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Systemic Use of Sexual Violence: Francoist Spain — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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CRSV: “The Troubles” — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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CRSV: Croatia — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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CRSV: Biafra War — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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Systemic Use of Violence against Women in Iran

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Systemic Use of Violence against Women in Iran

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Systemic use of Violence Against Women: Iran — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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CRSV: Second Ivorian Civil War — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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CRSV: First Ivorian Civil War — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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Systematic Sexual Violence: The Years of Lead in Morocco — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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Systematic Sexual Violence: Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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CRSV: Turkish invasion of Cyprus — The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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CRSV: Niger — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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Systematic Sexual Violence: Venezuela — The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the conflict
The Iraq War, also called the Second Gulf War, was a protracted armed conflict in Iraq between 2003 and 2011. It began with the invasion of Iraq by the United States-led coalition, which overthrew the Ba'athist government led by Saddam Hussein. In response, an insurgency emerged, to oppose the US and is allies. In 2014, the US became involved in the war, three years after withdrawing in 2011 (Fisk, 2007).

The us claimed that Iraq had a weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program, and that Saddam Hussein was supporting Al-Qaeda. However, in 2004, the 9/11 Commission concluded that there was no relationship between Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda. No WMD stockpiles were found in Iraq, either (Jervis, 2006).

In October 2002, the US Congress passed a joint resolution that gave George W Bush Jr. the power to use military force against the Iraqi government. The US was joined by the United Kingdom, Australia, and Poland, and launched a "shock and awe" bombing campaign. Following this, the US-led coalition launched a ground invasion. They swept through the country, overwhelming the Iraqi forces. The invasion toppled the Saddam Hussein government, captured him, and executed him three years later (Hersh, 2004).

With this, civil war broke out between Shias and Sunnis, and an insurgency against the coalition forces. In 2008, George Bush agreed to withdraw all US troops from Iraq. The withdrawal was completed under Obama's presidency, in 2011.

The war resulted in the deaths of 150,000 to 1,033,000 people, including over 100,000 civilians, and the displacement of over 3.3 mn Iraqis.
Prevalence of sexual violence
Following the 2003 invasion, the security forces of Iraq were dismantled. This resulted in large scale sexual violence. Reports suggest that 3500 Iraqi women disappeared, many of whom were feared to have been sold into sexual slavery. Following the dismantling of the Sunni government, many Sunni women were forced to turn to prostitution to survive. The US pursued a campaign of torture, and used sexual violence to intimidate, humiliate and torture men. Abu Ghraib prison (Hersh, 2004) was especially a site of brutal violence, including various forms of sexual violence. US troops also perpetrated rape and sexual violence women against and girls. In a major case that made headlines at the time was the Mahmudiyah rape and killing case, where a 14-year-old girl was raped and murdered, after which her parents and her six-year-old sister. Four of the soldiers were convicted of rape and murder, and the fifth was convicted of lesser crimes (Barrouquere, 2009). According to Human Rights Watch (2003), there was an increase in the number of abductions, arrests, and murders of women in the name of honour in conjunction with an increase in the number of incidents of rape. Women had also been subject to sexual violence in detention (HRW, 2003). There was often secrecy surrounding the detention of women owing to collusion between their families and the occupying coalition forces - as the families feared social stigma and coalition forces feared drawing the ire of human rights organizations and groups, and of Iraqis (HRW, 2003).
Basis of the use of sexual violence
Sexual and gender-bared violence were used as a torture tactic, to intimidate men and women alike. In places where sectarian violence unfolded, sexual and gender-based violence were used deliberately to target women ground from the "other" sects as a form of humiliation. In prisons, especially Abu Ghraib, men were subject to various form of sexual violence as torture, intimidation, humiliation, and as a demonstration of power. The use of sexual violence by American and other western soldiers as a form of was cited by the ISIS as justification for their violence. Aside from these forms of sexual violence, several women were trafficked for sexual slavery. Conditions of poverty also faced several women and girls to turn to survival or transactional sex, where they were exploited by aid workers and soldiers for sexual favours in exchange for food, nothing, medication and other essential supplies.
References

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the conflict
The Iraq War, also called the Second Gulf War, was a protracted armed conflict in Iraq between 2003 and 2011. It began with the invasion of Iraq by the United States-led coalition, which overthrew the Ba'athist government led by Saddam Hussein. In response, an insurgency emerged, to oppose the US and is allies. In 2014, the US became involved in the war, three years after withdrawing in 2011 (Fisk, 2007).

The us claimed that Iraq had a weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program, and that Saddam Hussein was supporting Al-Qaeda. However, in 2004, the 9/11 Commission concluded that there was no relationship between Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda. No WMD stockpiles were found in Iraq, either (Jervis, 2006).

In October 2002, the US Congress passed a joint resolution that gave George W Bush Jr. the power to use military force against the Iraqi government. The US was joined by the United Kingdom, Australia, and Poland, and launched a "shock and awe" bombing campaign. Following this, the US-led coalition launched a ground invasion. They swept through the country, overwhelming the Iraqi forces. The invasion toppled the Saddam Hussein government, captured him, and executed him three years later (Hersh, 2004).

With this, civil war broke out between Shias and Sunnis, and an insurgency against the coalition forces. In 2008, George Bush agreed to withdraw all US troops from Iraq. The withdrawal was completed under Obama's presidency, in 2011.

The war resulted in the deaths of 150,000 to 1,033,000 people, including over 100,000 civilians, and the displacement of over 3.3 mn Iraqis.
Prevalence of sexual violence
Following the 2003 invasion, the security forces of Iraq were dismantled. This resulted in large scale sexual violence. Reports suggest that 3500 Iraqi women disappeared, many of whom were feared to have been sold into sexual slavery. Following the dismantling of the Sunni government, many Sunni women were forced to turn to prostitution to survive. The US pursued a campaign of torture, and used sexual violence to intimidate, humiliate and torture men. Abu Ghraib prison (Hersh, 2004) was especially a site of brutal violence, including various forms of sexual violence. US troops also perpetrated rape and sexual violence women against and girls. In a major case that made headlines at the time was the Mahmudiyah rape and killing case, where a 14-year-old girl was raped and murdered, after which her parents and her six-year-old sister. Four of the soldiers were convicted of rape and murder, and the fifth was convicted of lesser crimes (Barrouquere, 2009). According to Human Rights Watch (2003), there was an increase in the number of abductions, arrests, and murders of women in the name of honour in conjunction with an increase in the number of incidents of rape. Women had also been subject to sexual violence in detention (HRW, 2003). There was often secrecy surrounding the detention of women owing to collusion between their families and the occupying coalition forces - as the families feared social stigma and coalition forces feared drawing the ire of human rights organizations and groups, and of Iraqis (HRW, 2003).
Basis of the use of sexual violence
Sexual and gender-bared violence were used as a torture tactic, to intimidate men and women alike. In places where sectarian violence unfolded, sexual and gender-based violence were used deliberately to target women ground from the "other" sects as a form of humiliation. In prisons, especially Abu Ghraib, men were subject to various form of sexual violence as torture, intimidation, humiliation, and as a demonstration of power. The use of sexual violence by American and other western soldiers as a form of was cited by the ISIS as justification for their violence. Aside from these forms of sexual violence, several women were trafficked for sexual slavery. Conditions of poverty also faced several women and girls to turn to survival or transactional sex, where they were exploited by aid workers and soldiers for sexual favours in exchange for food, nothing, medication and other essential supplies.
References

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CRSV: Iraq War: 2003-2011 - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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CRSV: The Mexican War on Drugs — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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CRSV: Solomon Islands (1998-2003) — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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CRSV: The Papua Conflict — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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Systematic Sexual Violence: Chile under Augusto Pinochet — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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The Warri crisis refers to a series of conflicts in Delta State, Nigeria, between 1997 and 2003, between two ethnic groups, namely the Itsekiri and Ijaw (Leton, 2006). The conflict began after a government decision changed the location of the Warri Southwest local government council to the Itsekiri community of Ogidigben, from its original location in Ogbe Ijoh, an Ijaw town. The Warri crisis is a part of a broader, longstanding conflict over oil in the Niger Delta. As a result of the Warri crisis, 200,000 people were displaced between 1999 and 2006, and 700,000 were displaced overall (Leton, 2006). While tensions in the region have long existed, colonialists exacerbated them through occupation. The discovery of oil was another factor that increased violence.
Prevalence of sexual violence
Reports show that women and girls were subject to sexual and gender-based violence during military raids and at military checkpoints. Women and girls have been increasingly vulnerable to rape and sexual violence, and that nearly two-thirds of women had experienced one or more form of sexual and gender-based violence since the start of the conflict (Ikenyi, 2017). Precise numbers remain unclear. On many occasions women have protested against the extracting of oil companies and have been met with violence of different kinds as a form of suppression (Environmental Rights Action Nigeria, n.d.). In August 2002, for instance, women who protested against Shell for its extraction of oil were met with violence where soldiers used wire whips and kicked the women. Several other women who wanted to escape their violence jumped into a stream nearby - and three women were never found since (Environmental Rights Action Nigeria, n.d.).
Basic of the use of sexual violence
Sexual violence and rape were commonly deployed on all sides to the conflict both strategically and opportunistically. They were also used as a means of intimidation and torture to target women who protested against oil extraction. Further, violence in itself was used to suppress protests carried out by women in response to the oil companies' policies.
References
Leton, Marcus (2006). "Oil And The Urban Question - Fuelling Violence and Politics in Warri" (PDF). Niger Delta Economies of Violence Working Papers (8).

Ikenyei, N. S. (2017). Dynamics of conflicts and criminal activities in Warri and environs, Delta State, Nigeria. The Nigerian Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 15(2), 48-62.

Environmental Rights Action Nigeria (n.d.). Violence Used Against Unarmed Women in Peaceful Protests Against Oil Companies. http://kora.matrix.msu.edu/files/50/304/32-130-1439-84-acasbulletin68.pdf

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CRSV: The Warri Crisis - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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CRSV: The Greek Genocide — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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CRSV: Xinhai Revolution — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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Namibia: The Herero and Nama (or Namaqua) Genocide

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Namibia: The Herero and Nama (or Namaqua) Genocide

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The Herero and Nama (or Namaqua) genocide, was the ethnic erasure and collective punishment waged against the Herero and Nama in German South West Africa (now Namibia) by the German Empire (Steinhauser, 2017). This was the first genocide in the 20th Century (Olusoga, 2015), unfolding between 1904 and 1908. Starting in January 1904, the Herero people, led by Samuel Maharero, and the Nama people, led by Captain Hendrik Witbooi, rebelled against German colonial rule (Reader, 1997). In August 1904, the German General Lothar von Trotha defeated the Ovaherero in the Battle of Waterberg and drove them into the desert of Omaheke, where most of them died from dehydration and starvation. In October, the Nama people also rebelled against the Germans and met a similar fate. As many as up to 100,000 Hereros and 10,000 Nama people were killed in the genocide (Nuhn, 1989). Several of Hereros and Nama were first starved and dehydrated in the desert, followed by detention and imprisonment in concentration camps, where several died from disease, abuse, and exhaustion (Gewald, 2000). These events were formally recognized by the UN as a genocide in the Whitaker Report, and by Germany as well, when it issued an apology in 2004 (Lyons, 2004). In May 2021, the German government issued an official statement apologizing for the genocide, and agreed to pay Euro 1.1 billion over 30 years to fund projects in communities impacted by the genocide (Olterman, 2021).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
During the rebellion, German soldiers were regularly reported to have engaged in gang rapes targeting both Herero and Nama women (Totten et al., 2007), before killing the women or leaving them in the desert for dead. Several Herero women were also forced into sexual slavery by German soldiers (Cocker, 1998). Herero leaders repeatedly raised the complaint that Germans raped and targeted Herero women and girls with sexual violence with impunity. However, none of these cases were tried before the colonial courts because the Germans considered these events "mere peccadilloes" (Klotz, 1994).
Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence and rape were deployed as part of the larger campaign of and ethnic erasure, where women were targeted on the basis of their ethnic identities. They were also subject to sexual violence and rape to humiliate, intimidate, and torture the ethnic groups at large, and to them collectively for rebelling against colonial rule. Aside from this, sexual slavery was also a common basis for the use of sexual violence and rape.
References
Cocker, Mark (1998). Rivers of blood, rivers of gold: Europe's conflict with tribal peoples. London: Jonathan Cape.

Gewald, J.B. (2000). "Colonization, Genocide, and Resurgence: The Herero of Namibia, 1890-1933". In Bollig, M.; Gewald, J.B. (eds.). People, Cattle and Land: Transformations of a Pastoral Society in Southwestern Africa. Köln, DEU: Köppe.

Joint Declaration by the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Namibia "United in Remembrance of Our Colonial Past, United in Our Will to Reconcile, United in Our Vision of the Future. https://www.dngev.de/images/stories/Startseite/joint-declaration_2021-05.pdf

Klotz, M. (1994). White women and the dark continent: gender and sexuality in German colonial discourse from the sentimental novel to the fascist film (Ph. D.). Stanford University.

Lyons, C. (2004). "Germany Admits Namibia Genocide". BBC News. https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3565938.stm

Nuhn, W. (1989). Sturm über Südwest. Der Hereroaufstand von 1904 [Storm over Southwest. The Herero Rebellion of 1904] (in German). Koblenz, DEU: Bernard & Graefe-Verlag.

Olusoga, David (2015). "Dear Pope Francis, Namibia was the 20th century's first genocide". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/18/pope-francis-armenian-genocide-first-20th-century-namibia

Oltermann, Philip (28 May 2021). "Germany agrees to pay Namibia €1.1bn over historical Herero-Nama genocide". https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/28/germany-agrees-to-pay-namibia-11bn-over-historical-herero-nama-genocide

Reader, J. (1997). Africa: A Biography.

Totten, S., Bartrop, P. R., Jacobs, S. L. (2007). Dictionary of Genocide: M-Z. Greenwood.

Steinhauser, G. (2017). "Germany Confronts the Forgotten Story of Its Other Genocide". https://www.wsj.com/articles/germany-confronts-the-forgotten-story-of-its-other-genocide-1501255028

Whitaker Report: 1984 UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1984/40; UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1984/SR.3, pp. 2-4, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1984/SR.4

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CRSV: The Herero and Nama (or Namaqua) Genocide - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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CRSV: Sayfo (1915) — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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World War 1 was a global conflict between the Allies and Central Powers. Most of the fighting was concentrated in Europe and the Middle East, as well as in certain parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific, but involved large swathes of troops from the colonies of colonizers on both sides. It started with the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the subsequent disruption of the balance of power in Europe, in parallel with the rising economic competition following industrialization and imperialism.

It was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and resulted in an estimated 9 million deaths and 23 million wounded, as well as 8 million civilian deaths owing to a range of causes including genocide and the spread of the Spanish flu with the movement of troops and displacement of civilians. The war ended with the Treaty of Versailles following the Paris Peace Conference in 1919-1920, and the establishment of the League of Nations.
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence was part of the war strategy across the board. Reports show that Russian women were targeted by advancing Japanese troops (Schmidt, n.d.), Belgian women were targeted by advancing German troops (Brownmiller, 1975). While the invasion of enemy troops was invariably followed systematically by pillaging, destroying, deporting, and using sexual violence against civilians, there were multiple reports of sexual assaults by soldiers who either passed through or were stationed in occupied territories being commonplace in the everyday lives of the civilian population (The World of the Habsburgs, n.d.).

Some of the documented examples of sexual violence are attributed to German soldiers targeting Belgian and French people, Austro-Hungarian soldiers targeting Serbian civilians, the Russian military targeting ethnic minorities, the Turkish troops targeting Armenian people, and more. While the Allies made it a point to collect reports from victims and document German crimes, similar records of crimes committed by their own troops have not been found.

However, it must be noted that precise figures have not been documented. On many occasions, reports were either dismissed as propaganda, or used as propaganda to foment nationalist sentiments to keep the war alive (Crouthamel, 2017; Lipkes, 2007). There are no records of sexual violence in colonized territories as part of World War I, which is not to mean that such forms of violence did not take place.
Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence
Despite the limited reports, it is clear that sexual violence was used strategically from the few patterns that have been mapped. The use of rape and sexual violence to target civilians in invaded and occupied territories points to motives of control, dominance, and intimidation. The value placed by the patriarchy on shame and honor meant that targeting women and girls with sexual violence served to denigrate and shame the enemy. Sexual violence and rape were actively used to further ethnic erasure and targeting particular minority groups. Opportunistic sexualwas also rampant.
References
Brownmiller, S. (1975). Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape. Fawcett Columbine.

Crouthamel, J. (8 January 2017). "Sexuality, Sexual Relations, Homosexuality - 1914-1918." International Encyclopedia of the First World War.

Lipkes J. (2007) Rehearsals: The German Army in Belgium, August 1914, Leuven University Press

Schmidt, D. A. (n.d.). Ianfu, the Comfort Women of the Japanese Imperial Army of the Pacific War: Broken Silence.

The World of the Habsburgs (n.d.) Sexual Assault in the First World War. https://ww1.habsburger.net/en/chapters/sexual-assault-first-world-war

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CRSV: World War I - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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CRSV: Mali — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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The Central African Republic Civil War is an ongoing civil war in the Central African Republic (CAR), waged between the government, rebels from the Séléka coalition, and Anti-balaka militias. The conflict began with the formation of a coalition of varied rebel groups called the Séléka coalition, accused the government for not abiding by the peace agreements following the Central Africa Bush War (2004-2007). The coalition captured several towns in 2012, and eventually the capital, Bangui (Kotch 2013). President François Bozizé fled the country (Al Jazeera 2013), following which rebel leader Michel Djotodia declared himself president (Radio France International 2013). Conflict continued between Séléka coalition and militias that opposed them, known as Anti-Balaka.

In September that year, President Djotodia disbanded the Séléka coalition, and resigned in 2014. He was replaced by Catherine Samba-Panza (Radio France 2013), although the conflict continued. In July 2014, the Séléka coalition and Anti Balaka signed a ceasefire (La Voix Del Amerique 2014). By the end of the year, the Central African Republic was de facto partitioned. The Anti-Balaka controlled the South and West, and the Séléka coalition controlled the North and East. In 2016, and later 2020, Faustin-Archange Touadéra was elected President. This catalyzed the rebel factions, which formed an alliance opposing the election and called itself the Coalition of Patriots for Change. This was coordinated by former President Bozizé. The conflict centres on religious identities - with the Séléka fighters being Muslim and the Anti-Balaka being Christian; on ethnic differences among the Séléka factions; and on historical differences between agriculturalists (mostly Anti-Balaka) and nomadic groups (mostly Séléka; Dear and Swan 2016). International actors such as Chad, Sudan, Rwanda, France, and Russia are involved in the struggle for control over diamonds and other resources, and for influence.
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
The armed groups involved in this conflict committed grave violations against the civilian population, including conflict-related sexual violence (UN Secretary General 2021). There were several instances of forced marriage, too. For example, in Batangafo, families noted that they were afraid they would be pressured to get the women and girls in their community married to the members of these armed groups (UN Secretary General 2021). In May 2021, the Ministry of Justice released 676 prisoners, of whom 59 were reported perpetrators of rape, in order to minimize the COVID-19 contagion. In Ouham Pende, after a reintegration project was suspended, ex-combatants returned to their armed groups, and there was a resultant increase in sexual violence (UN Secretary General 2021). The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the CAR (UN-MINUSCA) documented 240 cases of CRSV, targeting 129 girls, 108 women, and 3 men, including 221 rapes or attempted rapes, and 12 cases of sexual slavery. According to the MSF, sexual violence was constantly on the rise, and that half the survivors knew their attackers (Africanews 2023). The Tongolo Project identified over 3420 victims of sexual violence (MSF 2021). In 2021, the Working Group on Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Arrangements (MARA) on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence documented 587 cases of CRSV, marking a 235 percent increase over 2020, and 211 percent increase over 2019 (UNOCHA 2022). Since 2020, incidents have jumped from 9,200 reported cases to 25,200 cases according to the UN (Africanews with AP, 2024).
Basis of the use of Sexual Violence
Perpetrators of sexual and gender-based violence include bandits, military contractors from Wagner, and UN peacekeepers alike (Africanews with AP, 2024). Sexual violence in the Central African Republic have been used as a means to humiliate women and girls, and in the process, break down the economy and society. Women and girls have been encumbered by the burden of stigmatization and the resultant burdens of shame and guilt, and as a result, they have been afraid or ashamed to return to the fields to work, or to resume other streams of employment. This has created vicious cycles of poverty (UNOCHA 2022). It was also used to humiliate men by demonstrating their inability to protect their wives and families (UN, 2021). Further, the breakdown of the security sector enabled strategic and opportunistic violence, where reporting and pursuing justice for the violence faced was not possible. Different forms of sexual assault was used as a deliberate means to intimidate and terrorize civilians by targeting and punishing them. Sexual violence was also used as a form of ethnic erasure by the 'Séléka' coalition fighters, targeting women and girls in the Gbaya ethnic group in every locality that was already under their controlled or they sought to control, particularly among the Gbaya ethnic group.
References:
Africanews (2023). Central African Republic: the invisible scale of intra-family sexual violence. https://www.africanews.com/2023/02/21/central-african-republic-the-invisible-scale-of-intra-family-sexual-violence/

Africanews with AP (2024). Sexual assaults rise in conflict-hit Central African Republic. https://www.africanews.com/2024/04/12/sexual-assaults-rise-in-conflict-hit-central-african-republic/

Al Jazeera. (2013). "CAR rebels 'seize' presidential palace". Al Jazeera. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/03/201332481729584103.html

Dear, P., and Swan, S. H. (2016). "Displaced and forgotten in Central African Republic". Al Jazeera. http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2016/07/displaced-forgotten-central-african-republic-160717113644108.html

Kotch, N. (2013). Zuma joins regional leaders over crisis in Central African Republic, BDay Live. http://www.bdlive.co.za/africa/africannews/2013/04/19/zuma-joins-regional-leaders-over-crisis-in-central-african-republic

La Voix Del Amerique (2014). RCA: signature d'un accord de cessez-le-feu à Brazzaville http://www.lavoixdelamerique.com/content/rca-signature-d-un-accord-de-cessez-le-feu-a-brazzaville/1964081.html

MSF (2021). CAR: Healing the visible and invisible wounds of sexual violence. https://www.msf-me.org/media-centre/news-and-stories/car-healing-visible-and-invisible-wounds-sexual-violence

Radio France International (2013). "Centrafrique: Michel Djotodia déclare être le nouveau président de la république centrafricaine" (in French). http://www.rfi.fr/afrique/5min/20130324-rca-suivez-evenements-republique-centrafricaine-bozize-seleka

Report of the Secretary General to the Security Council (S/2021/312) https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/countries/central-african-republic/

United Nations (2021). Central African Republic: Country Briefing. https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/report/reparations-for-survivors-of-conflict-related-sexual-violence/GSF_Country_Sheet_CentralAfricanRepublicFINAL.pdf

UNOCHA (2022). Central African Republic: Gender-based Violence: A Scourge with Devastating Consequences. https://reports.unocha.org/en/country/car/card/3wnXz0h5EQ/

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital city, has been the site of an ongoing gang war between two major criminal groups and their allies - namely the Revolutionary Forces of the G9 Family and Allies (FRG9) and the G-PEP, since 2020 (Da Rin, 2022). Even as the gang wars escalated, an armed vigilante movement called bwa kale, emerged in order to fight the gangs (Chéry, 2022). In response, the Government of Haiti and the Haitian security forces have tried to maintain their control over Port-au-Prince (Dyer, 2023). On October 2, 2023, UN Security Council Resolution 2699 was adopted, authorizing the deployment of a Kenya-led multinational security support mission to Haiti (Robles and Fassihi, 2023). By March 2024, however, gang violence spread throughout the capital city, as they collectively pursued the resignation of Prime Minister and Acting President Ariel Henry. This was followed by the gangs storming two prisons and releasing thousands of prisoners, and attacks on various government institutions. The Haitian government then declared a state of emergency (Rivers, 2024). On March 11, Ariel Henry agreed to resign upon the formation of the transitional government in Haiti (Coto and Sanon, 2024).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Reports showed that rape was being used by a variety of gangs. As abortion is illegal, women are forced to carry any resulting pregnancy to term (Merancourt and Coletta, 2024). According to the OHCHR (2022), children as young as 10 and elderly women were also subjected to sexual violence, including collective rapes for hours in the presence of their parents or children. Sexual violence has been used against men, women, and non-binary people of all ages (OHCHR, 2022). Oftentimes, sexual violence occurs in the context of kidnappings, where women and girls are repeatedly subjected to rape by one or multiple captors, and videos have been sent to their families with the demand for ransom (OHCHR, 2022).
Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence
Gangs have been known to use sexual violence to instil fear and intimidate women from their rival gangs, and by extension, their communities. Sexual violence has also been used in furtherance of gangs' goals of expanding their areas of influence. Further, rape and collective rapes have been carried out to punish, subjugate, inflict pain, and humiliate local populations (OHCHR, 2022).
References
Chéry, Ons (18 November 2022). "Bwa kale: Protests still draw people fed up in Haiti, despite risks". https://haitiantimes.com/2022/11/18/bwa-kale-protests-still-draw-people-fed-up-in-haiti-despite-risks/

Coto, Dánica and Sanon, Evens (12 March 2024). "Ariel Henry: Haiti's PM says he will resign." https://apnews.com/article/haiti-henry-resignation-prime-minister-violence-28acaecc1d80d993c99fe43a5e1e1f7f

Da Rin, Diego (27 July 2022). "New Gang Battle Lines Scar Haiti as Political Deadlock Persists". Crisis Group. https://www.crisisgroup.org/latin-america-caribbean/haiti/new-gang-battle-lines-scar-haiti-political-deadlock-persists

Dyer, Evan (8 May 2023). "In Haiti, a grassroots vigilante movement is fighting back against gang warfare." https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/haiti-bwa-kale-port-au-prince-gang-warfare-1.6833758

Merancourt, Widlore and Coletta, Amanda (29 January 2024). "'Collective rapes' surge as weapon in Haiti's gang war." https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/01/29/haiti-gang-violence-rape/

OHCHR (2022). Haiti: Gangs use sexual violence to instill fear - UN report. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/10/haiti-gangs-use-sexual-violence-instill-fear-un-report

Rivers, Matt (2024). "It's not just gang violence surging in Haiti. It's a rebellion: ANALYSIS." https://abcnews.go.com/International/gang-violence-surging-haiti-rebellion-analysis/story?id=107819964

Robles, Frances and Fassihi, Farnaz (2 October 2023). "U.N. Approves Kenya-Led Security Mission to Help Haiti Stamp Out Gangs" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/02/world/americas/un-kenya-mission-haiti.html

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CRSV: Haiti (2020- ) - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
The War in Abkhazia was fought between 1992 and 1993, among the Georgian and Russian government forces, Abkhaz separatist forces, and North Caucasian fighters. Ethnic Georgians living in Abkhazia fought on the side of the Georgian government forces for the most part, whereas ethnic Armenians and Russians in Abkhazia supported the Abkhazians (Krag & Funch, 1994). The separatist movement received support from North Caucus and Cossack fighters and the Russian federation forces within and around Abkhazia (Kyrlov, 2008). Amidst this conflict, there was a civil war in Georgia, between supporters of the ousted president and the post-coup government, and the Georgian-Ossetian Conflict of 1989. During the War in Abkhazia, several human rights violations and atrocities were reported on all sides. This peaked in the aftermath of the capture of Sukhumi (the capital and largest city of Abkhazia), by Abkhazia in September 1993, which was followed by a large-scale campaign of ethnic cleansing against the ethnic Georgian community. This war affected post-Soviet Georgia, which suffered significant financial, human, and psychological damage. The fighting and sporadic conflict have devastated Abkhazia.

The war involved serious human rights violations on both sides, with extensive ethnic cleansing, harassment of Abkhaz, Georgians and other ethnic groups, hostage-taking and indiscriminate shelling of civilian populations. As a result of the war the majority of Abkhazia's Georgian population was displaced to other regions of Georgia (Minority Rights, n.d.).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence and rape were prevalent on both sides. Between 55 and 60% of those internally displaced were women (Buck, 2000). Studies show that soldiers from both sides used sexual violence (Buck, 2000). According to Human Rights Watch (1995), several women were subject to sexual violence and that Georgians had used rape and sexual violence as a form of "sexual terror," effectively, a means of warfare. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (Dale, 1997), sexual violence was used by Abkhaz soldiers to target women and girls, as well as dead bodies.
Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence was used as a by both sides (Buck, 2000; Human Rights Watch, 1995; Dale, 1997). It was also used as a means to carry out a campaign of ethnic erasure, where reproductive rights were directly targeted. It was used as a means of intimidation and humiliation during house searches and in the course of military activities, in order to demonstrate power (Duarte et al., 2006). Furthermore, sexual violence was rampant and constantly deployed to target women who were internally displaced, to intimidate them by challenging their freedom of movement. In camps for internally displaced women, they were under the threat of sexual violence and other forms of intimidation, as a power tactic by local personnel and displaced men (Duarte et al., 2006). It was also used as a means of

References

Buck, T. (2000) "Aftermath: Effects Of Conflict on Internally Displaced Women in Georgia", Working Paper no. 310, Washington, U.S. Agency for International Development, 5.

Catherine Dale. The Dynamics and Challenges of Ethnic Cleansing: The Georgia-Abkhazia Case, 1 August 1997, by Catherine. Dale, Oxford Press, Refugee Survey Quarterly.1997.

Duarte, M., Japaridze, S., Chitnava, K., & Aldashvili, I. (2006). Violence Against Women in Georgia: Report submitted on the occasion of the 36th session of the UN Committee on the elimination of discrimination against women.

Helen Krag and Lars Funch. The North Caucasus: Minorities at a Crossroads. (Manchester, December 1994)

Human Rights Watch (1995) Georgia/Abkhazia: Violations of the Laws of War and Russia's Role in the Conflict, 5.

Krylov, A. (2008). The Security of the Caspian Sea Region-The Georgian-Abkhazian Conflict. Abkhaz World, 15.

Minority Rights (n.d.). Abkhaz in Georgia https://minorityrights.org/communities/abkhaz/

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
The War in Abkhazia was fought between 1992 and 1993, among the Georgian and Russian government forces, Abkhaz separatist forces, and North Caucasian fighters. Ethnic Georgians living in Abkhazia fought on the side of the Georgian government forces for the most part, whereas ethnic Armenians and Russians in Abkhazia supported the Abkhazians (Krag & Funch, 1994). The separatist movement received support from North Caucus and Cossack fighters and the Russian federation forces within and around Abkhazia (Kyrlov, 2008). Amidst this conflict, there was a civil war in Georgia, between supporters of the ousted president and the post-coup government, and the Georgian-Ossetian Conflict of 1989. During the War in Abkhazia, several human rights violations and atrocities were reported on all sides. This peaked in the aftermath of the capture of Sukhumi (the capital and largest city of Abkhazia), by Abkhazia in September 1993, which was followed by a large-scale campaign of ethnic cleansing against the ethnic Georgian community. This war affected post-Soviet Georgia, which suffered significant financial, human, and psychological damage. The fighting and sporadic conflict have devastated Abkhazia.

The war involved serious human rights violations on both sides, with extensive ethnic cleansing, harassment of Abkhaz, Georgians and other ethnic groups, hostage-taking and indiscriminate shelling of civilian populations. As a result of the war the majority of Abkhazia's Georgian population was displaced to other regions of Georgia (Minority Rights, n.d.).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence and rape were prevalent on both sides. Between 55 and 60% of those internally displaced were women (Buck, 2000). Studies show that soldiers from both sides used sexual violence (Buck, 2000). According to Human Rights Watch (1995), several women were subject to sexual violence and that Georgians had used rape and sexual violence as a form of "sexual terror," effectively, a means of warfare. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (Dale, 1997), sexual violence was used by Abkhaz soldiers to target women and girls, as well as dead bodies.
Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence was used as a by both sides (Buck, 2000; Human Rights Watch, 1995; Dale, 1997). It was also used as a means to carry out a campaign of ethnic erasure, where reproductive rights were directly targeted. It was used as a means of intimidation and humiliation during house searches and in the course of military activities, in order to demonstrate power (Duarte et al., 2006). Furthermore, sexual violence was rampant and constantly deployed to target women who were internally displaced, to intimidate them by challenging their freedom of movement. In camps for internally displaced women, they were under the threat of sexual violence and other forms of intimidation, as a power tactic by local personnel and displaced men (Duarte et al., 2006). It was also used as a means of

References

Buck, T. (2000) "Aftermath: Effects Of Conflict on Internally Displaced Women in Georgia", Working Paper no. 310, Washington, U.S. Agency for International Development, 5.

Catherine Dale. The Dynamics and Challenges of Ethnic Cleansing: The Georgia-Abkhazia Case, 1 August 1997, by Catherine. Dale, Oxford Press, Refugee Survey Quarterly.1997.

Duarte, M., Japaridze, S., Chitnava, K., & Aldashvili, I. (2006). Violence Against Women in Georgia: Report submitted on the occasion of the 36th session of the UN Committee on the elimination of discrimination against women.

Helen Krag and Lars Funch. The North Caucasus: Minorities at a Crossroads. (Manchester, December 1994)

Human Rights Watch (1995) Georgia/Abkhazia: Violations of the Laws of War and Russia's Role in the Conflict, 5.

Krylov, A. (2008). The Security of the Caspian Sea Region-The Georgian-Abkhazian Conflict. Abkhaz World, 15.

Minority Rights (n.d.). Abkhaz in Georgia https://minorityrights.org/communities/abkhaz/

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CRSV: Georgia-Abkhazia - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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The insurgency in Aceh, also known as the Rebellion in Aceh in the language of the Indonesian government, was fought by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in pursuit of independence for Aceh from Indonesia between 1976 and 2005. Aceh and the rest of Indonesia have cultural and religious differences, where a more conservative form of Islam is known to be practiced in Aceh than in Indonesia. Suharto's secular policies from 1965 to 1978 were unpopular in Aceh, and there was growing resentment for the central government's approach toward unifying Indonesian culture. Being located in the Northern region of Indonesia, Aceh felt that the central government was out of touch with its needs and problems.

The Free Aceh Movement, formed in December 1976, declared independence upon its foundation. It called for its independence from the neo-colonial government which threatened the Acehnese religion and culture. The Indonesian government responded with suppression, and by 1979, the group had indeed been suppressed. However, in 1985, Libya began to support the Free Aceh Movement, although the finer details of whether this support involved funding or troop training or something else remains unclear - although it as indeed clear that it provided a sanctuary for the movement's fighters to receive training. In 1989, the Free Aceh Movement began conducting raids and targeted assassinations. In 1998, the fall of the Suharto government offered the Free Aceh Movement a major advantage, and they gained control over 70% of the land in Aceh. Hostilities continued, even as peace processes were initiated from time to time. Offensives were launched by the government, and states of emergency were declared. The insurgency was still ongoing when the tsunami struck on December 26, 2004.

Following the tsunami, the Free Aceh Movement declared a unilateral ceasefire. Peace talks began, and culminated in August 2005, with Aceh gaining autonomy through government legislation offering special rights, allowing the Acehnese to establish their own local political parties.
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
The prevalence of conflict-related sexual violence was reported in Aceh, Irian Jaya, Maluku, and Sulawesi. Reports showed that women were targeted with sexual violence, torture, detention, and forced conscription into the armed forces (UNFPA, 2005). Most instances of sexual violence were carried out at night, when rural homes were raided as a mechanism of intimidation and to hunt down rebels (Asian Development Bank, 2006). Reports have shared that women were compelled to strip when they were suspected of supporting rebels, and their bodies were searched for tattoos (UNFPA, 2005). Women were reportedly taken into navy ships where they were raped and sexually assaulted before they were thrown overboard (UNCHR, 1999). There are no precise figures to suggest exactly how many women were subject to rape or sexual assault (Amnesty International, 2021). According to the Institute of Policy Research and Advocacy, a total of 160 cases were reported between 1989 and 1998 (UNFPA, 2005). The National Commission of Human Rights of Indonesia reported that it had received details of 102 cases of rape during its investigations, by August 1998 (Amnesty International, 2021).

Basis for the use of Sexual Violence

Sexual violence was used as a tactic to intimidate women, especially during the village raids at night in search of rebels. The intention was to threaten women and communities with sexual assault with the demand that no rebels receive safe harbour. Sexual violence and rape were also used as forms of , especially to target actors that were calling for independence. Women and girls in refugee camps were also targeted with sexual violence in order to humiliate and shame them, given the cultural connotations and stigma of sexual violence. Women and girls were also punished with sexual violence and rape for their alleged support for rebels and insurgents.
References

Amnesty International (2021). Indonesia: The impact of impunity on women in Aceh.

https://www.amnesty.org/fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/asa210602000en.pdf

Asian Development Bank (July 2006) Indonesia: Country Gender Assessment.

United Nations Commission on Human Rights, "Integration of the Human Rights of Women and the Gender Perspective: Violence against Women: Mission to Indonesia and East Timor on the issue of violence against women", Report of the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Addendum, E/CN.4/1999/68/ Add.3, 21 January 1999

UNFPA "Gender-Based Violence in Aceh, Indonesia: A Case Study", Consultative Meeting, Bucharest, Romania, 17-20 October 2005.

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CRSV: Aceh - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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The Guinea-Bissau Civil War was fought from June 7, 1998 to May 10, 1999, after a coup d'etat was attempted by Brigadier General Ansumane Mane, against the government led by President Joao Bernardo Vireira. The ensuing civil war was fought between government forces with the support of neighbouring states such as Senegal, and coup leaders who gained near-total control over the country's armed forces. The year-long civil war began after the president was ousted, and ended with a truce policed by West African peacekeepers and a mediation process (Bercovitch & Fretter, 2004). The civil war resulted in the internal displacement of 300,000 people and the creation of over 13,000 refugees (BBC, 2007).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Reports suggest that Senegalese troops and Guinea-Bissau forces committed sexual violence, targeting women in Guinea-Bissau. According to Amnesty International (1998, 1999a), sexual violence was deliberately deployed to target women at checkpoints and in troop barracks. The police were also found to have committed sexual violence (Amnesty International, 1999b, 2004).
Basis of the Use of Sexual violence
Sexual violence was used deliberately as a tactic of intimidation and humiliation particularly to suppress the coup or to target those who were suspected to be in alignment with those who initiated the coup. Similarly, it was also used as a means of , especially when used in the barracks and by the police. Reports also suggest that sexual violence was used against children who were conscribed into the army (Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, 2004).
References
1. BBC News (2007) Country profile: Guinea-Bissau. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1043287.stm

2. Bercovitch, J., & Fretter, J. (2004). Regional Guide to International Conflict and Management from 1945 to 2003. SAGE Publications.

3. Amnesty International (1998) Guinea-Bissau: Human Rights under Fire.

4. Amnesty International (1999a) Guinea-Bissau: Protecting Human Rights - A New Era?

5. Amnesty International (1999b) Guinea-Bissau: Human Rights in War and Peace.

6. Amnesty International (2004) Amnesty International Report: The State of the World's Human Rights

7. Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (2004) Child Soldiers Global Report 2004, 72.

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CRSV: Guinea Bissau - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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Sabra and Shatila Palestinian Martyrs Cemetery, Ghobeiry, Lebanon

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Sabra and Shatila Massacre
The Sabra and Shatila Massacre unfolded between September 16 and 18, 1982, and led to the killing of around 3,500 civilians - most of whom were Palestinians and Lebanese Shias - in Beirut, during the Lebanese Civil War (Shahid, 2002). The killings were perpetrated by the Lebanese Forces, a Christian militia in Lebanon, in alliance with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which had surrounded the Sabra neighbourhood and Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon. In June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon to target the Palestinian insurgency operating there. By August 30, the Palestine Liberation Organization withdrew from Lebanon, after several weeks of battle in Beirut (Shahid, 2002).

However, on September 14, the Israel-allied Lebanese politician, Bachir Gemayel, was assassinated. In response, the Phalangists, a Christian political party in Lebanon, called for revenge, and advanced into western Beirut along with the IDF - a major violation of a ceasefire agreement among all sides involved (Hasan, 2010). As it advanced, the IDF ordered that Lebanese forces clear out the PLO fighters from Sabra and Shatila. As the massacre unfolded, the IDF dd not take any action to stop it despite receiving reports of the atrocities committed (Malone, 1985). IDF troops were stationed at the exists of the area, as well, in order to ensure that the camp's residents did not leave (Hirst, 2010). They also fired flares to illuminate Sabra and Shatila through the night during the massacre (Cobban, 1984).
Prevalence of Violence targeting the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights of Women
Reports show that sexual violence was part of the many forms of violence that unfolded during the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Women were found dead in their houses with their skirts up to their waists and their legs spread apart, several young men had been castrated, pregnant women were found chopped open. According to reports by the Kahan Commission, pregnant women were particularly targeted on the ground that they would give birth to children who would grow up to be terrorists (Malone, 1985; Kahan et al., 1983). Reports show that both the Lebanese forces and IDF were involved in perpetrating sexual violence (Al Jazeera, 2012; Kahan et al., 1983).
Basis of Violence targeting the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights of Women
Sexual violence was pursued as part of a campaign of genocide (UNGA Resolution 37/123). The UN General Assembly declared that the massacre amounted to genocide, and in corroboration with the Kahan report, the deliberate targeting of pregnant It was also actively pursued as a means of intimidation and to torture and punish people living in the camp. It was intended as a means to humiliate the residents of the camp as well (Kahan et al., 1983).
References:

Al Jazeera. (2012). Survivors recount Sabra-Shatila massacre. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2012/9/16/survivors-recount-sabra-shatila-massacre

Cobban, Helena (1984). The Palestinian Liberation Organisation: people, power, and politics. Cambridge University Press.

Hassan, Maher (24 January 2010). "Politics and war of Elie Hobeika". Egypt Independent. http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/politics-and-war-elie-hobeika

Hirst, David (2010). Beware of small states: Lebanon, battleground of the Middle East. Nation Books.

Kahan, Yitzhak, Barak, Aharon, Efrat, Yona (1983). The Commission of Inquiry into events at the refugee camps in Beirut 1983 FINAL REPORT.

Malone, L. A. (1985). The Kahan Report, Ariel Sharon and the Sabra-Shatilla massacres in Lebanon: Responsibility under international law for massacres of civilian populations. Utah L. Rev., 373.

Shahid, Leila. The Sabra and Shatila Massacres: Eye-Witness Reports. Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 32, No. 1. (Autumn, 2002), pp. 36-58.

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Sabra and Shatila Massacre
The Sabra and Shatila Massacre unfolded between September 16 and 18, 1982, and led to the killing of around 3,500 civilians - most of whom were Palestinians and Lebanese Shias - in Beirut, during the Lebanese Civil War (Shahid, 2002). The killings were perpetrated by the Lebanese Forces, a Christian militia in Lebanon, in alliance with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which had surrounded the Sabra neighbourhood and Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon. In June 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon to target the Palestinian insurgency operating there. By August 30, the Palestine Liberation Organization withdrew from Lebanon, after several weeks of battle in Beirut (Shahid, 2002).

However, on September 14, the Israel-allied Lebanese politician, Bachir Gemayel, was assassinated. In response, the Phalangists, a Christian political party in Lebanon, called for revenge, and advanced into western Beirut along with the IDF - a major violation of a ceasefire agreement among all sides involved (Hasan, 2010). As it advanced, the IDF ordered that Lebanese forces clear out the PLO fighters from Sabra and Shatila. As the massacre unfolded, the IDF dd not take any action to stop it despite receiving reports of the atrocities committed (Malone, 1985). IDF troops were stationed at the exists of the area, as well, in order to ensure that the camp's residents did not leave (Hirst, 2010). They also fired flares to illuminate Sabra and Shatila through the night during the massacre (Cobban, 1984).
Prevalence of Violence targeting the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights of Women
Reports show that sexual violence was part of the many forms of violence that unfolded during the Sabra and Shatila massacre. Women were found dead in their houses with their skirts up to their waists and their legs spread apart, several young men had been castrated, pregnant women were found chopped open. According to reports by the Kahan Commission, pregnant women were particularly targeted on the ground that they would give birth to children who would grow up to be terrorists (Malone, 1985; Kahan et al., 1983). Reports show that both the Lebanese forces and IDF were involved in perpetrating sexual violence (Al Jazeera, 2012; Kahan et al., 1983).
Basis of Violence targeting the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights of Women
Sexual violence was pursued as part of a campaign of genocide (UNGA Resolution 37/123). The UN General Assembly declared that the massacre amounted to genocide, and in corroboration with the Kahan report, the deliberate targeting of pregnant It was also actively pursued as a means of intimidation and to torture and punish people living in the camp. It was intended as a means to humiliate the residents of the camp as well (Kahan et al., 1983).
References:

Al Jazeera. (2012). Survivors recount Sabra-Shatila massacre. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2012/9/16/survivors-recount-sabra-shatila-massacre

Cobban, Helena (1984). The Palestinian Liberation Organisation: people, power, and politics. Cambridge University Press.

Hassan, Maher (24 January 2010). "Politics and war of Elie Hobeika". Egypt Independent. http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/politics-and-war-elie-hobeika

Hirst, David (2010). Beware of small states: Lebanon, battleground of the Middle East. Nation Books.

Kahan, Yitzhak, Barak, Aharon, Efrat, Yona (1983). The Commission of Inquiry into events at the refugee camps in Beirut 1983 FINAL REPORT.

Malone, L. A. (1985). The Kahan Report, Ariel Sharon and the Sabra-Shatilla massacres in Lebanon: Responsibility under international law for massacres of civilian populations. Utah L. Rev., 373.

Shahid, Leila. The Sabra and Shatila Massacres: Eye-Witness Reports. Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 32, No. 1. (Autumn, 2002), pp. 36-58.

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CRSV: Sabra and Shatila - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has had a long-standing history of colonialism and armed conflict and imperial interventions (Migrants Rights Network 2023), a lot of which continues to inform current events. One of the rebel groups in the DRC, the March 23 Movement or M23, is a major actor in the most recent conflict. It is a rebel military group formed for the most part of ethnic Tutsi, and operates mainly in North Kivu, and was originally created and commanded by Rwanda (French, 2013). The group is named after the date of March 23, 2009, which marked an accord that ended a previous Tutsi-led revolt in eastern Congo.

The M23 accused the government of the DRC of not living up to its promises of integrating Congolese Tutsis into the army and government (Reuters 2022). It claims to be fighting for the implementation of political agreements with the DRC government, which provides for the safe return of Congolese Tutsi refugees in Rwanda (Amnesty International 2023) The M23 has primarily asserted that it is defending Tutsi interests against Hutu militias. Originally, the M23 rebellion of 2012-2013 against the DRC government resulted in massive displacement. This rebellion ended with a ceasefire. In 2017, M23 resumed its insurgency with little impact (International Crisis Group 2022). In 2022, a larger section of the M23 started an offensive, and captured the towns of Bunagana, operating out of discontentment at the slow pace of granting amnesties and economic opportunities in the DRC to its fighters who are stuck in Rwanda and Uganda (Reuters 2022). Rwanda was blamed for supporting the M23, though it denied all accusations (The East African, 2022). Clashes continued into 2023. During this time, the M23 has committed massacres, taken territories, and a range of different acts of sexual violence including rape. The armed violence has also caused mass displacement to the tune of up to 2.3 million people from North Kivu (Nieman 2023). According to the IOM, around 100,000 people were displaced near Goma, of which 60% were women and girls (AfricaNews 2023a).

