an estimated 20 000 to 60 000 women and girls were subjected to sexual violence in “rape camps”. The UN sent a team to investigate the reports of rape being used for ethnic cleansing and then passed a resolution identifying rape as a war crime for the first time, and called for the establishment of an international tribunal to prosecute these crimes.

In 1993 the UN established an international tribunal (resolution 827) for the sole purpose of prosecuting persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law in the former Yugoslavia. This became the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).11 This explicitly included rape within its definitions of crimes against humanity and set the wheels in motion that would lead to the successful conviction of a number of individuals charged with rape. The numbers were small numerically but represented a

massive leap in the recognition of women’s rights and was a milestone for the recognition of rape as a crime. In the same year the Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa formally recognized that his country kidnapped and confined 70 000 to 200 000 women as sexual slaves during World War II.

The Rwandan war started in 1994. An estimated 800 000 people were murdered over a period of three months. During this time an estimated 250 000 to 500 000 women and girls were raped by the Hutu dominated Rwandan army. As a result the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 955 establishing the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) This was not without many problems. Judges allowed intrusive cross examination and victims were laughed at in court. During the trial of Jean-Paul Akayesu (the Hutu mayor of the Taba commune) rape was not included in the original charge of genocide.12 It took the strong insistence of the only female judge, South Africa’s Navanethem Pillay, before the charges were amended to include rape as genocidal. She famously stated, “From time immemorial rape has been regarded as spoils of war. Now it will be considered a war crime. We want to send out a strong message that rape is no longer a trophy of war.”.

In these additional charges the ICTR in 1998 equated rape with a component of genocide. For many testimony resulted in social isolation but as a result it implanted a collective narrative and resulted in sexual violence being defined as genocide. Judge Pillay’s approach signified one of the most concrete in the battle against rape and sexual violence in war.

The first International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) trial dealing exclusively with charges of sexual violence against women commenced in 2000 against three members of the Bosnian Serb military and paramilitary forces. On February 22,2001 the three defendants were found guilty of rape as a crime against humanity. While the number prosecuted was small the gravity of the charge against them was a significant step in the fight against rape during war and conflict.

On October the 31st 2000 the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. It was the first formal and legal document from the UN security council that addressed the impact of war on women.13

The Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery during World War II was held in Tokyo in December 2000. Apart from finally acknowledging the role of the Japanese Government in the enslavement of the “comfort women” it finally gave the surviving victims acknowledgement of the crimes against them and a sense that justice had at last prevailed.

In 2008 the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon launched his campaign “UNITE to end Violence Against Women.” In June of the same year the UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1820 which recognized that sexual violence can be categorized as a war tactic, war crime, crime against humanity and an act of genocide.

In March 2011 judges at The Hague found Charles Taylor, the former President of Liberia, guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. These included rape and sexual slavery. This is a small victory in an arena where far too many former tyrants and despots are allowed to live freely and without sanction.

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Even now perpetrators of some of the most violent crimes against society, like the Khmer Rouge, live comfortable lives free from the risk of prosecution. More often than not they are shielded by the new leaders of their countries. In Cambodia the UN backed war crimes tribunal against former Khmer Rouge commanders has stalled in the face of opposition by the prime minister Hun Sen, himself a former Khmer Rouge cadre.

Why does it happen? In order to prevent conflict related sexual violence we need to understand the causes and consequences. While many seek a universal explanation others seek to establish the causes as they apply to specific settings. There are a number of theories but we will probably have to be satisfied that there is unlikely to be a universal explanation.

Biology Considering the long history of rape it seems rational to believe that sexual aggression is biological, and therefore only ever just below the surface. This aggression is constrained by social cohesion and society but with the breakdown of social controls the underlying impulse rises to the surface. In many ways this is naïve but even if true it does not explain why levels of sexual violence vary so widely from conflict to conflict. It also does not explain the use of rape as a weapon of war, and it is important to remember that in most conflicts the majority of men do not engage in rape.

Patriarchy In cultures where men dominate, women can be considered the property of men. In such cultures if men believe that women are lesser than them the men may feel entitled to rape. In such a society as women are considered to be under the protection of their men attacks against enemy women can be seen as proxy attacks against the enemy.