A significant dimension of global complicity keeps this conflict alive. Western corporations make high profits from mining coltan, cobalt, gold, diamonds, and a range of other minerals in the DRC, and the West has been funding Rwandan and Ugandan militias operating in the DRC (Migrants Rights Network 2023). Armed groups in the DRC and adjoining countries have been known to exploit the minerals tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold to finance conflict in the region (GAO 2023).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Human Rights Watch (2023) has indicated that civilians have been targeted with rape and killing by the M23, especially as they try to flee to safety. Several instances of rape and sexual violence were documented across the cities of Kitchanga, Kako, and Mushaki (Human Rights Watch 2023). There have also been instances of rape and sexual violence by other armed groups including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), the Mai-Mai, and Nyatura Abazungu, and instances of rape targeting women living in M-23 occupied areas as retaliation. Displaced women have also faced sexual violence in camps (Neiman 2023). Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) reported that it treated 123 rape cases in April 2023 (Neiman 2023). In July, MDF treated 1,500 female victims of sexual violence in July across three displacement camps outside Goma (AfricaNews 2023a). By October 2023, according to MSF, as many as 70 women victims of sexual assault - over 2000 a month - present themselves at the structures they have set up - but also note that this figure is only likely representative of a part of the full picture, as these are numbers only from where MSF has its establishments. (AfricaNews 2023).
Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence
The prevalence of sexual violence points at the deliberate targeting of women and girls by all armed fighters involved in the conflict (AfricaNews 2023a). Rape and sexual violence have been used as systematic tools to punish and humiliate civilians on the suspicion that they are supporters or members of rival armed groups (Amnesty International 2023). In carrying out door-to-door campaigns of rape and killing (Amnesty International 2023), the intention behind its deployment by M23 has been to also intimidate and control civilians (Mednick 2023). Further, displacement places women in camps, where they are vulnerable to opportunistic sexual assault and violence (AfricaNews 2023a). Reports also show that sexual violence has been deliberately used to target women in pursuit of campaigns of ethnic violence (AFP 2023).
References

AFP (2023). "Women Face Hunger, Rape in Congo Displacement Camps" https://www.voaafrica.com/a/women-face-hunger-rape-in-congo-displacement-camps/7307738.html

AfricaNews (2023). "DRC: in the Goma camps, prostitution, rape or hunger." https://www.africanews.com/2023/10/06/drc-in-the-goma-camps-prostitution-rape-or-hunger/

AfricaNews (2023a). "Surging conflict in DRC drives sexual assault against displaced women." https://www.africanews.com/2023/10/25/surging-conflict-in-drc-drives-sexual-assault-against-displaced-women//

Amnesty International (2023). "DR Congo: Rwandan-backed M23 rebels perpetrating summary killings and rapes." https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/02/dr-congo-rwandan-backed-m23-rebels-perpetrating-summary-killings-and-rapes/

French, H. (2013). "The Case Against Rwanda's President Paul Kagame." https://www.newsweek.com/case-against-rwandas-president-paul-kagame-63167

GAO (2023). "Conflict Minerals: 2022 Company Reports on Mineral Sources Were Similar to Those Filed in Prior Years" https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-23-106295

International Crisis Group (2022). "Easing the Turmoil in the Eastern DR Congo and Great Lakes" https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/great-lakes/democratic-republic-congo-uganda-burundi-rwanda/easing-turmoil-eastern-dr-congo

Mednick, S. (2022). "Abduction, torture, rape: Conflict in Congo worsens, says UN" https://apnews.com/article/torture-a04f7bca1872d77e6158ebb8658383d0

Migrants Rights Network (2023). "Silent genocides: Congo, Armenia + Sudan." https://migrantsrights.org.uk/2023/11/07/silent-genocides/

Neiman, S. (2023). "Sexual violence plagues women displaced by DR Congo's M23 conflict" https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2023/07/12/sexual-violence-plagues-women-displaced-dr-congo-m23-conflict

Reuters (2022). "Explainer: Why is there more fighting in eastern Congo?." https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/why-is-there-more-fighting-eastern-congo-2022-05-26/

The East African (2022). "Rwanda denies backing armed group in DRC." https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/news/east-africa/dr-congo-accuses-rwanda-of-backing-militia-violence-3828930

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CRSV: DR Congo (2023-) - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is an ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts (Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust, 2014). The Nagorno-Karabakh region has been inhabited by ethnic Armenians thus far, and the seven surrounding districts were inhabited by Azerbaijanis until they were expelled in the 1990s (Rezvani, 2014). The Republic of Artsakh, a breakaway state from Azerbaijan, claims the Nagorno-Karabakh region. However, the territory has been internationally recognized as Azerbaijanian territory (Rezvani, 2014). Since 2020, Azerbaijan has re-established its control over both Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven surrounding territories. Under Soviet rule, the Armenian population in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast faced heavy discrimination (Yavuz & Gunter, 2022). Their culture was suppressed and they were pressured to leave the region - although Armenians remained the majority population (Rezvani, 2014). In 1988, during the Glasnost period, a referendum was held and the region was transferred to Soviet Armenia on the grounds of self-determination laws under the Soviet constitution of the time (Starovoytova, 1997). This measure was met with a series of pogroms targeting and ethnic erasure of Armenians across Azerbaijan (Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust, 2014).

In the early 1990s, this conflict became a full-fledged war after the Soviet Union was dissolved. Artsakh and Armenia won the war, and occupied the Nagorno-Karabakh region (Yavuz & Gunter, 2022). In 1991, the region held a referendum and declared independence - but its independence was not recognized by both states (Rezvani, 2014). In 1994, a ceasefire ended the war (Starovoytova, 1997). This was followed by two decades of relative stability which began to decline in the 2010s. In 2016, a four-day escalation caused major casualties. In late 2020, the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War caused thousands of casualties, with Azerbaijan winning the war. An armistice was established by a tripartite ceasefire agreement on November 10, which resulted in Azerbaijan regaining all the occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, along with a third of the region. Ceasefire violations continued. In December 2022, Azerbaijan began to blockade Artsakh (Geybullayeva, 2023). In September 2023, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale military offensive, resulting in the surrender of Artsakh authorities. By January 1, 2024, Artsakh is set to be dissolved (Krivosheev, 2023)
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Gender-based violence has been rarely mentioned explicitly as an impact of the war, especially in the context of the first and second Nagorno-Karabakh wars (Kvinna Till Kvinna Foundation, 2019). Kvinna Till Kvinna Foundation (2019) reported that survival sex is normalised in the context of the conflict, where socially and economically disadvantaged women are often pressured to offer sexual services in exchange for money. The buying and selling of sex in the bordering regions and territories around military bases, as well. The report also indicates the prevalence of rumours that lower-ranking soldiers are expected to offer their wives sexually to higher-ranking officers (Kvinna Till Kvinna Foundation, 2019). However, there is a culture of silence surrounding sexual violence, which makes it difficult to identify the precise number of cases. There have been instances of violence, ill-treatment, sexual harassment, and molestation (Cheterian, 2018).

Since the blockade in December 2022, women have not been able to access medicine, healthcare, contraception, and menstrual products (Women of Armenia, 2023). Pregnant women have faced miscarriages, stillbirths, and complications owing to malnutrition and inadequate access to care (Martirosyan & Sargsyan, 2023; WAVE, 2023). In 2023, Armen Press reported that women's bodies revealed signs of torture (Armen Press, 2023a). Armen Press (2023b) also reported that telegram channels in Azerbaijan have distributed messages across a variety of telegram channels to encourage people to find, kill, torture, and rape missing persons.
Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence
At this point, with limited data on particular forms of sexual violence and rape make it unclear as to whether there is a deliberate, systematic intent. However, with reports suggesting messages encouraging the rape and murder of women, it appears that there is an intention to systematically use such forms of violence to further ethnic erasure. Reports show that the blockade, occupation, and armed conflict have each proceeded with the intention to carry out the ethnic erasure of ethnic Armenians. To this end, violence targeting the sexual and reproductive healthof Armenian women is in furtherance of the intention to perpetrate ethnic erasure. Further, it appears from some data that has been carried out against women.
References:

Armen Press (2023a). "There are signs of torture and mutilation on many bodies transported from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. HRD." https://www.armenpress.am/arm/news/1122336/

Armen Press (2023b). "Azerbaijan conducts information terror against people of Nagorno-Karabakh with terrifying threats to rape and kill." https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1120348.html

Cheterian, V. (2018). The uses and abuses of history: Genocide and the making of the Karabakh conflict. Europe-Asia Studies, 70(6), 884-903.

Geybullayeva, A. (2023). "Armenia and Azerbaijan: A blockade that never ended and a peace deal hanging by a thread." https://globalvoices.org/2023/07/19/armenia-and-azerbaijan-a-blockade-that-never-ended-and-a-peace-deal-hanging-by-a-thread/

Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (2014). Women's Participation in the Nagorno-Karabakh Peace Process. https://www.hart-uk.org/blog/womens-participation-nagorno-karabakh-peace-process/

Krivosheev, K. (2023). "What the Dissolution of Nagorno-Karabakh Means for the South Caucasus." https://carnegieendowment.org/politika/90667

Kvinna Till Kvinna (2019). "Listen to Her: Gendered Effects of the Conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh and Women's Priorities for Peace." https://kvinnatillkvinna.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Listen-to-Her---Gendered-Effects-of-the-Conflict-over-Nagorno-Karabakh-and-Womens-Priorities-for-Peace.pdf

Martirosyan, L., & Sargsyan, S. (2023). "Queues for bread and no formula milk: Motherhood in blockaded Nagorno-Karabakh." https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/mothers-nagorno-karabakh-artsakh-armenia-azerbaijan-children/

Rezvani, B. (2014). Conflict and Peace in Central Eurasia: Towards Explanations and Understandings. Brill.

Starovoytova, G. (1997). "Sovereignty after Empire: Self-Determinationa Movements in the Former Soviet Union" United States Institute of Peace. https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/pwks19.pdf

WAVE (2023). "WAVE statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh humanitarian crisis." https://wave-network.org/wave-statement-on-the-nagorno-karabakh-humanitarian-crisis/#_ftn2

Women of Armenia (2023). "Violated Reproductive Rigths: The effects of the ongoing humanitarian crisis on women's reproductive rights in Nagorno Karabakh." https://womenofarmenia.org/2023/08/25/violated-reproductive-rigths-the-effects-of-the-ongoing-humanitarian-crisis-on-womens-reproductive-rights-in-nagorno-karabakh/

Yavuz, M. H., & Gunter, M. (2022). The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Historical and Political Perspectives. Routledge.

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is an ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts (Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust, 2014). The Nagorno-Karabakh region has been inhabited by ethnic Armenians thus far, and the seven surrounding districts were inhabited by Azerbaijanis until they were expelled in the 1990s (Rezvani, 2014). The Republic of Artsakh, a breakaway state from Azerbaijan, claims the Nagorno-Karabakh region. However, the territory has been internationally recognized as Azerbaijanian territory (Rezvani, 2014). Since 2020, Azerbaijan has re-established its control over both Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven surrounding territories. Under Soviet rule, the Armenian population in the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast faced heavy discrimination (Yavuz & Gunter, 2022). Their culture was suppressed and they were pressured to leave the region - although Armenians remained the majority population (Rezvani, 2014). In 1988, during the Glasnost period, a referendum was held and the region was transferred to Soviet Armenia on the grounds of self-determination laws under the Soviet constitution of the time (Starovoytova, 1997). This measure was met with a series of pogroms targeting and ethnic erasure of Armenians across Azerbaijan (Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust, 2014).

In the early 1990s, this conflict became a full-fledged war after the Soviet Union was dissolved. Artsakh and Armenia won the war, and occupied the Nagorno-Karabakh region (Yavuz & Gunter, 2022). In 1991, the region held a referendum and declared independence - but its independence was not recognized by both states (Rezvani, 2014). In 1994, a ceasefire ended the war (Starovoytova, 1997). This was followed by two decades of relative stability which began to decline in the 2010s. In 2016, a four-day escalation caused major casualties. In late 2020, the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War caused thousands of casualties, with Azerbaijan winning the war. An armistice was established by a tripartite ceasefire agreement on November 10, which resulted in Azerbaijan regaining all the occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, along with a third of the region. Ceasefire violations continued. In December 2022, Azerbaijan began to blockade Artsakh (Geybullayeva, 2023). In September 2023, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale military offensive, resulting in the surrender of Artsakh authorities. By January 1, 2024, Artsakh is set to be dissolved (Krivosheev, 2023)
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Gender-based violence has been rarely mentioned explicitly as an impact of the war, especially in the context of the first and second Nagorno-Karabakh wars (Kvinna Till Kvinna Foundation, 2019). Kvinna Till Kvinna Foundation (2019) reported that survival sex is normalised in the context of the conflict, where socially and economically disadvantaged women are often pressured to offer sexual services in exchange for money. The buying and selling of sex in the bordering regions and territories around military bases, as well. The report also indicates the prevalence of rumours that lower-ranking soldiers are expected to offer their wives sexually to higher-ranking officers (Kvinna Till Kvinna Foundation, 2019). However, there is a culture of silence surrounding sexual violence, which makes it difficult to identify the precise number of cases. There have been instances of violence, ill-treatment, sexual harassment, and molestation (Cheterian, 2018).

Since the blockade in December 2022, women have not been able to access medicine, healthcare, contraception, and menstrual products (Women of Armenia, 2023). Pregnant women have faced miscarriages, stillbirths, and complications owing to malnutrition and inadequate access to care (Martirosyan & Sargsyan, 2023; WAVE, 2023). In 2023, Armen Press reported that women's bodies revealed signs of torture (Armen Press, 2023a). Armen Press (2023b) also reported that telegram channels in Azerbaijan have distributed messages across a variety of telegram channels to encourage people to find, kill, torture, and rape missing persons.
Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence
At this point, with limited data on particular forms of sexual violence and rape make it unclear as to whether there is a deliberate, systematic intent. However, with reports suggesting messages encouraging the rape and murder of women, it appears that there is an intention to systematically use such forms of violence to further ethnic erasure. Reports show that the blockade, occupation, and armed conflict have each proceeded with the intention to carry out the ethnic erasure of ethnic Armenians. To this end, violence targeting the sexual and reproductive healthof Armenian women is in furtherance of the intention to perpetrate ethnic erasure. Further, it appears from some data that has been carried out against women.
References:

Armen Press (2023a). "There are signs of torture and mutilation on many bodies transported from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. HRD." https://www.armenpress.am/arm/news/1122336/

Armen Press (2023b). "Azerbaijan conducts information terror against people of Nagorno-Karabakh with terrifying threats to rape and kill." https://armenpress.am/eng/news/1120348.html

Cheterian, V. (2018). The uses and abuses of history: Genocide and the making of the Karabakh conflict. Europe-Asia Studies, 70(6), 884-903.

Geybullayeva, A. (2023). "Armenia and Azerbaijan: A blockade that never ended and a peace deal hanging by a thread." https://globalvoices.org/2023/07/19/armenia-and-azerbaijan-a-blockade-that-never-ended-and-a-peace-deal-hanging-by-a-thread/

Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (2014). Women's Participation in the Nagorno-Karabakh Peace Process. https://www.hart-uk.org/blog/womens-participation-nagorno-karabakh-peace-process/

Krivosheev, K. (2023). "What the Dissolution of Nagorno-Karabakh Means for the South Caucasus." https://carnegieendowment.org/politika/90667

Kvinna Till Kvinna (2019). "Listen to Her: Gendered Effects of the Conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh and Women's Priorities for Peace." https://kvinnatillkvinna.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Listen-to-Her---Gendered-Effects-of-the-Conflict-over-Nagorno-Karabakh-and-Womens-Priorities-for-Peace.pdf

Martirosyan, L., & Sargsyan, S. (2023). "Queues for bread and no formula milk: Motherhood in blockaded Nagorno-Karabakh." https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/mothers-nagorno-karabakh-artsakh-armenia-azerbaijan-children/

Rezvani, B. (2014). Conflict and Peace in Central Eurasia: Towards Explanations and Understandings. Brill.

Starovoytova, G. (1997). "Sovereignty after Empire: Self-Determinationa Movements in the Former Soviet Union" United States Institute of Peace. https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/pwks19.pdf

WAVE (2023). "WAVE statement on the Nagorno-Karabakh humanitarian crisis." https://wave-network.org/wave-statement-on-the-nagorno-karabakh-humanitarian-crisis/#_ftn2

Women of Armenia (2023). "Violated Reproductive Rigths: The effects of the ongoing humanitarian crisis on women's reproductive rights in Nagorno Karabakh." https://womenofarmenia.org/2023/08/25/violated-reproductive-rigths-the-effects-of-the-ongoing-humanitarian-crisis-on-womens-reproductive-rights-in-nagorno-karabakh/

Yavuz, M. H., & Gunter, M. (2022). The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: Historical and Political Perspectives. Routledge.

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CRSV: Nagorno-Karabakh - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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Darfur, Sudan (Masalit Massacres, 2023-)

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Darfur, Sudan (Masalit Massacres, 2023-)

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
On April 15, 2023, a war broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), two rival factions of the military government of Sudan, in Khartoum and Darfur (Al Jazeera, 2023). The war began with attacks by the RSF on government sites with airstrikes, artillery, and gunfire. In this time, the RSF leader and Sudan's de facto leader and army chief held disputed control over government sites in Khartoum, including the military headquarters, the Presidential Palace, the Khartoum International Airport, and the Sudan National Broadcasting Corporation headquarters, as well as towns in Darfur and Kordofan (Al Jazeera, 2023). Both sides were joined by rebel groups that had fought on against both sides previously. Against this backdrop, multiple massacres were perpetrated by the RSF across Sudan - including the Ardamata, Misterei, and Geneina massacres, where Masalit civilians were targeted - as a result of current conflict dynamics exacerbating existing ethnic tensions (Human Rights Watch, 2023). The Masalit are a Black African ethnic group, living in western Sudan and eastern Chad (Dabanga Radio, 2023a). The United Nations has warned that these massacres "may lead to another genocide" (Ewing, 2023), whereas commentators have named it a genocide (Bartlett & Akinwotu, 2023) and ethnic massacre (Reuters, 2023). At the time of writing this case report, as many as 9,000-10,000 people had been killed and 6,000-12,000 had been injured (Magdy, 2023a). Over 4.8 million people had been internally displaced and over 1.3 million had fled the country as refugees (Relief Web, 2023). Across all the massacres targeting the Masalit people, upwards of 5,000 people have been reported killed, and upwards of 20,000 people have been displaced forcibly (Magdy, 2023b; Dabanga Radio, 2023b). Previously, between 2003 and 2005, Darfur endured a vicious conflict, where then president Omar Al Bashir created a militia called Janjaweed, which he used to target Darfuri rebels who had revolted against his regime for the historical neglect of the Black African population - which culminated in a genocide.
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Reports show that the RSF and allied militias raped several dozen women and girls in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, and from among those fleeing to Chad between April and June (Human Rights Watch, 2023). Human Rights Watch (2023) documented 78 stories of rape during this time. Most instances documented revealed that rape was accompanied by beating, killing, looting, and arson, and all survivors reported that the attackers mentioned their ethnic identity and used ethnic slurs about the Masalit people (Human Rights Watch, 2023). The Sudanese Unit for Combatting Violence Against Women reported documenting 46 rape cases in Darfur, including 21 in Geneina, 25 in Nyala, and 51 in Khartoum, although the head of the unit indicated that the "true number of cases of sexual violence are likely in the thousands" (Magdy, 2023b). Amnesty International (2023) found that women and girls as young as 12 years of age were subjected to sexual violence, and held for days in conditions of sexual slavery by members on all sides.
Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence has been used as part of the systemic targeting of groups for their ethnicity and in pursuit of a campaign of ethnic erasure and genocide. Further, it appears that sexual violence has been used as a means of subjugation by perpetrating sexual slavery. Sexual violence and assault have also been used to intimidate, humiliate, and threaten populations in furtherance of their ethnic erasure.
References

Al Jazeera (2023). 100 Days of Conflict in Sudan: A Timeline. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/24/100-days-of-conflict-in-sudan-a-timeline

Amnesty International (2023). "Sudan: War crimes rampant as civilians killed in both deliberate and indiscriminate attacks - new report." https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/08/sudan-war-crimes-rampant-as-civilians-killed-in-both-deliberate-and-indiscriminate-attacks-new-report/

Bartlett, K., & Akinwotu, E. (2023). Sudan's war passed 6 months, with much of the world consumed by other conflicts. https://www.npr.org/2023/10/21/1206104009/sudan-war

Dabanga Radio (2023a). "RSF seize North Darfur garrison, reportedly commit mass atrocities in West Darfur". Dabanga Radio TV Online. https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/rsf-seize-north-darfur-garrison-reportedly-commit-mass-atrocities-in-west-darfur

Dabanga Radio (2023b) "Darfur lawyers: 'Bodies scattered across El Geneina'". Dabanga Radio TV Online. https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/darfur-lawyers-bodies-scattered-across-el-geneina

Ewing, G. H. (2023). UN sounds alarm on Darfur, warns world not to repeat history. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/11/un-sounds-alarm-on-darfur-warns-world-not-to-repeat-history-00126708

Human Rights Watch (2023). Darfur: Rapid Support Forces, Allied Militias Rape Dozens. https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/08/17/darfur-rapid-support-forces-allied-militias-rape-dozens

Magdy, S. (2023a). "UN aid chief says six months of war in Sudan has killed 9,000 people". Associated Press. https://apnews.com/article/sudan-war-military-rsf-conflict-khartoum-f12975eb72c830ed86ed6a7a49e9658d

Magdy, S. (2023b). Sudan conflict brings new atrocities to Darfur as militias kill, rape, burn homes in rampages. https://apnews.com/article/sudan-darfur-fighting-war-crimes-705bdb1ac90fc7b2903f68e6f666c3ca

Relief Web (2023). DTM Sudan - Monthly Displacement Overview (October 2023). https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/dtm-sudan-monthly-displacement-overview-october-2023

Reuters (2023). "How Arab fighters carried out a rolling ethnic massacre in Sudan". https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/sudan-politics-darfur/

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
On April 15, 2023, a war broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), two rival factions of the military government of Sudan, in Khartoum and Darfur (Al Jazeera, 2023). The war began with attacks by the RSF on government sites with airstrikes, artillery, and gunfire. In this time, the RSF leader and Sudan's de facto leader and army chief held disputed control over government sites in Khartoum, including the military headquarters, the Presidential Palace, the Khartoum International Airport, and the Sudan National Broadcasting Corporation headquarters, as well as towns in Darfur and Kordofan (Al Jazeera, 2023). Both sides were joined by rebel groups that had fought on against both sides previously. Against this backdrop, multiple massacres were perpetrated by the RSF across Sudan - including the Ardamata, Misterei, and Geneina massacres, where Masalit civilians were targeted - as a result of current conflict dynamics exacerbating existing ethnic tensions (Human Rights Watch, 2023). The Masalit are a Black African ethnic group, living in western Sudan and eastern Chad (Dabanga Radio, 2023a). The United Nations has warned that these massacres "may lead to another genocide" (Ewing, 2023), whereas commentators have named it a genocide (Bartlett & Akinwotu, 2023) and ethnic massacre (Reuters, 2023). At the time of writing this case report, as many as 9,000-10,000 people had been killed and 6,000-12,000 had been injured (Magdy, 2023a). Over 4.8 million people had been internally displaced and over 1.3 million had fled the country as refugees (Relief Web, 2023). Across all the massacres targeting the Masalit people, upwards of 5,000 people have been reported killed, and upwards of 20,000 people have been displaced forcibly (Magdy, 2023b; Dabanga Radio, 2023b). Previously, between 2003 and 2005, Darfur endured a vicious conflict, where then president Omar Al Bashir created a militia called Janjaweed, which he used to target Darfuri rebels who had revolted against his regime for the historical neglect of the Black African population - which culminated in a genocide.
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Reports show that the RSF and allied militias raped several dozen women and girls in El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, and from among those fleeing to Chad between April and June (Human Rights Watch, 2023). Human Rights Watch (2023) documented 78 stories of rape during this time. Most instances documented revealed that rape was accompanied by beating, killing, looting, and arson, and all survivors reported that the attackers mentioned their ethnic identity and used ethnic slurs about the Masalit people (Human Rights Watch, 2023). The Sudanese Unit for Combatting Violence Against Women reported documenting 46 rape cases in Darfur, including 21 in Geneina, 25 in Nyala, and 51 in Khartoum, although the head of the unit indicated that the "true number of cases of sexual violence are likely in the thousands" (Magdy, 2023b). Amnesty International (2023) found that women and girls as young as 12 years of age were subjected to sexual violence, and held for days in conditions of sexual slavery by members on all sides.
Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence has been used as part of the systemic targeting of groups for their ethnicity and in pursuit of a campaign of ethnic erasure and genocide. Further, it appears that sexual violence has been used as a means of subjugation by perpetrating sexual slavery. Sexual violence and assault have also been used to intimidate, humiliate, and threaten populations in furtherance of their ethnic erasure.
References

Al Jazeera (2023). 100 Days of Conflict in Sudan: A Timeline. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/24/100-days-of-conflict-in-sudan-a-timeline

Amnesty International (2023). "Sudan: War crimes rampant as civilians killed in both deliberate and indiscriminate attacks - new report." https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/08/sudan-war-crimes-rampant-as-civilians-killed-in-both-deliberate-and-indiscriminate-attacks-new-report/

Bartlett, K., & Akinwotu, E. (2023). Sudan's war passed 6 months, with much of the world consumed by other conflicts. https://www.npr.org/2023/10/21/1206104009/sudan-war

Dabanga Radio (2023a). "RSF seize North Darfur garrison, reportedly commit mass atrocities in West Darfur". Dabanga Radio TV Online. https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/rsf-seize-north-darfur-garrison-reportedly-commit-mass-atrocities-in-west-darfur

Dabanga Radio (2023b) "Darfur lawyers: 'Bodies scattered across El Geneina'". Dabanga Radio TV Online. https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/darfur-lawyers-bodies-scattered-across-el-geneina

Ewing, G. H. (2023). UN sounds alarm on Darfur, warns world not to repeat history. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/11/un-sounds-alarm-on-darfur-warns-world-not-to-repeat-history-00126708

Human Rights Watch (2023). Darfur: Rapid Support Forces, Allied Militias Rape Dozens. https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/08/17/darfur-rapid-support-forces-allied-militias-rape-dozens

Magdy, S. (2023a). "UN aid chief says six months of war in Sudan has killed 9,000 people". Associated Press. https://apnews.com/article/sudan-war-military-rsf-conflict-khartoum-f12975eb72c830ed86ed6a7a49e9658d

Magdy, S. (2023b). Sudan conflict brings new atrocities to Darfur as militias kill, rape, burn homes in rampages. https://apnews.com/article/sudan-darfur-fighting-war-crimes-705bdb1ac90fc7b2903f68e6f666c3ca

Relief Web (2023). DTM Sudan - Monthly Displacement Overview (October 2023). https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/dtm-sudan-monthly-displacement-overview-october-2023

Reuters (2023). "How Arab fighters carried out a rolling ethnic massacre in Sudan". https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/sudan-politics-darfur/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CRSV: Darfur in 2023 - The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This case note documents the occurrence of violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of violence targeting sexual and reproductive health rights. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the settler colonial violence
In 2007, Israel set in place a land, air, and sea blockade on Gaza, that operates to date. This blockade was enforced by barriers with the police stationed in large numbers, and restricted what can go in and out of Gaza. On October 7, 2023, Hamas fired rockets into southern Israel (Al Jazeera, 2023). They then cut through the blockade and crossed into Israel. Most of them entered through breaches in security barriers separating Gaza and Israel (Al Jazeera, 2023). attacked Israeli civilians during a music festival. Israel retaliated with violence that has continued unabated, since, targeting civilians - especially children and babies, religious establishments, and hospitals. These events followed Israel's recent storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, and killing of a record number of Palestinians (Al Jazeera, 2023). Gun battles ensued between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters in several areas of southern Israel. Over a month and counting at the time of writing, Israel subjected Gaza to intense, aggressive bombing, targeting all parts including the Jabalia refugee camp, and several hospitals and medical facilities. Aside from devastating bombs, reports show that white phosphorus - a weapon that is declared illegal in international law - has been used (Human Rights Watch, 2023). The bombing destroyed waterways, medical and healthcare facilities, and electricity. On several occasions, connectivity was shut down.

Israel's bombing of Gaza for 35 days at the time of writing produced a significant humanitarian catastrophe, with mass civilian massacres and deaths amounting to genocide and ethnic erasure, as well as the forced displacement of several people in Gaza. Israel targeted hospitals and medical facilities, children, and civilians alike, in violation of the Geneva Convention (Al Jazeera, 2023). At the time of writing, at least 11,078 people were killed, of which at least 4,506 were children. Violence also escalated in the occupied West Bank, resulting in 183 deaths at the time of study (Al Jazeera, 2023).
Prevalence of Violence targeting the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights of Women
At the start of the conflict, various reports confirmed that approximately 50,000 women in Gaza were pregnant, with 5,522 expected to deliver within November (UN Women, 2023; WHO, 2023; UNFPA, 2023). With the deliberate targeting of hospitals and medical facilities, women have not had access to medical healthcare. There have been instances where women were forced to have caesarean sections without anaesthesia, deliver prematurely, and even have their uterus removed for post-partum hemorrhage. Several mothers wind up dying from injuries after being bombed, and their babies have been saved through belatedly performed caesarean deliveries (Rajvanshi, 2023). The removal of their uterus has ended the possibility of future fertility (Blackall, 2023). With hospitals running out of electricity and fuel, incubators and medical equipment have stopped functioning, endangering the lives of women and newborns alike (WHO, 2023). Several Palestinian women resorted to taking tables to delay their menstrual cycles owing to the unsanitary circumstances, the lack of water, and appropriate supplies. They have been taking norethisterone tablets, which keep progesterone hormone levels raised to stop the uterus from shedding its lining (Alsaafin and Amer, 2023). This can create major side effects including irregular vaginal bleeding, nausea, changes to the menstrual cycle, dizziness and mood swings (Alsaafin and Amer, 2023).
Basis of Violence targeting the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights of Women
The settler colonial violence involving the deliberate targeting of medical facilities, hospitals, and water supply, and blocking supplies from reaching Gaza have produced direct, adverse impacts on the sexual and reproductive health and related rights of women. The use of weapons and bombs is in furtherance of a necropolitical agenda and has resulted in significant setbacks on the sexual and reproductive health rights of women and may affect future fertility, health setbacks, and in the process, also affect social, cultural, and family dynamics. This targeted violence has resulted in a genocide with future-facing effects with the adverse impact on reproductive capacity.
References:

This case note documents the occurrence of violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of violence targeting sexual and reproductive health rights. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the settler colonial violence
In 2007, Israel set in place a land, air, and sea blockade on Gaza, that operates to date. This blockade was enforced by barriers with the police stationed in large numbers, and restricted what can go in and out of Gaza. On October 7, 2023, Hamas fired rockets into southern Israel (Al Jazeera, 2023). They then cut through the blockade and crossed into Israel. Most of them entered through breaches in security barriers separating Gaza and Israel (Al Jazeera, 2023). attacked Israeli civilians during a music festival. Israel retaliated with violence that has continued unabated, since, targeting civilians - especially children and babies, religious establishments, and hospitals. These events followed Israel's recent storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, and killing of a record number of Palestinians (Al Jazeera, 2023). Gun battles ensued between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters in several areas of southern Israel. Over a month and counting at the time of writing, Israel subjected Gaza to intense, aggressive bombing, targeting all parts including the Jabalia refugee camp, and several hospitals and medical facilities. Aside from devastating bombs, reports show that white phosphorus - a weapon that is declared illegal in international law - has been used (Human Rights Watch, 2023). The bombing destroyed waterways, medical and healthcare facilities, and electricity. On several occasions, connectivity was shut down.

Israel's bombing of Gaza for 35 days at the time of writing produced a significant humanitarian catastrophe, with mass civilian massacres and deaths amounting to genocide and ethnic erasure, as well as the forced displacement of several people in Gaza. Israel targeted hospitals and medical facilities, children, and civilians alike, in violation of the Geneva Convention (Al Jazeera, 2023). At the time of writing, at least 11,078 people were killed, of which at least 4,506 were children. Violence also escalated in the occupied West Bank, resulting in 183 deaths at the time of study (Al Jazeera, 2023).
Prevalence of Violence targeting the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights of Women
At the start of the conflict, various reports confirmed that approximately 50,000 women in Gaza were pregnant, with 5,522 expected to deliver within November (UN Women, 2023; WHO, 2023; UNFPA, 2023). With the deliberate targeting of hospitals and medical facilities, women have not had access to medical healthcare. There have been instances where women were forced to have caesarean sections without anaesthesia, deliver prematurely, and even have their uterus removed for post-partum hemorrhage. Several mothers wind up dying from injuries after being bombed, and their babies have been saved through belatedly performed caesarean deliveries (Rajvanshi, 2023). The removal of their uterus has ended the possibility of future fertility (Blackall, 2023). With hospitals running out of electricity and fuel, incubators and medical equipment have stopped functioning, endangering the lives of women and newborns alike (WHO, 2023). Several Palestinian women resorted to taking tables to delay their menstrual cycles owing to the unsanitary circumstances, the lack of water, and appropriate supplies. They have been taking norethisterone tablets, which keep progesterone hormone levels raised to stop the uterus from shedding its lining (Alsaafin and Amer, 2023). This can create major side effects including irregular vaginal bleeding, nausea, changes to the menstrual cycle, dizziness and mood swings (Alsaafin and Amer, 2023).
Basis of Violence targeting the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights of Women
The settler colonial violence involving the deliberate targeting of medical facilities, hospitals, and water supply, and blocking supplies from reaching Gaza have produced direct, adverse impacts on the sexual and reproductive health and related rights of women. The use of weapons and bombs is in furtherance of a necropolitical agenda and has resulted in significant setbacks on the sexual and reproductive health rights of women and may affect future fertility, health setbacks, and in the process, also affect social, cultural, and family dynamics. This targeted violence has resulted in a genocide with future-facing effects with the adverse impact on reproductive capacity.
References:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CRSV: Gaza in 2023 - The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of violence targeting sexual and reproductive health rights. Reader discretion is advised.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Occupation
On November 2, 1917, Britain's erstwhile foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour, wrote a letter to Lionel Walter Rothschild, a figurehead in the British Jewish community. The 67-word-long letter from the British government demonstrated its commitment to the "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" and to ensure the "achievement of this object." This came to be called the Balfour Declaration. This declaration was issued without consulting, asking, or even informing the indigenous Palestinians.

A British Mandate was created after this. In 1922, the League of Nations approved the mandate. With this, the British were deputed to control the area. From that point on, the British enabled and facilitated a mass Jewish immigration. At this point in time, Palestine was home to Palestinian Arabs who had spent over 2,000 years in the region. There were also Jewish refugees in the region, since about the 1200s. When the mandate was underway, several thousands of Jewish people migrated from Europe to Palestine, in search for their permanent home. This movement was largely driven by a Zionist Organization that interpreted Palestine as an ancient Jewish homeland, and strived to bring all Jews into the region, to create a single physical nations. With this, tensions between Palestinian Arabs and Jews began to rise, over the same piece of land.

Tensions between the Arabs and Jews continued to escalate, manifesting in the Arab Revolt (1936 to 1939). In April 1936, the then-newly created Arab National Committee, called on Palestinians to launch a strike, refuse to pay taxes, and to boycott Jewish products to resist Britain's colonialism and the rising volume of Jewish immigrants. The strike lasted six months, and was met by brutal repression from the British, manifesting in the form of mass arrests and punitive home demolitions - both of which continue to date. In 1937, the second phase of their resistance began, this time, helmed by the Palestinian Peasant Resistance movement against British colonialism. This ended in 1939. By this time, Britain had built its troops in Palestine and bombed villages by air, imposed curfews, demolished homes, detained people, and subject people to summary killings. The British also worked with the Jewish community and created armed groups called the Special Night Squads, which were intended to function as counterinsurgency forces.

Meanwhile, during World War II, the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party and Fascist rule and the Holocaust made life in Europe dangerous for Jews. More and more Jews began to leave Europe to Palestine, to establish their nation. In 1945, US President Truman asked the British Prime Minister to allow around 100,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors into Palestine. However, this request was made without consulting, informing, or even acknowledging the rights of indigenous Palestinian Arabs over their territory. Consequently, the Arabs, who desired an independent Arab state, were against this immigration.

In 1947, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 181, which proposed to terminate the Palestinian mandate, and called for the division of the land into two independent states - one Jewish, one Arab, while retaining Jerusalem as an international city. This proposal intended to offer the Jews 56% of the land, although they only constituted 1/3rd of the total population at the time. The Jews accepted this proposal. The Palestinian Arabs rejected it because they considered the partition a route for the Jews to push them out of their land. However, it is important to note that the United Nations did not create the state of Israel. As Decolonizing Palestine explains, "Israel was established not through the UN, but through warfare and the creation of facts on the ground. Facts it created through the destruction and ethnic cleansing of hundreds of Palestinian villages and communities."

The day the mandate ended, May 14, 1948, the land was declared as the State of Israel, by David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization. With this, Palestine ceased to exist as a state. The next day, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Transjordan invaded Palestine to acquire the land. This led to 700,000 Palestinian Arabs being driven out of their homes, several swathes of their villages and urban areas being destroyed, and the revocation of their right to return. This was called the Nakba, or catastrophe in Arabic.

In 1949, Israel agreed to armistices with the Arab Armies. With the other states entering the territory, the West Bank came under Jordan's control and the Gaza Strip under Egypt's control, leaving the Palestinian Arabs with no land of their own.

The Israelis and Palestinians look at the incidents differently. To the Palestinians, their expulsion from their own lands was part of a systematic ethnic cleansing campaign as part of realizing a fully Jewish state. To the Israelis, the Palestinians were not expelled, but rather fled the lands after receiving orders from their leaders and other Arab states. They blame the Arab leaders for rejecting the partition proposal made by the UN. In 1959, the Fatah was founded as a political movement, called the Palestine National Liberation Movement.

In 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), was established by Yasser Arafat and won the support of most Arab League governments, also gaining a seat in the Arab League. In 1965, Fatah became a political party.

In 1967, the Six-Day War took place, where Israel gained military control over the West Bank from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, as well as East Jerusalem, the Sinai Peninsula, and Golan Heights. Over 38 years since then, Israel built 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, and controlled the territory.

In 1987, the First Intifada took place, starting out with protests, boycotts, and bouts of violence. Shortly after this, the Hamas a militant group and a faction of the Muslim Brotherhood, was founded, and advocated armed resistance. To date, Hamas is considered a terrorist group by the US and EU. Hamasis committed to embarking on an armed struggle to overthrow Israeli occupation, and does not recognize Israel's claims to statehood like the PLO does. However, it accepts the borders that were set by the 1967 war. Hamas is also backed by Iran and Syria, and is close to the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

In 1993, the Oslo Accord was signed as a peace agreement, where Palestinians were given border control over civilian agencies and Israeli troops were ordered to withdraw. The Oslo Accords sought to achieve a two-state solution, with the intention that Palestine would come into existence as a state by 1998. However, this remained true only on paper. On ground, conditions worsened for the Palestinians, as they did not get their independent territory, and Israel did not withdraw its troops - instead, it continued to occupy and settle across the West Bank and Gaza.

By around 1995, Israel had already obtained over 41,000 acres of land in the West Bank. By 1998, they had destroyed nearly 700 Palestinian homes. Israel had gained full control over all borders and revenue and taxation for the region. Seeing that the Oslo Accords were not being observed as promised, the Palestinians considered the negotiations a failure. Seeing Israel's role in suppressing their rights, resentment grew in Palestine. As a result, relations broke down between both sides.

In 2000, the Second Intifada began. The Hamas played a major role in spearheading the resistance on the Palestinian side. Five years later, the Second Intifada ended. Israel withdrew 9,000 settlers and military forces from the Gaza strip, and relinquished control over the area while still maintaining control over the area's borders. The following year, in 2006, Hamas won the election and came to power in Gaza. This entrenched Hamas as one of the two major political parties in Palestine. Following this win, no elections were held in Gaza, and Hamas remains the governing body.

In 2007, Israel set in place a land, air, and sea blockade that operates to date. This blockade is enforced by barriers with the police stationed in large numbers, and serves to restrict what can go in and out of Gaza. When Hamas took over, Israel and Hamas began to launch rockets at each other.

To Israel, the blockade is a form of protection against Hamas' attacks, and is a means to control its borders. To Palestine, the blockade causes major harm to their lives and livelihoods. As a result of the physical blockade, people cannot leave and enter Gaza freely. Its economy is suffering with the blockade, as its population struggles under food shortages and limited supply of medicine and healthcare, and clean drinking water.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas cut through the blockade and attacked Israeli civilians during a music festival. Israel retaliated with violence that has continued unabated, since, targeting civilians - especially children and babies, religious establishments, and hospitals.
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Throughout the occupation, sexual and gender-based violence have been used against Palestinian women and men by the IDF. Checkpoints are high-friction points between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians, where gender plays a major role (Kotef & Amir, 2007). Palestinian women have routinely faced sexual harassment at these checkpoints (Hammami, 2019), including such things as forced undressing (Kubovich, 2018). Israeli security forces have also been known to use sexual violence against Palestinian women during house raids (Stein, 1996), and when women visit their relatives in Israeli prisons or attend court hearings for their relatives (Al Issa & Beck, 2020).

Women are also subject to sexual violence during interrogations, including threats of rape and unwanted touch (Khalil, 2013; Rosenfeld, 2018; Breiner, 2022). In several of these instances, both Israeli men and women have been perpetrators (Breiner & Berger, 2018). There have also been instances of transactional sex, where women have been allowed to move past checkpoints or visit relatives in prison without obstruction in exchange for sex (B'Tselem, 2003). Palestinian men have also been subject to sexual assault (DCI, 2013; Hass, 2010; Weishut, 2015). In several instances, cases went unreported for a variety of reasons: the lack of accessible ways to report cases, fear of reprisals (Al Issa & Beck, 2020), and stigma. Further, conflict-related sexual violence has also been used to target men and boys. At least 100 Palestinian men were detained by Israeli forces, and stripped to their underwear, left blindfolded, and made to kneel on a street in Northern Gaza (Al Jazeera, 2023).
Basis of the use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence and harassment has been used by the Israeli security forces as a means of intimidation, to target Palestinian men and women as part of its settler colonialism (Ghanayem, 2019)It has also been used as a mechanism of , particularly in interrogation settings (Khader, 2017). Sexual violence and harassment has been used as a means of , as part of transactional sex, by exploiting women in vulnerable positions. Overall, sexual violence and harassment have been used to humiliate and shame those targeted, including men and boys who were forcibly stripped.
References For the Background of the Occupation

www.decolonizepalestine.com

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/14/israeli-home-demolitions-a-war-on-nerves-for-palestinians

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-strikes-hamas-and-hezbollah-sites-hunts-intruders-in-the-south-f8f40203

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/08/israel-gaza-hamas-attack-netanyahu-warns-of-long-and-difficult-war?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1

https://www.vox.com/2023/10/7/23907296/israel-war-hamas-attack-rocket-strike-response-2023

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/barrage-of-rockets-fired-at-israel-from-gaza-strip-d5b2f05f?mod=article_inline

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/after-attack-israel-wrestles-with-question-how-could-this-happen-aa6d539a?mod=article_inline

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-20415675

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/5/2/hamas-accepts-palestinian-state-with-1967-borders

https://www.rs21.org.uk/2014/09/12/the-birth-of-palestinian-resistance-and-the-1936-uprising/

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/10/19/erasing-palestine-2

For the Sexual Violence under Occupation

Al Issa, Ferdoos Abed-Rabo, and Beck, Elizabeth. 2020. "Sexual Violence as a War Weapon in Conflict Zones: Palestinian Women's Experience Visiting Loved Ones in Prisons and Jails." Affi lia 36 (2): 167-181. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109920978618

Al Jazeera (2023). "Palestinians detained by Israel in Gaza blindfolded, stripped to underwear." https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/8/video-photos-appear-to-show-detainees-stripped-to-underwear-in-gaza

Ghanayem, Eman. 2019. "Colonial Loops of Displacement in the United States and Israel: Th e Case of Rasmea Odeh." Women's Studies Quarterly 47 (3/4): 71-91.

Hass, Amira. 2010. "Military Police Investigates a Sexual Abuse Complaint of a Young Palestinian Boy." Haaretz, 6 October. https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/politics/1.1206282.

Hammami, R. 2019. "Destabilizing Mastery and the Machine: Palestinian Agency and Gendered Embodiment at Israeli Military Checkpoints." Current Anthropology 60 (S19), S87-S97.

Khader, Nehad. 2017. "Rasmea Odeh: Th e Case of an Indomitable Woman." Journal of Palestine Studies 46 (4): 62-74.

Khalil, Naela. 2013. "Documenting the Plight of Palestinian Female Prisoners." Al-Monitor, 19 March. https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2013/03/palestinian-female-prisoners.html.

Kotef, Hagar, and Amir Merav. 2007. "(En)Gendering Checkpoints: Checkpoint Watch and the Repercussions of Intervention." Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 32 (4): 973-996.

Luvitch, Vered. 2004. "I Was Put on a Bench, and Th en the Soldier Raped Me." Ynet, 27 January. [In Hebrew] https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-2865449,00.html.

Stein, Y. (1996). Sexual Harassment in the Name of the Law: Violence and Humiliation during Raids in Palestinian Houses in Hebron. B'Tselem.

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Occupation
On November 2, 1917, Britain's erstwhile foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour, wrote a letter to Lionel Walter Rothschild, a figurehead in the British Jewish community. The 67-word-long letter from the British government demonstrated its commitment to the "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" and to ensure the "achievement of this object." This came to be called the Balfour Declaration. This declaration was issued without consulting, asking, or even informing the indigenous Palestinians.

A British Mandate was created after this. In 1922, the League of Nations approved the mandate. With this, the British were deputed to control the area. From that point on, the British enabled and facilitated a mass Jewish immigration. At this point in time, Palestine was home to Palestinian Arabs who had spent over 2,000 years in the region. There were also Jewish refugees in the region, since about the 1200s. When the mandate was underway, several thousands of Jewish people migrated from Europe to Palestine, in search for their permanent home. This movement was largely driven by a Zionist Organization that interpreted Palestine as an ancient Jewish homeland, and strived to bring all Jews into the region, to create a single physical nations. With this, tensions between Palestinian Arabs and Jews began to rise, over the same piece of land.

Tensions between the Arabs and Jews continued to escalate, manifesting in the Arab Revolt (1936 to 1939). In April 1936, the then-newly created Arab National Committee, called on Palestinians to launch a strike, refuse to pay taxes, and to boycott Jewish products to resist Britain's colonialism and the rising volume of Jewish immigrants. The strike lasted six months, and was met by brutal repression from the British, manifesting in the form of mass arrests and punitive home demolitions - both of which continue to date. In 1937, the second phase of their resistance began, this time, helmed by the Palestinian Peasant Resistance movement against British colonialism. This ended in 1939. By this time, Britain had built its troops in Palestine and bombed villages by air, imposed curfews, demolished homes, detained people, and subject people to summary killings. The British also worked with the Jewish community and created armed groups called the Special Night Squads, which were intended to function as counterinsurgency forces.

Meanwhile, during World War II, the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party and Fascist rule and the Holocaust made life in Europe dangerous for Jews. More and more Jews began to leave Europe to Palestine, to establish their nation. In 1945, US President Truman asked the British Prime Minister to allow around 100,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors into Palestine. However, this request was made without consulting, informing, or even acknowledging the rights of indigenous Palestinian Arabs over their territory. Consequently, the Arabs, who desired an independent Arab state, were against this immigration.

In 1947, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 181, which proposed to terminate the Palestinian mandate, and called for the division of the land into two independent states - one Jewish, one Arab, while retaining Jerusalem as an international city. This proposal intended to offer the Jews 56% of the land, although they only constituted 1/3rd of the total population at the time. The Jews accepted this proposal. The Palestinian Arabs rejected it because they considered the partition a route for the Jews to push them out of their land. However, it is important to note that the United Nations did not create the state of Israel. As Decolonizing Palestine explains, "Israel was established not through the UN, but through warfare and the creation of facts on the ground. Facts it created through the destruction and ethnic cleansing of hundreds of Palestinian villages and communities."

The day the mandate ended, May 14, 1948, the land was declared as the State of Israel, by David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization. With this, Palestine ceased to exist as a state. The next day, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Transjordan invaded Palestine to acquire the land. This led to 700,000 Palestinian Arabs being driven out of their homes, several swathes of their villages and urban areas being destroyed, and the revocation of their right to return. This was called the Nakba, or catastrophe in Arabic.

In 1949, Israel agreed to armistices with the Arab Armies. With the other states entering the territory, the West Bank came under Jordan's control and the Gaza Strip under Egypt's control, leaving the Palestinian Arabs with no land of their own.

The Israelis and Palestinians look at the incidents differently. To the Palestinians, their expulsion from their own lands was part of a systematic ethnic cleansing campaign as part of realizing a fully Jewish state. To the Israelis, the Palestinians were not expelled, but rather fled the lands after receiving orders from their leaders and other Arab states. They blame the Arab leaders for rejecting the partition proposal made by the UN. In 1959, the Fatah was founded as a political movement, called the Palestine National Liberation Movement.

In 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), was established by Yasser Arafat and won the support of most Arab League governments, also gaining a seat in the Arab League. In 1965, Fatah became a political party.

In 1967, the Six-Day War took place, where Israel gained military control over the West Bank from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, as well as East Jerusalem, the Sinai Peninsula, and Golan Heights. Over 38 years since then, Israel built 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, and controlled the territory.

In 1987, the First Intifada took place, starting out with protests, boycotts, and bouts of violence. Shortly after this, the Hamas a militant group and a faction of the Muslim Brotherhood, was founded, and advocated armed resistance. To date, Hamas is considered a terrorist group by the US and EU. Hamasis committed to embarking on an armed struggle to overthrow Israeli occupation, and does not recognize Israel's claims to statehood like the PLO does. However, it accepts the borders that were set by the 1967 war. Hamas is also backed by Iran and Syria, and is close to the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

In 1993, the Oslo Accord was signed as a peace agreement, where Palestinians were given border control over civilian agencies and Israeli troops were ordered to withdraw. The Oslo Accords sought to achieve a two-state solution, with the intention that Palestine would come into existence as a state by 1998. However, this remained true only on paper. On ground, conditions worsened for the Palestinians, as they did not get their independent territory, and Israel did not withdraw its troops - instead, it continued to occupy and settle across the West Bank and Gaza.

By around 1995, Israel had already obtained over 41,000 acres of land in the West Bank. By 1998, they had destroyed nearly 700 Palestinian homes. Israel had gained full control over all borders and revenue and taxation for the region. Seeing that the Oslo Accords were not being observed as promised, the Palestinians considered the negotiations a failure. Seeing Israel's role in suppressing their rights, resentment grew in Palestine. As a result, relations broke down between both sides.

In 2000, the Second Intifada began. The Hamas played a major role in spearheading the resistance on the Palestinian side. Five years later, the Second Intifada ended. Israel withdrew 9,000 settlers and military forces from the Gaza strip, and relinquished control over the area while still maintaining control over the area's borders. The following year, in 2006, Hamas won the election and came to power in Gaza. This entrenched Hamas as one of the two major political parties in Palestine. Following this win, no elections were held in Gaza, and Hamas remains the governing body.

In 2007, Israel set in place a land, air, and sea blockade that operates to date. This blockade is enforced by barriers with the police stationed in large numbers, and serves to restrict what can go in and out of Gaza. When Hamas took over, Israel and Hamas began to launch rockets at each other.

To Israel, the blockade is a form of protection against Hamas' attacks, and is a means to control its borders. To Palestine, the blockade causes major harm to their lives and livelihoods. As a result of the physical blockade, people cannot leave and enter Gaza freely. Its economy is suffering with the blockade, as its population struggles under food shortages and limited supply of medicine and healthcare, and clean drinking water.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas cut through the blockade and attacked Israeli civilians during a music festival. Israel retaliated with violence that has continued unabated, since, targeting civilians - especially children and babies, religious establishments, and hospitals.
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Throughout the occupation, sexual and gender-based violence have been used against Palestinian women and men by the IDF. Checkpoints are high-friction points between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians, where gender plays a major role (Kotef & Amir, 2007). Palestinian women have routinely faced sexual harassment at these checkpoints (Hammami, 2019), including such things as forced undressing (Kubovich, 2018). Israeli security forces have also been known to use sexual violence against Palestinian women during house raids (Stein, 1996), and when women visit their relatives in Israeli prisons or attend court hearings for their relatives (Al Issa & Beck, 2020).

Women are also subject to sexual violence during interrogations, including threats of rape and unwanted touch (Khalil, 2013; Rosenfeld, 2018; Breiner, 2022). In several of these instances, both Israeli men and women have been perpetrators (Breiner & Berger, 2018). There have also been instances of transactional sex, where women have been allowed to move past checkpoints or visit relatives in prison without obstruction in exchange for sex (B'Tselem, 2003). Palestinian men have also been subject to sexual assault (DCI, 2013; Hass, 2010; Weishut, 2015). In several instances, cases went unreported for a variety of reasons: the lack of accessible ways to report cases, fear of reprisals (Al Issa & Beck, 2020), and stigma. Further, conflict-related sexual violence has also been used to target men and boys. At least 100 Palestinian men were detained by Israeli forces, and stripped to their underwear, left blindfolded, and made to kneel on a street in Northern Gaza (Al Jazeera, 2023).
Basis of the use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence and harassment has been used by the Israeli security forces as a means of intimidation, to target Palestinian men and women as part of its settler colonialism (Ghanayem, 2019)It has also been used as a mechanism of , particularly in interrogation settings (Khader, 2017). Sexual violence and harassment has been used as a means of , as part of transactional sex, by exploiting women in vulnerable positions. Overall, sexual violence and harassment have been used to humiliate and shame those targeted, including men and boys who were forcibly stripped.
References For the Background of the Occupation

www.decolonizepalestine.com

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/2/14/israeli-home-demolitions-a-war-on-nerves-for-palestinians

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-strikes-hamas-and-hezbollah-sites-hunts-intruders-in-the-south-f8f40203

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/08/israel-gaza-hamas-attack-netanyahu-warns-of-long-and-difficult-war?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1

https://www.vox.com/2023/10/7/23907296/israel-war-hamas-attack-rocket-strike-response-2023

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/barrage-of-rockets-fired-at-israel-from-gaza-strip-d5b2f05f?mod=article_inline

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/after-attack-israel-wrestles-with-question-how-could-this-happen-aa6d539a?mod=article_inline

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-20415675

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/5/2/hamas-accepts-palestinian-state-with-1967-borders

https://www.rs21.org.uk/2014/09/12/the-birth-of-palestinian-resistance-and-the-1936-uprising/

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/10/19/erasing-palestine-2

For the Sexual Violence under Occupation

Al Issa, Ferdoos Abed-Rabo, and Beck, Elizabeth. 2020. "Sexual Violence as a War Weapon in Conflict Zones: Palestinian Women's Experience Visiting Loved Ones in Prisons and Jails." Affi lia 36 (2): 167-181. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886109920978618

Al Jazeera (2023). "Palestinians detained by Israel in Gaza blindfolded, stripped to underwear." https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/8/video-photos-appear-to-show-detainees-stripped-to-underwear-in-gaza

Ghanayem, Eman. 2019. "Colonial Loops of Displacement in the United States and Israel: Th e Case of Rasmea Odeh." Women's Studies Quarterly 47 (3/4): 71-91.

Hass, Amira. 2010. "Military Police Investigates a Sexual Abuse Complaint of a Young Palestinian Boy." Haaretz, 6 October. https://www.haaretz.co.il/news/politics/1.1206282.

Hammami, R. 2019. "Destabilizing Mastery and the Machine: Palestinian Agency and Gendered Embodiment at Israeli Military Checkpoints." Current Anthropology 60 (S19), S87-S97.

Khader, Nehad. 2017. "Rasmea Odeh: Th e Case of an Indomitable Woman." Journal of Palestine Studies 46 (4): 62-74.

Khalil, Naela. 2013. "Documenting the Plight of Palestinian Female Prisoners." Al-Monitor, 19 March. https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2013/03/palestinian-female-prisoners.html.

Kotef, Hagar, and Amir Merav. 2007. "(En)Gendering Checkpoints: Checkpoint Watch and the Repercussions of Intervention." Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 32 (4): 973-996.

Luvitch, Vered. 2004. "I Was Put on a Bench, and Th en the Soldier Raped Me." Ynet, 27 January. [In Hebrew] https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-2865449,00.html.

Stein, Y. (1996). Sexual Harassment in the Name of the Law: Violence and Humiliation during Raids in Palestinian Houses in Hebron. B'Tselem.

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CRSV: Palestine under Occupation - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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Palestine during The First Intifada (1987-1991)

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Palestine during The First Intifada (1987-1991)

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background
The First Intifada refers to a series of protests carried out by Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, mainly out of the growing collective frustration over Israel's military occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (Nasrallah, 2013; Said, 1989). The word "intifada" means "to shake off" (Decolonize Palestine, 2023). It took place between December 1987 and 1991. Some suggest that it ended with the signing of the Oslo Accords (Nasrallah, 2013), while some indicated that it continued until the Madrid Conference of 1991.

The First Intifada began on December 9, 1987, in the Jabalia Refugee Camp (Said, 1989; Lustick, 1993). An Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) truck collided with a civilian car, and killed four Palestinian workers, of which three were from the Jabalia Refugee Camp. While the Palestinians called the collision a deliberate response for the killing of an Israeli in Gaza just days prior, Israel denied this (Decolonize Palestine, 2023). The Palestinian response to the incident included protests, civil disobedience in the form of refusal to pay taxes and burning Israeli products, graffiti, barricading, and stone-throwing (Salem, 2008).

In response, Israel deployed 80,000 soldiers, used live rounds frequently where there were riots, and used disproportionate and even lethal force. In the first 13 months, as many as 332 Palestinians and 12 Israelis were killed. Over the entire span of 6 years, the IDF killed around 1200 Palestinians (Nasrallah, 2013).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Research shows that several Palestinian women were detained by the IDF, and subject to rape and sexual harassment (Kevorkian, 1993; Kuttab & Bargouti, 2002). Sexual violence was reported to have gone hand-in-hand with Israeli violence against the Palestinian population (Baroud, 2023). There were also reports of sexual harassment during house searches conducted by Israeli troops and at border checkpoints (B'tselem, 1996; B'tselem, 2003).

Precise numbers remain unclear as there has been no clear reportage on the number of incidents given both the lack of access to reporting mechanisms and stigma faced by survivors. Further, as Medien (2021) noted: "Palestine/Israel is often absent from international reports and scholarship on sexual violence in conflict, where attention is increasingly focused on non-state actors. The article argues that this absence functions to both obscure the sexual violence of Israel's settler colonial occupation and bolster the notion of Israel as a modern liberal democracy engaging in a conflict against a population deemed terrorist. Against this narrative, the use of sexual torture against Palestinians held in Israeli prison and detention facilities is documented, as are the sexually violent structures of militarized settler colonialism and occupation more broadly."
Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence, harassment, and rape were used as a means of when by the IDF used to target women in detention. Furthermore, the use of sexual harassment during house searches and at border checkpoints was deliberately carried out to humiliate and intimidate women, and by extension, their families. It was also used to further the colonial agenda of occupation to deliver the idea that the families had to leave (Medien, 2021).
References

Baroud, R. (2023). The untold story of the abuse of Palestinian women in Hebron. https://jordantimes.com/opinion/ramzy-baroud/untold-story-abuse-palestinian-women-hebron

B'tselem (1996) Sexual Harassment in the Name of the Law: Violence and Degradation during Searches of Palestinian Homes in Hebron. Summary: http://www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/199612_Sexual_Harassment_in_the_Name.asp.

B'tselem (2003) Zeita: Border Police officer forces man from 'Attil to commit sexual act with a donkey. Testimony: http://www.btselem.org/English/Testimonies/20030626_Sex ual_harassment_of_Naziya_Damiri_in_Zeita_Witness_a.asp.

Decolonize Palestine (2023). Two Intifadas and Two States. https://decolonizepalestine.com/intro/two-intifadas-and-two-states/

Kevorkian, N. S. (1993). "Fear of Sexual Harassment: Palestinian Adolescent Girls in the Intifada," in Ebba Augustin (ed.) Palestinian Women: Identity and Experience, Zed Books.

Kuttab, E. and Bargouti, R. (2002) The Impact of Armed Conflict on Palestinian Women, Study presented to UNIFEM/UNDP-PAPP

Lustick, I. S. (1993). Writing the Intifada Collective Action in the Occupied Territories. World Politics, 45(4), 560-594.

Medien, K. (2021). Israeli settler colonialism, "humanitarian warfare," and sexual violence in Palestine. International feminist journal of politics, 23(5), 698-719.

Nasrallah, N. (2013), 'The First and Second Palestinian intifadas,' in David Newman, Joel Peters (eds.) Routledge Handbook on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Routledge, 2013

Said, E. (1989). Intifada: The Palestinian Uprising Against Israeli Occupation. South End Press.

Salem, W. (2008) 'Human Security from Below: Palestinian Citizens Protection Strategies, 1988-2005,' in Monica den Boer, Jaap de Wilde (eds.), The Viability of Human Security, Amsterdam University Press.

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background
The First Intifada refers to a series of protests carried out by Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, mainly out of the growing collective frustration over Israel's military occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (Nasrallah, 2013; Said, 1989). The word "intifada" means "to shake off" (Decolonize Palestine, 2023). It took place between December 1987 and 1991. Some suggest that it ended with the signing of the Oslo Accords (Nasrallah, 2013), while some indicated that it continued until the Madrid Conference of 1991.

The First Intifada began on December 9, 1987, in the Jabalia Refugee Camp (Said, 1989; Lustick, 1993). An Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) truck collided with a civilian car, and killed four Palestinian workers, of which three were from the Jabalia Refugee Camp. While the Palestinians called the collision a deliberate response for the killing of an Israeli in Gaza just days prior, Israel denied this (Decolonize Palestine, 2023). The Palestinian response to the incident included protests, civil disobedience in the form of refusal to pay taxes and burning Israeli products, graffiti, barricading, and stone-throwing (Salem, 2008).

In response, Israel deployed 80,000 soldiers, used live rounds frequently where there were riots, and used disproportionate and even lethal force. In the first 13 months, as many as 332 Palestinians and 12 Israelis were killed. Over the entire span of 6 years, the IDF killed around 1200 Palestinians (Nasrallah, 2013).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Research shows that several Palestinian women were detained by the IDF, and subject to rape and sexual harassment (Kevorkian, 1993; Kuttab & Bargouti, 2002). Sexual violence was reported to have gone hand-in-hand with Israeli violence against the Palestinian population (Baroud, 2023). There were also reports of sexual harassment during house searches conducted by Israeli troops and at border checkpoints (B'tselem, 1996; B'tselem, 2003).

Precise numbers remain unclear as there has been no clear reportage on the number of incidents given both the lack of access to reporting mechanisms and stigma faced by survivors. Further, as Medien (2021) noted: "Palestine/Israel is often absent from international reports and scholarship on sexual violence in conflict, where attention is increasingly focused on non-state actors. The article argues that this absence functions to both obscure the sexual violence of Israel's settler colonial occupation and bolster the notion of Israel as a modern liberal democracy engaging in a conflict against a population deemed terrorist. Against this narrative, the use of sexual torture against Palestinians held in Israeli prison and detention facilities is documented, as are the sexually violent structures of militarized settler colonialism and occupation more broadly."
Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence, harassment, and rape were used as a means of when by the IDF used to target women in detention. Furthermore, the use of sexual harassment during house searches and at border checkpoints was deliberately carried out to humiliate and intimidate women, and by extension, their families. It was also used to further the colonial agenda of occupation to deliver the idea that the families had to leave (Medien, 2021).
References

Baroud, R. (2023). The untold story of the abuse of Palestinian women in Hebron. https://jordantimes.com/opinion/ramzy-baroud/untold-story-abuse-palestinian-women-hebron

B'tselem (1996) Sexual Harassment in the Name of the Law: Violence and Degradation during Searches of Palestinian Homes in Hebron. Summary: http://www.btselem.org/English/Publications/Summaries/199612_Sexual_Harassment_in_the_Name.asp.

B'tselem (2003) Zeita: Border Police officer forces man from 'Attil to commit sexual act with a donkey. Testimony: http://www.btselem.org/English/Testimonies/20030626_Sex ual_harassment_of_Naziya_Damiri_in_Zeita_Witness_a.asp.

Decolonize Palestine (2023). Two Intifadas and Two States. https://decolonizepalestine.com/intro/two-intifadas-and-two-states/

Kevorkian, N. S. (1993). "Fear of Sexual Harassment: Palestinian Adolescent Girls in the Intifada," in Ebba Augustin (ed.) Palestinian Women: Identity and Experience, Zed Books.

Kuttab, E. and Bargouti, R. (2002) The Impact of Armed Conflict on Palestinian Women, Study presented to UNIFEM/UNDP-PAPP

Lustick, I. S. (1993). Writing the Intifada Collective Action in the Occupied Territories. World Politics, 45(4), 560-594.

Medien, K. (2021). Israeli settler colonialism, "humanitarian warfare," and sexual violence in Palestine. International feminist journal of politics, 23(5), 698-719.

Nasrallah, N. (2013), 'The First and Second Palestinian intifadas,' in David Newman, Joel Peters (eds.) Routledge Handbook on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Routledge, 2013

Said, E. (1989). Intifada: The Palestinian Uprising Against Israeli Occupation. South End Press.

Salem, W. (2008) 'Human Security from Below: Palestinian Citizens Protection Strategies, 1988-2005,' in Monica den Boer, Jaap de Wilde (eds.), The Viability of Human Security, Amsterdam University Press.

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CRSV: Palestine during the First Intifada - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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CRSV: Palestine during The Nakba (1948) — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Iran-Iraq war was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq, and was fought from September 1980 to August 1988. The war began with Iraq's invasion of Iran in September 1980, on the ground that it needed to prevent Ruhollah Khomeini, who had spearheaded the Iranian Revolution in 1979, from exporting his ideology into Iraq, and to prevent Iran from possibly exploiting sectarian tensions in Iraq by rallying its Shia majority population against the Ba'athist government which comprised Sunni Muslims (Tabatabai, 2020; Segal, 2009; Razoux, 2015). An ulterior motive for Iraq at the time was to replace Iran as the major power player in the region, given Pahlavi Iran's major economic and military superiority and closeness with the US and Israel (Tabatabai, 2020).

The war had its roots in a long-running border dispute between Iran and Iraq - where Iraq wanted to retake the territory of Shatt al-Arab that it had ceded to Iran in the 1975 Algiers Agreement. Taking advantage of Iran's post-revolution chaos, Iraq invaded the country (Karsh, 2002; Segal, 2009). Following this, the Iranian military gained momentum against Iraq, and pushed the forces back to the pre-war border lines. UN Security Council Resolution 514 (1982) called for a ceasefire, but Iran rejected it and launched an invasion of Iraq. This phase lasted five years, and Iraq took back the initiative in 1988, launching a series of major counter-offensives that culminated in a stalemate (Molavi, 2005). The war eventually ended with the acceptance of UN Security Council Resolution 598 by both sides.
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Reports suggest that the Iraqi secret police sexually assaulted prisoners and video taped these incidents. Women and girls during the war faced rape and sexual violence, and were also abducted (Association for Iranian Studies, n.d.). When food and water became scarce, and violence against women and girls escalated, they were forced to work in agriculture and give up access to education (Jawad, 2014). Reports suggest that women who lived in the battle zones also faced violence at the hands of the invading Iraqi forces, including rape (Esfandiari, 2019). Forced marriage also prevailed, where war widows were forced to remarry the brothers of their slain husbands (Esfandiari, 2019). Owing to several factors including the lack of historical analysis of the conflict and its impact on women and the lack of attention to the issue owing to stigma, very little information is available on the precise scale and nature of sexual violence faced by women (see generally Esfandiari, 2019).

At the time of documenting this case, no data were available on the experiences of Iraqi women in this war.
Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence
Rape and sexual violence formed part of the "war strategy of Iraq" (Sarhangi, 1990). Iraq's use of sexual violence and rape was specifically aimed at humiliating, intimidating, and shaming women and girls from Iran.
References

Association for Iranian Studies (n.d.). Women in the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) https://associationforiranianstudies.org/content/women-iran-iraq-war-1980-1988

Esfandiari, G. (2019). "Iran begins to acknowledge its forgotten women." https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-begins-to-acknowledge-its-forgotten-women-of-war-/30188632.html

Jawad, A.-A. (2014). "The Higher Education System in Iraq and Its Future." International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies 8(1), 55-72.

Karsh, E. (2002). The Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988. Oxford, England: Osprey Publishing.

Molavi, A. (2005). The Soul of Iran: A Nation's Journey to Freedom (Revised ed.). England: W. W. Norton & Company.

Segal, D. (2009). "The Iran-Iraq War: A Military Analysis". Foreign Affairs. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/iran/1988-06-01/iran-iraq-war-military-analysis

Razoux, P. (2015). The Iran-Iraq War. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Sarhangi, M. (1990). The Secrets of the imposed war, narrated by Iraqi PoWs. Hoze Honari.

Tabatabai, A. M. (2020). No Conquest, No Defeat: Iran's National Security Strategy. Oxford University Press. https://www.iruns.ir/article_80915_212cbdf977c67dad00aead95452eb23a.pdf

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CRSV: Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) - The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
Toward the end of World War II, which spanned the years 1939-1945, there were constant efforts on part of both the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, Japan) and the Allies (France, UK, USA, USSR, China) to establish dominance. One exercise in this direction manifested in the course of the development of weapons. Toward the end of the war, Japan had demonstrated readiness to surrender, but the US deployed the atomic bomb, reducing Hiroshima and Nagasaki to dust. The bombing instantly killed 70,000+ civilians, sparing munitions factories located on the periphery (McKinney et al., 2020).
Sex-specific and gendered impacts of the Atomic Bombs
In 1945, the USA detonated two atomic bombs named Little boy and Fat man over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan (Tomonaga, 2019). Areas within 1.0km of ground zero saw immediate carbonization of humans, intense flash burns owing to intense heat waves were reported among victims within 0.5-1.5 km, black rain containing radioactive soot and particles poured in areas far from ground zero. The surviving victims were called Hibakusha (which translates to hi "affected" + baku "bomb" + sha "person") who faced an alarming number of social and medical issues. Most inhabitants in both cities, civilian women and children, as men were sent off to the military.

There were two specific manifestations of the gendered and sex-specific impacts after the bombings:the lack of medical attention and the social pushback, manifesting in the form of the lack of professional opportunities, discrimination in marriage and in the workplace, the fear of bearing children, the disruption of family life, and material poverty.

The impact of the radiation was severely minimised by the Japanese media and the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC) (RERF, n.d.) created in 1947 to research the long-term effects of radiation on Hibakusha. The press code enabled by the US government functioned as a censorship code and prevented the Hibakusha from understanding the consequences they were going to face following exposure (Hook, 1998). The ABCC permeated the idea that Leukaemia was a feminine disease and consistently reiterated the 'harmlessness' of the bomb​. They attributed many medical issues raised to the poverty of female Hibakusha.

As reproductive health is stigmatized in Japan, women were held personally responsible for the stillbirths and miscarriages they endured as a result of the radiation. This resulted in the social shunning of 'infertile' women who now were of no 'use' to Japan, depicting the strong link between womanhood and childrearing.

Specific forms of cancer like breast and ovarian cancer, spontaneous abortion and still births were common after exposure to radiation. Generations of Hibakusha women and girls started menarche with painful haemorrhages and intensive blood loss, enduring frequent miscarriages, giving birth to children with genetic disorders and disabilities (Neel et al., 1953).

Many Hibakusha women were abandoned by their husbands after the explosion as their beauty was compromised, many women were stopped from entering public spaces for fear or contamination. In the aftermath of the A bombings, there was a rise of sexual violence directed targeting female Hibakusha (Owens, 2020). ABCCs foreign medical practitioners and scientists were notorious perpetrators of sexual violence against them (Todeschini, 1999). Women and girls reported being molested and sexually assaulted during medical examinations by the ABCC. Their aggressive investigation and documenting procedures without providing treatments to victims especially women, dehumanised them. The unethical data collection methods sparked fury where young girls and women were photographed naked without consent (Soka Gakkai Youth Division, 2017).

Gender insensitive post disaster relief measures include women being stripped naked and hosed down with liquid in front of their male relatives or male onlookers (Dimmen, 2014). Women and girls reported being subjected to humiliating pubic hair examinations by male personnel, which often lead to sexual violence​. Other gender insensitive measures that resulted in grave documentation errors include the lack of female medical officers in data collection (Soka Gakkai Youth Division, 2017). The book "We Never Forget" recalls how Female Hibakusha as young as 11 were routinely subjected to socially taboo conversations by foreign male scientists on their menstruation and menarche (Soka Gakkai Youth Division, 2017). The conversations would often end with no responses from the girls, later leading to male scientists to conclude that radiation did not have any impact on reproductive capacities. Ashley Martinez's (2015) work on the A bombings depicts how sex slavery, gang-related crime, suicides, and other deaths unrelated to the bombing sky-rocketed because of the hopelessness.
Global Response
The gendered impacts of A bomb explosions remain unaddressed in both international forums and domestic forums. Though women disproportionately suffered health effects, social stigma, and economic hardships, these gendered impacts remain unacknowledged by Japan and global actors. Hibakusha memorial projects, women's activist groups, support groups like the Women's section, Osaka association of A bomb victims are the only actors that are making efforts to document this gendered experience of the atomic bombing. Notably, women hibakusha from the Osaka group went on to strongly advocate for disarmament and peacekeeping in the UN and other international platforms in the 1970s. However, this advocacy centred on the general disruption caused and the harm to their children's lives.
References:

Dimmen, A. G. (2014). Gendered Impacts: The Humanitarian Impacts of Nuclear Weapons from a Gender Perspective. International Law and Policy Institute (ILPI).

Hook, G. D. (1988). Roots of nuclearism: Censorship and reportage of atomic damage in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Martinez, A. (2015). Hiroshima and Mass Trauma Today: Treating Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in Individuals and Communities. International ResearchScape Journal, 3(1), 8.

McKinney, K. E., Sagan, S. D., & Weiner, A. S. (2020). Why the atomic bombing of Hiroshima would be illegal today. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 76(4), 157-165.

Neel, J. V., Schull, W. J., McDonald, D. J., Morton, N. E., Kodani, M., Takeshima, K., ... & Kitamura, S. (1953). The effect of exposure to the atomic bombs on pregnancy termination in Hiroshima and Nagasaki: preliminary report. Science, 118(3071), 537-541.

Owens, J. (2020). The Gendered Impacts of the Hiroshima & Nagasaki Bombings. https://outrider.org/nuclear-weapons/articles/gendered-impacts-hiroshima-nagasaki-bombings

RERF (n.d.). Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC). https://www.rerf.or.jp/en/glossary/abcc-en/

Soka Gakkai Youth Division. (2017). Hiroshima and Nagasaki: That we never forget https://www.sokaglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/hibakusha-testimonies-book.pdf

Todeschini, M. (1999). Illegitimate sufferers: A-bomb victims, medical science, and the government. https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=LitRC&u=googlescholar&id=GALE%7CA54926501&v=2.1&it=r&sid=googleScholar&asid=c9280054

Tomonaga, M. (2019). The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: A summary of the human consequences, 1945-2018, and lessons for homo sapiens to end the nuclear weapon age. Journal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament, 2(2), 491-517.

Report written by Treesa Shaju

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
Toward the end of World War II, which spanned the years 1939-1945, there were constant efforts on part of both the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, Japan) and the Allies (France, UK, USA, USSR, China) to establish dominance. One exercise in this direction manifested in the course of the development of weapons. Toward the end of the war, Japan had demonstrated readiness to surrender, but the US deployed the atomic bomb, reducing Hiroshima and Nagasaki to dust. The bombing instantly killed 70,000+ civilians, sparing munitions factories located on the periphery (McKinney et al., 2020).
Sex-specific and gendered impacts of the Atomic Bombs
In 1945, the USA detonated two atomic bombs named Little boy and Fat man over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan (Tomonaga, 2019). Areas within 1.0km of ground zero saw immediate carbonization of humans, intense flash burns owing to intense heat waves were reported among victims within 0.5-1.5 km, black rain containing radioactive soot and particles poured in areas far from ground zero. The surviving victims were called Hibakusha (which translates to hi "affected" + baku "bomb" + sha "person") who faced an alarming number of social and medical issues. Most inhabitants in both cities, civilian women and children, as men were sent off to the military.

There were two specific manifestations of the gendered and sex-specific impacts after the bombings:the lack of medical attention and the social pushback, manifesting in the form of the lack of professional opportunities, discrimination in marriage and in the workplace, the fear of bearing children, the disruption of family life, and material poverty.

The impact of the radiation was severely minimised by the Japanese media and the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC) (RERF, n.d.) created in 1947 to research the long-term effects of radiation on Hibakusha. The press code enabled by the US government functioned as a censorship code and prevented the Hibakusha from understanding the consequences they were going to face following exposure (Hook, 1998). The ABCC permeated the idea that Leukaemia was a feminine disease and consistently reiterated the 'harmlessness' of the bomb​. They attributed many medical issues raised to the poverty of female Hibakusha.

As reproductive health is stigmatized in Japan, women were held personally responsible for the stillbirths and miscarriages they endured as a result of the radiation. This resulted in the social shunning of 'infertile' women who now were of no 'use' to Japan, depicting the strong link between womanhood and childrearing.

Specific forms of cancer like breast and ovarian cancer, spontaneous abortion and still births were common after exposure to radiation. Generations of Hibakusha women and girls started menarche with painful haemorrhages and intensive blood loss, enduring frequent miscarriages, giving birth to children with genetic disorders and disabilities (Neel et al., 1953).

Many Hibakusha women were abandoned by their husbands after the explosion as their beauty was compromised, many women were stopped from entering public spaces for fear or contamination. In the aftermath of the A bombings, there was a rise of sexual violence directed targeting female Hibakusha (Owens, 2020). ABCCs foreign medical practitioners and scientists were notorious perpetrators of sexual violence against them (Todeschini, 1999). Women and girls reported being molested and sexually assaulted during medical examinations by the ABCC. Their aggressive investigation and documenting procedures without providing treatments to victims especially women, dehumanised them. The unethical data collection methods sparked fury where young girls and women were photographed naked without consent (Soka Gakkai Youth Division, 2017).

Gender insensitive post disaster relief measures include women being stripped naked and hosed down with liquid in front of their male relatives or male onlookers (Dimmen, 2014). Women and girls reported being subjected to humiliating pubic hair examinations by male personnel, which often lead to sexual violence​. Other gender insensitive measures that resulted in grave documentation errors include the lack of female medical officers in data collection (Soka Gakkai Youth Division, 2017). The book "We Never Forget" recalls how Female Hibakusha as young as 11 were routinely subjected to socially taboo conversations by foreign male scientists on their menstruation and menarche (Soka Gakkai Youth Division, 2017). The conversations would often end with no responses from the girls, later leading to male scientists to conclude that radiation did not have any impact on reproductive capacities. Ashley Martinez's (2015) work on the A bombings depicts how sex slavery, gang-related crime, suicides, and other deaths unrelated to the bombing sky-rocketed because of the hopelessness.
Global Response
The gendered impacts of A bomb explosions remain unaddressed in both international forums and domestic forums. Though women disproportionately suffered health effects, social stigma, and economic hardships, these gendered impacts remain unacknowledged by Japan and global actors. Hibakusha memorial projects, women's activist groups, support groups like the Women's section, Osaka association of A bomb victims are the only actors that are making efforts to document this gendered experience of the atomic bombing. Notably, women hibakusha from the Osaka group went on to strongly advocate for disarmament and peacekeeping in the UN and other international platforms in the 1970s. However, this advocacy centred on the general disruption caused and the harm to their children's lives.
References:

Dimmen, A. G. (2014). Gendered Impacts: The Humanitarian Impacts of Nuclear Weapons from a Gender Perspective. International Law and Policy Institute (ILPI).

Hook, G. D. (1988). Roots of nuclearism: Censorship and reportage of atomic damage in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Martinez, A. (2015). Hiroshima and Mass Trauma Today: Treating Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in Individuals and Communities. International ResearchScape Journal, 3(1), 8.

McKinney, K. E., Sagan, S. D., & Weiner, A. S. (2020). Why the atomic bombing of Hiroshima would be illegal today. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 76(4), 157-165.

Neel, J. V., Schull, W. J., McDonald, D. J., Morton, N. E., Kodani, M., Takeshima, K., ... & Kitamura, S. (1953). The effect of exposure to the atomic bombs on pregnancy termination in Hiroshima and Nagasaki: preliminary report. Science, 118(3071), 537-541.

Owens, J. (2020). The Gendered Impacts of the Hiroshima & Nagasaki Bombings. https://outrider.org/nuclear-weapons/articles/gendered-impacts-hiroshima-nagasaki-bombings

RERF (n.d.). Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC). https://www.rerf.or.jp/en/glossary/abcc-en/

Soka Gakkai Youth Division. (2017). Hiroshima and Nagasaki: That we never forget https://www.sokaglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/hibakusha-testimonies-book.pdf

Todeschini, M. (1999). Illegitimate sufferers: A-bomb victims, medical science, and the government. https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=LitRC&u=googlescholar&id=GALE%7CA54926501&v=2.1&it=r&sid=googleScholar&asid=c9280054

Tomonaga, M. (2019). The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: A summary of the human consequences, 1945-2018, and lessons for homo sapiens to end the nuclear weapon age. Journal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament, 2(2), 491-517.

Report written by Treesa Shaju

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CRSV: Impact of the Atomic Bomb Explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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CRSV: Mozambican Civil War — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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Papua New Guinea (Bougainville Civil War - 1988-1998) 

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Papua New Guinea (Bougainville Civil War - 1988-1998) 

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The Bougainville Civil War was a multi-level armed conflict that was fought between 1988 and 1998 (Bohane 2019). It was mainly fought between the Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG) forces and the secessionist forces of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA), and between the BRA and other armed groups (Bahcheli et al. 2004; Phillips 2015). The conflict was largely fought in the North Solomons Province. The conflicts began when it was colonized by Australia. When gold and other mines were discovered in Bougainville, thousands of workers were recruited from among the Papua New Guineans (Bohane 2019). Conflict began with the mining operations, as local landowners were opposed to the mines, worried about the adverse effects on the environment, and the extractivism (Phillips 2015). The conflict gained ethnic and separatist characteristics when Bougainville split up into multiple factions (Wehner and Denoon 2001). By 1988, tensions over these mines culminated in local violence, which invariably turned into a full blown civil war. It was called the largest conflict in Oceania since the end of World War II. The conflict resulted in the deaths of 15,000 to 20,000 Bougainvilleans (Bohane 2019). The conflict ended with the signing of the Bougainville Peace Agreement in 1998. Following this, the PNG government founded the Autonomous Bougainville Government.
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Rape and sexual violence were rampant during the armed conflict. A number of criminal gangs that were affiliated to the BRA were particularly involved in committing rape and sexual violence (Braithwaite 2010). These crimes were perpetrated by the Bougainville Revolutionary Army and the Papua New Guinean security forces alike (Amnesty International 1997; Braithwaite 2006). According to the Leitana Nehan Women's Development Agency, which had opened in 1992, over 1,000 women who had been raped by soldiers during the armed conflict sought support (Richards 2002). While actual numbers have not been documented in full, there were several instances of unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions as a result of these rapes, and women were vulnerable everywhere - right from home to the camps and "care centres" set up by the government (Amnesty International 1997). Women reported instances of torture and sexual violence at checkpoints and during detention (Human Rights Watch 2005, 2006). During the crisis, women suffered significantly from the lack of access to medical and healthcare support, which increased their vulnerability to harm (Hakena 2001).
Basis of the use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence was perpetrated as a calculated measure by the Bougainville Revolutionary Army and the Papua New Guinean security forces to humiliate and intimidate women. Rape and sexual violence also took place as opportunistic crimes, where women were targeted when they gathered food in the gardens (Amnesty International 1997). Women who worked to restore peace were targeted with rape and sexual violence, surveillance, and harassment by the authorities to demand comply or to silence them. Women were also targeted for political killings by the PNG, the BRA, and other resistance forces (Amnesty International 1997).
References
1. Bahcheli, Tozun, Barry Bartmann, and Henry Srebrnik, eds. De facto states: the quest for sovereignty, p. 242. Routledge, 2004.

2. Bohane, Ben (8 October 2019). "The Bougainville Referendum And Beyond". Lowy Institute.

3. Braithwaite, John (2010). Reconciliation and Architectures of Commitment: Sequencing Peace in Bougainville. Canberra, Australian Capital Territory: ANU Press.

4. Wehner, Monica; Denoon, Donald (2001). Without a Gun: Australians' Experiences Monitoring Peace in Bougainville, 1997-2001. Canberra: Pandanus Books.

5. Amnesty International (1997) Papua New Guinea: Bougainville: The Forgotten Human Rights Tragedy. https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa34/001/1997/en/

6. Braithwaite, J. "Rape, Shame and Pride", Address to Stockholm Criminology Symposium, University of Stockholm, Stockholm, 15-17 June 2006.

7. Garasu, L. (2002) "The Role of Women in Promoting Peace and Reconciliation", ACCORD: Weaving Consensus: The Papua New Guinea-Bougainville Peace Process.

8. Hakena, K. "Peace in Bougainville and the Work of the Leitana Nehan Women's Development Agency", Nonviolence and Social Empowerment Conference in Calcutta, India, 15-24 February 2001: http://www.wri-irg.org/nonviolence/nvse08-en.htm

9. Human Rights Watch (September 2005) " Making Their Own Rules". Police Beatings, Rape, and Torture in Papua New Guinea.

10. Human Rights Watch (October 2006) Still Making Their Own Rules: Ongoing Impunity for Police Beatings, Rape, and Torture in Papua New Guinea, 1.

11. Phillips, Keri (2 June 2015). "Bougainville at a crossroads: independence and the mine". Rear Vision: Radio National. Australian Broadcasting Commission.

12. Richards, C. (October 2002) "Making Waves: Interview with Helen Hakena, Leitana Nehan Women's Development Agency", New Internationalist 350: http://www.peacewomen.org/resources/Bougainville/MakingWavesHakena.html.

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CRSV: Papua New Guinea - The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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Nicaragua during the Revolution (1960s-1990s) 

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Nicaragua during the Revolution (1960s-1990s) 

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CRSV: The Nicaraguan Revolution — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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The Moro Conflict (Gutierrez and Borras 2004) is the term given to the ongoing insurgency in Mindanao, Philippines. It has involved a range of different armed groups such as the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and began in March 1968 (Gross 2007). The conflict has its roots in the Bangsamoro resistance to foreign rule, including the American annexation of the Philippines in 1898 (Gross 2007). The Jabidah Massacre on March 18, 1968 wherein 60 Filipino Muslim commandos who went on a planned operation to reclaim Sabah, eastern Malaysia, were killed. In 2000, President Joseph Estrada declared an all-out war against the MILF, and several conflicts in and around Mindanao erupted, resulting in heavy casualties (Amnesty International 2000).

In 2014, the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro Peace Agreement was signed between the Government of Philippines under President Benigno Aquino and the MILF. In 2016, the MILF and MNLF expressed their commitment to peace, and the 47-year-old insurgency ended, although some offensives against splinter groups in the insurgency continued. In May 2017, the Battle of Marawi began. The five-month-long armed conflict was waged between the Philippine government security forces and militants affiliated with the Islamic State, and the Maute and Abu Sayyaf Salafi jihadists. Finally, on July 26, 2018, President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Bangsamoro Organic Law, abolishing the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and providing for the basic structure of government for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Reports suggest that both separatist groups and the army carried out acts of sexual violence and human rights violence (Amnesty International 2001; OMCT 2003; US Department of State 2006). During the Battle of Marawi, 45% of the conflict-affected sites reported instances of sexual violence (GBV Working Group n.d.). There are no comprehensive records of data on the precise extent to which sexual violence and rape prevailed.
Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual assault and violence were used as a means of in secret detention centres (Amnesty International 2001). Women were often targeted in keeping with their activities and affiliations, or on the mere suspicion of being sympathisers of an armed opposition group (Amnesty International 2001). In many instances, women and girls were also trafficked for sexual exploitation and labour, as the insurgency provided an enabling environment with impunity (Amnesty International 2001). The breakdown of the security sector enabled opportunistic sexual violence, as the state of impunity meant that reporting and justice were out of reach for survivors. However, at the moment, there are no records to suggest that there was a systematic use of sexual violence and rape in the conflict (Dwyer, n.d.).
References

Amnesty International (March 2001) Philippines: Fear, Shame and Impunity. Rape and Sexual Abuse of Women in Custody, 23.

Gross, Max L. (2007). A Muslim Archipelago: Islam and Politics in Southeast Asia.

Gutierrez, E. and Borras, S. Jr (2004). Moro Conflict: Landlessness and Misdirected State Policies. East-West Center Washington.

OMCT (2003) State Violence in the Philippines: An Alternative Report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, Geneva

US Department of State (2006) 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Philippines, section 1c.

GBV Group (n.d). https://response.reliefweb.int/philippines/gender-based-violence

Dwyer, L. (n.d.). Gender and Conflict in Mindanao. The Asia Foundation. https://www.ndi.org/sites/default/files/Gender%20and%20Conflict%20in%20Mindanao.pdf

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CRSV: Moro Conflict, Mindanao, The Philippines - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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CRSV: Somalian Civil War — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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CRSV: Peruvian Civil War — The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
The Burundian Civil War took place from 1993 to 2005, having emerged as the result of historical ethnic divisions between the Hutu and Tutsi populations, exacerbated by colonial policies of divide and rule. Burundi gained independence in 1962 after breaking from a colonial federation with Rwanda, having previously been under the rule of Germany and Belgium, both of which re-entrenched existing power structures that perpetuated the dominance of the Tutsi minority over the Hutu majority.

For nearly three decades, Tutsi military regimes held power, beginning with Michel Micombero who led a coup that replaced the monarchy with a presidential republic (TimesMachine, 1983). In 1993, the first multi-party national elections were conducted. In 1972, the Hutu militants carried out systematic attacks on ethnic Tutsi, intending to annihilate the entire group. The military responded with brutal crackdowns and reprisals. In June and July 1993, the first fair and free parliamentary and presidential elections were held. With this, Melchior Ndadaye became the first democratically elected Hutu President (Reyntjens 2006). He was assassinated later that year, and renewed violence began, continuing after his successor Cyprien Ntaryamira died in a plane crash in 1994 (UNOCHA, 2004).

In 2006, a major breakthrough emerged through a ceasefire agreement between the Government and the Front National de Libération (FNL), the last remaining rebel group in the country (UNHCR 2007). finally ending 13 years of civil war. During this time, it was known that between 250,000 and 300,000 civilians were killed, and around 204,000 Burundians were refugees or internally displaced (Human Rights Watch, 2003).
Prevalence of Sexual violence
Both opportunistic and systemic sexual violence prevailed during the Burundian civil war (Bastick, Grimm, and Kunz 2007). The FNL rebels were infrequent perpetrators as they were governed by a strict set of religious rules that prohibited rape and punished the crime with the death penalty (Bastick, Grimm, and Kunz 2007; Human Rights Watch, 2003). Most instances of sexual violence took place in rebel-stronghold areas and in border region, and women were often targeted while working in the fields, in the course of military attacks, at border checkpoints, while on the move owing to displacement, and in refugee camps (Bastick, Grimm, and Kunz 2007; Human Rights Watch, 2004).

Rape and sexual violence were frequently used to target women and children, while a significant number of men also reported facing rape (Amnesty International 2004; Human Rights Watch 2003). Women were forced into prostitution by the conflict, and children and youth were recruited either as child soldiers, or for sexual exploitation and trafficking (US Department of State, 2005). On several occasions, displaced women and girls faced rape at the hands of both civilians and combatants (Nduna and Goodyear 1997). Most perpetrators were rebels or security sector agents - such as police officers and soldiers.

The International Rescue Committee reported that 26% of the 3803 refugee women (12 to 49 years of age) in Kanembwa Camp, Tanzania, had faced sexual violence in the refugee camps (Nduna and Goodyear 1997). In 2004, Medicins Sans Frontiers reported receiving around 125 survivors of rape each month at its centre for survivors in Bujumbura, and noted that there were 4062 cases of sexual violence in Burundi between 2003 and 2006 (Medecins Sans Frontiers 2009). The US Department of State Report on Trafficking noted that as many as 3,200 children were used as sex slaves and combatants, among other things (US Department of State 2005).
Basis of the use of Sexual Violence
While in the early stages, rebels and military personnel were the primary perpetrators, with time, it became apparent that most attacks were committed by members of the survivors' extended families, teachers, and household domestic staff, reflecting a tendency for the breakdown in the security sector and social norms to enable such violence (Zicherman 2007).

The destruction of social cohesion culminated in sexual violence targeting women (Dijkman, Bijleveld, and Verwimp 2014). Opportunistic sexual violence prevailed as well, as poverty caused by the war made several loot property and rape women while doing so (Dijkman, Bijleveld, and Verwimp 2014).
References

Amnesty International (February 2004) Burundi: Rape - the Hidden Human Rights Abuse, 1-2.

Bastick, M., Grimm, K., & Kunz, R. (2007). Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict: Global Overiew and Implications for the Security Sector Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces.

Dijkman, E. J., Bijleveld, C., and Verwimp, P. (2014). Sexual Violence in Burundi: Victims, Perpetrators, and the Role of Conflict. HiCN Working Paper 172. https://genderandsecurity.org/sites/default/files/Dijkman_et_al_-_SV_in_Burundi_-_Victims_perpetrators_the_role_of_con.pdf

Human Rights Watch (December 2003), 43; Human Rights Watch (June 2004) Burundi: Suffering in Silence: Civilians in Continuing Combat in Bujumbura Rural, Briefing Paper, 6-7.

Human Rights Watch (June 2004), 7; "Burundi: Government under Pressure to Curb Continued Rights Violations", IRIN News, 27 November 2006: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56518&SelectRegion=Great_Lakes

Human Rights Watch (October 2000) Seeking Protection: Addressing Sexual and Domestic Violence in Tanzania's Refugee Camps, chapter V.

IRIN "Our Bodies - Their Battle Ground: Gender-based Violence in Conflict Zones", Web Special, September 2004, http://www.irinnews.org/webspecials/gbv/default.asp

Medecins Sans Frontiers (2009). Shattered Lives https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/shattered-lives

Nduna, S. and Goodyear, L. (1997) Pain too deep for tears: Assessing the prevalence of sexual gender violence among Burundian refugees in Tanzania, International Rescue Committee: http://www.theirc.org/resources/sgbv_1.pdf.

Report of the International Conference on Networking against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Eastern Africa (2000) quoted in Women's Commission for RefugeeWomen and Children (2002) Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict: Burundi, 12: http://www.womenscommission.org/pdf/wl_bi.pdf.

Reyntjens, Filip (January 2006). "Briefing: Burundi: A Peaceful Transition after a Decade of War?". African Affairs. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 105 (418): 117-135.

TimesMachine (1983). "Michel Micombero, 43, Dies; Former President of Burundi" http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1983/07/18/040913.html?pageNumber=21

U.S. Department of State (2005) Trafficking in Persons Report June 2005, 75.

UNHCR (2007) Global Appeal 2007: Burundi: http://www.unhcr.org/home/PUBL/455443990.pdf.

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (November 2003) Burundi 2004, Consolidated Appeals Process, New York and Geneva, 6.

Zicherman, Nona (2007). Addressing sexual violence in post-conflict Burundi. Forced Migration Review. www.reliefweb.int/report/burundi/addressing-sexual-violence-post-conflict-burundi

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
The Burundian Civil War took place from 1993 to 2005, having emerged as the result of historical ethnic divisions between the Hutu and Tutsi populations, exacerbated by colonial policies of divide and rule. Burundi gained independence in 1962 after breaking from a colonial federation with Rwanda, having previously been under the rule of Germany and Belgium, both of which re-entrenched existing power structures that perpetuated the dominance of the Tutsi minority over the Hutu majority.

For nearly three decades, Tutsi military regimes held power, beginning with Michel Micombero who led a coup that replaced the monarchy with a presidential republic (TimesMachine, 1983). In 1993, the first multi-party national elections were conducted. In 1972, the Hutu militants carried out systematic attacks on ethnic Tutsi, intending to annihilate the entire group. The military responded with brutal crackdowns and reprisals. In June and July 1993, the first fair and free parliamentary and presidential elections were held. With this, Melchior Ndadaye became the first democratically elected Hutu President (Reyntjens 2006). He was assassinated later that year, and renewed violence began, continuing after his successor Cyprien Ntaryamira died in a plane crash in 1994 (UNOCHA, 2004).

In 2006, a major breakthrough emerged through a ceasefire agreement between the Government and the Front National de Libération (FNL), the last remaining rebel group in the country (UNHCR 2007). finally ending 13 years of civil war. During this time, it was known that between 250,000 and 300,000 civilians were killed, and around 204,000 Burundians were refugees or internally displaced (Human Rights Watch, 2003).
Prevalence of Sexual violence
Both opportunistic and systemic sexual violence prevailed during the Burundian civil war (Bastick, Grimm, and Kunz 2007). The FNL rebels were infrequent perpetrators as they were governed by a strict set of religious rules that prohibited rape and punished the crime with the death penalty (Bastick, Grimm, and Kunz 2007; Human Rights Watch, 2003). Most instances of sexual violence took place in rebel-stronghold areas and in border region, and women were often targeted while working in the fields, in the course of military attacks, at border checkpoints, while on the move owing to displacement, and in refugee camps (Bastick, Grimm, and Kunz 2007; Human Rights Watch, 2004).