Militarization A common strategy to get soldiers to risk their own lives or take those of others is to portray the enemy as less than human and a danger to society, culture or religion. This dehumanising of the enemy will enable soldiers to overcome any concerns about violence against the enemy. While this may, however, explain sexual violence there are armies and rebel groups who do not engage in such behaviour.

Rape as a strategy of war This forms one of the most chilling causes of rape as a function of war. When a group sets out to use rape as a strategy its only aim is the complete destruction of the the opposition both socially and strategically. This tends to be more common in conflicts that are ethnically based where combatants wage war on the enemy’s civilian population. The aim is to force people to stop supporting competing groups or to leave an area. It is meant to ensure that those fleeing an area will never return. This can spill over to a form of ethnic cleansing. Here the goal can be to force the enemy to give birth to children with mixed ethnicity. This in turn dilutes the blood line and destroys ethnic identity. The Bosnian conflict and the Rwandan genocide are both extreme examples of this. A child born under these

circumstances remains as a constant reminder of the humiliation suffered by the vanquished. Children born in these circumstances are often abandoned or neglected and the mother is often ostracised.

Domestic violence The most prevalent form of violence against women both in and out of war is domestic. In times of war the likelihood of domestic violence increases. During war women often take on roles traditionally undertaken by men. At the end of conflict when men return to their communities this gender reversal can lead to problems of increased domestic violence. This can also include sexual violence when returning soldiers want to force pregnancy on unwilling partners.

Consequences of sexual violence The mental health consequences are devastating and the duration lifelong. The trauma of the violence can also be accompanied by an unwanted pregnancy or a life threatening infection such as HIV. In Rwanda it is estimated that up to 70% of the victims of sexual violence were HIV positive.

Management of psychological morbidity must be carefully considered. While counselling may help some cultures it may be completely inappropriate for others. One thing that seems to help all cultures is social support from other women and the ability to focus on something other than their experiences.

Many of the long term effects arise from the manner in which families and communities respond to the victims. Women and children who are victims of violence during armed conflict are often reluctant to talk about their suffering. Pressure from parties of the conflict, the government, the family or community all serve to intimidate many into silence. Men struggle to confront the reality leaving the victim to deny the event and to manage the trauma on her own. Stigmatization of victims prevents rehabilitation and can lead to loss of economic support or the chance to enter into a relationship. If a woman has a child from rape she may be forced to choose between the child and her family.

Protection and prevention It is difficult, if not impossible, to protect women and girls from sexual violence in conflicts and humanitarian situations. By definition war is associated with the loss of normal security services with the invading army controlling that area.

In peacetime society has to inculcate the values that protect women from sexual violence. Men growing up in a society intolerant of sexual violence will hopefully be less wired to commit sexual violence.

Armies must receive training that condemns any form of sexual violence and the soldiers must be educated about the consequences should they transgress.

It is essential to ensure that possible perpetrators know they will be punished. Individuals must know that they will be prosecuted for any acts of sexual violence irrespective of the prevailing conditions. More importantly the commanders, both military and civilian, must be warned that the International Community will not condone such acts and that the the full force of the International Community will condemn them and bring them to justice if the forces under their command commit

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such atrocities. Collecting the evidence to prosecute these crimes can be difficult. Continuing violence or conflict often prevent reporting. In many areas reprisal, shame and social stigma are attached to rape. Fear of the consequences of reporting sexual violence such as rejection, alienation, divorce and being deemed unfit for marriage discourage women from reporting the violence suffered. National courts may have no jurisdiction over soldiers who are foreign nationals and it may be impossible to seek their extradition. Only concerted and coordinated efforts by the International Community will overcome these difficulties.

Since 1998 the International Community has legislated against sexual violence and there have been some high profile prosecutions of leaders like Charles Taylor and Jean-Paul Akayesu. The International Community must not shy away from its responsibilities and ensure that perpetrators, especially from the leadership ranks must be brought to justice within their own lifetime. The approach of trying defendants for rape as a crime against humanity makes the successful prosecution and punishment of commanders and leaders a more realistic possibility. In the Akayesu case he was not tried for direct participation in the acts but for his official sanction as mayor of the town based on presence, knowledge and failure to prevent the acts.15

A number of conventions have been promulgated to protect women and children from abuse (Table 1) and the UN Security Council has passed a number of resolutions on women, peace and security (Table II). Despite this rape continues unchecked in the Eastern Congo highlighting the need for greater International efforts.