Rape and sexual violence were frequently used to target women and children, while a significant number of men also reported facing rape (Amnesty International 2004; Human Rights Watch 2003). Women were forced into prostitution by the conflict, and children and youth were recruited either as child soldiers, or for sexual exploitation and trafficking (US Department of State, 2005). On several occasions, displaced women and girls faced rape at the hands of both civilians and combatants (Nduna and Goodyear 1997). Most perpetrators were rebels or security sector agents - such as police officers and soldiers.

The International Rescue Committee reported that 26% of the 3803 refugee women (12 to 49 years of age) in Kanembwa Camp, Tanzania, had faced sexual violence in the refugee camps (Nduna and Goodyear 1997). In 2004, Medicins Sans Frontiers reported receiving around 125 survivors of rape each month at its centre for survivors in Bujumbura, and noted that there were 4062 cases of sexual violence in Burundi between 2003 and 2006 (Medecins Sans Frontiers 2009). The US Department of State Report on Trafficking noted that as many as 3,200 children were used as sex slaves and combatants, among other things (US Department of State 2005).
Basis of the use of Sexual Violence
While in the early stages, rebels and military personnel were the primary perpetrators, with time, it became apparent that most attacks were committed by members of the survivors' extended families, teachers, and household domestic staff, reflecting a tendency for the breakdown in the security sector and social norms to enable such violence (Zicherman 2007).

The destruction of social cohesion culminated in sexual violence targeting women (Dijkman, Bijleveld, and Verwimp 2014). Opportunistic sexual violence prevailed as well, as poverty caused by the war made several loot property and rape women while doing so (Dijkman, Bijleveld, and Verwimp 2014).
References

Amnesty International (February 2004) Burundi: Rape - the Hidden Human Rights Abuse, 1-2.

Bastick, M., Grimm, K., & Kunz, R. (2007). Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict: Global Overiew and Implications for the Security Sector Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces.

Dijkman, E. J., Bijleveld, C., and Verwimp, P. (2014). Sexual Violence in Burundi: Victims, Perpetrators, and the Role of Conflict. HiCN Working Paper 172. https://genderandsecurity.org/sites/default/files/Dijkman_et_al_-_SV_in_Burundi_-_Victims_perpetrators_the_role_of_con.pdf

Human Rights Watch (December 2003), 43; Human Rights Watch (June 2004) Burundi: Suffering in Silence: Civilians in Continuing Combat in Bujumbura Rural, Briefing Paper, 6-7.

Human Rights Watch (June 2004), 7; "Burundi: Government under Pressure to Curb Continued Rights Violations", IRIN News, 27 November 2006: http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56518&SelectRegion=Great_Lakes

Human Rights Watch (October 2000) Seeking Protection: Addressing Sexual and Domestic Violence in Tanzania's Refugee Camps, chapter V.

IRIN "Our Bodies - Their Battle Ground: Gender-based Violence in Conflict Zones", Web Special, September 2004, http://www.irinnews.org/webspecials/gbv/default.asp

Medecins Sans Frontiers (2009). Shattered Lives https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/shattered-lives

Nduna, S. and Goodyear, L. (1997) Pain too deep for tears: Assessing the prevalence of sexual gender violence among Burundian refugees in Tanzania, International Rescue Committee: http://www.theirc.org/resources/sgbv_1.pdf.

Report of the International Conference on Networking against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Eastern Africa (2000) quoted in Women's Commission for RefugeeWomen and Children (2002) Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict: Burundi, 12: http://www.womenscommission.org/pdf/wl_bi.pdf.

Reyntjens, Filip (January 2006). "Briefing: Burundi: A Peaceful Transition after a Decade of War?". African Affairs. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 105 (418): 117-135.

TimesMachine (1983). "Michel Micombero, 43, Dies; Former President of Burundi" http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1983/07/18/040913.html?pageNumber=21

U.S. Department of State (2005) Trafficking in Persons Report June 2005, 75.

UNHCR (2007) Global Appeal 2007: Burundi: http://www.unhcr.org/home/PUBL/455443990.pdf.

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (November 2003) Burundi 2004, Consolidated Appeals Process, New York and Geneva, 6.

Zicherman, Nona (2007). Addressing sexual violence in post-conflict Burundi. Forced Migration Review. www.reliefweb.int/report/burundi/addressing-sexual-violence-post-conflict-burundi

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CRSV: Burundian Civil War - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Tajikistani Civil War began in May 1992 and continued until June 1997. It emerged after regional groups from the Garm and Gorno-Badakhshan regions of the country rose up against the then newly formed government under President Rahmon Nabiyev, on the ground that the elections were flawed. The Nabiyev regime, supported by Russian border guards, was dominated by people from Khujand and Kulob, whereas the rebels were liberal democratic reformers, and subsequently, Islamists who mobilized under the title of "The United Tajik Opposition" (Dubovitsky, 2003). The country descended into a full-fledged civil war. Moscow backed the government, and the opposition was led by Islamists. The conflict ended in 1997 with a UN-brokered peace agreement. The conflict resulted in the death of 20,000 (Pannier, 2007) to 150,000 people (Radio Liberty, 2021). Around 1.2 million people were refugees or internally displaced by the end of the war (IRIN, 2004).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Women were targeted with rape and sexual violence during the conflict by armed groups (ADB, 2000; WHO, 2000). The World health Organization noted that women were forced to share living premises with large groups of people owing to the destruction caused by the war - making them vulnerable to domestic violence, as well (WHO YEAR). It found that 1 in 3 women had reported facing some form of forced sex. The post-conflict context witnessed an upswing in the trafficking of women and girls. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM, 2000), over 300 women from Tajikistan were working in the sex trade in the UAE, and that over 1,000 Tajik women had been trafficked to the Middle East and other CIS countries.
Basis of Sexual violence
Sexual violence and rape were deliberately used by Islamists in the conflict to target women, oftentimes purporting "moral grounds" as the basis. Women were forced to adhere to Islamic behaviour and dress codes (IRIN, 2004). The use of sexual violence and rape targeting women was essentially to dehumanize and degrade women. Further, women and girls were targeted with forced marriage and trafficking (IRIN, 2004), with the aim of coercing women into sexual slavery.
References
1. "The Peace Deal That Ended Tajikistan's Bloody Civil War". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. https://www.rferl.org/a/anniversary-of-the-end-of-tajikistan-s-bloody-civil-war/31330072.html

2. IRIN "Our Bodies - Their Battle Ground: Gender-based Violence in Conflict Zones", Web Special, September 2004, 25

3. Asian Development Bank (2000) Women in Tajikistan: Country Gender Assessments.

4. World Health Organization (2000) Violence against Women: Report on the 1999 Pilot Survey in Tajikistan.

5. WHO (1999). Violence against Women: Report on the 1999 WHO Pilot Survey in Tajikistan. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/108339/E69952.pdf;jsessionid=4CFB3B0BCD5C66467C6488690109FC76

6. International Organization for Migration (2001) Deceived Migrants from Tajikistan: A Study of Trafficking in Women and Children

7. Dubovitsky, Viktor (February 2003). "Features of the ethnic and confessional situation in the Republic of Tajikistan" (in Russian). https://web.archive.org/web/20080411201135/http:/www.analitika.org/article.php?story=20060307230526550&mode=print

8. Pannier, Bruce (26 June 2017). "The Many Agents Of Tajikistan's Path To Peace". Radio Liberty. https://www.rferl.org/a/tajikistan-civil-war-peace-20th-anniversary-rahmon-nuri/28579612.html

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CRSV: Tajikistan (May 1992 to June 1997) - The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
The Salvadorian Civil War took place in El Salvador for a period of 12 years, starting on October 15, 1979, and ending on January 16, 1992 (Wood, 2003). The war was fought between the government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), which was a coalition of left-wing groups (Wood, 2003). On October 15, 1979, a coup was followed up by government-led killings of anti-coup protesters, marking the start of the civil war. During the conflict, over 75,000 people were killed, and over 8,000 people were forcibly disappeared (UN, 1993). As many as 525,250 people fled to neighbouring countries to escape the conflict (UNCHR, 2004).

As many as 85% of the atrocities were carried out by the Salvadoran security forces, which were backed by the US during the Cold war. Records show that the Carter and Reagan administrations offered nearly USD 1-2 million on a daily basis in the form of economic aid to the Salvadoran government (Uppsala University, n.d.), alongside military training and equipment to the armed forces. In May 1983, it came to light that US military officers worked closely with the Salvadoran High Command, making strategic decisions around the conflict (Wood, 2003).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Data on the prevalence of rape and sexual violence during the conflict in El Salvador are few. Whereas the 1993 Report of the Commission on the Truth for El Salvador mentions a few cases (Commission on the Truth for El Salvador, 1993), an unpublished appendix presents several instances of rape (Toombs, 2006; Bogen, 2016). In 1981, a battalion trained and armed by the United States conducted a violent operation and killed and raped over a thousand citizens (Chomsky 2002). According to Tutela Legal (Archdiocesan Legal Aid Office), after segregating women and men in the 1981 El Mozote Massacre, Salvadoran soldiers raped about 25 women and girls repeatedly before executing them (Toombs, 2006; Bogen, 2016).

Some of the other documented instances include the rape of four women from a church (Toombs, 2006; Bogen, 2016), the rape of women and girls in the course of attacks on communities in El Salvador (Commission on the Truth for El Salvador, 1993), and rape and sexual violence committed by guerrillas against the nurses they abducted (Toombs, 2006; Bogen, 2016). People in detention faced sexual violence and rape, as well (Toombs, 2006; Bogen, 2016). Further, women combatants in the Fuerzas Populares de Liberación Farabundo Marti (FPL), an offshoot entity under the FMLN, protested the sexual exploitation of women in guerrilla camps (Toombs, 2006; Bogen, 2016).
Basis of Sexual Violence
The Salvadoran state used rape and sexual violence as a method of and intimidation targeting male and female detainees (Bergsmo et al., 2012). The FMLN cadres did not deploy rape to target civilians; government soldiers and security forces engaged in rape targeting those they suspected of supporting the insurgency. These individuals were held on official and secret detention sites (Wood, 2009). The FMLN's decision to not deploy sexual violence and rape was in line with its overall approach of influencing civil society to join their ranks. However, they used sexual violence to target women combatants within their ranks as a form of exploitation and show of power.
References

Bergsmo, Morten, Skre, Butenschon Alf, and Elisabeth J Wood. (2012). "Understanding and Proving International Sex Crimes." Forum for International Criminal and Humanitarian Law - Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher. 12:389-419

Bogen, K. W. (2016). Rape and Sexual Violence: Questionable Inevitability and Moral Responsibility in Armed Conflict. Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal at Clark, 2(1), 6.

Chomsky, Noam. (2002). What Uncle Sam Really Wants. Odonian Press.

Commission on the Truth for El Salvador (1993); Wood, E. J. "Sexual Violence During War: Explaining Variation", Order, Conflict and Violence Conference, Yale University, New Haven, 30 April - 1 May 2004.

Tombs, D. (2006) "Unspeakable Violence: The UN Truth Commissions in El Salvador and Guatemala" in Reconciliation, Nations and Churches in Latin America, Maclean, I. S. ed., Aldershot and Burlington, Ashgate,

United Nations, Report of the UN Truth Commission on El Salvador (Report). United Nations. 1 April 1993. http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/salvador/informes/truth.html

Uppsala University, El Salvador, In Depth: Negotiating a settlement to the conflict, Uppsala Conflict Data Program Conflict Encyclopedia, Uppsala, Sweden: Uppsala University. http://www.ucdp.uu.se/gpdatabase/gpcountry.php?id=51&regionSelect=4-Central_Americas

USIP (1992). "Truth Commission: El Salvador". 1 July 1992. https://www.usip.org/publications/1992/07/truth-commission-el-salvador

Wood, Elisabeth Jean. 2009. "Armed Groups and Sexual Violence: When is Wartime Rape Rare?" Politics & Society, 37(1): 131-162.

Wood, Elizabeth (2003). Insurgent Collective Action and Civil War in El Salvador. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
The Salvadorian Civil War took place in El Salvador for a period of 12 years, starting on October 15, 1979, and ending on January 16, 1992 (Wood, 2003). The war was fought between the government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), which was a coalition of left-wing groups (Wood, 2003). On October 15, 1979, a coup was followed up by government-led killings of anti-coup protesters, marking the start of the civil war. During the conflict, over 75,000 people were killed, and over 8,000 people were forcibly disappeared (UN, 1993). As many as 525,250 people fled to neighbouring countries to escape the conflict (UNCHR, 2004).

As many as 85% of the atrocities were carried out by the Salvadoran security forces, which were backed by the US during the Cold war. Records show that the Carter and Reagan administrations offered nearly USD 1-2 million on a daily basis in the form of economic aid to the Salvadoran government (Uppsala University, n.d.), alongside military training and equipment to the armed forces. In May 1983, it came to light that US military officers worked closely with the Salvadoran High Command, making strategic decisions around the conflict (Wood, 2003).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Data on the prevalence of rape and sexual violence during the conflict in El Salvador are few. Whereas the 1993 Report of the Commission on the Truth for El Salvador mentions a few cases (Commission on the Truth for El Salvador, 1993), an unpublished appendix presents several instances of rape (Toombs, 2006; Bogen, 2016). In 1981, a battalion trained and armed by the United States conducted a violent operation and killed and raped over a thousand citizens (Chomsky 2002). According to Tutela Legal (Archdiocesan Legal Aid Office), after segregating women and men in the 1981 El Mozote Massacre, Salvadoran soldiers raped about 25 women and girls repeatedly before executing them (Toombs, 2006; Bogen, 2016).

Some of the other documented instances include the rape of four women from a church (Toombs, 2006; Bogen, 2016), the rape of women and girls in the course of attacks on communities in El Salvador (Commission on the Truth for El Salvador, 1993), and rape and sexual violence committed by guerrillas against the nurses they abducted (Toombs, 2006; Bogen, 2016). People in detention faced sexual violence and rape, as well (Toombs, 2006; Bogen, 2016). Further, women combatants in the Fuerzas Populares de Liberación Farabundo Marti (FPL), an offshoot entity under the FMLN, protested the sexual exploitation of women in guerrilla camps (Toombs, 2006; Bogen, 2016).
Basis of Sexual Violence
The Salvadoran state used rape and sexual violence as a method of and intimidation targeting male and female detainees (Bergsmo et al., 2012). The FMLN cadres did not deploy rape to target civilians; government soldiers and security forces engaged in rape targeting those they suspected of supporting the insurgency. These individuals were held on official and secret detention sites (Wood, 2009). The FMLN's decision to not deploy sexual violence and rape was in line with its overall approach of influencing civil society to join their ranks. However, they used sexual violence to target women combatants within their ranks as a form of exploitation and show of power.
References

Bergsmo, Morten, Skre, Butenschon Alf, and Elisabeth J Wood. (2012). "Understanding and Proving International Sex Crimes." Forum for International Criminal and Humanitarian Law - Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher. 12:389-419

Bogen, K. W. (2016). Rape and Sexual Violence: Questionable Inevitability and Moral Responsibility in Armed Conflict. Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal at Clark, 2(1), 6.

Chomsky, Noam. (2002). What Uncle Sam Really Wants. Odonian Press.

Commission on the Truth for El Salvador (1993); Wood, E. J. "Sexual Violence During War: Explaining Variation", Order, Conflict and Violence Conference, Yale University, New Haven, 30 April - 1 May 2004.

Tombs, D. (2006) "Unspeakable Violence: The UN Truth Commissions in El Salvador and Guatemala" in Reconciliation, Nations and Churches in Latin America, Maclean, I. S. ed., Aldershot and Burlington, Ashgate,

United Nations, Report of the UN Truth Commission on El Salvador (Report). United Nations. 1 April 1993. http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/salvador/informes/truth.html

Uppsala University, El Salvador, In Depth: Negotiating a settlement to the conflict, Uppsala Conflict Data Program Conflict Encyclopedia, Uppsala, Sweden: Uppsala University. http://www.ucdp.uu.se/gpdatabase/gpcountry.php?id=51&regionSelect=4-Central_Americas

USIP (1992). "Truth Commission: El Salvador". 1 July 1992. https://www.usip.org/publications/1992/07/truth-commission-el-salvador

Wood, Elisabeth Jean. 2009. "Armed Groups and Sexual Violence: When is Wartime Rape Rare?" Politics & Society, 37(1): 131-162.

Wood, Elizabeth (2003). Insurgent Collective Action and Civil War in El Salvador. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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CRSV: El Salvador (1979-1992) - The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
The civil war in Angola lasted 27 years, from 1975 to 2002. The conflict was fought over natural resources, and was aggravated significantly by drought and famine. It began after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975 - and continued as a power struggle between two former anti-colonial guerrilla movements, namely the Cuban and Soviet Union-backed Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola(MPLA) and the South Africa and US-backedUnião Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola (UNITA) and Frente Nacional para a Libertação de Angola (FNLA; Uppsala Conflict Data, n.d.). In effect, it was used as a surrogate battleground for the Cold War by these states. The MPLA and UNITA had different ethnic roots in Angolan society - and though they shared the common aim of doing away with Portuguese colonialism, they did not have other commonalities. FNLA did not play a role in the civil war though it fought in the war for independence. MPLA won the initial phases of fighting with help from Brazil and the USSR (US Department of Army, 1977), and ousted FNLA, thus becoming the de facto Angolan government. With that, the FNLA disintegrated, but UNITA and MPLA continued to engage in irregular war (UNHCR 2000).

In 1989, a ceasefire was signed between MPLA and UNITA, and Cuba withdrew troops in 1991. MPLA won the elections in 1992, but UNITA resumed fighting. The war, by this time, had been fuelled by the fight for control over Angola's rich diamond and oil resources. In 1994, the Lusaka Peace Protocol was signed, but full-scale conflict continued again in 1998. In 2002, a ceasefire took hold.

Over the period of the conflict, 1 million people were killed, 4 million displaced, and about 100,000 children were displaced (IRIN, 2004; UNSC, 2002; UNOCHA, 2002).
Prevalence of Sexual violence
Sexual violence prevailed during various stages in the conflict, and continued even after the peace agreement was signed (Human Rights Watch, 1999; 2003b). Women were abducted, faced sexual violence, assault, and slavery, and forced marriage, and women and girls were either forcibly recruited and conscripted as combatants or abducted and forced into marriage with combatants (Human Rights Watch, 2003b). Sexual violence was committed both by the government and by UNITA, and often took place in homes, out in the fields, and near military camps United Nations Commission on Human Rights, 2003).

Displaced populations were equally vulnerable - both in flight and following resettlement (UNOCHA 2002). Men who were detained also faced sexual violence (Human Rights Watch 2004). There were increases in the number of instances of violence, trafficking, and prostitution (UNHCHR, 2003). In 2003, between 5,000 and 8,000 underage wives remained married to UNITA soldiers (Human Rights Watch, 2003a).

By 2004, the conflict in the DR Congo bore impacts in Angola as well - as women reported rape at the hands of the security forces on either side of the border, who searched them for hidden diamonds (IRIN News, 2004). Each year, tens of thousands of women crossed the border from the DRC into Angola to work in the diamond mines (MSF, 2007). These women were often expelled - but not without facing some form of sexual violence at the hands of the security sector (MSF, 2007).
Basis of Sexual Violence
During the civil war, sexual violence was used as a means to demonstrate power and control, to intimidate populations, and to populations. Women and girls were abducted and forced into marriage with combatants of the army, suggesting sexual slavery with the intention of breaking down the social order.

In camps, both for refugees and internally displaced people, sexual violence was often carried out opportunistically and in the form of prostitution and sex slavery where women were forced to have sex in exchange for food.

Sexual violence was widespread, but there isn't any documented evidence that Angolan officials ordered the systematic use of sexual violence to expel women from the DR Congo (Human Rights Watch, 2013). However, there are several eyewitness accounts suggesting that the Angolan security sector involved in expulsion operations abused their authority and power (Human Rights Watch, 2012; 2013).
References

Africa, Problems & Prospects: A Bibliographic Survey. U.S. Department of the Army. 1977.

Human Rights Watch (2003b). Human Rights Developments: ANGOLA. https://www.hrw.org/legacy/wr2k3/pdf/angola.pdf

Human Rights Watch (2012). "„If You Come Back We Will Kill You‟: Sexual Violence and Other Abuses against Congolese Migrants during Expulsions from Angola," May 2012, http://www.hrw.org/reports/2012/05/20/if-you-come-back-we-will-kill-you

Human Rights Watch (2013). Human Rights Issues Regarding Angola Submitted by Human Rights Watch to the UN Human Rights Committee. https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/AGO/INT_CCPR_NGO_AGO_14330_E.pdf

MSF (2007). The Women Testify, https://www.msf.org/women-testify-10-woman-tell-their-angolan-ordeal

United Nations Commission on Human Rights (2003). "International, regional and national developments in the area of violence against women 1994-2003", Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, submitted in accordance with Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2002/52, E/CN.4/2003/75/Add.1, 27 February 2003

United Nations High Commission on Human Rights (2003). E/CN.4/2003/75/Add.1. https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/489001/files/E_CN.4_2003_75_Add.2-AR.pdf

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (2002) Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal 2002: Angola, New York and Geneva, 19.

United Nations Security Council (2002) Interim report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Mission in Angola, S/2002/1353, 12 December 2002.

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
The civil war in Angola lasted 27 years, from 1975 to 2002. The conflict was fought over natural resources, and was aggravated significantly by drought and famine. It began after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975 - and continued as a power struggle between two former anti-colonial guerrilla movements, namely the Cuban and Soviet Union-backed Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola(MPLA) and the South Africa and US-backedUnião Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola (UNITA) and Frente Nacional para a Libertação de Angola (FNLA; Uppsala Conflict Data, n.d.). In effect, it was used as a surrogate battleground for the Cold War by these states. The MPLA and UNITA had different ethnic roots in Angolan society - and though they shared the common aim of doing away with Portuguese colonialism, they did not have other commonalities. FNLA did not play a role in the civil war though it fought in the war for independence. MPLA won the initial phases of fighting with help from Brazil and the USSR (US Department of Army, 1977), and ousted FNLA, thus becoming the de facto Angolan government. With that, the FNLA disintegrated, but UNITA and MPLA continued to engage in irregular war (UNHCR 2000).

In 1989, a ceasefire was signed between MPLA and UNITA, and Cuba withdrew troops in 1991. MPLA won the elections in 1992, but UNITA resumed fighting. The war, by this time, had been fuelled by the fight for control over Angola's rich diamond and oil resources. In 1994, the Lusaka Peace Protocol was signed, but full-scale conflict continued again in 1998. In 2002, a ceasefire took hold.

Over the period of the conflict, 1 million people were killed, 4 million displaced, and about 100,000 children were displaced (IRIN, 2004; UNSC, 2002; UNOCHA, 2002).
Prevalence of Sexual violence
Sexual violence prevailed during various stages in the conflict, and continued even after the peace agreement was signed (Human Rights Watch, 1999; 2003b). Women were abducted, faced sexual violence, assault, and slavery, and forced marriage, and women and girls were either forcibly recruited and conscripted as combatants or abducted and forced into marriage with combatants (Human Rights Watch, 2003b). Sexual violence was committed both by the government and by UNITA, and often took place in homes, out in the fields, and near military camps United Nations Commission on Human Rights, 2003).

Displaced populations were equally vulnerable - both in flight and following resettlement (UNOCHA 2002). Men who were detained also faced sexual violence (Human Rights Watch 2004). There were increases in the number of instances of violence, trafficking, and prostitution (UNHCHR, 2003). In 2003, between 5,000 and 8,000 underage wives remained married to UNITA soldiers (Human Rights Watch, 2003a).

By 2004, the conflict in the DR Congo bore impacts in Angola as well - as women reported rape at the hands of the security forces on either side of the border, who searched them for hidden diamonds (IRIN News, 2004). Each year, tens of thousands of women crossed the border from the DRC into Angola to work in the diamond mines (MSF, 2007). These women were often expelled - but not without facing some form of sexual violence at the hands of the security sector (MSF, 2007).
Basis of Sexual Violence
During the civil war, sexual violence was used as a means to demonstrate power and control, to intimidate populations, and to populations. Women and girls were abducted and forced into marriage with combatants of the army, suggesting sexual slavery with the intention of breaking down the social order.

In camps, both for refugees and internally displaced people, sexual violence was often carried out opportunistically and in the form of prostitution and sex slavery where women were forced to have sex in exchange for food.

Sexual violence was widespread, but there isn't any documented evidence that Angolan officials ordered the systematic use of sexual violence to expel women from the DR Congo (Human Rights Watch, 2013). However, there are several eyewitness accounts suggesting that the Angolan security sector involved in expulsion operations abused their authority and power (Human Rights Watch, 2012; 2013).
References

Africa, Problems & Prospects: A Bibliographic Survey. U.S. Department of the Army. 1977.

Human Rights Watch (2003b). Human Rights Developments: ANGOLA. https://www.hrw.org/legacy/wr2k3/pdf/angola.pdf

Human Rights Watch (2012). "„If You Come Back We Will Kill You‟: Sexual Violence and Other Abuses against Congolese Migrants during Expulsions from Angola," May 2012, http://www.hrw.org/reports/2012/05/20/if-you-come-back-we-will-kill-you

Human Rights Watch (2013). Human Rights Issues Regarding Angola Submitted by Human Rights Watch to the UN Human Rights Committee. https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/AGO/INT_CCPR_NGO_AGO_14330_E.pdf

MSF (2007). The Women Testify, https://www.msf.org/women-testify-10-woman-tell-their-angolan-ordeal

United Nations Commission on Human Rights (2003). "International, regional and national developments in the area of violence against women 1994-2003", Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, submitted in accordance with Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2002/52, E/CN.4/2003/75/Add.1, 27 February 2003

United Nations High Commission on Human Rights (2003). E/CN.4/2003/75/Add.1. https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/489001/files/E_CN.4_2003_75_Add.2-AR.pdf

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (2002) Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal 2002: Angola, New York and Geneva, 19.

United Nations Security Council (2002) Interim report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Mission in Angola, S/2002/1353, 12 December 2002.

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CRSV: Angolan Civil War - The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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The Algerian Civil War was fought between the Algerian government and various Islamist rebel groups between December 26, 1991 and February 8, 2002. The war began when the government cracked down on the Islamist movement. The Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) seemed poised to defeat the ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) party in the national parliamentary elections. However, the elections were cancelled after the first round. The military took control of the government, forcing pro-reform president Bendjedid from office. The FIS was banned. This paved the way for Islamist guerrillas to begin operating - and with the emergence of armed forces, by 1994, the violence could no longer be contained (Kepel 2002). By 1997, the Islamist resistance lost its popular support. However, fighting continued for five more years thereafter (Kepel 2002). Known as the "dirty war" (Prince 2012), the civil war paved the way for extreme violence and brutality against civilians (Cavatorta 2008). Children were widely used, especially by the rebel groups (Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers 2001). The war was known to have caused 44,000 to 200,000 fatalities (Ajami 2010).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Figures obtained from the Ministry of Interior suggested that 1013 women were raped between 1994 and 1997, and another 2000 were kidnapped, raped, and killed between 1997 and 1999 (Collectif 95 Maghreb-Egalite 1999). Another source suggests that 5000 rapes were reported (Benoune 2018). Young women were kidnapped and kept as sex slaves, and women were raped and assaulted, with the claim that they were "sent to [the women] by [their] God" (Nesroullah and Mellah 2000). Thousands of women were abducted by the fundamentalist armed groups (Helie-Lucas 2001). Abducted women who survived their kidnappings were known as "sabayas," and considered part of the spoils of war (Rachda 2004). They were forced into slavery (Rachda 2004; Boukra 2002).
Basis of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence was carried out on all sides, by all parties to the conflict. Women were specifically targeted by the Islamist armed groups to intimidate, torture, and humiliate them and their communities. Women were also subject to abduction and kidnapping for temporary pleasure marriages with fighters - where women were kept in captivity and forced into sexual slavery, before - often - being killed. Several women in the initial phases of the conflict were targeted owing to their religious and/or political affiliations or their refusal to wear a veil. After 1995, all women began to be targeted regardless of their affiliations (Benoune 2008). Several women were also subject to rape and sexual assault at the hands of the security forces for their political affiliation and to intimidate them into making confessions or statements. Women were systematically raped and assaulted at the word of religious leaders who cast aspersions on their character. Women were also attacked by the societies that repudiated them upon their return home, owing to the stigmatization and shaming prevalent in society (Benoune 2008).
References

Ajami, Fouad (27 January 2010). "The Furrows of Algeria". New Republic. https://newrepublic.com/article/books-and-arts/the-furrows-algeria

Cavatorta, Francesco (2008). "Alternative Lessons from the 'Algerian Scenario'". Perspectives on Terrorism. 2 (1).

Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (2001). "Global Report on Child Soldiers". https:/www.child-soldiers.org/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=adc88bff-1916-4317-b184-d9079e7b0bb8

Collectif 95 Maghreb-Egalité (1999) Maghrébines entre violences symboliques et violences physiques: Algérie, Maroc, Tunisie: Rapport annuel 1998-1999: http://www.retelilith.it/ee/host/maghreb/htm/magh9.htm

Hélie-Lucas M. A. (2001). "What is your tribe? Women's Struggles and the Construction of Muslimness" in Dossier 23/24, ed. Harsh Kapoor (London: Women Living Under Muslim Laws ("WLUML"), 2001), 49, 54.

Karima Benoune (2018) "Our Ancestors Would Have Killed All These Women:" The Meanings of Jihadist Rape in 1990s Algeria https://www.boundary2.org/2018/07/karima-benoune-our-ancestors-would-have-killed-all-these-women-the-meanings-of-jihadist-rape-in-1990s-algeria-english/#_ftnref15

Kepel, Gilles (2002). Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam. Harvard University Press.

Liess Boukra, Algérie: La terreur sacrée 280 (2002)

Nesroullah Yous; Salima Mellah (2000). Qui a tué a Bentalha?. La Découverte, Paris.

Prince, Rob (16 October 2012). "Algerians Shed Few Tears for Deceased President Chadli Bendjedid". Foreign Policy in Focus. http://fpif.org/algerians_shed_few_tears_for_deceased_president_chadli_bendjedid/

Rachda, Temps de viols et de terrorisme 21 (2004)

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CRSV: Algerian Civil War (1991-2002) - The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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The Kidnapping of Girls from Chibok by the Boko Haram

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The Kidnapping of Girls from Chibok by the Boko Haram

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The Boko Haram, which carried out the Chibok kidnappings, is a terrorist organization operating in and out of northeastern Nigeria, and is also active in Chad, Niger, and northern Cameroon (Bureau of Counter-terrorism, n.d.). Since its founding in 2002, Boko Haram's radicalization in the region has culminated in the suppression of operations by the Nigerian military, as well as the establishment of a state of emergency at the beginning of 2012. The group also aligned itself with the ISIS. Since its insurgency began in 2009, Boko Haram has killed tens of thousands of people in frequent attacks targeting the security sector and citizens alike. It has culminated in the deaths of over 300,000 children and displaced 2.3 million people from their homes.

The Boko Haram intends to set up an Islamic caliphate in Nigeria, and is opposed to western-style modern education, which it claims is taking people away from an Islamic way of life (McElroy 2013). By 2014, it had attacked and killed tens of thousands of people across Nigeria, and a state of emergency had been declared in the states of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa. On the night of April 14-15, 2014, 276 girls aged between 16 and 18 years were kidnapped by Boko Haram, a terrorist group from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State, Nigeria (Omeni 2017). While the school had been closed owing to the deteriorating security conditions, the girls themselves were present to take their final examinations in physics. The kidnappers broke into the school disguised as soldiers of the Nigerian Armed Forces (Burns 2015; Nossiter 2014b).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Boko Haram began targeting schools in 2010, and has been known to kidnap girls - especially because it believes that girls should not be educated and used them as cooks and sex slaves (Dorell 2014). On the night of the kidnapping, some girls were loaded onto trucks, while some others were forced to walk several miles until other trucks came to take them away (Adamu 2017). A total of 276 girls were kidnapped on April 14-15, 2014. Of these, 57 girls escaped immediately by jumping off the trucks on which they were being transported (Smith and Bratu 2016). From time to time, a few girls were rescued by Nigerian Armed Forces, as well (Romo 2018). As of April 14, 2021, over 100 girls continue to remain missing (Obiezu 2021). In the immediate aftermath, attempts to locate the girls remained unsuccessful.

An overwhelming majority of the girls were Christian and were forced to convert to Islam (Moodley 2014). They were forced into marriage with members of the Boko Haram, with a bride price of Nigerian Naira 2000 each (Heaton 2014). The girls were raped (MacLean 2014) and subjected to violence (Grill and Selander 2014).
Basis of the use of Sexual Violence
Boko Haram intended to use the girls as sexual objects by forcing them into sexual slavery. Many of the girls were forced into marriage and sexual violence - and when they refused to enter into marriage, they were forced to provide hard manual labour (Burke 2021). Several of them were threatened with starvation and murder (Burke 2021). When Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau claimed responsibility for the kidnappings in a video, he also claimed that slavery was allowed in his religion and that he would capture people to make them slaves, that he had been instructed by Allah to sell them and that he would carry out their instructions, and that girls as young as nine are suitable for marriage, and should not be allowed to study (Lister 2014; BBC 2014).

The use of sexual violence was also part of a systematic campaign to intimidate the civilian population into compliance with the Boko Haram's demands. Shekau had also stated that he did not intend to release the girls until the Boko Haram militants who were in prison were released (Nossiter 2014a).
References

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CRSV: The Kidnapping of the Chibok Girls by Boko Haram - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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The South Sudanese Civil war is a multi-sided civil war in South Sudan, largely waged between the government and opposition forces. The government forces were mainly from the Dinka group, and his former deputy Riek Machar and the opposition, who were mainly from the Nuer group. The conflict began in December 2013, and ended in February 2020. In December 2013, President Kiir accused Machar, and a group of others of attempting a coup d'etat (Koos and Gutschke 2014). Denying the allegations, Machar fled in order to lead the opposition, namely the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-In Opposition. The clashes between the SPLM and the SPLM-IO paved the way for civil war. Troops from Uganda were deployed to fight alongside the South Sudan government (BBC 2016a). In January 2014, the first ceasefire agreement was reached, but fighting continued.

Several ceasefire agreements followed. The Compromise Peace Agreement was signed in August 2015, and Machar returned to Juba in 2016, when he was appointed vice president (BBC 2016b). However, fighting broke out again in Juba. The SPLM-IO fled to the surroundings and to the Equatoria region, which had been peaceful until then. Machar was replaced, and the opposition became divided with rebel infighting emerging. In February 2020, Kiir and Machar struck a unity deal and formed a coalition government (BBC 2020). However, fighting continues, and in 2021, South Sudan faced one of the world's worst hunger crises (CFR 2022). Renewed violence in the region have revived memories of a return to conflict (Al Araby 2022).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Incidents of sexual violence rose by 60% in 2016, especially in Mundri, Armadi State, in Equatoria, which was declared the epicenter of the problem (Fox News 2017). According to the UN, 70% of the women who were taking shelter in camps had been raped and faced sexual violence since the inception of the conflict, and that most of the rapists were police and soldiers (UN 2016). As many as 80% had witnessed someone else facing sexual assault (UN 2016).

Young men and militias recruited by the SPLA were reported to have been given guns in exchange for the blanket freedom to loot and rape the women they captured (McNeish 2015). Rape was common among women, children, and men, although very few men opened up to articulate what they had faced (Martell 2019). Women were subjected to beatings and sexual assault, and then compelled them to jump in the fire. The UNMISS Human Rights Officers had interviewed 115 victims and eyewitnesses in Unity State, where South Sudanese forces were involved in the fighting against opposition fighters (Al Jazeera 2015). Hundreds of thousands of women and girls as young as 12 years of age were held in rape camps across Unity state (McNeish 2015). Several instances of abduction accompanied the rape cases.
Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence was an integral and central part of war strategies on both sides, and was used as a means to perpetrate ethnic cleansing (Martell 2019).The fact of the abductees tended to depend on their ethnic affiliation - which means that the women were targeted. A UNOHCHR Report from 2022 reported that women and girls of the same ethnic origin as their captors were treated differently from women and girls of other ethnic groups. Nuer women were largely targeted by Dinka soldiers and forces (UNOHCHR 2022). Women were subject to sexual violence out of humiliation and revenge (Martell 2019). South Sudanese women and foreign aid workers were equally targeted, the latter especially for punishment for the foreign criticism of Kiir (Martell 2019).

Targeted sexual violence was carried out by government-allied forces recruited by the leaders of the country to help take back territory from rebel control during brutal offensives (Human Rights Watch 2015). Women and girls were systematically targeted, often while searching for food, travelling to a farm or garden, collecting charcoal or firewood, or while collecting their monthly rations (UNOHCHR 2022).
References

Al Jazeera (2015) UN: South Sudan army raped girls and burned them alive https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/6/30/un-south-sudan-army-raped-girls-and-burned-them-alive

Koos, Carlo; Gutschke, Thea (2014). "South Sudan's Newest War: When Two Old Men Divide a Nation". GIGA Focus International Edition (2).

BBC (2016a) "Yoweri Museveni: Uganda troops fighting South Sudan rebels". BBC News. 16 January 2014. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25759650

BBC (2016b) "South Sudan rebel chief Riek Machar sworn in as vice-president". bbcnews.com. 26 April 2016. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36140423

BBC (2020) "South Sudan rivals strike power-sharing deal". . 22 February 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-51562367

Council for Foreign Relations (CFR) (2022) Civil War in South Sudan https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/civil-war-south-sudan

Al Araby (2022) Sexual violence rife in South Sudan as 'terrified' residents stuck in war: UN https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/sexual-violence-rife-conflict-ridden-south-sudan-un

Fox News (2017) "Rape reaches 'epic proportions' in South Sudan's civil war". Fox News. 25 March 2017. http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/03/25/rape-reaches-epic-proportions-in-south-sudan-civil-war.html

United Nations (2016) "South Sudan emergency session". United Nations. 14 December 2016. http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/unifeed/asset/1796/1796878/

McNeish, Hannah (2015) "South Sudan: Women and girls raped as 'wages' for government-allied fighters". The Guardian. 28 September 2015. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/sep/28/south-sudan-women-girls-raped-as-wages-for-government-allied-fighters

Martell, Peter (2019). First Raise a Flag: How South Sudan Won the Longest War But Lost the Peace. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Human Rights Watch (2015) "They Burned it All" Destruction of Villages, Killings, and Sexual Violence in Unity State South Sudan https://www.hrw.org/report/2015/07/22/they-burned-it-all/destruction-villages-killings-and-sexual-violence-unity-state

UNOHCHR (2022) Conflict-related sexual violence against women and girls in South Sudan Conference room paper of the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/2022-03/A_HRC_49_CRP_4.pdf

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CRSV: South Sudan (2013-2023) - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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Deir Yassin Massacre (near Jerusalem, 1948)

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Deir Yassin Massacre (near Jerusalem, 1948)

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The Deir Yassin Massacre took place on April 9, 1948. About 130 fighters from the far-right Zionist paramilitary groups, Irgun (IZL) and Lehi, killed at least 107 Palestinian Arabs (including women and children) in the village of Deir Yassin, near Jerusalem (Morris 2005). The attack took place as the Jewish militia sought to relieve the blockade of Jerusalem during the civil war that unfolded before British colonial rule in Palestine ended (Morris 2005). The United Nations had just proposed the division of Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish one.

The Arabs rejected the proposal and civil war broke out. After several rounds of house-to-house fighting, the village succumbed to the attack. While several Palestinian Arabs were killed, several tried to flee or surrender - and many of them were taken as prisoners. There was killing, widespread looting, mutilation and torture, as well as rape and sexual violence (Morris 1987). The massacre was a significant event in the Arab-Israeli conflict. While the original death toll was estimated at 250, subsequent research has suggested that 107 villagers had died, and 12 had been wounded (Kan'ana & Zaytuni 1988).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
A number of sources have documented rape and sexual violence in the Deir Yassin massacre. Morris (1987, 2004) noted that a number of IZL men raped and murdered a number of Arab girls. Assistant Inspector-General Richard Catling of the British Palestinian Police Force conduced interviews with survivors in Silwan on April 13, 15, and 16, 1948, and reported that several sexual atrocities were committed by the attacking Jews, and that many young school girls were raped and later slaughtered, and old women were also molested (Catling 1948).

Historian Abdel Jawad noted that women at Deir Yassin had talked about the rapes that had taken place at Deir Yassin when they spoke to British interrogators, and noted that they could never speak about this in their societies - it was never talked about by the men (Slyomovics 2007). The narratives of the victims of rape were suppressed, arguably because Palestinian men tied their honour to "the maintenance of kin women's virginity (when unmarried) or exclusive sexual availability (when married)" (Hasso 2000: 495; Khalili 2007).
Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
The attack on Deir Yassin reflects all the trappings of settler colonialism. The use of sexual violence in the pursuit of occupation ultimately serves the "logic of elimination," which seeks to "erase indigenous presence on a specific territory" (Shalhoub-Kevorkian et al. 2014). The use of sexual violence against Palestinian women was in pursuit of the settler colonial state's attempts to destroy, eliminate, and drive out the Palestinians from their land (Shalhoub-Kevorkian et al. 2009).

Sexual violence was used "to strengthen indigenous patriarchal structures and aid in the eviction of Palestinians from their land" (Shalhoub-Kevorkian et al. 2009). It was also used as a means to intimidate and threaten the population in the village. The strategic use of sexual violence in the Israel-Palestine conflict is tied to the fact that colonial relationships are gendered and sexualized, and "the rape of the land as the rape of women's bodies" comes to fore in these attacks (Shalhoub-Kevorkian et al. 2014). It was also used to further an agenda of ethnic cleansing targeting the Palestinian community.
References

Hasso, Frances S. (2000). "Modernity and Gender in Arab Accounts of the 1948 and 1967 Defeats", International Journal of Middle East Studies, 32:491-510.

Kananah, Sharif and Zaytuni, Nihad (1988). Deir Yassin القرى الفلسطينية المدمرة (Destroyed Palestinian Villages), Birzeit University Press.

Khalili, Leleh (2007). Nakba: Palestine, 1948, and the Claims of Memory. Columbia University Press.

Forwarded to the Chief Secretary of the Palestine government, Sir Henry Gurney, by Richard C. Catling, Assistant Inspector General of the Criminal Investigation Division, on April 13, 14 and 16, 1948, dossier no. 179/110/17/GS

Morris, Benny (1987). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949. Cambridge University Press.

Morris, Benny (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press.

Morris, Benny. (2005). "The Historiography of Deir Yassin". The Journal of Israeli History. 24 (1): 79-107.

Shalhoub-Kevorkian, Nadera, Ihmoud, Sarah and Dahir-Nashif Suhad (2014) "Sexual Violence, Women's Bodies, and Israeli Settler Colonialism," https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/31481

Shalhoub-Kevorkian, Nadera, Nādira Shalhūb Kīfūrkiyān, and Nādirah Shalhūb-Kīfūrkiyān (2009) Militarization and violence against women in conflict zones in the Middle East: a Palestinian case-study. Cambridge University Press.

Slyomovics, Susan (2007). Nakba: Palestine, 1948, and the Claims of Memory. Columbia University Press.

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CRSV: Deir Yassin Massacre - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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The Russo-Ukrainian war began in February 2014, involving Russia and pro-Russian forces on the one hand, and Ukraine, with the support of NATO and the European Union on the other (Lally 2014). The conflict began in February 2014, and centred on the status of Crimea and parts of Donbas, which has been internationally recognized as part of Ukraine.

After the Euromaidan protests and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was removed in February 2014, and the pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine, Russian soldiers (without insignias) took control of strategic positions and infrastructure in Crimea. In March 2014, Russia adopted a resolution to use military force in Ukraine (Morello et al. 2014), following which it annexed Crimea after a local referendum it organized (Reuters 2014). In the month after, demonstrations by pro-Russian groups in Donbas escalated into a war between the Government of Ukraine and the Russian-backed separatist forces in Donetsk and Luhansk. Russian military vehicles crossed the border into Ukraine.

In September 2015, the UN OHCHR estimated that 8000 casualties had resulted from the conflict. Between April 2014 and September 2021, the UN OHCHR recorded a total of 3095 conflict-related civilian deaths, and over 7,000 civilian injuries. Some estimates suggest that over 10,000 people were killed in the conflict (Losh 2017).

On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukranie, causing hundreds of thousands of military casualties and tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilian casualties. By 2024, Russian troops occupied about 20% of Ukraine.
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
The Russo-Ukraine war triggered sexual violence on both sides with no penal consequences for the perpetrators (Losh 2017). While in the region that is loyal to Russia, several women are subject to sexual violence with impunity, the territory held by the Ukrainian government witnessed sexual violence as part of law enforcement (Losh 2017). The Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict dataset shows that sexual violence by Russian forces has been reported in three of seven years of conflict since 2014 in eastern Ukraine (Hallsdóttir, 2022). The UN OHCHR documented instances of sexual violence in territories controlled by the government, by armed groups, and in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (UN OHCHR 2017). Owing to severe underreporting, there isn't much clarity on the actual numbers. Women were especially vulnerable to sexual violence at entry-exit checkpoints along transport corridors along the contact line and checkpoints run by government forces and armed groups alike (Walker 2016). The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) listed four types of risks of sexual violence as prevalent in the initial phase of the war, from 24 February to 26 March 2022 (OHCHR 2022a). On 29 June, the OHCHR (2022b) reported receiving 108 allegations of conflict related sexual violence, of which it had verified 23 cases.

The OHCHR reported four types of risks of sexual violence unfolding on ground that caused mass sexual violence: increased military presence and activities in civilian areas, the destruction of homes and infrastructure, internal displacement, and high numbers of women and girls leaving Ukraine (OHCHR, 2022). By May 2022, about 82.4% of cases of sexual violence related to the conflict that were reported by the UN were alleged to have been perpetrated by Russian or Russian-aligned combatants, whereas about 9.25% were reported to have been committed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces or law enforcement. (HRW, 2022)
Basis of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence has typically been used as part of torture or cruel treatment in the Russo-Ukraine war, rather than for strategic or tactical purposes. Most cases documented by the UN OHCHR (2017) pertained to the deprivation of liberty by either the government forces or armed groups - where men and women alike were subjected to sexual violence to punish, humiliate, and/or extract confessions. In some instances, to increase pressure on those they wanted to target, the perpetrators detained or abducted and used sexual violence against relatives of their targets. In the territory controlled by armed groups sexual violence was also used to compel individuals deprived of liberty to relinquish property or perform other actions demanded by the perpetrators, as an explicit condition for their safety and release (UN OHCHR 2017).

In many instances, women were subjected to survival sex in exchange for men supporting their basic needs in the conflict region (Protection Cluster Ukraine 2016). It was also used in the name of erasing disobedience (Bodnar 2016), maintain strict, effective control over the occupied cities and to restrict the freedom of speech (Ukrainian Centre for Social Reforms 2016), and even shift the borders of the conflict where landowners were threatened with rape if they did not comply with forced evictions (Krauzman 2021).

References:

Reuters (2014) "Putin admits Russian forces were deployed to Crimea", Reuters, 17 April 2014. http://uk.reuters.com/article/russia-putin-crimea-idUKL6N0N921H20140417

Hallsdóttir, Esther (2022). "Are Russian troops using sexual violence as a weapon? Here's what we know". The Washington Post.

Morello, Carol; Constable, Pamela; Faiola, Anthony (17 March 2014). "Crimeans vote in referendum on whether to break away from Ukraine, join Russia". The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2014/03/16/ccec2132-acd4-11e3-a06a-e3230a43d6cb_story.html

Lally, Kathy (17 April 2014). "Putin's remarks raise fears of future moves against Ukraine - The Washington Post". TheWashington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/putin-changes-course-admits-russian-troops-were-in-crimea-before-vote/2014/04/17/b3300a54-c617-11e3-bf7a-be01a9b69cf1_story.html

OHCHR (2021) "Conflict-related civilian casualties in Ukraine." https://ukraine.un.org/sites/default/files/2021-10/Conflict-related%20civilian%20casualties%20as%20of%2030%20September%202021%20%28rev%208%20Oct%202021%29%20EN.pdf

OHCHR (2017) "Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Ukraine 14 March 2014 to 31 January 2017." https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/UA/ReportCRSV_EN.pdf

OHCHR (2022). Update on the human rights situation in Ukraine. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/2022-03/HRMMU_Update_2022-03-26_EN.pdf

HRW (2022). Ukraine: Apparent War Crimes in Russia-Controlled Areas. https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/03/ukraine-apparent-war-crimes-russia-controlled-areas

Losh, Jack (2017). "Rape and the Ukrainian War: How Sexual Violence Fuels Both Sides of the Brutal Conflict." https://www.newsweek.com/2017/12/08/ukraine-war-rape-sexual-violence-724754.html

Walker, Shaun (2016). "Russian and Ukrainian women's sexual abuse stories go viral." https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/08/russian-ukrainian-women-sexual-abuse-stories-go-viral

Protection Cluster Ukraine (2016) Protection Considerations for People Living Along the Contact Line.

Bodnar, A. (2016) "Gender-based violence as a weapon against the unbowed and a way to entertain." Justice For Peace in Donbas. https://jfp.org.ua/rights/porushennia/violation_categories/henderno-obumovlene-nasylstvo/rights_violations/gbv-as-entertainment?locale=en

Ukrainian Centre for Social Reforms (2016) Analytical report: Gender-Based Violence in The Conflict-Affected Regions of Ukraine. United Nations Population Fund. https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/en/node/124030

Krauzman, M. (2021). "Weaponisation of Female Bodies: Inaccurate Reports of Sexual Violence In The Donbas Conflict." https://thesecuritydistillery.org/all-articles/weaponisation-of-female-bodies-inaccurate-reports-of-sexual-violence-in-the-donbas-conflict

OHCHR (2022b) "The situation of human rights in Ukraine in the context of the armed attack by the Russian Federation, 24 February to 15 May 2022." https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/situation-human-rights-ukraine-context-armed-attack-russian-federation

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CRSV: Russia's invasion of Ukraine - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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The insurgency in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, as the name suggests, is a contemporary, ongoing conflict in Cabo Delgado province, Mozambique. The conflict, which began in 2017, is mainly fought between militant Islamists who seek to establish an Islamist state in the region and Mozambican security forces. Civilians have been targeted by attacks led by the Islamist militants, the main group among which is Ansar al-Sunna, a native extremist outfit with international connections.

The locals known them as "al-Shabaab" (although they are distinct from the Somali al-Shabaab). The Ansar al-Sunna claims that the Islam practiced in Mozambique has been corrupted, and demand that people follow their radical beliefs (Agencia de Informacao de Mozambique 2018). The movement has been decidedly anti-Christian, anti-Western, and anti-Animist, and has considered particular schools and hospitals secular - a basis for its attacks (Opperman 2018). Reports also suggest that the ISIS has been active in the northern region of Mozambique (The Independent, 2018), and claimed its first attack in June 2019 (Weiss 2019). In April 2018, Al-Sunnah pledged allegiance to ISIS (Opperman 2018).

Over time, the insurgency became increasingly violent and demanded the imposition of Sharia Law, while announcing that it did not recognize the Mozambican government. It set up and operated camps in hiding across Mozambique, where Ansar al-Sunna militants gained training from former policemen and frontier guards who had been fired and continued to hold grudges against the government. Relying on support from other Islamist militants in East Africa, Ansar al-Sunna were also reported to have hired trainers from Kenya, Somalia, and Tanzania (Agencia de Informacao de Mozambique 2018). The militants, however, are all split into different cells that do not coordinate or operate in conjunction (Opperman 2018).

Although manifesting as having a religious basis, the conflict is also a result of the social, economic, and political problems in Mozambique. Rampant unemployment, widening disparities and raging inequalities, as well as corruption have continued to feed the conflict (Reuters 2018). Most of the rebels belong to the Mwani and Makwa communities - both of which are native to Cabo Delgado. Civilians from these communities have often expressed sympathy for the insurgents (Tulet, 2021). Further, the natural resources including natural gas and precious gemstones, have also been major factors in the conflict (Wadekar 2021). In the conflict since 2017, over 2500 people have been killed, and over 800,000 have been displaced (Human Rights Watch 2021).
Systematic use of CRSV
The systematic use of conflict-related sexual violence continues against the backdrop of the conflict in Cabo Delgado (Wadekar and Ram 2022). Al-Sunnah has, since 2008, kidnapped and enslaved over 600 women and girls in the region (Human Rights Watch 2021). In the first four months of 2021, UNFPA noted that over 100 survivors of rape and sexual assault received counselling (Human Rights Watch 2021).

According to the Observatory for Rural Environment (Feijó 2021), teen girls were commonly targeted. Human Rights Watch (2021) reported that several younger women were forced to marry the Al-Sunnah's fighters, while several more were sold abroad for between USD 600 to 1800. There have also been several reports of Mozambican government soldiers raping and sexually assaulting women and girls (Amnesty International 2020), although the government has denied such claims.
Basis of Sexual Violence
Human Rights Watch (2021) noted that Al-Sunnah had abducted women and girls during various attacks across several districts in Cabo Delgado throughout 2020 and 2021. The generic pattern involves abduction, detention, rape, sexual slavery, and forced marriage to the Al-Sunnah fighters (Amnesty International 2020). While boys are taken to be fighters, girls are forcibly abducted for forced marriage or sexual slavery. In some cases, the women are "returned" when they become pregnant (Wadekar and Ram 2022). It is clear then, that the use of sexual violence is a carefully planned tactic to intimidate and humiliate the communities - as these girls are turned out of their homes owing to the stigma.

Police officers and soldiers have accused civilians of protecting the Al-Sunnah, and sometimes women are accused of protecting their husbands. In such situations, women are beaten and raped and/or sexually assaulted (Amnesty International 2020). There have also been allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse of women in exchange for humanitarian aid (Human Rights Watch 2021b), indicating what looks like opportunistic sexual violence by exploiting women who are already vulnerable and in dire need of assistance. Sexual assault is used as a means of torture and intimidation by both sides.
References

Human Rights Watch (2021) "Mozambique: Hundreds of Women, Girls Abducted" https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/12/07/mozambique-hundreds-women-girls-abducted

Human Rights Watch (2021b) "Aid-for-Sex Alleged in Northern Mozambique" https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/09/07/aid-sex-alleged-northern-mozambique

Amnesty International (2020). "What I saw was death." https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/AFR4135452021ENGLISH.pdf

João Feijó (2021) "The Role of Women in the Conflict in Cabo Delgado: Understanding Vicious Cycles of Violence" www.library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/fes-pscc/17970.pdf

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CRSV: Cabo Delgado (Mozambique) - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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Chad has faced several civil wars after it gained independence in 1966, in 1966-71, 1980-84, 1989-90, 1998-2000, and 2005-06 (Schofield 2008). The conflict in Chad has its roots in a complex mix of factors that include religion, ethnic tensions, political challenges, authoritarian, and poverty. Chad has been "fighting a losing battle against three mutually reinforcing and destructive factors," namely "difficult living conditions and landscape, limited state capacity, and ethnic fragmentation," (Myers 2016) which culminated in these major civil wars.

Most civil wars have taken place between warring factions and the Chadian government. After it attained independence, it was clear that Chad's government was not able to wield power over the region (Canada & the World. n.d.). The country was also divided along ethnic lines: an Arab-majority North and a Christian-majority South, with several hundreds of small ethnic groups. Leadership in Chad has been shifting back and forth between the Christian and Arab sides - where one side being in power automatically evoked a revolutionary war on the other's part to counter the situation.

By 1996, the civil war stabilized, and Idriss Deby, a northerner, became the president in Chad's first democratic elections. In 1998, an armed rebellion began in the north, led by Deby's former defence chief, Youssouf Togoimi. In 2003, the conflict in Darfur leaked into Chad - and refugees from Darfur were joined by Chadian civilians who tried to escape rebel violence. By this time, Chadian rebels received support from the Sudanese government. The war ended with an agreement for the restoration of harmony between Chad and Sudan (Human Rights Watch 2011).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Various forms of sexual violence were perpetrated over the course of Chad's civil wars. These included child marriage, rape, and sexual assault. The highly militarized society amplified the pre-existing patriarchal norms (Debos 2011) that saw women as either non-essential or as objects to be protected or harmed by the military forces (Karlsrud and Solhjell 2012). In June 2000, the national army invaded the Southern region and raped several women and girls (US Department of State 2000). Women were targeted by the rebel and armed forces in equal measure (Amnesty International 2011). In 2004, Amnesty international recorded 250 rape cases after visiting IDP and refugee camps (Farr 2009). The exact number, however, remains unknown because of the lack of reportage owing to high stigmatization and lack of a reporting mechanism (Amnesty International 2011).
Basis of the use of Sexual Violence
Women were targeted with sexual violence by both the rebel and armed forces. On both sides, sexual violence was used as a means to suppress the population by targeting its women. It was also used as a means to humiliate women by paving the way for a lifetime of stigmatization and social isolation. The breakdown in the security sector system and judiciary meant that the legal system did not uphold the age of marriage (16 years) for women - which led to men taking multiple wives without any legal sanction (Casimiro et. all, 2008). Rape and sexual violence were also associated with combatant groups that lack an effective chain of command or disciplinary mechanisms.
References

Amnesty International "Chad Briefing to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women." October 2011. https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/TCD/INT_CEDAW_NGO_TCD_50_10112_E.pdf

Arieff, Alexis. Sexual violence in African conflicts. Vol. 25. US: Congressional Research Service, 2009.

Canada & the World. "Chad". Canada & the World Backgrounder. 11892102. 76 (1): 102-3.

Casimiro, Isabel, Aili Mari Tripp, Joy Kwesiga, and Alice Mungwa. African Women's Movements: Changing Political Landscapes. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2008.

Debos, Marielle. "Living by the gun in Chad: armed violence as a practical occupation." The Journal of Modern African Studies 49.03 (2011): 409-428.

Farr, Kathryn. "Extreme War Rape in Today's Civil-War-Torn States: A Contextual and Comparative Analysis." Gender Issues 26.1 (2009): 1.

Human Rights Watch. 2011. "World Report 2011: Chad". Human Rights Watch. 24 January 2011. https://www.hrw.org/en/world-report-2011/chad

Karlsrud, John, and Randi Solhjell. "Gender-Sensitive Protection and the Responsibility to Prevent: Lessons from Chad." Global Responsibility to Protect 4.2 (2012): 223-40.

Myers, Emily. "War and Women Wielding Power: Lessons from Burundi, Liberia, and Chad." (2016). https://digitalworks.union.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1190&context=theses

Schofield, Hugh (4 February 2008). "France faces tough choices over Chad". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7227290.stm

United States Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Chad, 2000.

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CRSV: Chadian Civil War - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
The Anglophone Crisis or the Ambazonia War refers to the civil war in the Southern Cameroons. It is a part of the long-standing Anglophone problem in Cameroon (Journal du Cameroun 2018). In 2016-2017, Ambazonian separatists in the Anglophone parts of the Northwest and Southwest region ("Southern Cameroons") launched a guerrilla campaign against the Cameroonian security forces after a series of protests were suppressed (Quartz Africa 2018). Following this campaign, they proclaimed the restoration of independence. However, in 2017, the Cameroonian government declared war on the separatists and sent its army to the Anglophone regions (Journal du Cameroun 2019).

It first began as a low-scale insurgency. However, by Summer 2019, the government controlled the major cities and countryside regions, and the Ambazonian separatists held parts of the countryside, and regularly sought to establish their presence in the major cities (Crisis Group 2019). There were attempts at dialogue (Journal du Cameroun 2019), and the Anglophone region was also given special status (Reuters 2019). However, the war intensified by the end of 2019 (VOA 2019).

By 2020, the frontlines had been clearly drawn. Cameroon raided the towns and villages under the separatists' control (Fodors 2020), and tried to secure control over the major urban areas (Crisis Group 2019). The parliamentary elections escalated the conflict further, as the separatists sought to reassert themselves strongly (VOA 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic motivated one armed group to declare a ceasefire: but the war continued with the government ignoring calls to adhere to a ceasefire, too. Under international pressure for a ceasefire, dialogue began again in July 2020, where the government began to negotiate with the separatist leaders it had imprisoned. However, the war continued into 2021, and continues as at the time of writing. The war has resulted in massive casualties - with anywhere between 3,000 and 10,000 people having been killed (CHRDA 2019). By May 2019, 530,000 people had been internally displaced and 35,000 had fled to Nigeria (Crisis Group 2019), and by June 2019, according to the UNICEF, 1.3 million people in the Anglophone regions needed humanitarian aid (UNICEF 2019).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
The UN had documented over 4,300 cases of sexual and gender-based violence in Cameroon between February and December 2020 (Mwakideu 2021). Of these, almost half the cases involved sexual or physical assault or rape, and in over 30 percent of those cases, the victims were children. Perpetrators of sexual violence include the armed separatists, military personnel, and civilians alike. In 2019, the UN had documented only 1,065 cases, 289 of which involved sexual assault or rape (Craig 2021). According to Human Rights Watch, at least 20 women in Ebam village in the Southwest region were raped by Cameroonian security forces in an attack on March 1, 2020 (Craig 2021).
Basis of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence has been used to intimidate and threaten women. There are instances where women have been falsely accused of a crime, and then forced to offer sexual favours so she can be released (Mwakideu 2021). The state of lawlessness and the breakdown of security sector machinery serves as an enabling environment for the targeting of women with sexual violence (Craig 2021). The rising poverty, homelessness, and widespread closures of businesses and schools have also contributed to the increase in sexual violence in the conflict-hit parts of Cameroon (Craig 2021). Sexual violence has also been used to control territories. Once the military settles in an area, they exert control over the area - including by carrying out sexual violence targeting women and girls in the territory under their control. In some instances, sexual violence has also been used to deliberately target women and girls for their purported or actual political affiliations.
Reference

Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA) (2019, June 3) Cameroon-unfolding catastrophe' evidence of human rights violations and crimes against humanity, https://www.raoulwallenbergcentre.org/newsfeed/2019/6/4/release-of-landmark-report-on-unfolding-catastrophe-in-cameroon

Craig, Jess (2021, April 29) Al Jazeera, "Sexual violence pervasive in Cameroon's Anglophone regions" https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/29/gender-based-violence-pervasive-in-cameroons-anglophone-regions

Crisis Group (2019, May 2) Cameroon's Anglophone Crisis: How to Get to Talks? https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/cameroon/272-crise-anglophone-au-cameroun-comment-arriver-aux-pourparlers

Fodors, (2020, September 23) I Traveled Deep Into Conflict to Bury My Grandfather. I Returned Slightly Charmed, https://www.fodors.com/world/africa-and-middle-east/experiences/news/i-traveled-deep-into-conflict-to-bury-my-grandfather-i-returned-slightly-charmed

Journal du Cameroun (2019, June 28) Cameroon: Ambazonia leaders endorse Swiss-led dialogue to solve Anglophone crisis, https://www.journalducameroun.com/en/cameroon-ambazonia-leaders-agree-to-participate-in-swiss-led-dialogue/

Journal du Cameroun (2018, May 28) 'Ambazonia War' drowns SDF 28th Anniversary Journal du Cameroun, https://www.journalducameroun.com/en/ambazonia-war-drowns-sdf-28th-anniversary/

Mwakideu, Chrispin (2021, May 19) Sexual violence rampant as Cameroon's Anglophone crisis intensifies https://www.dw.com/en/sexual-violence-rampant-as-cameroons-anglophone-crisis-intensifies/a-57581115

Quartz Africa (2018, January 14) Cameroon's Anglophone crisis is threatening to spin out of control, https://qz.com/1179202/cameroons-anglophone-crisis-is-threatening-to-spin-out-of-control/

Reuters (2019, December 20) Cameroon grants special status to Anglophone regions, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cameroon-separatists-lawmaking/cameroon-grants-special-status-to-anglophone-regions-idUSKBN1YO24S

UNICEF (2019, June 21) Geneva Palais briefing note on the situation for children in the North-West and South-West regions of Cameroon, https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/geneva-palais-briefing-note-situation-children-north-west-and-south-west-regions

VOA News (2019, September 24) Cameroon's Separatists Intensify Attacks to Protest Dialogue, Voice of America, https://www.voanews.com/africa/cameroons-separatists-intensify-attacks-protest-dialogue

VOA News (2020, April 9) Cameroon's Separatists Relaunch Attacks to Reject State Reconstruction Plan, Voice of America, https://www.voanews.com/africa/cameroons-separatists-relaunch-attacks-reject-state-reconstruction-plan

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
The Anglophone Crisis or the Ambazonia War refers to the civil war in the Southern Cameroons. It is a part of the long-standing Anglophone problem in Cameroon (Journal du Cameroun 2018). In 2016-2017, Ambazonian separatists in the Anglophone parts of the Northwest and Southwest region ("Southern Cameroons") launched a guerrilla campaign against the Cameroonian security forces after a series of protests were suppressed (Quartz Africa 2018). Following this campaign, they proclaimed the restoration of independence. However, in 2017, the Cameroonian government declared war on the separatists and sent its army to the Anglophone regions (Journal du Cameroun 2019).

It first began as a low-scale insurgency. However, by Summer 2019, the government controlled the major cities and countryside regions, and the Ambazonian separatists held parts of the countryside, and regularly sought to establish their presence in the major cities (Crisis Group 2019). There were attempts at dialogue (Journal du Cameroun 2019), and the Anglophone region was also given special status (Reuters 2019). However, the war intensified by the end of 2019 (VOA 2019).

By 2020, the frontlines had been clearly drawn. Cameroon raided the towns and villages under the separatists' control (Fodors 2020), and tried to secure control over the major urban areas (Crisis Group 2019). The parliamentary elections escalated the conflict further, as the separatists sought to reassert themselves strongly (VOA 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic motivated one armed group to declare a ceasefire: but the war continued with the government ignoring calls to adhere to a ceasefire, too. Under international pressure for a ceasefire, dialogue began again in July 2020, where the government began to negotiate with the separatist leaders it had imprisoned. However, the war continued into 2021, and continues as at the time of writing. The war has resulted in massive casualties - with anywhere between 3,000 and 10,000 people having been killed (CHRDA 2019). By May 2019, 530,000 people had been internally displaced and 35,000 had fled to Nigeria (Crisis Group 2019), and by June 2019, according to the UNICEF, 1.3 million people in the Anglophone regions needed humanitarian aid (UNICEF 2019).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
The UN had documented over 4,300 cases of sexual and gender-based violence in Cameroon between February and December 2020 (Mwakideu 2021). Of these, almost half the cases involved sexual or physical assault or rape, and in over 30 percent of those cases, the victims were children. Perpetrators of sexual violence include the armed separatists, military personnel, and civilians alike. In 2019, the UN had documented only 1,065 cases, 289 of which involved sexual assault or rape (Craig 2021). According to Human Rights Watch, at least 20 women in Ebam village in the Southwest region were raped by Cameroonian security forces in an attack on March 1, 2020 (Craig 2021).
Basis of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence has been used to intimidate and threaten women. There are instances where women have been falsely accused of a crime, and then forced to offer sexual favours so she can be released (Mwakideu 2021). The state of lawlessness and the breakdown of security sector machinery serves as an enabling environment for the targeting of women with sexual violence (Craig 2021). The rising poverty, homelessness, and widespread closures of businesses and schools have also contributed to the increase in sexual violence in the conflict-hit parts of Cameroon (Craig 2021). Sexual violence has also been used to control territories. Once the military settles in an area, they exert control over the area - including by carrying out sexual violence targeting women and girls in the territory under their control. In some instances, sexual violence has also been used to deliberately target women and girls for their purported or actual political affiliations.
Reference

Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA) (2019, June 3) Cameroon-unfolding catastrophe' evidence of human rights violations and crimes against humanity, https://www.raoulwallenbergcentre.org/newsfeed/2019/6/4/release-of-landmark-report-on-unfolding-catastrophe-in-cameroon

Craig, Jess (2021, April 29) Al Jazeera, "Sexual violence pervasive in Cameroon's Anglophone regions" https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/29/gender-based-violence-pervasive-in-cameroons-anglophone-regions

Crisis Group (2019, May 2) Cameroon's Anglophone Crisis: How to Get to Talks? https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/central-africa/cameroon/272-crise-anglophone-au-cameroun-comment-arriver-aux-pourparlers

Fodors, (2020, September 23) I Traveled Deep Into Conflict to Bury My Grandfather. I Returned Slightly Charmed, https://www.fodors.com/world/africa-and-middle-east/experiences/news/i-traveled-deep-into-conflict-to-bury-my-grandfather-i-returned-slightly-charmed

Journal du Cameroun (2019, June 28) Cameroon: Ambazonia leaders endorse Swiss-led dialogue to solve Anglophone crisis, https://www.journalducameroun.com/en/cameroon-ambazonia-leaders-agree-to-participate-in-swiss-led-dialogue/

Journal du Cameroun (2018, May 28) 'Ambazonia War' drowns SDF 28th Anniversary Journal du Cameroun, https://www.journalducameroun.com/en/ambazonia-war-drowns-sdf-28th-anniversary/

Mwakideu, Chrispin (2021, May 19) Sexual violence rampant as Cameroon's Anglophone crisis intensifies https://www.dw.com/en/sexual-violence-rampant-as-cameroons-anglophone-crisis-intensifies/a-57581115

Quartz Africa (2018, January 14) Cameroon's Anglophone crisis is threatening to spin out of control, https://qz.com/1179202/cameroons-anglophone-crisis-is-threatening-to-spin-out-of-control/

Reuters (2019, December 20) Cameroon grants special status to Anglophone regions, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cameroon-separatists-lawmaking/cameroon-grants-special-status-to-anglophone-regions-idUSKBN1YO24S

UNICEF (2019, June 21) Geneva Palais briefing note on the situation for children in the North-West and South-West regions of Cameroon, https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/geneva-palais-briefing-note-situation-children-north-west-and-south-west-regions

VOA News (2019, September 24) Cameroon's Separatists Intensify Attacks to Protest Dialogue, Voice of America, https://www.voanews.com/africa/cameroons-separatists-intensify-attacks-protest-dialogue

VOA News (2020, April 9) Cameroon's Separatists Relaunch Attacks to Reject State Reconstruction Plan, Voice of America, https://www.voanews.com/africa/cameroons-separatists-relaunch-attacks-reject-state-reconstruction-plan

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CRSV: Anglophone Conflict in Cameroon - The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

# data[].attributes.headline
South Africa during Apartheid (1948-1990)

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South Africa during Apartheid (1948-1990)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Large-scale Sexual Violence: South Africa during the Apartheid Era — The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
The roots of the Colombian conflict go back to La Violencia, which followed the assassination of liberal political leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitan in 1948 and the anti-communist repression in rural Colombia in the 1960s (Leech 2009). The latter incident motivated liberal and communist militants to form the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) (Murillo and Avirama 2004).

The Colombian conflict began on May 27, 1964 and has remained a low-intensity, asymmetric war between the government of Colombia, far-right paramilitary groups, various crime syndicates and far-left guerrilla groups like the FARC, the National Liberation Army (ELN), and the Popular Liberation Army (EPL). These groups are engaged in battle among one another to gain greater influence in the country (Crisis Group 2014). International actors such as multinational corporations, Cuba, the United States of America, and the drug trafficking industry have also contributed to the conflict.

While all agents are involved in the armed conflict for greater influence, each is motivated by different reasons and factors. The FARC and several guerrilla movements contend that they are fighting for the rights of the poor in Colombia and to protect them from government violence, and that they intend to pursue social justice through communism. The Colombian government contends that it is fighting for stability and the protection of its citizens' rights and interests. Most paramilitary groups claim to be reacting to the threat of the guerrilla movements.

The conflict has claimed 220,000 lives between 1958 and 2013, most of whom are civilians (Historical Memory Group 2013). It has displaced over 5 million civilians, and has generated the world's second-largest population of internally-displaced persons (Historical Memory Group 2013). On June 23, 2016, the Colombian Government and the FARC rebels signed a historic ceasefire deal that took the battling sides a step closer toward ending nearly five decades of conflict (Maaß and Pilz, 2016). However, the deal was rejected in a plebiscite that was conducted in October. A revised deal was signed in the month that followed, and was unanimously approved by the Congress and House of Representatives.
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence was used as a weapon of war by all the armed groups involved in the armed conflict - be that state military forces, paramilitaries, or guerrilla groups (Oxfam 2009). It was one of the major causes of forced displacement, with 2 out of 10 women being forced to flee particular regions or the country itself, because of sexual violence (Oxfam 2009). While there has been no official registry to collect data on the number of women and children who have been victims of sexual violence in the Colombian conflict, there have been a few efforts to identify statistical records. According to the campaign 'Rape and Other Violence: Leave my Body out of the War,' which studied the situation in Colombia from 2001 to 2009, found that on average, 54,410 women per year had faced conflict-related sexual violence in Colombia. There were high instances of child prostitution and sex trafficking, as well (US Office on Colombia, ABColombia, and Sisma Mujer n.d.).
Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence was used as a means of social control, particularly by paramilitary groups (US Office on Colombia, ABColombia, and Sisma Mujer n.d.). It was deployed as a means of torture and punishment, targeting womenbelonging to any of the opposing sides, or perceived as belonging to opposing sides. It was also used to terrorize communities and achieve military objectives. In many instances, sexual violence and rape were used to exact or intimidation to terrorize the enemy. It was also oftentimes correlated with economic interests in the region - large-scale mining, agribusiness, and drug trafficking - wherein the number of incidents rose when soldiers were brought in to protect mega-projects or where military presence was high. Several women and girls were also subject to sexual slavery by the guerrillas, where women and girls were forcibly recruited to render sexual services to the combatants (US Office on Colombia, ABColombia, and Sisma Mujer n.d.). On many occasions, sexual violence was used by guerrilla groups to recruit women as combatants (IACHR. n.d.).It was used as a means to control natural resources and territories, where women were subject to sexual violence as a means of dehumanizing her and her family and community, so the perpetrators could control their land or resources (IACHR. n.d.).
Legal Redress
In order to provide administrative reparations to the millions of victims of the armed conflict, in 2011 the Colombian government created Law 1448, also called the Victims and Land Restitution Law. It established a mixed-reparations policy, combining land restitution through the courts and a bureaucratic reparations mechanism (Flisi 2016). By 2015, over 5,500 victims of sexual violence had been financially compensated and 1,600 had participated in the Victim Unit's psychological recovery program. In 2014, Law 1719/2014, titled Access to Justice and Other Matters for Victims of Sexual Violence and Especially of Sexual Violence Related to the Armed Conflict was passed - it expanded the definition of sexual violence and identified a range of other forms of sexual assault aside from rape and violent sexual intercourse. Despite the progress achieved, the implementation remains uneven (Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict n.d.). Colombia's National Centre for Historical Memory has identified 15,079 victims of sexual violence, of whom just over half were under 18 at the time of offence - although it notes that actual numbers may be far higher, given the stigma around reportage (Thomson Reuters Foundation 2017). According to the Centre, most cases have gone unpunished.
References

"War and Drugs in Colombia - International Crisis Group". Crisisgroup.org. http:/www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/latin-america-caribbean/andes/colombia/011-war-and-drugs-in-colombia.aspx?alt_lang=es

Garry Leech (2009). Beyond Bogota: Diary of a Drug War Journalist. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

Gregor Maaß; Mario Pilz (July 23, 2016). "Returning to everyday life". D+C/Development+Cooperation. http://www.dandc.eu/en/article/study-identifies-measures-reintegrate-victims-colombias-civil-war-everyday-life

Historical Memory Group (2013). "Enough Already!" Colombia: Memories of War and Dignity (PDF) (in Spanish). The National Center for Historical Memory's (NCHM).

IACHR. (n.d.) Violence And Discrimination Against Women In The Armed Conflict In Colombia Violence And Discrimination Against Women In The Armed Conflict In Colombia. www.cidh.oas.org/women/Colombia06eng/part3co.htm

Isabella Flisi (2016). Reparations for Wartime Sexual Violence: Colombia's Ambitious Program. https://www.passblue.com/2016/07/18/reparations-for-wartime-sexual-violence-in-colombia-moving-past-good-enough/

Mario A. Murillo; Jesús Rey Avirama (2004). Colombia and the United States: war, unrest, and destabilization. Seven Stories Press.

Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict (n.d.) Colombia. https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/countries/colombia/

Oxfam Briefing Paper: Sexual violence in Colombia (September 8, 2009) https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/114593/bp-sexual-violence-colombia-090909-en.pdf

Thomson Reuters Foundation. 2017. Colombia's war-time rape victims silenced and without justice - report. https://reliefweb.int/report/colombia/colombias-war-time-rape-victims-silenced-and-without-justice-report

US Office on Colombia, ABColombia, and Sisma Mujer (n.d.). "Colombia: Women, ConflictRelated Sexual Violence and the Peace Process." https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/ABColombia_Conflict_related_sexual_violence_report.pdf

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
The roots of the Colombian conflict go back to La Violencia, which followed the assassination of liberal political leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitan in 1948 and the anti-communist repression in rural Colombia in the 1960s (Leech 2009). The latter incident motivated liberal and communist militants to form the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) (Murillo and Avirama 2004).

The Colombian conflict began on May 27, 1964 and has remained a low-intensity, asymmetric war between the government of Colombia, far-right paramilitary groups, various crime syndicates and far-left guerrilla groups like the FARC, the National Liberation Army (ELN), and the Popular Liberation Army (EPL). These groups are engaged in battle among one another to gain greater influence in the country (Crisis Group 2014). International actors such as multinational corporations, Cuba, the United States of America, and the drug trafficking industry have also contributed to the conflict.

While all agents are involved in the armed conflict for greater influence, each is motivated by different reasons and factors. The FARC and several guerrilla movements contend that they are fighting for the rights of the poor in Colombia and to protect them from government violence, and that they intend to pursue social justice through communism. The Colombian government contends that it is fighting for stability and the protection of its citizens' rights and interests. Most paramilitary groups claim to be reacting to the threat of the guerrilla movements.

The conflict has claimed 220,000 lives between 1958 and 2013, most of whom are civilians (Historical Memory Group 2013). It has displaced over 5 million civilians, and has generated the world's second-largest population of internally-displaced persons (Historical Memory Group 2013). On June 23, 2016, the Colombian Government and the FARC rebels signed a historic ceasefire deal that took the battling sides a step closer toward ending nearly five decades of conflict (Maaß and Pilz, 2016). However, the deal was rejected in a plebiscite that was conducted in October. A revised deal was signed in the month that followed, and was unanimously approved by the Congress and House of Representatives.
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence was used as a weapon of war by all the armed groups involved in the armed conflict - be that state military forces, paramilitaries, or guerrilla groups (Oxfam 2009). It was one of the major causes of forced displacement, with 2 out of 10 women being forced to flee particular regions or the country itself, because of sexual violence (Oxfam 2009). While there has been no official registry to collect data on the number of women and children who have been victims of sexual violence in the Colombian conflict, there have been a few efforts to identify statistical records. According to the campaign 'Rape and Other Violence: Leave my Body out of the War,' which studied the situation in Colombia from 2001 to 2009, found that on average, 54,410 women per year had faced conflict-related sexual violence in Colombia. There were high instances of child prostitution and sex trafficking, as well (US Office on Colombia, ABColombia, and Sisma Mujer n.d.).
Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence was used as a means of social control, particularly by paramilitary groups (US Office on Colombia, ABColombia, and Sisma Mujer n.d.). It was deployed as a means of torture and punishment, targeting womenbelonging to any of the opposing sides, or perceived as belonging to opposing sides. It was also used to terrorize communities and achieve military objectives. In many instances, sexual violence and rape were used to exact or intimidation to terrorize the enemy. It was also oftentimes correlated with economic interests in the region - large-scale mining, agribusiness, and drug trafficking - wherein the number of incidents rose when soldiers were brought in to protect mega-projects or where military presence was high. Several women and girls were also subject to sexual slavery by the guerrillas, where women and girls were forcibly recruited to render sexual services to the combatants (US Office on Colombia, ABColombia, and Sisma Mujer n.d.). On many occasions, sexual violence was used by guerrilla groups to recruit women as combatants (IACHR. n.d.).It was used as a means to control natural resources and territories, where women were subject to sexual violence as a means of dehumanizing her and her family and community, so the perpetrators could control their land or resources (IACHR. n.d.).
Legal Redress
In order to provide administrative reparations to the millions of victims of the armed conflict, in 2011 the Colombian government created Law 1448, also called the Victims and Land Restitution Law. It established a mixed-reparations policy, combining land restitution through the courts and a bureaucratic reparations mechanism (Flisi 2016). By 2015, over 5,500 victims of sexual violence had been financially compensated and 1,600 had participated in the Victim Unit's psychological recovery program. In 2014, Law 1719/2014, titled Access to Justice and Other Matters for Victims of Sexual Violence and Especially of Sexual Violence Related to the Armed Conflict was passed - it expanded the definition of sexual violence and identified a range of other forms of sexual assault aside from rape and violent sexual intercourse. Despite the progress achieved, the implementation remains uneven (Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict n.d.). Colombia's National Centre for Historical Memory has identified 15,079 victims of sexual violence, of whom just over half were under 18 at the time of offence - although it notes that actual numbers may be far higher, given the stigma around reportage (Thomson Reuters Foundation 2017). According to the Centre, most cases have gone unpunished.
References

"War and Drugs in Colombia - International Crisis Group". Crisisgroup.org. http:/www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/latin-america-caribbean/andes/colombia/011-war-and-drugs-in-colombia.aspx?alt_lang=es

Garry Leech (2009). Beyond Bogota: Diary of a Drug War Journalist. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

Gregor Maaß; Mario Pilz (July 23, 2016). "Returning to everyday life". D+C/Development+Cooperation. http://www.dandc.eu/en/article/study-identifies-measures-reintegrate-victims-colombias-civil-war-everyday-life

Historical Memory Group (2013). "Enough Already!" Colombia: Memories of War and Dignity (PDF) (in Spanish). The National Center for Historical Memory's (NCHM).

IACHR. (n.d.) Violence And Discrimination Against Women In The Armed Conflict In Colombia Violence And Discrimination Against Women In The Armed Conflict In Colombia. www.cidh.oas.org/women/Colombia06eng/part3co.htm

Isabella Flisi (2016). Reparations for Wartime Sexual Violence: Colombia's Ambitious Program. https://www.passblue.com/2016/07/18/reparations-for-wartime-sexual-violence-in-colombia-moving-past-good-enough/

Mario A. Murillo; Jesús Rey Avirama (2004). Colombia and the United States: war, unrest, and destabilization. Seven Stories Press.

Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict (n.d.) Colombia. https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/countries/colombia/

Oxfam Briefing Paper: Sexual violence in Colombia (September 8, 2009) https://oxfamilibrary.openrepository.com/bitstream/handle/10546/114593/bp-sexual-violence-colombia-090909-en.pdf

Thomson Reuters Foundation. 2017. Colombia's war-time rape victims silenced and without justice - report. https://reliefweb.int/report/colombia/colombias-war-time-rape-victims-silenced-and-without-justice-report

US Office on Colombia, ABColombia, and Sisma Mujer (n.d.). "Colombia: Women, ConflictRelated Sexual Violence and the Peace Process." https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/ABColombia_Conflict_related_sexual_violence_report.pdf

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CRSV: Colombian Conflict - The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the conflict:
Conflicts in Vietnam began as early as in 1887, with the French colonizing the region and renaming it French Indochina (Vietnam War Timeline, 2013; Vietnam War, 2009). During World War II, armed forces from Japan invaded Vietnam, resulting in trained communist agent and ally of the Soviet Uninon, Ho Chi Minh, creating the Indochinese Communist Party and subsequently the Viet Minh organization, to liberate Vietnam from Japan and French rule. As a result of their defeat in the Second World War, Japan withdrew its troops. However, the French continued to try to seize administrational rule of the territory. In 1954, the French lost the battle to the Viet Minh, leading to the geographical division of the area into North Vietnam, governed by Ho Chi Minh and South Vietnam, controlled by the French emporer Bao Dai (Vietnam War Timeline, 2013; Vietnam War, 2009).

At the same time, the Cold War between the United States of America and the Soviet Union unfolded (Vietnam War Timeline, 2013; Vietnam War, 2009). During this time, the Soviet Union turned to Eastern nations, and the US introduced the Truman Doctrine, a strategy initiated to inhibit the spread of communistic principles across nations (Cold War, 2021). China and the Soviets supported North Vietnam's efforts to spread communism through military and economic supply. The US, afraid that the transition of a single South Asian country into a communist nation would lead to a pattern of such conversions from neighbouring states, established military troops in support of South Vietnam's cause. This led to a full blown war between North and South Vietnam (Vietnam War Timeline, 2013; Vietnam War, 2009).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Sexual abuse perpetrated by American soldiers during the war was a common, almost everyday affair. While most instances of rape and sexual violence in the Vietnam war by all actors targeting Vietnamese civilians have not been documented, the trend is slowly changing (Weaver, 2006). Crowded zones with more civilian groups reported more instances of rape and sexual violence. Common forms of violence against women during the war included rape (especially gang rape), assaults, kidnapping, mutilations, and murders. Regrettably, minimal numbers were convicted for these crimes and only a few survivors testified later (Anderson, 2020).

Formal reports were especially rare because most victims were executed afterwards, and several others were unlikely to report such incidents to the American military (Brownmiller, 1975). In February 1971, the Vietnam Veterans Against the War hosted the Winter Soldier Investigation, in which 109 Vietnam veterans gave testimony about the atrocities they had witnessed overseas, of which 14 spoke explicitly about rape, and many reported witnessing or participating in several instances of assault against Vietnamese women (Anderson, 2020; Brownmiller, 1975).

Anderson (2020) also explains: "Existing statistics are conflicting, but American military records show that rape was a facet of the war, albeit vastly underreported. US Army court martial statistics show that from January 1965 to January 1973, 38 servicemen were tried for rape and 24 were convicted. Five men were tried for rape and assault as a combined charge and only three were convicted. Eight were tried for assault and attempt to commit rape and four were convicted. For the Marine Corps, only 13 marines were convicted of rape between 1970 and 1973. In the Navy, only two. These records seem to conflict with other characterizations by veterans and observers who say that rape was common in their experience. Underreporting rape was common on the part of both Vietnamese women and servicemen, but these records still show that sexual violence was a part of the war."
Strategic use of sexual violence
Sexual violence was used as a fear tactic to obtain information on the enemy. It was used to instill fear among Vietnamese women who played significant roles in the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army. It was also used to warn opposing forces by humiliating women for their political standpoints. The absence of reporting and redress mechanisms paved the way for a culture of impunity, as members of the armed forces were aware that their acts would not be reported to their seniors (Zipfel, 2013). It was used to terrorize, intimidate, and target women. There were also several instances of opportunistic sexual violence.
References

Anderson, E. (2020, May 13). An everyday affair: Violence against women during the Vietnam war [Plan II honours program, The University of Texas at Austin].https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/84235/andersonelizabeth_Thesis_AnEverdayAffair_2020%20%281%29.pdf?sequence=2

Brownmiller, Susan. (1975). Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape (New York: Fawcett Books, 1975).

Cold War. (2021, August 04).In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War

History. (2009, October 29). Vietnam war. https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-history

History. (2017, September 13). Vietnam war timeline. https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-timeline

Weaver, M.G. (2006). Ideaologies of forgetting: American erasure of women's sexual trauma in the Vietnam war [Doctor of Philosophy, Rice University].https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/20667/3256763.PDF?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Zipfel, G. (2013). "Let us have a little fun": The relationship between gender, violence, and sexuality in armed conflict situations. RCCS Annual Review, 5. Retrieved from https://journals.openedition.org/rccsar/469

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the conflict:
Conflicts in Vietnam began as early as in 1887, with the French colonizing the region and renaming it French Indochina (Vietnam War Timeline, 2013; Vietnam War, 2009). During World War II, armed forces from Japan invaded Vietnam, resulting in trained communist agent and ally of the Soviet Uninon, Ho Chi Minh, creating the Indochinese Communist Party and subsequently the Viet Minh organization, to liberate Vietnam from Japan and French rule. As a result of their defeat in the Second World War, Japan withdrew its troops. However, the French continued to try to seize administrational rule of the territory. In 1954, the French lost the battle to the Viet Minh, leading to the geographical division of the area into North Vietnam, governed by Ho Chi Minh and South Vietnam, controlled by the French emporer Bao Dai (Vietnam War Timeline, 2013; Vietnam War, 2009).

At the same time, the Cold War between the United States of America and the Soviet Union unfolded (Vietnam War Timeline, 2013; Vietnam War, 2009). During this time, the Soviet Union turned to Eastern nations, and the US introduced the Truman Doctrine, a strategy initiated to inhibit the spread of communistic principles across nations (Cold War, 2021). China and the Soviets supported North Vietnam's efforts to spread communism through military and economic supply. The US, afraid that the transition of a single South Asian country into a communist nation would lead to a pattern of such conversions from neighbouring states, established military troops in support of South Vietnam's cause. This led to a full blown war between North and South Vietnam (Vietnam War Timeline, 2013; Vietnam War, 2009).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Sexual abuse perpetrated by American soldiers during the war was a common, almost everyday affair. While most instances of rape and sexual violence in the Vietnam war by all actors targeting Vietnamese civilians have not been documented, the trend is slowly changing (Weaver, 2006). Crowded zones with more civilian groups reported more instances of rape and sexual violence. Common forms of violence against women during the war included rape (especially gang rape), assaults, kidnapping, mutilations, and murders. Regrettably, minimal numbers were convicted for these crimes and only a few survivors testified later (Anderson, 2020).

Formal reports were especially rare because most victims were executed afterwards, and several others were unlikely to report such incidents to the American military (Brownmiller, 1975). In February 1971, the Vietnam Veterans Against the War hosted the Winter Soldier Investigation, in which 109 Vietnam veterans gave testimony about the atrocities they had witnessed overseas, of which 14 spoke explicitly about rape, and many reported witnessing or participating in several instances of assault against Vietnamese women (Anderson, 2020; Brownmiller, 1975).

Anderson (2020) also explains: "Existing statistics are conflicting, but American military records show that rape was a facet of the war, albeit vastly underreported. US Army court martial statistics show that from January 1965 to January 1973, 38 servicemen were tried for rape and 24 were convicted. Five men were tried for rape and assault as a combined charge and only three were convicted. Eight were tried for assault and attempt to commit rape and four were convicted. For the Marine Corps, only 13 marines were convicted of rape between 1970 and 1973. In the Navy, only two. These records seem to conflict with other characterizations by veterans and observers who say that rape was common in their experience. Underreporting rape was common on the part of both Vietnamese women and servicemen, but these records still show that sexual violence was a part of the war."
Strategic use of sexual violence
Sexual violence was used as a fear tactic to obtain information on the enemy. It was used to instill fear among Vietnamese women who played significant roles in the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army. It was also used to warn opposing forces by humiliating women for their political standpoints. The absence of reporting and redress mechanisms paved the way for a culture of impunity, as members of the armed forces were aware that their acts would not be reported to their seniors (Zipfel, 2013). It was used to terrorize, intimidate, and target women. There were also several instances of opportunistic sexual violence.
References

Anderson, E. (2020, May 13). An everyday affair: Violence against women during the Vietnam war [Plan II honours program, The University of Texas at Austin].https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/84235/andersonelizabeth_Thesis_AnEverdayAffair_2020%20%281%29.pdf?sequence=2

Brownmiller, Susan. (1975). Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape (New York: Fawcett Books, 1975).

Cold War. (2021, August 04).In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War

History. (2009, October 29). Vietnam war. https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-history

History. (2017, September 13). Vietnam war timeline. https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-timeline

Weaver, M.G. (2006). Ideaologies of forgetting: American erasure of women's sexual trauma in the Vietnam war [Doctor of Philosophy, Rice University].https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/20667/3256763.PDF?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Zipfel, G. (2013). "Let us have a little fun": The relationship between gender, violence, and sexuality in armed conflict situations. RCCS Annual Review, 5. Retrieved from https://journals.openedition.org/rccsar/469

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CRSV: Vietnam War - The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
The term Marocchinate is used to refer to mass rape and murders committed during World War II, after the Battle of Monte Cassino, in Italy (Baris, 2007). These crimes were mainly committed by Moroccan Goumiers, the colonial troops of the French Expeditionary Corps. Commanded by General Alphonse Juin, these crimes mainly targeted civilian women and girls, and a few men and boys, in rural areas around Naples and Rome, Lazio, and the Ciociaria. During this time, mass rapes continued to take place across most parts of Tuscany.

The Goumiers were irregular troops that constituted the Goums Marocains, or company-sized units that grouped in battalions and regiments. There were regular Moroccan troops in Italy, too, but they were often held under tighter discipline, under a larger number of officers. On May 14, 1944, the Goumiers set out to help the British XIII Corps of the Eighth Army to break the Gustav Line and proceed onward to the Hitler Line. Some reports suggest that General Alphonse Juin called for his troops to be "absolute masters" of what they would "find beyond the enemy," saying that no one would punish them for what they would do or ask them what they were doing (DVAC, n.d.).

Monte Cassino was captured by the Allies on May 18, 1944. The night after that, thousands of Goumiers and a few other colonial troops scoured the towns and villages in the region - and it was on this night that sexual violence and rape took place.
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
According to several Italian victims' associations, such as the Associazione Nazionale Vittime delle Marocchinate, as many as 60,000 women aged between 11 and 86 years were targeted with violence, as the Goumiers moved from one village to the next. They also suggested that over 7,000 civilians including children were raped by Goumiers. Baris (2007) indicated that 12,000 women were raped, as quoted by the Communist Women's Organization, Unione Donne Italiane.According to the Italian Ministry of Defense, around 2,000 to 3,000 women were targeted (The Telegraph, 1997). However, incomplete reports and inadequate documentation makes a precise number impossible (Baris 2007). According to the Mayor of Esperia, in Frosinone, 700 women (out of a total of 2500 inhabitants) were raped (Studi Cassinati n.d.).
Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
Though there are claims calling in question the official sanction for such crimes, the absence of sufficient documentation, the number of incidents and the manner in which they were carried out suggest a deliberate motive permitting such conduct. Rape and sexual violence appear to have been used to target civilian populations with violence, and to intimidate, humiliate, and terrorize civilian populations in the regions they entered. It may have also been carried out with the intent to destroy the social fabric of the enemy, to assert dominance and affirm power after entering the region as the Allied powers. The absence of any accountability mechanism - and possibly official sanction with the possibility of a promise of immunity for those involved - may have paved the way for systemic sanction for opportunistic rape.
Legal redress
A total of 207 soldiers were tried for sexual violence. However, 39 were acquitted for lack of evidence, and 28 soldiers who were caught in the act were executed (Tortolici 2005). In January 1947, France also authorized the payment of compensation to as many as 1,488 victims of sexual violence for crimes committed by French colonial troops (Tortolici 2005). However, the Italian government gathered information on the victims until 1944, but by December 1948, although 30,000 cases were submitted, funds were scarce as Italy had to pay France war indemnities. The incident also became a bone of contention between Italy and France, and obstructed the restoration of diplomatic relations (Patriarca 2018). Thus, Italy rejected several claims for compensation on the ground that victims had to prove permanent physical damage to claim compensation (Holland 2008).
References

Baris, Tommaso. (2007). The French Expeditionary Corps in Italy - Violence of the "liberators" during the summer of 1944. Cairn International Edition.

DVAC (n.d.) War Crimes in Ciociaria. http://www.dalvolturnoacassino.it/asp/doc.asp?where=Lettura&id=019

Holland, James (2008). Italy's Sorrow - A year of war, 1944-45. London: Harper Press.

Patriarca, Eliane (2018). La colpa dei vincitori. Edizioni Piemme.

Studi Cassinati, "Parliamentary Acts Chamber of Deputies, Night Sitting." April 7, 1952 www.cassino2000.com/cdsc/studi/archivio/n07/n07p09.html

The Telegraph, Issue 716, May 11, 1997

Tortolici, C. Beatrice (2005). Violenza e dintorni. Armando Editore.

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
The term Marocchinate is used to refer to mass rape and murders committed during World War II, after the Battle of Monte Cassino, in Italy (Baris, 2007). These crimes were mainly committed by Moroccan Goumiers, the colonial troops of the French Expeditionary Corps. Commanded by General Alphonse Juin, these crimes mainly targeted civilian women and girls, and a few men and boys, in rural areas around Naples and Rome, Lazio, and the Ciociaria. During this time, mass rapes continued to take place across most parts of Tuscany.