Conclusion Peace settlements and post conflict resolution will only reach appropriate conclusions when there is adequate representation from women in the peace process. There is still considerable uncertainty about the legal standing so the international community needs to continue to legislate and so remove the ambiguity about rape and to ensure that in whatever form it occurs it receives the necessary attention and attracts the appropriate sanction. A radical change in attitude coupled with the introduction of new laws will go some way to ridding the world of this atrocious crime.

For this to occur the subject needs to gain far greater recognition and the prosecution of perpetrators far more energy. If society treated the perpetrators as outcasts and ostracized and rejected them, recognizing them as pathetic and cowardly the numbers of transgressors would rapidly reduce. It is essential that violence against women remains on the UN Security Council Agenda and that gaps in the criminal codes are closed so that perpetrators cannot escape justice.

A thorough understanding of the magnitude of the problem of sexual violence in war and conflict, and the health and social consequences that emanate from it is essential to enable health professionals to provide the support and follow-up that these individuals need. The provision of sympathetic and professional support will help to mitigate some of their suffering.

References 1. Coghlan, B, Brennan RJ, NgoyP, Dofara D, Otto B, et al. Mortality in the

Democratic Republic of Congo:A nationwide survey. Lancet 2006:367;44-51.

2. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-handmaids-tale

3. McDougall, Gay J Contemporary forms of slavery: systematic rape,

sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during armed conflict.

1998. Final report submitted by Ms. Gay J. McDougall, Special

Rapporteur, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/13.) https://www.macalester.edu/

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rape,%20sexual%20slavery%20during%20armed%20conflict.htm

4. https://archive.org/stream/pdfy-NG4E2nsEimXkB5mU/The Lieber Code Of

1863_djvu.txt

5. Baer ER, Goldenberg M. Experience and expression: Women the Nazis and

the Holocaust, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 2003.

6. Hillers M. A Woman in Berlin. Eight Weeks in the Conquered City. 2005

Henry Holt, New York.

7. Brownmiller S. Against our will: Men women and rape. 1976 Penguin, London.

8. Soh, S. The Comfort Women: Sexual Violence and postcolonial memory in

Korea and Japan. 2009. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

9. http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/

10. Weaver G.M. Ideologies of forgetting: rape in the Vietnam War 2010 State

University of New York Press. Albany.

11. Kaszubunski M The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former

Yugoslavia. In:Post-Conflict Justice. Bassiouni MC eds. Translational

Publishers Ardsley N.Y.

12. Goldstone RJ. Prosecuting rape as a war crime, Case Western Reserve

Journal of International Law 2002;34:277-286.

13. ww.un.org/en/peacekeeping/issues/women/wps.shtml

14. Baaz M, Stern M. “Why do Soldiers Rape? Gender, Violence and Sexual

Equality in the Armed Forces in the Congo (DRC). International Studies

Quarterly 2009;53:495-518

15. Askin K. Sexual Violence in decisions and indictments of the Yugoslav and

Rwandan tribunals: Current status. Am J International Law 1999;93:97-123.

Table II: United Nations Security Council Resolutions on women peace and security

Since 2000 the UN security council has adopted 5 resolutions on women peace and security. The first addressed a number of issues from sexual violence to the role of women in the peace process. The more recent ones have focused far more on sexual violence. Resolution 1325 (2000) - Resolution 1820 (2008) - Resolution 1888 (2009) Resolution 1889 (2009) Resolution 1960 (2010) Resolution 1983 (2011)

Table 1: Conventions for the protection of women and children

• The Geneva Convention - Many acts of sexual violence – including rape, gang rape, sexual violence and sexual mutilation- constitute torture under international law. These acts are considered war crimes and constitute breaches of the Geneva Convention

• The UN Declaration on the elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW)

• The Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women(CEDAW)

• General Recommendation No 19 of CDAW • The Convention on the Rights of the Child

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