The Goumiers were irregular troops that constituted the Goums Marocains, or company-sized units that grouped in battalions and regiments. There were regular Moroccan troops in Italy, too, but they were often held under tighter discipline, under a larger number of officers. On May 14, 1944, the Goumiers set out to help the British XIII Corps of the Eighth Army to break the Gustav Line and proceed onward to the Hitler Line. Some reports suggest that General Alphonse Juin called for his troops to be "absolute masters" of what they would "find beyond the enemy," saying that no one would punish them for what they would do or ask them what they were doing (DVAC, n.d.).

Monte Cassino was captured by the Allies on May 18, 1944. The night after that, thousands of Goumiers and a few other colonial troops scoured the towns and villages in the region - and it was on this night that sexual violence and rape took place.
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
According to several Italian victims' associations, such as the Associazione Nazionale Vittime delle Marocchinate, as many as 60,000 women aged between 11 and 86 years were targeted with violence, as the Goumiers moved from one village to the next. They also suggested that over 7,000 civilians including children were raped by Goumiers. Baris (2007) indicated that 12,000 women were raped, as quoted by the Communist Women's Organization, Unione Donne Italiane.According to the Italian Ministry of Defense, around 2,000 to 3,000 women were targeted (The Telegraph, 1997). However, incomplete reports and inadequate documentation makes a precise number impossible (Baris 2007). According to the Mayor of Esperia, in Frosinone, 700 women (out of a total of 2500 inhabitants) were raped (Studi Cassinati n.d.).
Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
Though there are claims calling in question the official sanction for such crimes, the absence of sufficient documentation, the number of incidents and the manner in which they were carried out suggest a deliberate motive permitting such conduct. Rape and sexual violence appear to have been used to target civilian populations with violence, and to intimidate, humiliate, and terrorize civilian populations in the regions they entered. It may have also been carried out with the intent to destroy the social fabric of the enemy, to assert dominance and affirm power after entering the region as the Allied powers. The absence of any accountability mechanism - and possibly official sanction with the possibility of a promise of immunity for those involved - may have paved the way for systemic sanction for opportunistic rape.
Legal redress
A total of 207 soldiers were tried for sexual violence. However, 39 were acquitted for lack of evidence, and 28 soldiers who were caught in the act were executed (Tortolici 2005). In January 1947, France also authorized the payment of compensation to as many as 1,488 victims of sexual violence for crimes committed by French colonial troops (Tortolici 2005). However, the Italian government gathered information on the victims until 1944, but by December 1948, although 30,000 cases were submitted, funds were scarce as Italy had to pay France war indemnities. The incident also became a bone of contention between Italy and France, and obstructed the restoration of diplomatic relations (Patriarca 2018). Thus, Italy rejected several claims for compensation on the ground that victims had to prove permanent physical damage to claim compensation (Holland 2008).
References

Baris, Tommaso. (2007). The French Expeditionary Corps in Italy - Violence of the "liberators" during the summer of 1944. Cairn International Edition.

DVAC (n.d.) War Crimes in Ciociaria. http://www.dalvolturnoacassino.it/asp/doc.asp?where=Lettura&id=019

Holland, James (2008). Italy's Sorrow - A year of war, 1944-45. London: Harper Press.

Patriarca, Eliane (2018). La colpa dei vincitori. Edizioni Piemme.

Studi Cassinati, "Parliamentary Acts Chamber of Deputies, Night Sitting." April 7, 1952 www.cassino2000.com/cdsc/studi/archivio/n07/n07p09.html

The Telegraph, Issue 716, May 11, 1997

Tortolici, C. Beatrice (2005). Violenza e dintorni. Armando Editore.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CRSV: Marocchinate - The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
During the US-backed Indonesian invasion and occupation of East Timor, the Indonesian New Order Government implemented "pacification campaigns" targeting the people of East Timor (Blakely 2009). The invasion began in August 1975 and continued thereafter. The Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) carried out large-scale massacres of Timorese citizens. Within the first two days of the invasion of Dili alone, over 2,000 Timorese were massacred. This continued throughout the rest of 1975. In February 1976, Indonesia captured other villages and parts of East Timor, and either drove out the forces and the population, or gunned down large swathes of the population (Payaslian 2019).

In March 1977 ex-Australian consul James Dunn reported that the Indonesian forces had killed between 50,000 and 100,000 civilians in East Timor (NSA 2005). The FRETELIN and its armed wing, FALINTIL, waged guerrilla warfare against the TNI as a resistance movement. In 1981-1982, the TNI launched a military operation called Operasi Keamanan and forcibly marched about 50,000 to 80,000 Timorese men and boys as human shields. In 1983, it launched Operation Clean Sweep, which included massacres, summary executions, and forced disappearances. In 1991, the Santa Cruz massacre took place, where Indonesian forces fired on pro-independence marchers, and killed up to 270 people.

Following the large-scale destruction and mass killings, many people were forced to leave their homes in the hills and surrender to the TNI. When they surrendered, they were often executed. Those that were not executed were sent to receiving centres where they were interrogated and killed if they were suspected of being members of the resistance.
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence was used as part of the genocidal campaign. As the TNI invaded and progressed into the Timorese territory, aside from opening fire indiscriminately, they also raped women and children (Ramos-Horta 1987, p. 108). Rape and sexual violence were commonly used as strategic approaches both during their invasions and attacks, and during the interrogation of women. Accurate records of the number of incidents remain absent because women had no route to report the violence under military occupation, and stigmatization silenced them (Aditjondro 1998).

Women were raped, faced sexual violence and harassment, intimidation, torture, forced marriage, and forced sterilization and contraceptive. As Bishop Belo (2001) wrote: "Up to 3,000 died in 1999, untold numbers of women were raped and 500,000 persons displaced-100,000 are yet to return." An unverifiable number of Timorese women and girls were abducted, raped, and impregnated by Indonesian solders; often kept captive and enslaved; and later rejected by their families (Harris-Rimmer 2009). An even more acute form of gender-based violence occurred during the post-referendum violence of 1999: the systematic rape of Timorese women and girls in the context of their forced deportation to West Timorese camps (UN Special Rapporteur 1999).
Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence was strategically used by the military as a form of targeting women who joined the resistance themselves, or whose family members or friends supported the call for independence. It was also used as a means to target women in order to force their colleagues, relatives, and friends out of hiding (UN Special Rapporteur 1999), or to identify their whereabouts. Sexual violence, rape, torture, and intimidation were used as techniques to extract confessions during detention, particularly around engagement in the resistance and disclosure of the whereabouts of other agents engaging in the resistance. In several cases, rape and sexual violence were used as a means to intimidate and punish women for either participating or deterring them from participating in the resistance. In some instances, women were forcibly married to the troops after which they were detained and harassed on a daily basis. In this context, rape and sexual violence were used to humiliate and shame women for participating in the resistance, and for their ethnic identity as Timorese women.
References

Aditjondro, George. "The Silent Suffering of Our Timorese Sisters". Free East Timor: Australia's Culpability in East Timor's Genocide. Random House Milsons Point: Australia Pty Ltd, 1998.

Belo, Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes. 2001. 'To Forge a Future, Timor Needs Justice for the Past.' Sydney Morning Herald. 28 August.

Blakeley, Ruth (2009). State Terrorism and Neoliberalism: The North in the South. Routledge.

Harris-Rimmer, S. (2009). After the guns fall silent: Sexual and gender-based violence in Timor-Leste. Issue brief. Timor-Leste Armed Violence Assessment (TLAVA). Issue Brief, (5). https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/143628/Timor-Leste-Violence-IB5-ENGLISH.pdf

National Security Archive (NSA). (2005). A Quarter Century of U.S. Support for Occupation https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB174/

Payaslian, Simon. (2019). "20th Century Genocides". Oxford bibliographies.

Ramos-Horta, José. (1987). Funu: The Unfinished Saga of East Timor. Lawrenceville, NJ: The Read Sea Press.

UN Special Rapporteurs. 1999. Report on the Joint Mission to East Timor Undertaken by the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, the Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture, and the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Its Causes and Consequences: Situation of Human Rights in East Timor. A/54/660 of 10 December. Geneva: UN.

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
During the US-backed Indonesian invasion and occupation of East Timor, the Indonesian New Order Government implemented "pacification campaigns" targeting the people of East Timor (Blakely 2009). The invasion began in August 1975 and continued thereafter. The Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) carried out large-scale massacres of Timorese citizens. Within the first two days of the invasion of Dili alone, over 2,000 Timorese were massacred. This continued throughout the rest of 1975. In February 1976, Indonesia captured other villages and parts of East Timor, and either drove out the forces and the population, or gunned down large swathes of the population (Payaslian 2019).

In March 1977 ex-Australian consul James Dunn reported that the Indonesian forces had killed between 50,000 and 100,000 civilians in East Timor (NSA 2005). The FRETELIN and its armed wing, FALINTIL, waged guerrilla warfare against the TNI as a resistance movement. In 1981-1982, the TNI launched a military operation called Operasi Keamanan and forcibly marched about 50,000 to 80,000 Timorese men and boys as human shields. In 1983, it launched Operation Clean Sweep, which included massacres, summary executions, and forced disappearances. In 1991, the Santa Cruz massacre took place, where Indonesian forces fired on pro-independence marchers, and killed up to 270 people.

Following the large-scale destruction and mass killings, many people were forced to leave their homes in the hills and surrender to the TNI. When they surrendered, they were often executed. Those that were not executed were sent to receiving centres where they were interrogated and killed if they were suspected of being members of the resistance.
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence was used as part of the genocidal campaign. As the TNI invaded and progressed into the Timorese territory, aside from opening fire indiscriminately, they also raped women and children (Ramos-Horta 1987, p. 108). Rape and sexual violence were commonly used as strategic approaches both during their invasions and attacks, and during the interrogation of women. Accurate records of the number of incidents remain absent because women had no route to report the violence under military occupation, and stigmatization silenced them (Aditjondro 1998).

Women were raped, faced sexual violence and harassment, intimidation, torture, forced marriage, and forced sterilization and contraceptive. As Bishop Belo (2001) wrote: "Up to 3,000 died in 1999, untold numbers of women were raped and 500,000 persons displaced-100,000 are yet to return." An unverifiable number of Timorese women and girls were abducted, raped, and impregnated by Indonesian solders; often kept captive and enslaved; and later rejected by their families (Harris-Rimmer 2009). An even more acute form of gender-based violence occurred during the post-referendum violence of 1999: the systematic rape of Timorese women and girls in the context of their forced deportation to West Timorese camps (UN Special Rapporteur 1999).
Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence was strategically used by the military as a form of targeting women who joined the resistance themselves, or whose family members or friends supported the call for independence. It was also used as a means to target women in order to force their colleagues, relatives, and friends out of hiding (UN Special Rapporteur 1999), or to identify their whereabouts. Sexual violence, rape, torture, and intimidation were used as techniques to extract confessions during detention, particularly around engagement in the resistance and disclosure of the whereabouts of other agents engaging in the resistance. In several cases, rape and sexual violence were used as a means to intimidate and punish women for either participating or deterring them from participating in the resistance. In some instances, women were forcibly married to the troops after which they were detained and harassed on a daily basis. In this context, rape and sexual violence were used to humiliate and shame women for participating in the resistance, and for their ethnic identity as Timorese women.
References

Aditjondro, George. "The Silent Suffering of Our Timorese Sisters". Free East Timor: Australia's Culpability in East Timor's Genocide. Random House Milsons Point: Australia Pty Ltd, 1998.

Belo, Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes. 2001. 'To Forge a Future, Timor Needs Justice for the Past.' Sydney Morning Herald. 28 August.

Blakeley, Ruth (2009). State Terrorism and Neoliberalism: The North in the South. Routledge.

Harris-Rimmer, S. (2009). After the guns fall silent: Sexual and gender-based violence in Timor-Leste. Issue brief. Timor-Leste Armed Violence Assessment (TLAVA). Issue Brief, (5). https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/143628/Timor-Leste-Violence-IB5-ENGLISH.pdf

National Security Archive (NSA). (2005). A Quarter Century of U.S. Support for Occupation https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB174/

Payaslian, Simon. (2019). "20th Century Genocides". Oxford bibliographies.

Ramos-Horta, José. (1987). Funu: The Unfinished Saga of East Timor. Lawrenceville, NJ: The Read Sea Press.

UN Special Rapporteurs. 1999. Report on the Joint Mission to East Timor Undertaken by the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, the Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture, and the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Its Causes and Consequences: Situation of Human Rights in East Timor. A/54/660 of 10 December. Geneva: UN.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CRSV: East Timor Genocide - The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CRSV: Yemeni Civil War — The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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Japan: "Comfort Women" Subjected to Sexual Slavery by Japan (1932-1945)

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Japan: "Comfort Women" Subjected to Sexual Slavery by Japan (1932-1945)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

During the Second World War, Japan ran "comfort stations" where women they had abducted and lured were forced into sexual slavery for the benefit of its military forces. The Japanese military regulated privately operated brothels in Manchuria during the Russo-Japanese War in 1904-05 (Tanaka 2002). Initially, brothels were set up to provide soldiers with voluntary prostitutes.

The first comfort station was established in 1932, in the Japanese concession in Shanghai, with women who "volunteered" (while historical records use the term, it is unclear how free, full, independent, and voluntary their consent truly was) for such service. With time, as Japan occupied more and more territories and could no longer find volunteers, it began abducting and coercing women in the areas they occupied (Mitchell 1997; Nishino 1998). The aim was to reduce the extent of wartime rape - which became a cause for mounting anti-Japan sentiments in all the territories Japan occupied (Gottschall 2004).

At first, Japanese women were enslaved and trafficked across Japan and the occupied territories (Norma 2015). With time, more and more women were forced into the brothels without their consent. Some women were abducted from their homes under Japanese imperial rule. Some were lured with the promise of work in nursing positions. Some were falsely promised sponsorship for higher education. Once they were recruited, the women were forcibly incarcerated in comfort stations, and prevented from going back home (Yoshimi 2000).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Comfort women and girls were women and girls who were forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army in the territories and countries it occupied before and during World War II (The Asian Women's Fund n.d.; Agribay 2003).

These territories included Korea, China, the Philippines, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Manchuko, Taiwan, the Dutch East Indies, Portuguese Timor, New Guinea, and Japanese-occupied territories (Coop 2006). A small number of women from the Netherlands and Australia were also forced into sexual slavery (Banning 2014). Historians suggest that as many as 50,000 to 200,000 women were forced into sexual slavery in this time, although actual numbers are still to be mapped (The Asian Women's Fund n.d.).

According to Professor Su Jiliang, there were around 360,000 to 410,000 comfort women in the period between 1938 and 1945, and of these, around 200,000 were from China (Zhiliang 1999). However, there has been no official documentation estimating the number of comfort women, which means that this figure may only represent a part of the entire figure.
Strategic use of Sexual Violence
Comfort stations were established with the aim of reducing or preventing war rape - as its prevalence increased anti-Japanese sentiments in all the occupied territories, given the Rape of Nanjing. Ironically, the system only increased rape, in aggravated forms no less. There was also a motive to prevent military secrets from being leaked out to civilians who were in contact with Japanese officers (The Asian Women's Fund n.d.). The aim was also to minimize medical expenses incurred on containing the spread of venereal diseases.

The comfort women lived in very difficult conditions - and were called "public toilets" by the Japanese (Chang 1997). The women were forced into sexual relations with disgruntled soldiers, in order to prevent violent revolt (Korea Times 2007). Several of them were forced to travel to battlefields and the warfront along with members of the Japanese Imperial Army - as a result of which many of them were killed by the Allied forces as they fought and defeated Japan's Pacific defence (Hicks 1997).

In some situations, the Japanese military executed some of the comfort women when they fled areas after facing defeat at the hands of the Allied Forces (Hicks 1997). By the end of the war, when the last unit of the Japanese forces were defeated around 1945, several Korean comfort women were forced to die by suicide or were murdered (Hicks 1996). In Burma, several Korean comfort women were forced to swallow cyanide tablets, or were killed by hand grenades (Hicks 1996). In the Battle of Manilla, several comfort women were killed in the rampant attack by the Japanese sailors (Hicks 1996).

As many as 80% of the comfort women were Korean. They were mostly assigned to the lower ranks in the Japanese military. On the other hand, the Japanese and European women were assigned to the superior officers (Watanabe 1999).
Legal Response
Until 1992, the Japanese government did not accept any responsibility for the sexual slavery system it operated and ran during World War II (The Asian Women's Fund n.d.a). In 1994, the Japanese government established the Asian Women's Fund to compensate South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, the Netherlands, and Indonesia (The Asian Women's Fund n.d.a). A total of 61 Korean, 13 Taiwanese, 211 Filipino, and 79 Dutch comfort women were given a signed apology by erstwhile Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama.

However, several Korean women rejected the compensation provided on principle, as the funds had not come from the government, but from private funds. A total of 61 Korean comfort women accepted 5 million yen (approx. $42,000; MoFA Japan n.d.) per person from the AWF along with the signed apology, and 142 others received funds from the government of Korea (Hogg 2007). However, the fund was dissolved on March 31, 2007 (Sanger 1992).

In December 1991, three South Korean women filed a lawsuit in Japan around the 50th Anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, demanding compensation. At this point, the Japanese Government admitted that the Imperial Japanese Army had forced several Korean women to have sex with Japanese soldiers during World War II (Los Angeles Times 1992). This was followed by an official apology on January 14, 1992 (Los Angeles Times 1992). On April 28, 1998, the Japanese court ruled that the Government must compensate the women and awarded them USD 2,300 (equivalent to $3,652 in 2020) each (Fastenberg 2010).

In 2007, the surviving comfort women called on the Japanese government to issue an apology to all comfort women - but PM Shinzō Abe stated, on March 1, 2007, that there was no evidence that the Japanese government had kept sex slaves, even though the Japanese government had already admitted the use of coercion in 1993. On March 27 that year, the Japanese parliament issued an official apology.

As an Open Letter in Support of Referral of "Comfort Women" Issues by the Governments of South Korea and Japan to the UN International Court of Justice states: "To date, the Japanese government's statements regarding the "comfort women" have been inconsistent and. None of the purported "apologies" have been conveyed in person by Japanese governmental officials to the survivors or ratified by the Diet or Cabinet of Japan. Moreover, they have been undermined by the efforts to suppress and commemoration of this history in Japan and around the world ."

On December 28, 2015, PM Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-Hye arrived at a formal agreement to settle the dispute. While Abe apologized to the women and acknowledged their pain, he also stated that Japan had already settled all issues pertaining to property and claims between Japan and South Korea and that the issue of comfort women was resolved "finally and irreversibly" with this agreement (Adelstein and Kubo 2015). Japan agreed to pay 1 billion Japanese Yen to a fund supporting surviving victims and South Korea agreed to refrain from criticizing Japan regarding the issue and to work to remove a statue memorializing the victims from in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul (BBC News 2015).

Several comfort women protested this agreement as they did not want money, but wanted to see a sincere acknowledgement of the legal responsibility by the Japanese government. In August 2016, 12 comfort women filed a lawsuit against the government of South Korea, asserting that the government had nullified the victims' individual rights to claim damages from Japan by signing an agreement not to demand further legal responsibility without consulting with the victims. They demanded that the South Korean government had to offer cooperation and protection. In January 2918, the Moon Jae-In government in South Korea called on Japan to hold up its end of the deal, and stated that true settlement is possible only through a sincere apology and other efforts actioning that apology (PMOR 2018). However, the Japanese government argued that the issue had been finally and irreversibly resolved and lodged a strong protest to South Korea through diplomatic means (CBS News 2021).

On June 15, 2018, the 20th Civil Division of Seoul Central District Court dismissed the comfort women's suit seeking damages against the South Korean government for having signed the 2015 agreement with Japan. On January 8, 2021, Seoul Central District Court ordered the government of Japan to pay reparations of 100 million won ($91,300) each to the families of the twelve women. Japan refuted responsibility claiming sovereign immunity before the national courts of another country. In effect, the Government of Japan has not accepted legal responsibility but in many statements appears to accept moral responsibility for the existence of "comfort women" during the Second World War.
References

Argibay, Carmen (2003). "Sexual Slavery and the Comfort Women of World War II". Berkeley Journal of International Law. 21 (2).

Asian Women's Fund. n.d.a. "The "Comfort Women" Issue and the Asian Women's Fund." https://www.awf.or.jp/pdf/0170.pdf

Banning, Jan. 2013. "Comfort Woman" Ellen van der Ploeg passed away. https://www.janbanning.com/comfort-woman-ellen-van-der-ploeg-passed-away/

CBS News. 2021. South Korean court orders Japan to pay "comfort women," WWII sex slaves, reparations". https://www.cbsnews.com/news/comfort-women-korea-japan-court-order-wwii-sex-slave-reparations/

Chang, Iris (1997), The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II, Basic Books. pp 109-110.

Gottschall, Jonathan (May 2004). "Explaining wartime rape". Journal of Sex Research. 41 (2): 129-36.

Hicks, George (1996), "The 'Comfort Women", in Duus, Peter; Myers, Ramon Hawley; Peattie, Mark R. (eds.), The Japanese Wartime Empire, 1931-1945, Princeton University Press.

Hicks, George (1997), The Comfort Women: Japan's Brutal Regime of Enforced Prostitution in the Second World War, W W Norton & Company Incorporated.

Hogg, Chris (April 10, 2007). "Japan's divisive 'comfort women' fund". BBC. Archived from the original on October 27, 2013.

Los Angeles Times. (1992). "Japan Apologizes for Prostitution of Koreans in WWII". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. January 14, 1992.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan). (n.d.) "Details of Exchanges Between Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) Regarding the Comfort Women Issue" (PDF). Ministry of Foreign Affairs. http://www.mofa.go.jp/files/000042171.pdf

Mitchell, Richard H. (April 1997), "George Hicks. The Comfort Women: Japan's Brutal Regime of Enforced Prostitution in the Second World War", The American Historical Review, 102 (2): 503

Nishino, R. (1998). "What was the 'Comfort Women.'" www.ne.jp/asahi/tyuukiren/web-site/backnumber/05/nisino_ianhu.htm

Norma, Caroline (2015). The Japanese Comfort Women and Sexual Slavery during the China and Pacific Wars (War, Culture and Society). London: Bloomsbury Academic. p. 1.

Open Letter in Support of Referral of "Comfort Women" Issues to the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) https://sites.google.com/view/openlettercomfortwomenicj/open-letter

PMOR (2018). Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary". Prime Minister's Official Residence (Japan). March 1, 2018. https://japan.kantei.go.jp/tyoukanpress/201803/1_a.html

PMOR (2021). "Press Conference by the Prime Minister on the court case brought by a group of former comfort women". Prime Minister's Official Residence (Japan). January 8, 2021. https://japan.kantei.go.jp/99_suga/statement/202101/_00004.html

Sanger, David E. (January 14, 1992). "Japan Admits Army Forced Koreans to Work in Brothels". The New York Times. Tokyo.

Tanaka, Toshiyuki (2002). Japan's Comfort Women. London: Routledge (published 2003).

Watanabe, Kazuko (1999). "Trafficking in Women's Bodies, Then and Now: The Issue of Military "Comfort Women"". Women's Studies Quarterly. 27 (1/2): 19-31

Yoshimi, Yoshiaki (2000), Comfort Women. Sexual Slavery in the Japanese Military During World War II, Asia Perspectives, translation: Suzanne O'Brien, New York: Columbia University Press

Zhiliang, Su (1999). Weianfu yanjiu 慰安婦硏究 [ Studies on the comfort women] (in Chinese) (Di 1 ban ed.). Shanghai Shudian Chubanshe.

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

During the Second World War, Japan ran "comfort stations" where women they had abducted and lured were forced into sexual slavery for the benefit of its military forces. The Japanese military regulated privately operated brothels in Manchuria during the Russo-Japanese War in 1904-05 (Tanaka 2002). Initially, brothels were set up to provide soldiers with voluntary prostitutes.

The first comfort station was established in 1932, in the Japanese concession in Shanghai, with women who "volunteered" (while historical records use the term, it is unclear how free, full, independent, and voluntary their consent truly was) for such service. With time, as Japan occupied more and more territories and could no longer find volunteers, it began abducting and coercing women in the areas they occupied (Mitchell 1997; Nishino 1998). The aim was to reduce the extent of wartime rape - which became a cause for mounting anti-Japan sentiments in all the territories Japan occupied (Gottschall 2004).

At first, Japanese women were enslaved and trafficked across Japan and the occupied territories (Norma 2015). With time, more and more women were forced into the brothels without their consent. Some women were abducted from their homes under Japanese imperial rule. Some were lured with the promise of work in nursing positions. Some were falsely promised sponsorship for higher education. Once they were recruited, the women were forcibly incarcerated in comfort stations, and prevented from going back home (Yoshimi 2000).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Comfort women and girls were women and girls who were forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army in the territories and countries it occupied before and during World War II (The Asian Women's Fund n.d.; Agribay 2003).

These territories included Korea, China, the Philippines, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Manchuko, Taiwan, the Dutch East Indies, Portuguese Timor, New Guinea, and Japanese-occupied territories (Coop 2006). A small number of women from the Netherlands and Australia were also forced into sexual slavery (Banning 2014). Historians suggest that as many as 50,000 to 200,000 women were forced into sexual slavery in this time, although actual numbers are still to be mapped (The Asian Women's Fund n.d.).

According to Professor Su Jiliang, there were around 360,000 to 410,000 comfort women in the period between 1938 and 1945, and of these, around 200,000 were from China (Zhiliang 1999). However, there has been no official documentation estimating the number of comfort women, which means that this figure may only represent a part of the entire figure.
Strategic use of Sexual Violence
Comfort stations were established with the aim of reducing or preventing war rape - as its prevalence increased anti-Japanese sentiments in all the occupied territories, given the Rape of Nanjing. Ironically, the system only increased rape, in aggravated forms no less. There was also a motive to prevent military secrets from being leaked out to civilians who were in contact with Japanese officers (The Asian Women's Fund n.d.). The aim was also to minimize medical expenses incurred on containing the spread of venereal diseases.

The comfort women lived in very difficult conditions - and were called "public toilets" by the Japanese (Chang 1997). The women were forced into sexual relations with disgruntled soldiers, in order to prevent violent revolt (Korea Times 2007). Several of them were forced to travel to battlefields and the warfront along with members of the Japanese Imperial Army - as a result of which many of them were killed by the Allied forces as they fought and defeated Japan's Pacific defence (Hicks 1997).

In some situations, the Japanese military executed some of the comfort women when they fled areas after facing defeat at the hands of the Allied Forces (Hicks 1997). By the end of the war, when the last unit of the Japanese forces were defeated around 1945, several Korean comfort women were forced to die by suicide or were murdered (Hicks 1996). In Burma, several Korean comfort women were forced to swallow cyanide tablets, or were killed by hand grenades (Hicks 1996). In the Battle of Manilla, several comfort women were killed in the rampant attack by the Japanese sailors (Hicks 1996).

As many as 80% of the comfort women were Korean. They were mostly assigned to the lower ranks in the Japanese military. On the other hand, the Japanese and European women were assigned to the superior officers (Watanabe 1999).
Legal Response
Until 1992, the Japanese government did not accept any responsibility for the sexual slavery system it operated and ran during World War II (The Asian Women's Fund n.d.a). In 1994, the Japanese government established the Asian Women's Fund to compensate South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, the Netherlands, and Indonesia (The Asian Women's Fund n.d.a). A total of 61 Korean, 13 Taiwanese, 211 Filipino, and 79 Dutch comfort women were given a signed apology by erstwhile Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama.

However, several Korean women rejected the compensation provided on principle, as the funds had not come from the government, but from private funds. A total of 61 Korean comfort women accepted 5 million yen (approx. $42,000; MoFA Japan n.d.) per person from the AWF along with the signed apology, and 142 others received funds from the government of Korea (Hogg 2007). However, the fund was dissolved on March 31, 2007 (Sanger 1992).

In December 1991, three South Korean women filed a lawsuit in Japan around the 50th Anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, demanding compensation. At this point, the Japanese Government admitted that the Imperial Japanese Army had forced several Korean women to have sex with Japanese soldiers during World War II (Los Angeles Times 1992). This was followed by an official apology on January 14, 1992 (Los Angeles Times 1992). On April 28, 1998, the Japanese court ruled that the Government must compensate the women and awarded them USD 2,300 (equivalent to $3,652 in 2020) each (Fastenberg 2010).

In 2007, the surviving comfort women called on the Japanese government to issue an apology to all comfort women - but PM Shinzō Abe stated, on March 1, 2007, that there was no evidence that the Japanese government had kept sex slaves, even though the Japanese government had already admitted the use of coercion in 1993. On March 27 that year, the Japanese parliament issued an official apology.

As an Open Letter in Support of Referral of "Comfort Women" Issues by the Governments of South Korea and Japan to the UN International Court of Justice states: "To date, the Japanese government's statements regarding the "comfort women" have been inconsistent and. None of the purported "apologies" have been conveyed in person by Japanese governmental officials to the survivors or ratified by the Diet or Cabinet of Japan. Moreover, they have been undermined by the efforts to suppress and commemoration of this history in Japan and around the world ."

On December 28, 2015, PM Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-Hye arrived at a formal agreement to settle the dispute. While Abe apologized to the women and acknowledged their pain, he also stated that Japan had already settled all issues pertaining to property and claims between Japan and South Korea and that the issue of comfort women was resolved "finally and irreversibly" with this agreement (Adelstein and Kubo 2015). Japan agreed to pay 1 billion Japanese Yen to a fund supporting surviving victims and South Korea agreed to refrain from criticizing Japan regarding the issue and to work to remove a statue memorializing the victims from in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul (BBC News 2015).

Several comfort women protested this agreement as they did not want money, but wanted to see a sincere acknowledgement of the legal responsibility by the Japanese government. In August 2016, 12 comfort women filed a lawsuit against the government of South Korea, asserting that the government had nullified the victims' individual rights to claim damages from Japan by signing an agreement not to demand further legal responsibility without consulting with the victims. They demanded that the South Korean government had to offer cooperation and protection. In January 2918, the Moon Jae-In government in South Korea called on Japan to hold up its end of the deal, and stated that true settlement is possible only through a sincere apology and other efforts actioning that apology (PMOR 2018). However, the Japanese government argued that the issue had been finally and irreversibly resolved and lodged a strong protest to South Korea through diplomatic means (CBS News 2021).

On June 15, 2018, the 20th Civil Division of Seoul Central District Court dismissed the comfort women's suit seeking damages against the South Korean government for having signed the 2015 agreement with Japan. On January 8, 2021, Seoul Central District Court ordered the government of Japan to pay reparations of 100 million won ($91,300) each to the families of the twelve women. Japan refuted responsibility claiming sovereign immunity before the national courts of another country. In effect, the Government of Japan has not accepted legal responsibility but in many statements appears to accept moral responsibility for the existence of "comfort women" during the Second World War.
References

Argibay, Carmen (2003). "Sexual Slavery and the Comfort Women of World War II". Berkeley Journal of International Law. 21 (2).

Asian Women's Fund. n.d.a. "The "Comfort Women" Issue and the Asian Women's Fund." https://www.awf.or.jp/pdf/0170.pdf

Banning, Jan. 2013. "Comfort Woman" Ellen van der Ploeg passed away. https://www.janbanning.com/comfort-woman-ellen-van-der-ploeg-passed-away/

CBS News. 2021. South Korean court orders Japan to pay "comfort women," WWII sex slaves, reparations". https://www.cbsnews.com/news/comfort-women-korea-japan-court-order-wwii-sex-slave-reparations/

Chang, Iris (1997), The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II, Basic Books. pp 109-110.

Gottschall, Jonathan (May 2004). "Explaining wartime rape". Journal of Sex Research. 41 (2): 129-36.

Hicks, George (1996), "The 'Comfort Women", in Duus, Peter; Myers, Ramon Hawley; Peattie, Mark R. (eds.), The Japanese Wartime Empire, 1931-1945, Princeton University Press.

Hicks, George (1997), The Comfort Women: Japan's Brutal Regime of Enforced Prostitution in the Second World War, W W Norton & Company Incorporated.

Hogg, Chris (April 10, 2007). "Japan's divisive 'comfort women' fund". BBC. Archived from the original on October 27, 2013.

Los Angeles Times. (1992). "Japan Apologizes for Prostitution of Koreans in WWII". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. January 14, 1992.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Japan). (n.d.) "Details of Exchanges Between Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) Regarding the Comfort Women Issue" (PDF). Ministry of Foreign Affairs. http://www.mofa.go.jp/files/000042171.pdf

Mitchell, Richard H. (April 1997), "George Hicks. The Comfort Women: Japan's Brutal Regime of Enforced Prostitution in the Second World War", The American Historical Review, 102 (2): 503

Nishino, R. (1998). "What was the 'Comfort Women.'" www.ne.jp/asahi/tyuukiren/web-site/backnumber/05/nisino_ianhu.htm

Norma, Caroline (2015). The Japanese Comfort Women and Sexual Slavery during the China and Pacific Wars (War, Culture and Society). London: Bloomsbury Academic. p. 1.

Open Letter in Support of Referral of "Comfort Women" Issues to the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) https://sites.google.com/view/openlettercomfortwomenicj/open-letter

PMOR (2018). Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary". Prime Minister's Official Residence (Japan). March 1, 2018. https://japan.kantei.go.jp/tyoukanpress/201803/1_a.html

PMOR (2021). "Press Conference by the Prime Minister on the court case brought by a group of former comfort women". Prime Minister's Official Residence (Japan). January 8, 2021. https://japan.kantei.go.jp/99_suga/statement/202101/_00004.html

Sanger, David E. (January 14, 1992). "Japan Admits Army Forced Koreans to Work in Brothels". The New York Times. Tokyo.

Tanaka, Toshiyuki (2002). Japan's Comfort Women. London: Routledge (published 2003).

Watanabe, Kazuko (1999). "Trafficking in Women's Bodies, Then and Now: The Issue of Military "Comfort Women"". Women's Studies Quarterly. 27 (1/2): 19-31

Yoshimi, Yoshiaki (2000), Comfort Women. Sexual Slavery in the Japanese Military During World War II, Asia Perspectives, translation: Suzanne O'Brien, New York: Columbia University Press

Zhiliang, Su (1999). Weianfu yanjiu 慰安婦硏究 [ Studies on the comfort women] (in Chinese) (Di 1 ban ed.). Shanghai Shudian Chubanshe.

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CRSV: Comfort Women during World War II - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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The Nanjing Massacre refers to an incident of mass murder and mass rape by the Imperial Japanese troops, targeting the residents of Nanjing - which was the capital of China at the time - during the Second Sino-Japanese War that took place from 1937 to 1945. The Nanjing Massacre took place over six weeks, starting on December 13, 1937, with the Japanese capture of Nanjing (Chang 1997). The Japanese Army invaded Shanghai and were met with strong resistance that caused major casualties. By mid-November, the Japanese captured Shanghai after aerial and naval bombardment. On December 1, the Japanese Army's headquarters ordered the capture of Nanjing, the erstwhile capital of China.

In the course of the capture, the Imperial Japanese Army murdered scores of unarmed Chinese civilians, while also perpetrating widespread rape and pillage (Lee 2010). Estimates show that between 40,000 and 300,000 Chinese people were killed (Levene and Roberts 1999). Accurate estimates remain elusive as the Japanese records of the incident have either kept secret or were destroyed. According to the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo (1948), over 200,000 Chinese civilians were killed in the massacre, while China's official estimates suggest that over 300,000 people were killed (Wakabayashi 2008; MacDonald 2005).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
According to the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (1948), 20,000 women and some children and the elderly were raped during the occupation and siege of Nanjing. Rape and sexual violence were systematically carried out by Japanese soldiers who went door to door in search of women and girls (Museums n.d.). Once captured, the women and girls were often gang-raped, and killed immediately after being raped through torture and explicit mutilation (Dagong Daily 1938).

Several of the Japanese troops also forced men to commit incestuous acts against the women in their families - where sons were forced to rape their mothers, fathers were forced to rape their daughters, and brothers were forced to rape their sisters (Chang 1997). According to Iris Chang (1997), as many as 20,000 to 80,000 women were raped - and the victim toll included men, as well, who were often sodomized. Further, Japanese officials also fortified comfort stations - where they consolidated the underground system of prostitution of women and girls into sexual slavery.
Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence was used as a means to exert power and to intimidate women the people of Nanjing. It was deliberately deployed as part of the conquest, to dominate over and subjugate the people of Nanjing. The aim of the attack on Nanjing was to occupy the territory and defeat China in the course of the war. Targeting women was a way to exert that control and dominance.

Sexual violence was also systematically deployed to humiliate women in front of their families, and to terrorize whole sections of people at a time. It was also carried out to "protect soldiers," where research has shown that Japanese soldiers often made amulets out of the personal possessions or pubic hair of their victims to protect themselves in the course of battle (Hicks 1997).
Legal redress
While the government of Japan has admitted to the massacre of several non-combatants, as well as the pillage and other forms of violence, there are several actors who have opted for revisionist accounts and outright denials of the occurrence of the Nanjing Massacre (Yoshida 2006). The government has not explicitly acknowledged the use of mass rape as a war crime and as a crime against humanity.

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (1948), acknowledged the occurrence of mass rape, and indicated that 20,000 cases took place. Although rape charges formed a part of the indictment against General Iwane Matsui, for his primary role in failing to stop the mass violence and rape and he was sentenced to death by hanging, no victims were called to give their testimonies. No one else was specifically charged with sexual violence or rape among the over 100 military personnel who were convicted and executed by China at the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal.
References

Chang, Iris. 1997. The Rape of Nanking.

Lee, Min (March 31, 2010). "New film has Japan vets confessing to Nanjing rape". Salon/Associated Press. http://www.salon.com/2010/03/31/as_film_japan_massacre_documentary

Levene, Mark and Penny Roberts. 1999. The Massacre in History.

"Chapter VIII: Conventional War Crimes (Atrocities)". Judgement: International Military Tribunal for the Far East. November 1948. http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/PTO/IMTFE/IMTFE-8.html

Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi, ed. (2008). The Nanking Atrocity, 1937-38: Complicating the Picture. Berghahn Books. https://archive.org/details/nankingatrocity100btwa

MacDonald, David B. (December 2005). "Forgetting and Denying: Iris Chang, the Holocaust and the Challenge of Nanking". International Politics. Palgrave Macmillan. 42 (4): 403-27. http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ip/journal/v42/n4/full/8800111a.html

Museums (n.d.) "Japanese Imperialism and the Massacre in Nanjing: Chapter X: Widespread Incidents of Rape". Museums.cnd.org. http://museums.cnd.org/njmassacre/njm-tran/

"A Debt of Blood: An Eyewitness Account of the Barbarous Acts of the Japanese Invaders in Nanjing." Dagong Daily (Wuhan ed.). 7 February 1938.

Yoshida, Takashi. 2006. The Making of the 'Rape of Nanking'.

Hicks, George. (1997). The Comfort Women: Japan's Brutal Regime of Enforced Prostitution in the Second World War. WW Norton & Co.

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CRSV: The Nanjing Massacre - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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The Armenian Genocide occurred in the Ottoman Empire (Suny 2015). It was a systematic mass murder of around one million ethnic Armenians during World War I. The genocide was spearheaded by the ruling Committee of the Union and Progress (CUP). Before World War I, Armenians were largely located in Anatolia (Payaslian 2007). They had a protected (but subordinate) position during Ottoman rule. They had already faced a history of large-scale massacres between 1890 and 1909 (Suny 2015).

In 1912 and 1913, when the Ottoman Empire suffered major military defeats and losses of territory during the Balkan Wars, many CUP leaders assumed that the Armenians would also try to break away from the Ottoman Empire (Payaslian 2007). While invading Russian and Persian territory, the Ottoman paramilitaries began massacring local Armenians. Slowly, isolated incidents of Armenian resistance emerged - but the Ottoman Empire treated it as a widespread rebellion (although none existed) and cracked down on the Armenians (Suny 2015). They rounded up, arrested, and deported several Armenians, and forced several more to go on death marches (Kévorkian 2011). The genocide eventually culminated in the destruction of over two millennia of Armenian civilization in eastern Anatolia, and the death of as many as 600,000 to 1.5 million Armenians. In the course of this genocide, the Young Turks, the Turkish armed forces, militias, and members of the public engaged in a systematic campaign of genocidal rape against Armenian women and children (Kévorkian 2011).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
The genocide that took place in 1915 was planned well in advance. Sexual violence and rape were deliberately deployed to target women and children of all genders. While several Armenians were forced into the desert and made to go on death marches, many women and young girls and boys were raped, mutilated, and tortured on the way (Ball 2011).

The genocide campaign proceeded with a systematic plan wherein attackers would kill the men, rape the surviving women, and then forcibly displace them or kill them thereafter. Before the genocide, forced marriage, prostitution, sexual slavery, and sexual mutilation were carried out to humiliate women (Herzog 2011; Miller and Miller 1999). The victims included children and women who were well into their eighties.

Forced prostitution, rape, and sexual assault prevailed. Military commanders often issued commands to their men to "Do to them [the women] whatever you wish" (Akçam 2012). In Damascus, Armenain women and children were displayed naked and auctioned off as sex slaves. Armenian women and girls were also trafficked and sold - which served as a major source of income among soldiers (Von Joeden-Forgey 2010).
Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence and rape were used as a deliberate method of war to intimidate and the Armenian population. The intention was to make it known to the community that they were not welcome in the Empire and that they were not to continue living there. On many occasions, women were raped in front of their families and in their homes before they were relocated and forced to go on death marches (Smith 2013).

Rape and sexual violence were also used as methods to carry out the , where forced pregnancy and harming already pregnant women so they would miscarry were carried out through rape and sexual violence. Several women who were gang-raped died by suicide (Joyce Frey 2009). Rape and sexual violence were also carried out as part of a eliticide campaign, which aimed at destroying the group's leadership and suggest that the Armenian community had been "conquered" (Von Joeden-Forgey 2010).
Legal Redress
After World War I, the British put pressure on the Sultan to prosecute the CUP for their crimes against humanity. By April 1919, after 100 Turkish officials had been arrested, trials began. Several testimonies that were presented alluded to the rampancy of genocidal rape and sexual violence. The court found the Lieutenant Governor Kemal Bey of Yozgat district and Major Tevfik Bey guilty of forced relocation and murder, and punished them with the death penalty and a 16-year prison sentence, respectively. No formal charges were made on anyone for rape and sexual violence (DeLaet 2005).

To date, however, the Turkish government contends that the mass deportation of Armenians was legitimate in order to address a threat to the empire, but vehemently denies any intention to kill the Armenian people.
References

Akçam, Taner (2012). The Young Turks' Crime against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire. Princeton University Press.

Ball, Howard (2011). Genocide A Reference Handbook. ABC-CLIO.

DeLaet, Debra (2005). The Global Struggle for Human Rights. Wadsworth Publishing.

Herzog, Dagmar (2011). Sexuality in Europe: A Twentieth-Century History. Cambridge University Press.

Joyce Frey, Rebecca (2009). Genocide and International Justice. Facts On File.

Kévorkian, Raymond (2011). The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History. Bloomsbury.

Miller, Donald Earl; Miller, Lorna Touryan (1999). Survivors: An Oral History of the Armenian Genocide. University of California Press.

Payaslian, Simon (2007). The History of Armenia: From the Origins to the Present. Palgrave Macmillan.

Smith, Roger W. (2013). "Genocide and the Politics of Rape". In Joyce Apsel, Ernesto Verdeja (ed.). Genocide Matters: Ongoing Issues and Emerging Perspectives. Routledge.

Suny, Ronald Grigor (2015). "They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else": A History of the Armenian Genocide. Princeton University Press.

Von Joeden-Forgey, Elisa (2010). "Gender and Genocide". In Donald Bloxham, A. Dirk Moses (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Genocide Studies. Oxford University Press.

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CRSV: The Armenian Genocide - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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CRSV: The Syrian Civil War — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the conflict
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or ISIL / ISIS carried out a genocide against the Yazidis in the region of Sinjar, in Iraq, from 2014 onward. As a monotheist community that believes in a benevolent peacock angel, the community was targeted by the ISIS as followers of what they perceived as a malevolent creature they equated to the devil. However, the persecution of the Yazidis goes back to as early on as in the Ottoman Era. Under the Ottoman era, in 1640, Yazidis were killed, their houses and villages were set on fire, and several thousands of them that were displaced were also murdered. They were forced to choose between forced mass conscription or death under Sultan Abdulhamid II's regime, as part of his campaign to Islamize the OttomanEmpire. In 2007, the Yazidi community was targeted with co-ordinated bombings, whose perpetrators have not been identified yet.

On August 3, 2014, the ISIS attacked and took over Sinjar, a Kurdish-controlled town predominantly inhabited by Yazidis. A series of summary executions, mass killings, and sexual violence targeted the Yazidi community (Zoonen and Wirya, 2007). According to the UN, a around 5,000 Yazidis were killed (GFBV, 2020), and 4,200 to 10,800 were kidnapped or held captive. As of 2015, the ISIS' actions had resulted in approximately 500,000 refugees (Tachibana & Cobiella 2015). The mass violence caused a massive displacement of the Yazidi population into Kurdistan in Iraq and Syria (Zoonen and Wirya, 2007). This structural violence manifested in the form of sexual slavery, rape, and other forms of sexual violence against Yazidi women (El-Masri 2018).
Prevalence of sexual violence
Crimes targeting Yazidi women people under the ISIS regime are grounded in a long history of structural violence (Zoonen and Wirya, 2017).

Since their first attack, the ISIS continued to abduct women and girls from the regions they began to occupy, and sent these women by the hundreds at a time to other parts. Hundreds of these women were taken as slaves into different parts of northern Iraq. Once abducted, these women were sold into slave markets. ISIS also had gynaecologists to examine the women to see if they were virgins, or were pregnant. Those who were found pregnant were forced to undergo abortions (Shubert & Naik, 2015). The women were then placed on the market - forced to bear price tags and displayed as sex slaves. They were auctioned and sold, while some were enslaved to ISIS fighters.

A list carrying the names and prices of several women was also released online (Defend International, 2015). The women were sold on encrypted smartphone apps via Telegram and Facebook, and to some extent, even via WhatsApp (Hinnant et al., 2016). Several women and girls were killed or even jumped to their death to avoid a life under the ISIS' control (Ahmed, 2014). Once sold, the women were raped and subjected to sexual violence regularly - either at the hands of the one who bought them, or they were sold or passed on to other men (Brekke, 2014).

In addition, hundreds of women and girls aged between 16 and 24 years from all over the world were radicalized into joining the ISIS' ranks. Many of these girls abandoned their families and homes, and countries, even, just to join the ISIS (Sherwood et al., 2014). These young women were also subject to rape and sexual violence, and were held hostage.
Strategic use of sexual violence
The ISIS grounded its campaign of sexual violence in a religious justification, arguing that the Yazidi were idol worshippers, and relied on what they interpreted as the shariah practice of the spoils of war (Reuters, 2014). It claimed that particular Hadith and Qur'anic verses supported their right to enslave and rape captive non-Muslim women and girls. For these extremist interpretations, the ISIS has been strongly criticized by Muslim scholars, especially as they chose to read provisions in isolation to their advantage (Kumar 2014). Sexual violence was clearly used as part of a campaign of genocide and ethnic erasure as the aim was to ensure that the women would be forced to bear the children of those who raped them. The forced abortions they were made to undergo also reflect a systemic campaign of genocide and ethnic erasure. Sexual violence was also used as a means to intimidate and terrorize women from a community that was structurally and culturally targeted in the history of the region. It was also systemically used to humiliate and dehumanize women, such as by putting them up for sale as sex slaves in auctions, and even selling them just to make money.
References:

Cetorelli, V., Sasson, I., Shabila, N., & Burnham, G. (2017). Mortality and kidnapping estimates for the Yazidi population in the area of Mount Sinjar, Iraq, in August 2014: A retrospective household survey. PLoS medicine, 14(5), e1002297.

GFBV (2020). "4 years ago: the genocide against the Yazidis in northern Iraq." August 3, 2014. https://www.gfbv.de/en/news/4-years-ago-the-genocide-against-the-yazidis-in-northern-iraq-august-3-2014-9323/

Kumar, A. (2014). "ISIS Claims Islam Justifies Making 'Infidel' Women Sex Slaves." https://www.christianpost.com/news/isis-claims-islam-justifies-making-infidel-women-sex-slaves-128004

Reuters (2014). "Islamic State Seeks to Justify Enslaving Yazidi Women and Girls in Iraq." https://www.newsweek.com/islamic-state-seeks-justify-enslaving-yazidi-women-and-girls-iraq-277100

Sherwood, H., Laville, S., Knight, B., French, M., and Gambino, L. (2014). "Schoolgirl jihadis: the female Islamists leaving home to join Isis fighters." https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/29/schoolgirl-jihadis-female-islamists-leaving-home-join-isis-iraq-syria

Brekke, Kira. (2014). "ISIS is attacking women and nobody is talking about it." https://www.huffpost.com/entry/isis-attacks-on-women_n_5775106?cps=gravity

Ahmed, Hevidar (2014). "The Yezidi Exodus, Girls Raped by ISIS Jump to their Death on Mount Shingal." https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/140820142

Hinnant, L., Alleruzzo, M., & Szlanko, B. (5 July 2016). "Islamic State tightens grip on captives held as sex slaves." https:/www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/islamic-state-tightens-grip-on-captives-held-as-sex-slaves/2016/07/05/a30c0942-42df-11e6-a76d-3550dba926ac_story.html

Defend International (2015). "UN OFFICIAL VERIFIED IS "PRICE LIST" FOR ENSLAVED FEMALES" https://defendinternational.org/is-price-list-for-yazidi-and-christian-females-verified-by-un-official/

Shubert, A., and Naik, B. (2015). "ISIS 'forced pregnant Yazidi women to have abortions'." https://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/06/middleeast/pregnant-yazidis-forced-abortions-isis/

Tachibana, Y., & Cobiella, K. (2015). "ISIS Terror: One Yazidi's Battle to Chronicle the Death of a People." https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-uncovered/isis-terror-one-yazidis-battle-chronicle-death-people-n461566

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the conflict
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or ISIL / ISIS carried out a genocide against the Yazidis in the region of Sinjar, in Iraq, from 2014 onward. As a monotheist community that believes in a benevolent peacock angel, the community was targeted by the ISIS as followers of what they perceived as a malevolent creature they equated to the devil. However, the persecution of the Yazidis goes back to as early on as in the Ottoman Era. Under the Ottoman era, in 1640, Yazidis were killed, their houses and villages were set on fire, and several thousands of them that were displaced were also murdered. They were forced to choose between forced mass conscription or death under Sultan Abdulhamid II's regime, as part of his campaign to Islamize the OttomanEmpire. In 2007, the Yazidi community was targeted with co-ordinated bombings, whose perpetrators have not been identified yet.

On August 3, 2014, the ISIS attacked and took over Sinjar, a Kurdish-controlled town predominantly inhabited by Yazidis. A series of summary executions, mass killings, and sexual violence targeted the Yazidi community (Zoonen and Wirya, 2007). According to the UN, a around 5,000 Yazidis were killed (GFBV, 2020), and 4,200 to 10,800 were kidnapped or held captive. As of 2015, the ISIS' actions had resulted in approximately 500,000 refugees (Tachibana & Cobiella 2015). The mass violence caused a massive displacement of the Yazidi population into Kurdistan in Iraq and Syria (Zoonen and Wirya, 2007). This structural violence manifested in the form of sexual slavery, rape, and other forms of sexual violence against Yazidi women (El-Masri 2018).
Prevalence of sexual violence
Crimes targeting Yazidi women people under the ISIS regime are grounded in a long history of structural violence (Zoonen and Wirya, 2017).

Since their first attack, the ISIS continued to abduct women and girls from the regions they began to occupy, and sent these women by the hundreds at a time to other parts. Hundreds of these women were taken as slaves into different parts of northern Iraq. Once abducted, these women were sold into slave markets. ISIS also had gynaecologists to examine the women to see if they were virgins, or were pregnant. Those who were found pregnant were forced to undergo abortions (Shubert & Naik, 2015). The women were then placed on the market - forced to bear price tags and displayed as sex slaves. They were auctioned and sold, while some were enslaved to ISIS fighters.

A list carrying the names and prices of several women was also released online (Defend International, 2015). The women were sold on encrypted smartphone apps via Telegram and Facebook, and to some extent, even via WhatsApp (Hinnant et al., 2016). Several women and girls were killed or even jumped to their death to avoid a life under the ISIS' control (Ahmed, 2014). Once sold, the women were raped and subjected to sexual violence regularly - either at the hands of the one who bought them, or they were sold or passed on to other men (Brekke, 2014).

In addition, hundreds of women and girls aged between 16 and 24 years from all over the world were radicalized into joining the ISIS' ranks. Many of these girls abandoned their families and homes, and countries, even, just to join the ISIS (Sherwood et al., 2014). These young women were also subject to rape and sexual violence, and were held hostage.
Strategic use of sexual violence
The ISIS grounded its campaign of sexual violence in a religious justification, arguing that the Yazidi were idol worshippers, and relied on what they interpreted as the shariah practice of the spoils of war (Reuters, 2014). It claimed that particular Hadith and Qur'anic verses supported their right to enslave and rape captive non-Muslim women and girls. For these extremist interpretations, the ISIS has been strongly criticized by Muslim scholars, especially as they chose to read provisions in isolation to their advantage (Kumar 2014). Sexual violence was clearly used as part of a campaign of genocide and ethnic erasure as the aim was to ensure that the women would be forced to bear the children of those who raped them. The forced abortions they were made to undergo also reflect a systemic campaign of genocide and ethnic erasure. Sexual violence was also used as a means to intimidate and terrorize women from a community that was structurally and culturally targeted in the history of the region. It was also systemically used to humiliate and dehumanize women, such as by putting them up for sale as sex slaves in auctions, and even selling them just to make money.
References:

Cetorelli, V., Sasson, I., Shabila, N., & Burnham, G. (2017). Mortality and kidnapping estimates for the Yazidi population in the area of Mount Sinjar, Iraq, in August 2014: A retrospective household survey. PLoS medicine, 14(5), e1002297.

GFBV (2020). "4 years ago: the genocide against the Yazidis in northern Iraq." August 3, 2014. https://www.gfbv.de/en/news/4-years-ago-the-genocide-against-the-yazidis-in-northern-iraq-august-3-2014-9323/

Kumar, A. (2014). "ISIS Claims Islam Justifies Making 'Infidel' Women Sex Slaves." https://www.christianpost.com/news/isis-claims-islam-justifies-making-infidel-women-sex-slaves-128004

Reuters (2014). "Islamic State Seeks to Justify Enslaving Yazidi Women and Girls in Iraq." https://www.newsweek.com/islamic-state-seeks-justify-enslaving-yazidi-women-and-girls-iraq-277100

Sherwood, H., Laville, S., Knight, B., French, M., and Gambino, L. (2014). "Schoolgirl jihadis: the female Islamists leaving home to join Isis fighters." https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/29/schoolgirl-jihadis-female-islamists-leaving-home-join-isis-iraq-syria

Brekke, Kira. (2014). "ISIS is attacking women and nobody is talking about it." https://www.huffpost.com/entry/isis-attacks-on-women_n_5775106?cps=gravity

Ahmed, Hevidar (2014). "The Yezidi Exodus, Girls Raped by ISIS Jump to their Death on Mount Shingal." https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/140820142

Hinnant, L., Alleruzzo, M., & Szlanko, B. (5 July 2016). "Islamic State tightens grip on captives held as sex slaves." https:/www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/islamic-state-tightens-grip-on-captives-held-as-sex-slaves/2016/07/05/a30c0942-42df-11e6-a76d-3550dba926ac_story.html

Defend International (2015). "UN OFFICIAL VERIFIED IS "PRICE LIST" FOR ENSLAVED FEMALES" https://defendinternational.org/is-price-list-for-yazidi-and-christian-females-verified-by-un-official/

Shubert, A., and Naik, B. (2015). "ISIS 'forced pregnant Yazidi women to have abortions'." https://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/06/middleeast/pregnant-yazidis-forced-abortions-isis/

Tachibana, Y., & Cobiella, K. (2015). "ISIS Terror: One Yazidi's Battle to Chronicle the Death of a People." https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-uncovered/isis-terror-one-yazidis-battle-chronicle-death-people-n461566

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CRSV: The Yazidi Genocide - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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Rwanda's population largely comprised two groups - the Hutus and the Tutsis. Before Rwandan independence in 1962, it was possible for members of one group to become part of the other, which meant that social mobility was possible. The Hutus were the majority, and the Tutsis, the minority (Mamdani 2002). During colonial rule, the Hutu political movement gained momentum in favour of independence and democratization owing to their being in the majority. The Hutu Peasant Revolution of 1962 culminated in the independence of Rwanda (Yale n.d.).

After independence, there were many instances of ethnic conflict and violence. Typically, Tutsi refugees outside Rwanda planned and organized revenge. They began staging attacks against the Hutu government. In 1988, the Rwandan Patriotic Fund, or the RPF, was founded in Uganda as a political movement aiming to protect the Tutsi interests, particularly those of the refugees and those in exile (Yale n.d.). The Hutu government in Rwanda named all the Tutsis within Rwanda as accomplices of the RPF, and even called the Hutu members of their opposition parties as traitors. The media played a huge role in spreading rumours and propaganda against the Tutsis.

On April 6, 1994, the Presidents of Burundi and Rwanda died in a plane crash, caused by a rocket attack and this sparked off a series of massacres. The terms of the Arusha Accords had not yet been implemented. What followed was the Rwandan Genocide (UN 2014). On April 7, the local radio attributed the plane crash to the RPF and incited the Hutus to eliminate the "Tutsi Cockroaches". A faction of the Rwandan government's soldiers murdered the Rwandan Prime Minister and 10 Belgian UN Peacekeepers who were assigned to protect her. Other Hutu Opposition Leaders were assassinated as well. There was a lot of propaganda against the Tutsis.

The Hutu had a strong hold over the media which promptly spread propaganda against the Tutsis, and kept alive the barrage of hatred. Over 100 days from April 6 until July 16, about 800,000 to a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed (Mamdani 2002). Horrific massacres of the Tutsis were carried out by the Hutu Militia known as the "Interahamwe". The massacres officially ended on July 17, 1994.
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
The UN Special Rapporteur on Rwanda, Rene Degni-Segui, wrote in a report in 1996 that "Rape was the rule, and its absence the exception" (Human Rights Watch 1996) Several incidents of rape went undocumented, and several took years to come to light - given that women were either killed and never lived to recount the truth, or were forced into silence because of stigmatization and injuries. Thus, Degni-Segui's report made an estimate that anywhere between 250,000 and 500,000 women and girls were raped during the genocide. According to Catrien Bijleveld, Aafke Morssinkhof, and Alette Smeulers, who drew from testimonies of women who said they were raped and the number of pregnancies, noted that as many as 354,440 women, survivors and those who were killed or died, were been raped (Bijleveld et al. 2009).
Strategic use of Sexual Violence
Rape and sexual violence was strategically used as a means of carrying out ethnic erasure and as part of genocide campaigns. It was used as a means of dehumanizing Tutsi women and Hutu women who were associated with Tutsi men, effectively stripping them of their dignity and ethnic identity. Recognizing the social stigma attached to women who face sexual violence and rape, the strategy was carefully deployed to breakdown social order. In several instances, forced pregnancies were part of the campaign to carry out ethnic erasure - especially since the ideas of "purity of bloodlines" and "ethnic purity" were valuable in society. Another means by which ethnic erasure was perpetrated was the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. It was also used as a means to and intimidate them. The campaign of rape was also used to spread fear and isolate whole communities.
Legal Redress
In order to bring justice to the victims and survivors of the genocide, and to bring the perpetrators to book, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was established in 1994. In 1998, the ICTR tried Jean-Paul Akayesu, a Rwandan mayor who did not prevent the rape and murder of his citizens, and even orchestrated particular murders, and made the first ever mention of rape as a crime against humanity. The court defined rape as "rape as a physical invasion of a sexual nature committed under circumstances that are coercive." The ICTR found that rape and sexualized violence "constitute genocide in the same way as any other act as long as they were committed with the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a particular group, targeted as such. Indeed, rape and sexual violence certainly constitute infliction of serious bodily and mental harm on the victims and are even, according to the Chamber, one of the worst ways of inflict [sic] harm on the victim as he or she suffers both bodily and mental harm." Further, the ICTR found that sexual violence was used as part of a systematic campaign of genocide (Eboe-Osuji 2012).
References

Eboe-Osuji, Chile. 2012. International Law and Sexual Violence in Armed Conflicts. Martinus Nijhoff.

Bijleveld, Catrien & Morssinkhof, Aafke & Smeulers, Alette. 2009. Counting the Countless: Rape Victimization During the Rwandan Genocide. International Criminal Justice Review. 19. 208-224. 10.1177/1057567709335391.

Human Rights Watch. 1996. Rwanda. https://www.hrw.org/reports/1996/Rwanda.htm

Mamdani, Mahmood. 2002. When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda.

United Nations. 2014. Outreach programme on the Rwanda Genocide and the UN. https://www.un.org/en/preventgenocide/rwanda/assets/pdf/Backgrounder%20Sexual%20Violence%202014.pdf

Yale, The Rwandan Genocide Project. http://www.yale.edu/gsp/rwanda/

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CRSV: The Rwandan Genocide - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
The persistent fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is among one of the most lethal armed conflicts since the Second World War (Reyntjens 2009). The DRC's political history reveals that land, language, ethnicity, migration, access to natural resources and national security are the most prominent of a host of factors that have helped protract the conflict. After the Rwandan civil war, refugees fled to the neighbouring DRC, then Zaire (Gondola 2002). Some Interahamwe - a militia partially responsible for the Rwandan genocide - crossed the border to avoid prosecution for their crimes against humanity.

The Rwandan genocide was the catalyst to the conflict in the DRC. In 1994, approximately 800,000 Rwandan Tutsis were killed in the genocide perpetrated by the key Rwandan power brokers, members of the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR), the Interahamwe, and other ad hoc militias (Nest 2006). In June-July 1994, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), comprising Tutsi exiles who operated out of Uganda, usurped Kigali, Rwanda's capital, plugging killings by the Hutu. Fearing prosecution for the crimes they committed, over a million Hutus fled into DRC, seeking refuge from possible reprisals from the civilians, the government, and the justice system.

The DRC became space for them to regroup and retaliate with reprisals across the border, against the surviving Rwandan Tutsis (Plaut 2016). The region where the Rwandan Tutsis were present, was by itself, a hotbed of conflict. Longstanding ethnic tensions blew up into violence between Congolese people, ethnic groups and speakers of Kinyarwanda, under the notion that the latter were not true Congolese (Vlassenroot 2006a). The Hutus entered the battle, augmenting existing tensions and conflicts, culminating in the exodus of as many as 38,000 Congolese Tutsis to seek refuge in Rwanda in 1995.

Rwanda relied on national security and stability concerns owing to Hutu extremism in 1996, as a basis to fuel a rebellion in DR Congo, with Laurent Kabila at the helm. This rebellion overthrew erstwhile president Mobutu, and culminated in the First Congo War. Rwanda armed and trained the Kinyarwanda-speaking fighters in Kabila's troupe, called the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo, which joined regular armed forces from Rwanda and Burundi. Refugee camps in Eastern DR Congo were the targets. The groups advanced in on Kinshasa, targeting refugees all the while, ultimately ousting Mobutu and installing Laurent Kabila as the President. The First Congo War had ended (Vlassenroot 2006b).

The fighting, however, was still not over. In 1998, new tensions and frictions between the Kabila Government, Rwanda and Uganda began, lasting until 2002. The rebel groups - with backing from the Rwandan and Ugandan governments - began launching attacks in the east, with the goal of overthrowing Kabila. Renewed conflicts brought Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe into the picture, in assistance of Kabila. Twenty five separate armed groups fought each other. Despite the interim 1999 ceasefire signed in Zambia and the UN's deployment of UNMONUC (the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo) in 2000, fighting thrived on a massive scale. In 2001, President Kabila was assassinated. With the incumbent's office having fallen empty, his son, Joseph Kabila, assumed the presidency.

The conflict ran its course in 2002, when the Second Congo War ended following the signing of another peace agreement between the Congolese government and the rebel groups in 2002. The compromise was that Rwanda would withdraw its troops from the region, in exchange for a promise from the Congolese government that it would disarm and arrest all the Rwandan Hutus who committed genocide. Despite this, the fighting still continued.

Elections in pursuit of a mandate for the Lusaka Agreement were held in 2006. Joseph Kabila was formally elected, and several agreements were forged with rebel groups. One such group, the Mai Mai, were set to be integrated into the regular Congolese armed forces, although not much has been done on this front. The fighting continued in an attempt to win control over the country's lucrative mineral wealth.

Peace agreements were brokered in all sincerity - with the 2007 Nairobi Communique between Rwanda and the DR Congo, the 2008 Goma Agreement between the DR Congo and Laurent Nkunda, a rebel leader. Nevertheless, the fighting has not ceased. By February 2008, there was an estimated toll of 6,000-7,000 foreign, non-state armed groups who were active in Eastern DR Congo. Coupled with the fighting were a host of other factors - including the lack of sufficient food, frugal water resources, the collapse of healthcare systems and disease - which added to the death toll. Children have been conscripted into the army, torture has been a choice weapon.
Sexual Violence in the Congo
Amidst death, displacement, disease and squalor, thousands of women were raped and mutilated in the DRC (Oxfam 2010). Many can attest that the momentum to kill and maim is still in full swing despite a peace agreement signed in 2003. Sexual violence in Congo goes back to the beginnings of the conflict itself. The regular armed forces of all nations involved in the two wars, plus the numerous rebel groups, have widely used rape as a weapon of war.

The Congolese regular army (FARDC) and the Congolese National Police Force (PNC) account for close to 20 percent of all sexual violence. The integration of former militia members into regular armed forces, with no mechanism for excluding human rights violators, has contributed to the problem. Those in positions of government authority are also among the perpetrators, and even UN peacekeepers have committed acts of sexual violence. As rape was adopted as the preferred weapon of control, so women have had to suffer the horrors of gang rapes, torture, sexual slavery, sexual abuse and harassment.

Armed groups began functioning like organized crime cartels, employing force to win control of mineral deposits in Congo. The outside world boycott the trade in these "conflict minerals" as they came to be known. This, however, was of little use to the women who suffered, and those who continue to suffer. These offences themselves went largely unchecked and unnoticed. The war provided an easy climate for such offences to take place. Congolese men have been killed because they refused to indulge in raping their sisters, daughters and mothers.
The Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
The widespread and systematic use of rape and sexual violence as a tool of war has become the face of the conflict in the DRC. Sexual violence was used to target populations to women. Thousands of cases of physical and psychological trauma have ensued, which is further compounded by the social stigma faced by victims (Martens 2004). Survivors were rejected by their spouses, parents, and children. To be related to a victim of sexual violence was detrimental to the honour of the family. In the few families where survivors were accepted, they were doomed to subservience, or forced to accept that their husbands would remarry. Unmarried girls as victims of sexual violence suffer greater indignities - many were forced to marry those that raped them, while still others were thrown out of their houses. In a related way, sexual violence was also used to silence and intimidate communities in the pursuit of power. Knowing full well the stigma attached to rape, several incidents were reported wherein family members were forced to rape women in their household under the threat of death.

Rape and sexual violence, particularly by the Mai Mai militia members (Guy 2014), was seen as a way to protect and empower soldiers - as the act of rape was seen as fortifying soldiers for battle. Some Mai Mai soldiers also suggested that "Satan" or "the devil" provoked them to commit rape.

Sexual violence was also used as a means to control territories and natural resources (Kelly 2010). The DRC is wealthy in mineral resources. Women near mines were often targeted for either control over the entire territory, or to force them to work in the mines at low to now wages, or to even control the natural resources that the community in question had access to.

In some instances, rape and sexual violence were perpetrated when those in the lower order of the chain of command wanted to avoid facing violence at the hands of their superiors (Kelly 2010).

The physical burden of being a victim of sexual violence is a very, very difficult prospect. Women find themselves suffering fistulas from the repetitive instances of sexual harassment, often incurable or at the very least requiring multiple surgeries. Pregnancy complications, incontinence and internal bleeding are only the tip of the iceberg. Women sometimes keep away from speaking out in fear - of either stigmatisation or of incurring the wrath of the perpetrator. Poor health care offers only so little to remedy their condition.
References

Gondola, Ch. Didier. (2002) The History of Congo, Greenwood Press.

Guy, K. M. (2014). Mai-Mai militia and sexual violence in Democratic Republic of the Congo. International journal of emergency mental health, 16(2), 366-372.http://thegreatestsilence.org/

Kelly, Jocelyn. 2010. Rape in War: Motives of Militia in DRC http://www.usip.org/files/resources/SR243Kelly.pdf

Martens, Jackie. 2004. Congo rape victims seek solace. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3426273.stm

Michael Nest with François Grignon and Emizet F. Kisangani: The Democratic Republic of Congo: Economic Dimensions of War and Peace, Lynne Rienner, 2006

Oxfam (2010). New report shows shocking pattern of rape in eastern Congo http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressrelease/2010-04-15/new-report-shows-shocking-pattern-rape-eastern-congo

Plaut, Martin (2016). Understanding Eritrea: Inside Africa's Most Repressive State. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Reyntjens, Filip. The Great African War: Congo and Regional Geopolitics, 1996-2006. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2009.

Vlassenroot, Koen. "Conflict & Malitia Formation in Eastern Congo." Ed. Preben Kaarsholm. Violence, Political Culture & Development in Africa. Athens: Ohio UP, 2006a

Vlassenroot, Koen. "Conflict & Malitia Formation in Eastern Congo." Ed. Preben Kaarsholm. Violence, Political Culture & Development in Africa. Athens: Ohio UP, 2006b

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
The persistent fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is among one of the most lethal armed conflicts since the Second World War (Reyntjens 2009). The DRC's political history reveals that land, language, ethnicity, migration, access to natural resources and national security are the most prominent of a host of factors that have helped protract the conflict. After the Rwandan civil war, refugees fled to the neighbouring DRC, then Zaire (Gondola 2002). Some Interahamwe - a militia partially responsible for the Rwandan genocide - crossed the border to avoid prosecution for their crimes against humanity.

The Rwandan genocide was the catalyst to the conflict in the DRC. In 1994, approximately 800,000 Rwandan Tutsis were killed in the genocide perpetrated by the key Rwandan power brokers, members of the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR), the Interahamwe, and other ad hoc militias (Nest 2006). In June-July 1994, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), comprising Tutsi exiles who operated out of Uganda, usurped Kigali, Rwanda's capital, plugging killings by the Hutu. Fearing prosecution for the crimes they committed, over a million Hutus fled into DRC, seeking refuge from possible reprisals from the civilians, the government, and the justice system.

The DRC became space for them to regroup and retaliate with reprisals across the border, against the surviving Rwandan Tutsis (Plaut 2016). The region where the Rwandan Tutsis were present, was by itself, a hotbed of conflict. Longstanding ethnic tensions blew up into violence between Congolese people, ethnic groups and speakers of Kinyarwanda, under the notion that the latter were not true Congolese (Vlassenroot 2006a). The Hutus entered the battle, augmenting existing tensions and conflicts, culminating in the exodus of as many as 38,000 Congolese Tutsis to seek refuge in Rwanda in 1995.

Rwanda relied on national security and stability concerns owing to Hutu extremism in 1996, as a basis to fuel a rebellion in DR Congo, with Laurent Kabila at the helm. This rebellion overthrew erstwhile president Mobutu, and culminated in the First Congo War. Rwanda armed and trained the Kinyarwanda-speaking fighters in Kabila's troupe, called the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo, which joined regular armed forces from Rwanda and Burundi. Refugee camps in Eastern DR Congo were the targets. The groups advanced in on Kinshasa, targeting refugees all the while, ultimately ousting Mobutu and installing Laurent Kabila as the President. The First Congo War had ended (Vlassenroot 2006b).

The fighting, however, was still not over. In 1998, new tensions and frictions between the Kabila Government, Rwanda and Uganda began, lasting until 2002. The rebel groups - with backing from the Rwandan and Ugandan governments - began launching attacks in the east, with the goal of overthrowing Kabila. Renewed conflicts brought Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe into the picture, in assistance of Kabila. Twenty five separate armed groups fought each other. Despite the interim 1999 ceasefire signed in Zambia and the UN's deployment of UNMONUC (the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo) in 2000, fighting thrived on a massive scale. In 2001, President Kabila was assassinated. With the incumbent's office having fallen empty, his son, Joseph Kabila, assumed the presidency.

The conflict ran its course in 2002, when the Second Congo War ended following the signing of another peace agreement between the Congolese government and the rebel groups in 2002. The compromise was that Rwanda would withdraw its troops from the region, in exchange for a promise from the Congolese government that it would disarm and arrest all the Rwandan Hutus who committed genocide. Despite this, the fighting still continued.

Elections in pursuit of a mandate for the Lusaka Agreement were held in 2006. Joseph Kabila was formally elected, and several agreements were forged with rebel groups. One such group, the Mai Mai, were set to be integrated into the regular Congolese armed forces, although not much has been done on this front. The fighting continued in an attempt to win control over the country's lucrative mineral wealth.

Peace agreements were brokered in all sincerity - with the 2007 Nairobi Communique between Rwanda and the DR Congo, the 2008 Goma Agreement between the DR Congo and Laurent Nkunda, a rebel leader. Nevertheless, the fighting has not ceased. By February 2008, there was an estimated toll of 6,000-7,000 foreign, non-state armed groups who were active in Eastern DR Congo. Coupled with the fighting were a host of other factors - including the lack of sufficient food, frugal water resources, the collapse of healthcare systems and disease - which added to the death toll. Children have been conscripted into the army, torture has been a choice weapon.
Sexual Violence in the Congo
Amidst death, displacement, disease and squalor, thousands of women were raped and mutilated in the DRC (Oxfam 2010). Many can attest that the momentum to kill and maim is still in full swing despite a peace agreement signed in 2003. Sexual violence in Congo goes back to the beginnings of the conflict itself. The regular armed forces of all nations involved in the two wars, plus the numerous rebel groups, have widely used rape as a weapon of war.

The Congolese regular army (FARDC) and the Congolese National Police Force (PNC) account for close to 20 percent of all sexual violence. The integration of former militia members into regular armed forces, with no mechanism for excluding human rights violators, has contributed to the problem. Those in positions of government authority are also among the perpetrators, and even UN peacekeepers have committed acts of sexual violence. As rape was adopted as the preferred weapon of control, so women have had to suffer the horrors of gang rapes, torture, sexual slavery, sexual abuse and harassment.

Armed groups began functioning like organized crime cartels, employing force to win control of mineral deposits in Congo. The outside world boycott the trade in these "conflict minerals" as they came to be known. This, however, was of little use to the women who suffered, and those who continue to suffer. These offences themselves went largely unchecked and unnoticed. The war provided an easy climate for such offences to take place. Congolese men have been killed because they refused to indulge in raping their sisters, daughters and mothers.
The Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
The widespread and systematic use of rape and sexual violence as a tool of war has become the face of the conflict in the DRC. Sexual violence was used to target populations to women. Thousands of cases of physical and psychological trauma have ensued, which is further compounded by the social stigma faced by victims (Martens 2004). Survivors were rejected by their spouses, parents, and children. To be related to a victim of sexual violence was detrimental to the honour of the family. In the few families where survivors were accepted, they were doomed to subservience, or forced to accept that their husbands would remarry. Unmarried girls as victims of sexual violence suffer greater indignities - many were forced to marry those that raped them, while still others were thrown out of their houses. In a related way, sexual violence was also used to silence and intimidate communities in the pursuit of power. Knowing full well the stigma attached to rape, several incidents were reported wherein family members were forced to rape women in their household under the threat of death.

Rape and sexual violence, particularly by the Mai Mai militia members (Guy 2014), was seen as a way to protect and empower soldiers - as the act of rape was seen as fortifying soldiers for battle. Some Mai Mai soldiers also suggested that "Satan" or "the devil" provoked them to commit rape.

Sexual violence was also used as a means to control territories and natural resources (Kelly 2010). The DRC is wealthy in mineral resources. Women near mines were often targeted for either control over the entire territory, or to force them to work in the mines at low to now wages, or to even control the natural resources that the community in question had access to.

In some instances, rape and sexual violence were perpetrated when those in the lower order of the chain of command wanted to avoid facing violence at the hands of their superiors (Kelly 2010).

The physical burden of being a victim of sexual violence is a very, very difficult prospect. Women find themselves suffering fistulas from the repetitive instances of sexual harassment, often incurable or at the very least requiring multiple surgeries. Pregnancy complications, incontinence and internal bleeding are only the tip of the iceberg. Women sometimes keep away from speaking out in fear - of either stigmatisation or of incurring the wrath of the perpetrator. Poor health care offers only so little to remedy their condition.
References

Gondola, Ch. Didier. (2002) The History of Congo, Greenwood Press.

Guy, K. M. (2014). Mai-Mai militia and sexual violence in Democratic Republic of the Congo. International journal of emergency mental health, 16(2), 366-372.http://thegreatestsilence.org/

Kelly, Jocelyn. 2010. Rape in War: Motives of Militia in DRC http://www.usip.org/files/resources/SR243Kelly.pdf

Martens, Jackie. 2004. Congo rape victims seek solace. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3426273.stm

Michael Nest with François Grignon and Emizet F. Kisangani: The Democratic Republic of Congo: Economic Dimensions of War and Peace, Lynne Rienner, 2006

Oxfam (2010). New report shows shocking pattern of rape in eastern Congo http://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressrelease/2010-04-15/new-report-shows-shocking-pattern-rape-eastern-congo

Plaut, Martin (2016). Understanding Eritrea: Inside Africa's Most Repressive State. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Reyntjens, Filip. The Great African War: Congo and Regional Geopolitics, 1996-2006. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2009.

Vlassenroot, Koen. "Conflict & Malitia Formation in Eastern Congo." Ed. Preben Kaarsholm. Violence, Political Culture & Development in Africa. Athens: Ohio UP, 2006a

Vlassenroot, Koen. "Conflict & Malitia Formation in Eastern Congo." Ed. Preben Kaarsholm. Violence, Political Culture & Development in Africa. Athens: Ohio UP, 2006b

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CRSV: DR Congo - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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CRSV: Sierra Leone — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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Systemic use of Sexual Violence against the Rohingya in Rakhine, Myanmar 

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Systemic use of Sexual Violence against the Rohingya in Rakhine, Myanmar 

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The Rohingya people are an ethnic minority who live in the northern part of Myanmar, called Rakhine (formerly Arakan) state. They have been described as one of the world's most persecuted minorities (Ponniah 2016). During World War II, in then Burma, the Rohingya Muslims allied with the British in exchange for the promise of a Muslim state. They fought alongside the British against the Rakhine Buddhists who aligned with the Japanese. When the British administration withdrawing and the Japanese invasion unfolding on ground, tensions escalated in Arakan state.

These tensions were exacerbated during the war, which led to inter-communal conflicts between the Arakanese Muslims and Buddhists. The British made unofficial promises to the Rohingya community, suggesting that they would give them a "Muslim National Area" in present-day Maungdaw District. Given that they did not want a Buddhist-dominated government in the future, this promise encouraged them to support the British (Yegar 2002). In the 1950s, Muslims mobilized to create a political and militant movement to establish an autonomous Muslim zone. They used the term "Rohingya" to identify themselves - which has been considered the modern origins of the term (Leider 2013).

The post-independence government accused the mujahideen of encouraging illegal immigration of many thousands of Bengalis from East Bengal into Arakan - which has remained a highly disputed claim as it is often weaponized to question the legitimacy of the Rohingya as natives of Arakan (Yegar 1972). There was a mass exodus into erstwhile East Pakistan in the 1970s (Leider 2013). In the years that followed independence, the Rohingya Muslims were denied citizenship and discriminated against. In response, the Rohingya mujahideen fought government forces, demanding that the Rohingya-majority region in Rakhine state (then northern Arakan) would gain autonomy or secede, with the aim of annexing it to modern-day Bangladesh (Yegar 1972). In the years that followed, several operations were launched by the Burma Army against the mujahideen in Arakan, some of which were successful.

By the end of the 1950s, the Rohingya mujahideen lost its momentum and support - and surrendered by 1961 (Kaung 1992). The government began to implement various policies to enable reconciliation in Arakan, and engaged in negotiations with the government of Pakistan to identify ways to deal with the mujahideen at their border. On May 1, 1961, the Mayu Frontier District was established in Arakan to appease the Rohingya (The Stateless, 2016).

In February 1978, the government began a massive military campaign called Operation Nagamin in northern Arakan, to expel the "foreigners" - namely the Rohingya Patriotic Front and its insurgents and sympathizers from the region before the national census. This resulted in hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas crossing into Bangladesh in pursuit of refuge (The Stateless, 2016). On October 15, 1982, the Burmese Citizenship Law was introduced. Except for the Karman community, all Muslims in the country were no longer legally recognized and were denied Burmese citizenship (Forbes 2016). Several years of violence followed - mostly in the form of operations and exchange of fire.

In early August 2017, the Myanmar military began to implement "clearance operations" in northern Rakhine State. This worsened the humanitarian crisis in the country.

Over 600,000 Rohingya refugees had fled to Bangladesh by October 2017 (CBS News 2017). Large swathes of agricultural land abandoned by Rohingya refugees were seized by the government (New Straits Times 2017).
The Prevalence of Sexual Violence
While it is definitely known that conflict-related sexual violence was systematically carried out on ground, it is hard to draw out a concrete estimate given that documentation of sexual violence targeting the Rohingya community has not been undertaken on a comprehensive and wide-ranging basis. Rape and sexual violence took place before, during, and after the clearance operations in August 2017, with some women and girls targeted multiple times across the continuum. Most perpetrators were the armed forces, border guard police, and Buddhist militias. Myanmar soldiers stripped, raped, and sexually assaulted women in repeated cycles of violence that began well before the military operations began.

The first detailed reports of sexual violence and gang rapes targeting emerged from the UN Officials and the Human Rights Watch which had each reported the prevalence of widespread gang rapes and other forms of sexual assault and violence targeting Rohingya women and girls. The sexual violence and rape "were not just the sum of individual sexual assaults by disparate, coincidental decisions of individual soldiers" (Packer 2019).

Human Rights Watch indicated (2017) that both the armed forces and the border guard police in Myanmar, as well as the Buddhist militias in Rakhine targeted women and girls with sexual violence. The reports suggested that the Rohingya women and girls were targeted with gang rapes, sexual slavery in military captivity, forced public nudity, humiliation, and murder. There were instances where women had to travel long distances with - untreated - to reach a refugee camp, and even faced brutalities of a horrific kind on the way.
The Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
Conflict-related sexual violence in the context of the Rohingya community is centered on a systematic process to target and drive out hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people. The massive number of instances of conflict-related sexual violence was carried out by the security sector - specifically the army and the police - and targeted women and girls, but also in several instances, men and boys, too. The intention was to deploy sexual violence as a means to the population so that they would never return, while also instilling a sense of fear and intimidating them by threatening dire consequences if they chose to return. The targeted violence against the Rohingya community is in itself a case of ethnic cleansing and , and a large part of both campaigns of systemic violence was the deliberate and systematic use of sexual violence.
References:

Kevin Ponniah (5 December 2016). "Who will help Myanmar's Rohingya?". BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38168917

Yegar, Moshe (2002). Between Integration and Secession: The Muslim Communities of the Southern Philippines, Southern Thailand, and Western Burma/Myanmar. Lexington Books. pp. 33-35.

Leider, Jacques (2013). Rohingya: the name, the movement and the quest for identity. Myanmar Egress and the Myanmar Peace Center. pp. 208

Yegar, Moshe (1972). Muslims of Burma. Wiesbaden: Verlag Otto Harrassowitz. p. 98-101.

Pho Kan Kaung (May 1992). The Danger of Rohingya. Myet Khin Thit Magazine No. 25. pp. 87-103

"Mr Sultan Mahmud and Statehood of Arakan | The Stateless Rohingya". http://www.thestateless.com/2016/08/mr-sultan-mahmud-and-statehood-of-arakan.html

"Secret 1978 Document Indicates Burma Recognized Rohingya Legal Residence." https://www.forbes.com/sites/anderscorr/2016/12/29/secret-1978-document-indicates-burma-recognized-rohingya-legal-residence/?sh=346b5eb35a79

"$340M pledged to help Rohingya refugees, U.N. says". 23 October 2017. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/united-nations-pledges-money-to-help-rohingya-crisis/

"Myanmar harvests abandoned Rohingya fields, raising fears for return". New Straits Times. 29 October 2017. https://www.nst.com.my/world/2017/10/296491/myanmar-harvests-abandoned-rohingya-fields-raising-fears-return

John Packer, "Genocide is an act of state, and demands a response by other states"; May 10, 2019, OpenGlobalRights, https://www.rohingyatoday.com/en/genocide-act-state-and-demands-response-other-states.

"'All my Body was in Pain:' Sexual Violence against Rohingya Women and Girls in Burma," Human Rights Watch, November 16, 2017, https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/02/06/burma-security-forces-raped-rohingyawomen-girls

"Devastating cruelty against Rohingya children, women and men detailed in UN human rights report." https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21142&LangID=E

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CRSV: Myanmar (Rohingya Community) - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the conflict
Nepal was never colonized and remained a monarchy until well after the wave of decolonization in the region. In 1921, the Nepal-Britain Treaty of 1923 conferred on Nepal the right to conduct its foreign policy in any way it deemed fit (Hutt, 2004; Whelpton, 2005). Nepal was ruled by the Rana dynasty at this time - a regime that evoked much criticism from pro-democracy movements in the country. Eventually, the Rana autocracy was overthrown and the Congress established a parliamentary democracy. However, a decade long power-struggle followed between the king and the government.

This culminated in the scrapping of democracy, and the establishment of a party-less Panchayat system as the authority to govern Nepal. At this point, political parties were banned and politicians imprisoned or exiled (Hutt 2004; Whelpton 2005). While the Panchayat system modernised life in Nepal, it came at the cost of great restrictions on personal liberty and censorship. The push for democratic change led to the creation of several political parties, including the Communist Party of Nepal, which launched the People's War in 1996.

The Nepalese Civil War took place between 1996 and 2006 and was largely between the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist; CPN-M) and the Government of Nepal. The protracted armed conflict began on February 13, 1996, when the CPN-M announced its intention to overthrow the Nepalese monarchy in order to establish a republican system. The decade of war involved large-scale violence that included summary executions, war crimes, kidnapping and abduction, purges, massacres, and large-scale crimes against humanity. The armed conflict culminated in the Comprehensive Peace Accord, which was signed on November 21, 2006.
The Prevalence of Sexual Violence
During the entire timeline of the armed conflict in Nepal, estimates by the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction of the Government of Nepal (Basnet n.d.) show that a total of 17,828 people were killed, 1452 were disappeared, 9000 women were widowed, 9000 families and 89,171 people were internally displaced, 14,438 pieces of property were damaged, 5,912 people were injured and disabled, and 2985 people were kidnapped. However, there is no accurate statistic indicating the number of women who faced sexual violence. As a result of different statistics recorded by different NGOs and documenting agencies, many of these narratives continue to remain invisible.

To a large extent, data and information on the prevalence of sexual and gender-based violence targeting women and girls during the People's War in Nepal remain scarce. This is because of multiple reasons. On part of organizations that supported (and continue to engage) in post-conflict peacebuilding, the documentation of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) has not been a priority. On part of the women who faced such violence, the socio-cultural burden of stigma, fear of reprisals and isolation by their support systems, the absence of a support system in itself, and family pressure to remain silent have prevented them from reporting these incidents (Chhetri 2006). The extant reportage shows that women were targeted with rape and sexual violence, and those that lived in and around areas that were CPN(M) strongholds or the army barracks.
The Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence in the armed conflict was deliberately deployed as war tactic both to intimidate and threaten women, and by extension, their families and communities, and as punishment for either engaging in CPN(M) activities (when carried out by the security sector) or for their nexus to the government and security sector (when carried out by the CPN(M) cadres). While sexual violence was generally aimed at women and girls in general, those from marginalized caste and ethnic groups were doubly vulnerable to sexual violence (ICTJ 2010). The CPN(M) targeted these communities to recruit combatants (Dhakal et al., 2003), and this created large-scale victimization by the security forces as well. The Royal Nepal Army targeted entire communities to flush out combatants. In the course of many of these operations, caste rendered women all the more vulnerable, where there were instances where Dalit women were targeted simply because of their caste identity. Women who were targeted by the security forces with sexual violence were accused of either participating in or supporting the activities of the CPN(M), or even having some direct or indirect affiliation with them. On the other hand, wives of government officials and security sector personnel, and women in actual relationships or accused of being in relationships with such men were also subjected to sexual violence (ICTJ 2010). Across the board, women were "harassed by the demand of both warring sides for shelter and food and had to face sexual slavery, sexual harassment, rape, and other forms of violence which affected their physical as well as their mental wellbeing (Basnet n.d.)."

Aside from this, there were also instances of opportunistic rape, where it was not a deliberate strategy but took place because of an enabling environment. This usually happened around army barracks, and the women and girls targeted were those who went about their everyday lives - such as fetching wood or water, visiting the market, or even doing domestic work. Young girls who went to school were subject to inappropriate security checks, where they were molested in the name of a pat search, and were often subject to verbal abuse. False marriages also prevailed, where security forces married young women and girls under false identities, and then deserted them, sometimes when they were transferred, or even otherwise. In several of these cases, women were pregnant and forced to raise the children born out of these false marriages single-handedly. These seem like instances of opportunistic rape, as well, where the enabling environment and lack of accountability mechanisms provided room for such forms of sexual assault to occur.
Accountability
Any act of sexual violence carried out by the CPN(M) cadre members was met with penal consequences within the party's ranks. They took action against their cadres for perpetrating acts of sexual violence both against civilians and against female cadres, and held them accountable to their code of conduct and discipline (Gautam et al., 2003). This was because the CPN(M) clearly considered sexual violence targeting civilians as antagonistic to its norms and ideologies. Further, the CPN(M) treated the war itself as an endeavor in support of civilians and for civilians, whom they also significantly depended on for food, shelter, clothing, and even recruits - and pursuing a campaign of sexual violence would have rendered their supply of these needs impossible. However, on part of the government, there has been no more than an acknowledgment that conflict-related sexual violence prevailed (Human Rights Watch, 2014).
References:

Hutt, Michael, ed. (2004). Himalayan 'people's War': Nepal's Maoist Rebellion. C. Hurst & Co.

Whelpton, John (2005). A History of Nepal. Cambridge University Press.

Human Rights Watch. 2014. "Silenced and Forgotten: Survivors of Nepal's Conflict-era Sexual Violence." https://www.hrw.org/report/2014/09/23/silenced-and-forgotten/survivors-nepals-conflict-era-sexual-violence

S. Gautam, A. Banskota and R. Machanda, 'Where There are No Men: Women in the Maoist Insurgency in Nepal," in Understanding the Maoist Movement of Nepal, ed. Dipak Thapa, Kathmandu: Martin Chautari, 2003, pp.93-124.

Basnet, Babita. n.d. "Women's Human Rights in Nepal Focused on Conflict Situation." https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/cooperation_meeting_gender_media_ppt_basnet.pdf

ICTJ. "Across the Lines. The Impact of Nepal's Conflict on Women" 2010. https://www.ictj.org/publication/across-lines-impact-nepals-conflict-women

Dhakal, Suresh, Khagendra Sangraula and Govinda Bartaman, "Whose War? Economic and Socio-Cultural Impacts of Nepal's Maoist-Government Conflict," Kathmandu: NGO Federation of Nepal, 2003.

Chettri, Anju. 2006. "Rape: The Way of Subduing the Opponents." In Women, Peace, and Restructuring ( https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pdacu023.pdf)

Documented by Kirthi Jayakumar

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the conflict
Nepal was never colonized and remained a monarchy until well after the wave of decolonization in the region. In 1921, the Nepal-Britain Treaty of 1923 conferred on Nepal the right to conduct its foreign policy in any way it deemed fit (Hutt, 2004; Whelpton, 2005). Nepal was ruled by the Rana dynasty at this time - a regime that evoked much criticism from pro-democracy movements in the country. Eventually, the Rana autocracy was overthrown and the Congress established a parliamentary democracy. However, a decade long power-struggle followed between the king and the government.

This culminated in the scrapping of democracy, and the establishment of a party-less Panchayat system as the authority to govern Nepal. At this point, political parties were banned and politicians imprisoned or exiled (Hutt 2004; Whelpton 2005). While the Panchayat system modernised life in Nepal, it came at the cost of great restrictions on personal liberty and censorship. The push for democratic change led to the creation of several political parties, including the Communist Party of Nepal, which launched the People's War in 1996.

The Nepalese Civil War took place between 1996 and 2006 and was largely between the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist; CPN-M) and the Government of Nepal. The protracted armed conflict began on February 13, 1996, when the CPN-M announced its intention to overthrow the Nepalese monarchy in order to establish a republican system. The decade of war involved large-scale violence that included summary executions, war crimes, kidnapping and abduction, purges, massacres, and large-scale crimes against humanity. The armed conflict culminated in the Comprehensive Peace Accord, which was signed on November 21, 2006.
The Prevalence of Sexual Violence
During the entire timeline of the armed conflict in Nepal, estimates by the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction of the Government of Nepal (Basnet n.d.) show that a total of 17,828 people were killed, 1452 were disappeared, 9000 women were widowed, 9000 families and 89,171 people were internally displaced, 14,438 pieces of property were damaged, 5,912 people were injured and disabled, and 2985 people were kidnapped. However, there is no accurate statistic indicating the number of women who faced sexual violence. As a result of different statistics recorded by different NGOs and documenting agencies, many of these narratives continue to remain invisible.

To a large extent, data and information on the prevalence of sexual and gender-based violence targeting women and girls during the People's War in Nepal remain scarce. This is because of multiple reasons. On part of organizations that supported (and continue to engage) in post-conflict peacebuilding, the documentation of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) has not been a priority. On part of the women who faced such violence, the socio-cultural burden of stigma, fear of reprisals and isolation by their support systems, the absence of a support system in itself, and family pressure to remain silent have prevented them from reporting these incidents (Chhetri 2006). The extant reportage shows that women were targeted with rape and sexual violence, and those that lived in and around areas that were CPN(M) strongholds or the army barracks.
The Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence in the armed conflict was deliberately deployed as war tactic both to intimidate and threaten women, and by extension, their families and communities, and as punishment for either engaging in CPN(M) activities (when carried out by the security sector) or for their nexus to the government and security sector (when carried out by the CPN(M) cadres). While sexual violence was generally aimed at women and girls in general, those from marginalized caste and ethnic groups were doubly vulnerable to sexual violence (ICTJ 2010). The CPN(M) targeted these communities to recruit combatants (Dhakal et al., 2003), and this created large-scale victimization by the security forces as well. The Royal Nepal Army targeted entire communities to flush out combatants. In the course of many of these operations, caste rendered women all the more vulnerable, where there were instances where Dalit women were targeted simply because of their caste identity. Women who were targeted by the security forces with sexual violence were accused of either participating in or supporting the activities of the CPN(M), or even having some direct or indirect affiliation with them. On the other hand, wives of government officials and security sector personnel, and women in actual relationships or accused of being in relationships with such men were also subjected to sexual violence (ICTJ 2010). Across the board, women were "harassed by the demand of both warring sides for shelter and food and had to face sexual slavery, sexual harassment, rape, and other forms of violence which affected their physical as well as their mental wellbeing (Basnet n.d.)."

Aside from this, there were also instances of opportunistic rape, where it was not a deliberate strategy but took place because of an enabling environment. This usually happened around army barracks, and the women and girls targeted were those who went about their everyday lives - such as fetching wood or water, visiting the market, or even doing domestic work. Young girls who went to school were subject to inappropriate security checks, where they were molested in the name of a pat search, and were often subject to verbal abuse. False marriages also prevailed, where security forces married young women and girls under false identities, and then deserted them, sometimes when they were transferred, or even otherwise. In several of these cases, women were pregnant and forced to raise the children born out of these false marriages single-handedly. These seem like instances of opportunistic rape, as well, where the enabling environment and lack of accountability mechanisms provided room for such forms of sexual assault to occur.
Accountability
Any act of sexual violence carried out by the CPN(M) cadre members was met with penal consequences within the party's ranks. They took action against their cadres for perpetrating acts of sexual violence both against civilians and against female cadres, and held them accountable to their code of conduct and discipline (Gautam et al., 2003). This was because the CPN(M) clearly considered sexual violence targeting civilians as antagonistic to its norms and ideologies. Further, the CPN(M) treated the war itself as an endeavor in support of civilians and for civilians, whom they also significantly depended on for food, shelter, clothing, and even recruits - and pursuing a campaign of sexual violence would have rendered their supply of these needs impossible. However, on part of the government, there has been no more than an acknowledgment that conflict-related sexual violence prevailed (Human Rights Watch, 2014).
References:

Hutt, Michael, ed. (2004). Himalayan 'people's War': Nepal's Maoist Rebellion. C. Hurst & Co.

Whelpton, John (2005). A History of Nepal. Cambridge University Press.

Human Rights Watch. 2014. "Silenced and Forgotten: Survivors of Nepal's Conflict-era Sexual Violence." https://www.hrw.org/report/2014/09/23/silenced-and-forgotten/survivors-nepals-conflict-era-sexual-violence

S. Gautam, A. Banskota and R. Machanda, 'Where There are No Men: Women in the Maoist Insurgency in Nepal," in Understanding the Maoist Movement of Nepal, ed. Dipak Thapa, Kathmandu: Martin Chautari, 2003, pp.93-124.

Basnet, Babita. n.d. "Women's Human Rights in Nepal Focused on Conflict Situation." https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/cooperation_meeting_gender_media_ppt_basnet.pdf

ICTJ. "Across the Lines. The Impact of Nepal's Conflict on Women" 2010. https://www.ictj.org/publication/across-lines-impact-nepals-conflict-women

Dhakal, Suresh, Khagendra Sangraula and Govinda Bartaman, "Whose War? Economic and Socio-Cultural Impacts of Nepal's Maoist-Government Conflict," Kathmandu: NGO Federation of Nepal, 2003.

Chettri, Anju. 2006. "Rape: The Way of Subduing the Opponents." In Women, Peace, and Restructuring ( https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pdacu023.pdf)

Documented by Kirthi Jayakumar

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CRSV: Nepal - The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is one of the most repressive countries in the world (Human Rights Watch 2018). Ruled by the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 1948, with Kim Jong Un II currently holding the top position of chairman, North Korea is responsible for some of the world's worst human rights violations (Engstran, Flynn, and Harris, n.d.). All civil and political rights are restricted, freedom is unheard of, and the state controls everything. Collective and public punishment are deployed to ensure that the inhumane rules of the regime are followed by its 25 million citizens (Human Rights Watch, 2017).
The Prevalence of Sexual Violence
North Koreans are taught stereotypical gender roles from a very early age (Human Rights Watch 2018b), which normalizes gender-based and sexual violence. The state uses sexual violence as a means to target defectors and to keep the population in check. In the 2014 United Nations Commission of Inquiry Report on North Korea, it was divulged that female prisoners routinely faced rape, torture, almost other acts of sexual violence (UNHRC, 2014). The offenders are often police officers, guards, secret police agents, and fellow detainees. Women are detained for several reasons. They are often subjected to the 'family responsibility principle' where family members of a convicted criminals are imprisoned. Women are detained if they are caught fleeing the country. Detained defectors face sexual humiliation, harassment, and verbal abuse. Women also exchange sexual favours for food or easier working conditions to increase their probability of survival in these prison camps (NK Hidden Gulag Blog, 2020).

Thousands of defectors, mostly women, face torture and death every year as they attempt to leave North Korea's authoritarian regime. Many people arrive in China with the intention of traveling to South Korea, but they are detained by Chinese authorities and sent back to North Korea before they can complete their journey (Engstran, Flynn, and Harris, n.d.). North Korean women are also trafficked into China for sexual slavery. The North Korean government claims that human trafficking is 'inconceivable' on its territory, but that seems to be far from the truth.
The Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence in North Korea takes place against a backdrop of structural violence that enables its prevalence. Institutional perpetration and apathy enable the crime. For instance, in 2017, the North Korean movement gave a report to CEDAW stating that only 9 people were convicted of rape in 2008, 7 people in 2011, and 5 in 2015. The government also mentioned that a few other men were convicted for forcing women to have sexual intercourse (CEDAW 2017). This statistic seems unrealistic and absurd based on the accounts of the thousands of North Korean defectors who have both reported facing sexual assault and rape and highlighted its widespread prevalence. It is also used as a mechanism to women and citizens in order to prevent defection, while also pursuing an active campaign of "re-educating" individuals. It has also been used as a means of ethnic cleansing, on the alleged ground that women are suspected of carrying "ethnically impure foetuses" (Women under Siege, 2012). The crime prevails as a means of wielding power over women, in order to intimidate, humiliate, and control their bodies, mobility, and freedoms.
References

Human Rights Watch (2018a). "Human Rights in North Korea." https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/06/05/human-rights-north-korea

Erin Engstran, Caitlin Flynn and Meg Harris. (n.d.) "Gender and Migration from North Korea." https://jpia.princeton.edu/news/gender-and-migration-north-korea

Human Rights Watch, World Report 2018 (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2017), North Korea chapter, https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/north-korea.

Human Rights Watch. (2018b). "You Cry at Night but Don't Know Why" Sexual Violence against Women in North Korea. https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/11/02/you-cry-night-dont-know-why/sexual-violence-against-women-north-korea

UN Human Rights Council, Report of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, UN Doc. A/HRC/25/63 (February 7, 2014), 14, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G14/108/66/PDF/G1410866.pdf?OpenElement.

Do Kyung-ok, et. al, White Paper of Human Rights in North Korea, 2015, (Seoul: Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), 2015), p. 369.

NK Hidden Gulag Blog. (2020). "In North Korean Gulags, Sexual Violence is Unremitting nd Goes Unpunished." https://www.nkhiddengulag.org/blog/in-north-korean-gulags-sexual-violence-is-unremitting-and-goes-unpunished.

CEDAW, "List of issues and questions in relation to the combined second to fourth periodic reports of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Addendum: Replies of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," June 16, 2017, para. 48.

Women Under Siege. (2012). "North Korea." https://www.womensmediacenter.com/women-under-siege/conflicts/north-korea

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention: Democratic People's Republic of Korea (April 2016). https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CEDAW%2fC%2fPRK%2f2-4&Lang=en

Documented by Vasundhara Sharan

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is one of the most repressive countries in the world (Human Rights Watch 2018). Ruled by the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 1948, with Kim Jong Un II currently holding the top position of chairman, North Korea is responsible for some of the world's worst human rights violations (Engstran, Flynn, and Harris, n.d.). All civil and political rights are restricted, freedom is unheard of, and the state controls everything. Collective and public punishment are deployed to ensure that the inhumane rules of the regime are followed by its 25 million citizens (Human Rights Watch, 2017).
The Prevalence of Sexual Violence
North Koreans are taught stereotypical gender roles from a very early age (Human Rights Watch 2018b), which normalizes gender-based and sexual violence. The state uses sexual violence as a means to target defectors and to keep the population in check. In the 2014 United Nations Commission of Inquiry Report on North Korea, it was divulged that female prisoners routinely faced rape, torture, almost other acts of sexual violence (UNHRC, 2014). The offenders are often police officers, guards, secret police agents, and fellow detainees. Women are detained for several reasons. They are often subjected to the 'family responsibility principle' where family members of a convicted criminals are imprisoned. Women are detained if they are caught fleeing the country. Detained defectors face sexual humiliation, harassment, and verbal abuse. Women also exchange sexual favours for food or easier working conditions to increase their probability of survival in these prison camps (NK Hidden Gulag Blog, 2020).

Thousands of defectors, mostly women, face torture and death every year as they attempt to leave North Korea's authoritarian regime. Many people arrive in China with the intention of traveling to South Korea, but they are detained by Chinese authorities and sent back to North Korea before they can complete their journey (Engstran, Flynn, and Harris, n.d.). North Korean women are also trafficked into China for sexual slavery. The North Korean government claims that human trafficking is 'inconceivable' on its territory, but that seems to be far from the truth.
The Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence in North Korea takes place against a backdrop of structural violence that enables its prevalence. Institutional perpetration and apathy enable the crime. For instance, in 2017, the North Korean movement gave a report to CEDAW stating that only 9 people were convicted of rape in 2008, 7 people in 2011, and 5 in 2015. The government also mentioned that a few other men were convicted for forcing women to have sexual intercourse (CEDAW 2017). This statistic seems unrealistic and absurd based on the accounts of the thousands of North Korean defectors who have both reported facing sexual assault and rape and highlighted its widespread prevalence. It is also used as a mechanism to women and citizens in order to prevent defection, while also pursuing an active campaign of "re-educating" individuals. It has also been used as a means of ethnic cleansing, on the alleged ground that women are suspected of carrying "ethnically impure foetuses" (Women under Siege, 2012). The crime prevails as a means of wielding power over women, in order to intimidate, humiliate, and control their bodies, mobility, and freedoms.
References

Human Rights Watch (2018a). "Human Rights in North Korea." https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/06/05/human-rights-north-korea

Erin Engstran, Caitlin Flynn and Meg Harris. (n.d.) "Gender and Migration from North Korea." https://jpia.princeton.edu/news/gender-and-migration-north-korea

Human Rights Watch, World Report 2018 (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2017), North Korea chapter, https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/north-korea.

Human Rights Watch. (2018b). "You Cry at Night but Don't Know Why" Sexual Violence against Women in North Korea. https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/11/02/you-cry-night-dont-know-why/sexual-violence-against-women-north-korea

UN Human Rights Council, Report of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, UN Doc. A/HRC/25/63 (February 7, 2014), 14, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G14/108/66/PDF/G1410866.pdf?OpenElement.

Do Kyung-ok, et. al, White Paper of Human Rights in North Korea, 2015, (Seoul: Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), 2015), p. 369.

NK Hidden Gulag Blog. (2020). "In North Korean Gulags, Sexual Violence is Unremitting nd Goes Unpunished." https://www.nkhiddengulag.org/blog/in-north-korean-gulags-sexual-violence-is-unremitting-and-goes-unpunished.

CEDAW, "List of issues and questions in relation to the combined second to fourth periodic reports of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Addendum: Replies of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," June 16, 2017, para. 48.

Women Under Siege. (2012). "North Korea." https://www.womensmediacenter.com/women-under-siege/conflicts/north-korea

Consideration of reports submitted by States parties under article 18 of the Convention: Democratic People's Republic of Korea (April 2016). https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CEDAW%2fC%2fPRK%2f2-4&Lang=en

Documented by Vasundhara Sharan

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CRSV: North Korea - The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CRSV: Afghanistan — The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

# data[].attributes.headline
Large-scale Sexual Violence in the Kakuma Refugee Camp

# data[].attributes.subject
Large-scale Sexual Violence in the Kakuma Refugee Camp

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background
Kakuma, a word synonymous with the term "nowhere" in Swahili, is in the outskirts of Kakuma town in Turkana County, North Western Kenya (Boru, 2013; Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement, n.d.). Known as the largest refugee camp in the world, Kakuma accommodated 196,666 refugees and asylum seekers as of July 2020 (Inside the World's 10 Largest Refugee Camps, n.d.).

The commencement of Kakuma refugee camp dates back to the year 1992 following the arrival of the "Lost Boys of Sudan", a group of 20,000 orphaned and displaced young lads who had escaped from the Sudanese Civil War (1987-2005) (Lost Boys of Sudan, 2021; Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement, n.d.). The camp received refugees and displaced individuals from Ethiopia, where the government had collapsed, and Somali, a region which faced heightened civil conflict and risk. The camp beheld another significant period in 2014 as a greater inflow of refugees, displaced individuals, and asylum seekers led to intense overcrowding. This resulted in the opening of the Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement, a region located 20 kilometers away from Kakuma camp for new arrivals (Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement, n.d.).

Although both Kakuma camp and Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement were launched for the welfare and safety of asylum seekers, displaced migrants, and refugees, individuals in these regions have faced and continue to confront dire living conditions. Kakuma is the second poorest region in Kenya and refugees living in camp suffer from disease outbreaks, malnutrition, and shortage of basic resources, among other challenges. Although Kakuma camp and Kalobeyei receive health-care services and education opportunities through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and national government, these facilities are insufficient in number and lack good quality. Moreover, providing these facilities to refugees at camp has resulted in the eruption of violence between the host community and refugees as these services are not provided to members of the host community. Despite the presence of police, ex-military personnel, and local guardians for security, crimes like murder, theft, and sexual and gender-based violence continue to exist at Kakuma camp and Kalobeyei (Kakuma, 2021).
Sexual and gender-based violence experienced by refugees at Kakuma and Kalobeyei:
In 2019, the UNHCR recorded 80 percent of refugees as women and children in Kakuma camp, out of which 23.4 percent refugee women were from South Sudan. Most commonly noted reasons for women and children to flee their native country included shortage of basic provisions and increased threat to safety. Sadly, these women do not find the protection they need at Kakuma camp as they live in fear or are subjected to horrific instances of human right abuses ( The Impact of Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement and Host Community, 2019; SGBV Strategy, 2017).

According to UNHCR archives, rape is highlighted as the most frequent form of sexual exploitation amongst women at Kakuma camp and Kalobeyei. New arrivals who are in the process of being assigned a tent for shelter and single women who are heads of the household are at an increased risk of experiencing rape. Stranger rape is more prevalent, particularly by refugee men from camp, local community members, or security guards. The standard cultural response to rape involves offering compensation to the survivor or forcing the woman to marry the perpetrator. The high prevalence of rape has led to the normalizaton of this type of sexual violence to a degree where the women themselves do not view rape as a societal problem anymore. Single refugee women who suffer from poverty and are unaccompanied by men who are breadwinners for the family are forced to engage in survival sex for basic supplies like food and water. As a result, sexually transmiited diseases like HIV/ AIDS are rampant at Kakuma camp and Kalobeyei. Intimate partner violence is also a common form of abuse suffered by women ( The Impact of Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement and Host Community, 2019; SGBV Strategy, 2017).

Refugee girls are especially at risk of encountering sexual violence as it is easier for older men to dominate minors. Regions in the camp that are in the process of developing accomodative spaces and establishing policies and norms are more perilous for new refugees as these areas are commoly pursued by refugee men for perpetrating sexual and gender based violence (SGBV). Neither the perpetrators nor the survivors ethnicity plays a role in commiting rape and being a target of rape. Early and forced marriage, occurs amongst the host community members of Turkana region and refugees at camp. In spite of having dreams of pursuing education and employment, young girls are forced to marry men as old as 60 years. Girls report fearing this practice as they have heard horrific narratives concerning the first consummation between husband and wife. South Sudanese girls encounter augmented danger as they fall prey to systemized kidnapping. These girls are taken to South Sudan to get married to older men and some return to camp after a few years, either pregnant or with children. Female genital mutilation is also normalized and is viewed as a cultural practice rather than a form of violence; however, it is usually performed covertly by community members ( The Impact of Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement and Host Community, 2019; SGBV Strategy, 2017).

Men have also reported experiencing intimate partner violence perpetrated by women, mostly their wives. Reasons include lack of sharing domestic houosehold chores between spouses and men showing greater physical weakness due to consumption of alcohol. Men also experience rape by other men; however, these encounters are highly underreported due to lack of education and awareness of violence against men. Kakuma camp and Kalobeyei provides asylum to individuals who identify as LGBTI and are forced to flee their home country due to high levels of intolerance and the criminilization of LGBTI. Regrettably, residents from the camp typically view members from the LGBTI community with contempt ( The Impact of Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement and Host Community, 2019; SGBV Strategy, 2017).
Basis of violence
People are shaped by societal attitudes, beliefs, and culture. It is conceivable that most refugees who arrive at camp and prevailing security personnel adhere to patriarchal attitudes and promulgate notions that men are more powerful, consequentially turning a blind eye to violence against women. Beliefs that men have a right to exert control over women emasculates female capability and strength (Kalra & Bhugra, 2013). Similarly, cultural ideas about sexual violence can have great influence on one's behaviours. Many misogynistic cultures place various forms of sexual violence on a continuum ranging from transgressive force to accepted coercion. This suggests that certain kinds of sexually violent acts are rebuked while other forms may be accepted and even encouraged. Women are forbidden to have control over their sexuality. Therefore, in situations where men vehemently engage in sexual activity and women resist, males undergo an identity crisis related to their sense of power and control over a woman. This leads to intense use of violence and behaviours like rape, kidnapping, etc. ensue (Kalra & Bhugra, 2013). The patriarchal ideas entrenched in Kenya's culture may also be a reason for the lack of condonation of such violence (Simiyu, n.d.).

Women and girls at Kakuma camp and Kalobeyei confront unique circumstances that upsurge their vulneraability to fixed patriarchal and misogynistic attitudes. Refugee men residing in camp are less likely to assume traditional gender roles of being the sole income earner of the family due to reduced financial and employment oppurtunities. This results in an idenity crisis where men question their power and control, leading to aggressive behaviour. Subsequently, women who are employed at camp fall victim to this aggression. Increased boredom, alcoholism, and drug abuse are also contributing factors that increase crime rates within camp. Communal amenities, such as use of lavatories and collection of food, and water are placed remotely. This, paired with factors like bad lighting and lack of security increases oppurtunites for predators to commit sexually violent acts. These crimes go unnoticed as police, ex-military personnel, and security guards use poor interrogative techniques, indulge in bribery, or are offenders themselves. The existence of xenophobia, racism, ethnocentrism, and time-honoured conflicts between various ethnic groups has also been reported by community members (Sexual Violence Against Refugees, 1995).

In patriarchal societies the words "masculinity" and "victimisation" are viewed as oxymorons; thus, failing to understand that sexual and gender-based violence is a male issue too. A man who is sexually abused is not called a "real man". Stigmatization, homophobia, and constant societal pressure on men to only reveal their dominating side and suppress vulnerability leads to higher rates of underreporting of sexual violence against males. These beliefs reinforce the idea that males need to take control and show power, hence strengthening the cycle of sexual and gender-based violence in refugee camps (Jensen, 2019).

International law for refugee protection and sexual violence (1993) recognizes sexual violence as a crime and has taken measures to detect and prevent instances of sexual violence. Nevertheless, it does not impose these laws on a national level and allows countries to frame their own decrees concerning sexual violence (Legal Aspects of Sexual Violence, n.d.). The Sexual Offences Act (2006) enacted by the Kenyan government has criminalized sexual violence. However, this act has vital weaknesses as it fails to recognize and outlaw all forms of sexual violence including marital rape and exploitations faced by the LGBTI coommunity. It also neglects approaches to overcome poor investigative procedures by police and relevant authorities and states no penalty for sexual violence perpetrated by these officials (Association for Women's Rights in Development, 2007). Since Kakuma camp and Kalobeyei fall under the jurisdiction of Kenya's laws, shortcomings in the Sexual Offences Act (2006) increase refugee susceptibility to sexual and gender based abuses. The UNHCR has provided guidelines and preventive strategies addressing SGBV at Kakuma and Kalobeyei. However, implementing these preventive measures is a challenge as staff members are incompetent and lack knowledge concerning SGBV but continue to deal with cases of violent behaviour. Due to reduced funding, UNHCR is unable to provide sustainable SGBV prevention programs ( The Impact of Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement and Host Community, 2019; Sexual Violence Against Refugees, 1995). Perhaps superior refugee welfare can be attained by revising national laws that deal with SGBV, increasing interactions between national governments and international organzations to protect refugee rights, and improving public awareness concerning refugees and refugee camps.

Documented by Rasika Sundaram
References

Association for Women's Rights in Development. (2007). Legislating against sexual violence in Kenya: An interview with the Hon. Njoki Ndungu . Reproductive Health Matters, 15(29), 149-154. Retrieved March 22, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25475301

Boru, Q. (2013, June 22). Life in the Kakuma refugee camp. https://www.fairobserver.com/region/africa/life-kakuma-refugee-camp/#:~:text=Kakuma%2C%20meaning%20%22nowhere%22%20in,it%20is%20a%20cosmopolitan%20camp.

Human Rights Watch. (n.d.). Chapter 4: Legal aspects of sexual violence. https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/tanzania/Duhweb-19.htm

Jensen, M.A (2019). Gendered-based violence in refugee camps: Understanding and addressing the role of gender in the experiences of refugees. Inquiries Journal, 11(2). Retrieved from http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1757/gender-based-violence-in-refugee-camps-understanding-and-addressing-the-role-of-gender-in-the-experiences-of-refugees#:~:text=In%20a%20refugee%20setting%2C%20there,1.6).

Kakuma. (2021, March 7). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakuma#Security

Kalra, G., & Bhugra, D. (2013). Sexual violence against women: Understanding cross-cultural intersections. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 55(3), 244-249. https://dx.doi.org/10.4103%2F0019-5545.117139

Lost Boys of Sudan. (2021, February 24). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Boys_of_Sudan

Refworld. (1995, March 8). Sexual violence against refugees. https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/3ae6b33e0.pdf

Simiyu, S. (n.d.). Gender: 12th parliament shows Kenya deeply patriarchal. https://icj-kenya.org/news/latest-news/144-gender-12th-parliament-shows-kenya-deeply-patriarchal#:~:text=Kenya%20is%20largely%20a%20patriarchal,embedded%20in%20traditional%20African%20life.&text=The%20socialization%20of%20the%20girl,on%20the%20part%20of%20women.

UNHCR. (n.d.). Inside the world's 10 largest refugee camps. Inside the World's 10 Largest Refugee Camps (arcgis.com)

UNHCR Kakuma camp. (2017). SGBV strategy. https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/download/65133#:~:text=Among%20the%20root%20causes%20of,discrimination%20and%20abuse%20of%20power.

UNHCR: Kenya. (n.d.). Kakuma refugee camp and Kalobeyei integrated settlement. https://www.unhcr.org/ke/kakuma-refugee-camp#:~:text=The%20camp%20was%20established%20in,strife%20causing%20people%20to%20flee.

UN Women. (2019). The impact of sexual and gender based violence in Kalobeyei integrated settlement and host community. https://www.genderinkenya.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Kalobeyei-SGBV-Rep-digital-27-Feb-003.pdf

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background
Kakuma, a word synonymous with the term "nowhere" in Swahili, is in the outskirts of Kakuma town in Turkana County, North Western Kenya (Boru, 2013; Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement, n.d.). Known as the largest refugee camp in the world, Kakuma accommodated 196,666 refugees and asylum seekers as of July 2020 (Inside the World's 10 Largest Refugee Camps, n.d.).

The commencement of Kakuma refugee camp dates back to the year 1992 following the arrival of the "Lost Boys of Sudan", a group of 20,000 orphaned and displaced young lads who had escaped from the Sudanese Civil War (1987-2005) (Lost Boys of Sudan, 2021; Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement, n.d.). The camp received refugees and displaced individuals from Ethiopia, where the government had collapsed, and Somali, a region which faced heightened civil conflict and risk. The camp beheld another significant period in 2014 as a greater inflow of refugees, displaced individuals, and asylum seekers led to intense overcrowding. This resulted in the opening of the Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement, a region located 20 kilometers away from Kakuma camp for new arrivals (Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement, n.d.).

Although both Kakuma camp and Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement were launched for the welfare and safety of asylum seekers, displaced migrants, and refugees, individuals in these regions have faced and continue to confront dire living conditions. Kakuma is the second poorest region in Kenya and refugees living in camp suffer from disease outbreaks, malnutrition, and shortage of basic resources, among other challenges. Although Kakuma camp and Kalobeyei receive health-care services and education opportunities through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and national government, these facilities are insufficient in number and lack good quality. Moreover, providing these facilities to refugees at camp has resulted in the eruption of violence between the host community and refugees as these services are not provided to members of the host community. Despite the presence of police, ex-military personnel, and local guardians for security, crimes like murder, theft, and sexual and gender-based violence continue to exist at Kakuma camp and Kalobeyei (Kakuma, 2021).
Sexual and gender-based violence experienced by refugees at Kakuma and Kalobeyei:
In 2019, the UNHCR recorded 80 percent of refugees as women and children in Kakuma camp, out of which 23.4 percent refugee women were from South Sudan. Most commonly noted reasons for women and children to flee their native country included shortage of basic provisions and increased threat to safety. Sadly, these women do not find the protection they need at Kakuma camp as they live in fear or are subjected to horrific instances of human right abuses ( The Impact of Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement and Host Community, 2019; SGBV Strategy, 2017).

According to UNHCR archives, rape is highlighted as the most frequent form of sexual exploitation amongst women at Kakuma camp and Kalobeyei. New arrivals who are in the process of being assigned a tent for shelter and single women who are heads of the household are at an increased risk of experiencing rape. Stranger rape is more prevalent, particularly by refugee men from camp, local community members, or security guards. The standard cultural response to rape involves offering compensation to the survivor or forcing the woman to marry the perpetrator. The high prevalence of rape has led to the normalizaton of this type of sexual violence to a degree where the women themselves do not view rape as a societal problem anymore. Single refugee women who suffer from poverty and are unaccompanied by men who are breadwinners for the family are forced to engage in survival sex for basic supplies like food and water. As a result, sexually transmiited diseases like HIV/ AIDS are rampant at Kakuma camp and Kalobeyei. Intimate partner violence is also a common form of abuse suffered by women ( The Impact of Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement and Host Community, 2019; SGBV Strategy, 2017).

Refugee girls are especially at risk of encountering sexual violence as it is easier for older men to dominate minors. Regions in the camp that are in the process of developing accomodative spaces and establishing policies and norms are more perilous for new refugees as these areas are commoly pursued by refugee men for perpetrating sexual and gender based violence (SGBV). Neither the perpetrators nor the survivors ethnicity plays a role in commiting rape and being a target of rape. Early and forced marriage, occurs amongst the host community members of Turkana region and refugees at camp. In spite of having dreams of pursuing education and employment, young girls are forced to marry men as old as 60 years. Girls report fearing this practice as they have heard horrific narratives concerning the first consummation between husband and wife. South Sudanese girls encounter augmented danger as they fall prey to systemized kidnapping. These girls are taken to South Sudan to get married to older men and some return to camp after a few years, either pregnant or with children. Female genital mutilation is also normalized and is viewed as a cultural practice rather than a form of violence; however, it is usually performed covertly by community members ( The Impact of Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement and Host Community, 2019; SGBV Strategy, 2017).

Men have also reported experiencing intimate partner violence perpetrated by women, mostly their wives. Reasons include lack of sharing domestic houosehold chores between spouses and men showing greater physical weakness due to consumption of alcohol. Men also experience rape by other men; however, these encounters are highly underreported due to lack of education and awareness of violence against men. Kakuma camp and Kalobeyei provides asylum to individuals who identify as LGBTI and are forced to flee their home country due to high levels of intolerance and the criminilization of LGBTI. Regrettably, residents from the camp typically view members from the LGBTI community with contempt ( The Impact of Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement and Host Community, 2019; SGBV Strategy, 2017).
Basis of violence
People are shaped by societal attitudes, beliefs, and culture. It is conceivable that most refugees who arrive at camp and prevailing security personnel adhere to patriarchal attitudes and promulgate notions that men are more powerful, consequentially turning a blind eye to violence against women. Beliefs that men have a right to exert control over women emasculates female capability and strength (Kalra & Bhugra, 2013). Similarly, cultural ideas about sexual violence can have great influence on one's behaviours. Many misogynistic cultures place various forms of sexual violence on a continuum ranging from transgressive force to accepted coercion. This suggests that certain kinds of sexually violent acts are rebuked while other forms may be accepted and even encouraged. Women are forbidden to have control over their sexuality. Therefore, in situations where men vehemently engage in sexual activity and women resist, males undergo an identity crisis related to their sense of power and control over a woman. This leads to intense use of violence and behaviours like rape, kidnapping, etc. ensue (Kalra & Bhugra, 2013). The patriarchal ideas entrenched in Kenya's culture may also be a reason for the lack of condonation of such violence (Simiyu, n.d.).

Women and girls at Kakuma camp and Kalobeyei confront unique circumstances that upsurge their vulneraability to fixed patriarchal and misogynistic attitudes. Refugee men residing in camp are less likely to assume traditional gender roles of being the sole income earner of the family due to reduced financial and employment oppurtunities. This results in an idenity crisis where men question their power and control, leading to aggressive behaviour. Subsequently, women who are employed at camp fall victim to this aggression. Increased boredom, alcoholism, and drug abuse are also contributing factors that increase crime rates within camp. Communal amenities, such as use of lavatories and collection of food, and water are placed remotely. This, paired with factors like bad lighting and lack of security increases oppurtunites for predators to commit sexually violent acts. These crimes go unnoticed as police, ex-military personnel, and security guards use poor interrogative techniques, indulge in bribery, or are offenders themselves. The existence of xenophobia, racism, ethnocentrism, and time-honoured conflicts between various ethnic groups has also been reported by community members (Sexual Violence Against Refugees, 1995).

In patriarchal societies the words "masculinity" and "victimisation" are viewed as oxymorons; thus, failing to understand that sexual and gender-based violence is a male issue too. A man who is sexually abused is not called a "real man". Stigmatization, homophobia, and constant societal pressure on men to only reveal their dominating side and suppress vulnerability leads to higher rates of underreporting of sexual violence against males. These beliefs reinforce the idea that males need to take control and show power, hence strengthening the cycle of sexual and gender-based violence in refugee camps (Jensen, 2019).

International law for refugee protection and sexual violence (1993) recognizes sexual violence as a crime and has taken measures to detect and prevent instances of sexual violence. Nevertheless, it does not impose these laws on a national level and allows countries to frame their own decrees concerning sexual violence (Legal Aspects of Sexual Violence, n.d.). The Sexual Offences Act (2006) enacted by the Kenyan government has criminalized sexual violence. However, this act has vital weaknesses as it fails to recognize and outlaw all forms of sexual violence including marital rape and exploitations faced by the LGBTI coommunity. It also neglects approaches to overcome poor investigative procedures by police and relevant authorities and states no penalty for sexual violence perpetrated by these officials (Association for Women's Rights in Development, 2007). Since Kakuma camp and Kalobeyei fall under the jurisdiction of Kenya's laws, shortcomings in the Sexual Offences Act (2006) increase refugee susceptibility to sexual and gender based abuses. The UNHCR has provided guidelines and preventive strategies addressing SGBV at Kakuma and Kalobeyei. However, implementing these preventive measures is a challenge as staff members are incompetent and lack knowledge concerning SGBV but continue to deal with cases of violent behaviour. Due to reduced funding, UNHCR is unable to provide sustainable SGBV prevention programs ( The Impact of Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement and Host Community, 2019; Sexual Violence Against Refugees, 1995). Perhaps superior refugee welfare can be attained by revising national laws that deal with SGBV, increasing interactions between national governments and international organzations to protect refugee rights, and improving public awareness concerning refugees and refugee camps.

Documented by Rasika Sundaram
References

Association for Women's Rights in Development. (2007). Legislating against sexual violence in Kenya: An interview with the Hon. Njoki Ndungu . Reproductive Health Matters, 15(29), 149-154. Retrieved March 22, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25475301

Boru, Q. (2013, June 22). Life in the Kakuma refugee camp. https://www.fairobserver.com/region/africa/life-kakuma-refugee-camp/#:~:text=Kakuma%2C%20meaning%20%22nowhere%22%20in,it%20is%20a%20cosmopolitan%20camp.

Human Rights Watch. (n.d.). Chapter 4: Legal aspects of sexual violence. https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/tanzania/Duhweb-19.htm

Jensen, M.A (2019). Gendered-based violence in refugee camps: Understanding and addressing the role of gender in the experiences of refugees. Inquiries Journal, 11(2). Retrieved from http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1757/gender-based-violence-in-refugee-camps-understanding-and-addressing-the-role-of-gender-in-the-experiences-of-refugees#:~:text=In%20a%20refugee%20setting%2C%20there,1.6).

Kakuma. (2021, March 7). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakuma#Security

Kalra, G., & Bhugra, D. (2013). Sexual violence against women: Understanding cross-cultural intersections. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 55(3), 244-249. https://dx.doi.org/10.4103%2F0019-5545.117139

Lost Boys of Sudan. (2021, February 24). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Boys_of_Sudan

Refworld. (1995, March 8). Sexual violence against refugees. https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/3ae6b33e0.pdf

Simiyu, S. (n.d.). Gender: 12th parliament shows Kenya deeply patriarchal. https://icj-kenya.org/news/latest-news/144-gender-12th-parliament-shows-kenya-deeply-patriarchal#:~:text=Kenya%20is%20largely%20a%20patriarchal,embedded%20in%20traditional%20African%20life.&text=The%20socialization%20of%20the%20girl,on%20the%20part%20of%20women.

UNHCR. (n.d.). Inside the world's 10 largest refugee camps. Inside the World's 10 Largest Refugee Camps (arcgis.com)

UNHCR Kakuma camp. (2017). SGBV strategy. https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/download/65133#:~:text=Among%20the%20root%20causes%20of,discrimination%20and%20abuse%20of%20power.

UNHCR: Kenya. (n.d.). Kakuma refugee camp and Kalobeyei integrated settlement. https://www.unhcr.org/ke/kakuma-refugee-camp#:~:text=The%20camp%20was%20established%20in,strife%20causing%20people%20to%20flee.

UN Women. (2019). The impact of sexual and gender based violence in Kalobeyei integrated settlement and host community. https://www.genderinkenya.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Kalobeyei-SGBV-Rep-digital-27-Feb-003.pdf

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Large-scale Sexual Violence: Kakuma Refugee Camp - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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CRSV: Darfur — The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
When the Arab Spring began in 2011, Libya was one of the countries that witnessed massive protests that led to a civil war, military intervention, and the ousting and death of Muammar Gaddafi.

In February 2011, protests began in Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, against Gaddafi's 40-year rule. The protests were met with brutal crackdowns with the security sector opening fire on civilian protesters, and this catalyzed a larger uprising that culminated in the establishment of the National Transitional Council (NTC). This interim governing body opposed Gaddafi's autocratic rule. Even as violence escalated, the regime responded with force, even issuing statements that hinted at a willingness to kill civilians to suppress the protests.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution authorizing military intervention in Libya. Shortly after that, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Gaddafi and other actors in his regime on June 27, 2011. He was ousted from power after the NTC's forces captured Tripoli. While his supporters kept up resistance against the NTC, Gaddafi declared his hometown, Sirte, the new capital of Libya on September 1, 2011. When Sirte was captured and the NATO airstrikes targeted Gaddafi's convoy, he was eventually killed. Following the civil war, the proliferation of armed groups caused violence and instability in the country, and eventually led to a second civil war from 2014 onward.
The Prevalence of Sexual Violence
The occurrence of sexual violence in the Libyan conflict was first brought to light when a law student burst into a hotel in Tripoli and told the foreign journalists staying there that she had been held and gang-raped by Gaddafi's soldiers. She was dragged away from the hotel by security forces, and the government tried to dismiss the incident by calling her mentally ill. There were many stories on how coordinated campaigns of mass rape were underway, with some reports indicating the distribution and use of Viagra to enable soldiers to conduct mass rapes.

A psychologist called Seham Sergewa indicated that she sent out 50,000 questionnaires and received 60,000 responses - and identified 295 reports of rape. According to the UNHCR, there were instances in which the rape of a woman was seen as a matter of dishonour for her entire village or town. The UN documented accounts of rape by Gaddafi's forces and also gathered testimonies from residents of Misrata who indicated that their primary reason for fleeing was to protect their family members from rape. The UN noted that the significant challenge lay in chronic underreporting of conflict-related sexual violence, which was largely a result of the fear of reprisals, stigma, and the socio-cultural attitudes of violence.
The Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
From the reports that have seen light of day, it seems clear that rape and sexual violence were used as a mechanism to intimidate protesters and to punish them for aligning against the government. In some instances, it was used to obtain information from rebel fighters. Sexual violence and rape culminated in stigma and social isolation, and whole families and communities considered the rape of a woman a violation of their honour. Sexual violence was also deployed to force compliance with and allegiance to the regime. In some instances, it was also used to retaliate against "foreign mercenaries." Physicians for Human Rights conducted in-depth interviews with six Libyan civilians, including two obstetricians/gynecologists, who gave credible reports of military-sanctioned rape as well as of honour killings that occurred in response to these instances of rape and sexual violence.
References:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/sep/12/murder-torture-both-sides-libyan-regime

https://phr.org/issues/investigating-deaths-and-mass-atrocities/assessments-and-documentation-of-mass-crimes/assessments-in-libya/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13760895

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/05/23/libya.rape.survey.psychologist/

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE73303S20110404

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/17session/A.HRC.17.44_AUV.pdf

http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/09/19/libya-transitional-government-should-support-victims

https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/countries/libya/

https://s3.amazonaws.com/PHR_Reports/Libya-WitnesstoWarCrimes-Aug2011.pdf

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CRSV: Libya - The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the conflict
Stretching over thirty years, the Guatemalan Civil War started in 1960 (Schirmer, 1998), and was fought between the government of Guatemala and several leftist rebel groups that were supported by many ethnic Mayan Indigenous people and economically disadvantaged Ladino peasants. The government of Guatemala has been condemned for having committed the crime of genocide, and of having committed widespread human rights violations against the Mayan people. Statistics show that as many as 200,000 people died or went missing during the war, including 40,000 to 50,000 people who were subjected to enforced disappearances (International Committee of the Red Cross 2005).

A skewed land tenure (2 per cent of the population owns 60 per cent of the country's arable land) as well as grinding poverty, dire working conditions for Indigenous campesinos in the large coffee, sugar, and cotton export plantations, and the appalling lack of state services for health or education, gave rise to mass conscription of indigenous people into the rebel forces (Eade and Macleod, 2011).

The Mayan Ixil are people Indigenous to Guatemala, living in primarily three municipalities in the Cuchumatanes mountains in the northern part of the department El Quiché. Known as the Ixil triangle (Comprising Santa Maria Nebaj, San Gaspar Chajul, and San Juan Cotzal), these municipalities became a centre of violence during the peak of the war. The Ixil community became the principal target of what appears to be a genocide operation that involved systematic rape, displacement, and imposed hunger during the conflict (Briggs, 2007).
The Prevalence of Sexual Violence
The most under-reported human rights violations were the incidents of rape of Indigenous women, and 88.7% of the 1465 cases of rape that were documented by the Truth Commission were those of Mayan women (Eade and Macleod, 2011). Women were "routinely raped in front of their children, often gang-raped, and others were forced into slave labour - cooking, washing clothes and providing sexual favours under duress - for the army or the civil patrol leaders" (Eade and Macleod, 2011). In the Guatemalan Civil War, most of the sexual violence took the form of Femicide. Over 5,000 women and girls in Guatemala have been murdered in the past ten years, many of them raped and mutilated, their bodies discarded in public places (Madre et al., 2012).

From the many testimonies that were narrated in the Tribunal of Conscience against Sexual Violence towards Women during the Armed Conflict, it came to light that the brutal sexual violence inflicted upon the women included a range of different forms of violence, and sexual and domestic slavery obligating the women to always be ready to "service the needs" of the troop, garrison or other military group (Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network, 2010).
The Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
During the civil war in Guatemala, women "were raped not only as the 'spoils of war,' but as part of the systematic and intentional plan to destroy the Ixil ethnic group by exercising violence on women's bodies as a means of perpetrating ethnic cleansing, where the aim was way to destroy the social fabric and thereby ensure the destruction of the Ixil population (Open Society Justice Initiative, 2013). By targeting the women, the intention was to obliterate reproductive capacity and therefore to carry out the crime of genocide (AJR et. Al, 2013). The breakdown of administrative and executive machinery meant that there was no mechanism to enforce the inherent rights of women during this conflict. The culture of impunity enabled the crimes to continue unabated.
Pursuing prosecution
The Tribunal of Conscience against Sexual Violence towards Women during the Armed Conflict was established in Guatemala in March 2010 (Crosby, Alison and Lykes, M. Brinton, 2011). Through the Tribunal, it came to light that the rape of Indigenous women continues to be commonplace as a reprisal against social organizing, especially in the forced evictions of Indigenous campesinos in land conflicts (Eade and Macleod, 2011).

Efrain Rios Montt, the Guatemalan dictator during the civil war, was prosecuted by the Guatemalan Supreme Court in 2013 (Doman 2018). He was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity, and his trial presented several testimonies of rape and sexual violence committed against Maya Ixil women - all of which were presented to show how sexual violence constituted part of the genocide. However, in just ten days after his verdict, the Guatemalan Constitutional Court annulled the trial on procedural grounds after sustained pressure from powerful sectors of Guatemala's economy and society (Doman 2018).
References

Asociación para la Justicia y Reconciliación AJR [Association for Justice and Reconciliation], Centro para la Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos CALDH [Center for Legal Action in Human Rights], Colectivo Nosotras las Mujeres [We Women Collective], Centro Medios Independientes [Independent Media Center], Alai, America Latina en Movimiento, Guatemala - Testimonies of the trial against Rioss Montt: Sexual Violence is Genocide: their truth is our truth, April 12, 2013. Available at: http://alainet.org/active/63244(last accessed on June 10, 2013)

Briggs, Billy (2 February 2007). "Billy Briggs on the atrocities of Guatemala's civil war". The Guardian (London) available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2007/feb/02/features11.g2 (last accessed on June 10, 2013)

Crosby, Alison and Lykes, M. Brinton, Mayan Women Survivors Speak: The Gendered Relations of Truth Telling in Postwar Guatemala IJTJ first published online September 15, 2011 http://ijtj.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/09/14/ijtj.ijr017.abstract (last accessed on June 10, 2013)

Doman, Juliette. How indigenous women who survived Guatemala's conflict are fighting for justice theconversation.com/how-indigenous-women-who-survived-guatemalas-conflict-are-fighting-for-justice-92872

Eade, Deborah and Macleod, Morna, "Women and armed conflict: from victims to activists", in State of the World's Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2011, available at www.minorityrights.org/download.php?id=1017 (last accessed on June 10, 2013)

Guatemala National Survey of Maternal and Child Health, Encuesta Nacional de Salud Materno Infantil, ENSMI (2008-2009) www.ine.gob.gt/descargas/ind_edu/Principales_Indicadores.pdf (last accessed on June 10, 2013)

Huffman L., Amber, The Gendered Aspect of Maya Development in Guatemala, (Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for Honours in Geography) University of Mary Washington, 2011 http://cas.umw.edu/geography/files/2011/09/Huffman-Thesis-1.pdf

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, World Disasters Report, Oxford University Press (1996)

Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network, Tribunal of Conscience against Sexual Violence in Guatemala, (March 2010) http://www.reddesalud.org/news/act1_int.php?id=82

MADRE, the International Women's Human Rights Clinic at the City University of New York School of Law, Muixil, Barcenas Women Workers Committee, Colectivo Artesana, Women's Link Worldwide and the Guatemala Human Rights Commission, Demanding Rights, Resources & Results for Women Worldwide (2012) http://www.madre.org/images/uploads/misc/1332520499_Guatemala%20Shadow%20Report%20Shortened%20032312_FINAL.pdf (last accessed on June 10, 2013)

Madrid, Kathia Loyzaga Dávila and Fuentes, Patricia Figueroa, "A shared challenge Indigenous childhood and education, Bernard van Leer Foundation Early Childhood Matters, June 2007

Open Society Justice Initiative, Judging a Dictator: The Trial of Guatemala's Efrain Rios Montt http://www.riosmontt-trial.org/2013/05/rios-montt-convicted-of-genocide-and-crimes-against-humanity-the-sentence-and-its-aftermath/

Open Society Justice Initiative, Judging a Dictator: The Trial of Guatemala's Rios Montt http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/judging-dicatator-trial-guatemala-rios-montt-11072013.pdf

Paul, Lois & Paul, D. Benjamin, The Maya Midwife as Sacred Specialist: A Guatemalan Case, American Ethnologist, Vol.2, No. 4 (1975)

Pike, John, "Guatemalan Civil War - 1960-1996" Global Security, http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/guatemala.htm (last accessed on June 10, 2013)

Prosecutor v. Akayesu, (ICTR) Case No. ICTR-96-4 (Trial Chamber), September 2, 1998. Available at http://www.unictr.org/Cases/tabid/127/PID/18/default.aspx?id=3&mnid=4 (last accessed on June 10, 2013)

Roberts, Tobias, "Gender Equity and Mayan Spirituality", Huffington Post, May 8, 2013, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tobias-roberts/gender-equity-and-mayan-s_b_3233253.html

Rothenberg, Daniel, Memory of Silence, The Guatemlan Truth Commission Report, Palgrave Macmillan, March 2012

Schirmer, Jennifer (1998). The Guatemalan Military Project: A Violence Called Democracy. Penn Press.

Tedlock, Barbara, The Role of Dreams and Visionary Narratives in Mayan Cultural Survival, Ethos, Volume 20, Issue 4, pages 453-476, December 1992

UMAL IQ', "Monument to the Resilience of the Ixil-Maya" (2013) https://www.wepay.com/donations/154694

US Senate, Rape as a Weapon of War: Accountability for Sexual Violence in Conflict, (Hearing before the Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law of the Committee on the Judiciary), April 1, 2008 available at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-110shrg45210/pdf/CHRG-110shrg45210.pdf (last accessed on June 10, 2013)

Walsh, Linda, "Beliefs and Rituals in Traditional Birth Attendant Practice in Guatemala" Journal Of Transcultural Nursing, (2006)

Documented by Kirthi Jayakumar

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the conflict
Stretching over thirty years, the Guatemalan Civil War started in 1960 (Schirmer, 1998), and was fought between the government of Guatemala and several leftist rebel groups that were supported by many ethnic Mayan Indigenous people and economically disadvantaged Ladino peasants. The government of Guatemala has been condemned for having committed the crime of genocide, and of having committed widespread human rights violations against the Mayan people. Statistics show that as many as 200,000 people died or went missing during the war, including 40,000 to 50,000 people who were subjected to enforced disappearances (International Committee of the Red Cross 2005).

A skewed land tenure (2 per cent of the population owns 60 per cent of the country's arable land) as well as grinding poverty, dire working conditions for Indigenous campesinos in the large coffee, sugar, and cotton export plantations, and the appalling lack of state services for health or education, gave rise to mass conscription of indigenous people into the rebel forces (Eade and Macleod, 2011).

The Mayan Ixil are people Indigenous to Guatemala, living in primarily three municipalities in the Cuchumatanes mountains in the northern part of the department El Quiché. Known as the Ixil triangle (Comprising Santa Maria Nebaj, San Gaspar Chajul, and San Juan Cotzal), these municipalities became a centre of violence during the peak of the war. The Ixil community became the principal target of what appears to be a genocide operation that involved systematic rape, displacement, and imposed hunger during the conflict (Briggs, 2007).
The Prevalence of Sexual Violence
The most under-reported human rights violations were the incidents of rape of Indigenous women, and 88.7% of the 1465 cases of rape that were documented by the Truth Commission were those of Mayan women (Eade and Macleod, 2011). Women were "routinely raped in front of their children, often gang-raped, and others were forced into slave labour - cooking, washing clothes and providing sexual favours under duress - for the army or the civil patrol leaders" (Eade and Macleod, 2011). In the Guatemalan Civil War, most of the sexual violence took the form of Femicide. Over 5,000 women and girls in Guatemala have been murdered in the past ten years, many of them raped and mutilated, their bodies discarded in public places (Madre et al., 2012).

From the many testimonies that were narrated in the Tribunal of Conscience against Sexual Violence towards Women during the Armed Conflict, it came to light that the brutal sexual violence inflicted upon the women included a range of different forms of violence, and sexual and domestic slavery obligating the women to always be ready to "service the needs" of the troop, garrison or other military group (Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network, 2010).
The Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
During the civil war in Guatemala, women "were raped not only as the 'spoils of war,' but as part of the systematic and intentional plan to destroy the Ixil ethnic group by exercising violence on women's bodies as a means of perpetrating ethnic cleansing, where the aim was way to destroy the social fabric and thereby ensure the destruction of the Ixil population (Open Society Justice Initiative, 2013). By targeting the women, the intention was to obliterate reproductive capacity and therefore to carry out the crime of genocide (AJR et. Al, 2013). The breakdown of administrative and executive machinery meant that there was no mechanism to enforce the inherent rights of women during this conflict. The culture of impunity enabled the crimes to continue unabated.
Pursuing prosecution
The Tribunal of Conscience against Sexual Violence towards Women during the Armed Conflict was established in Guatemala in March 2010 (Crosby, Alison and Lykes, M. Brinton, 2011). Through the Tribunal, it came to light that the rape of Indigenous women continues to be commonplace as a reprisal against social organizing, especially in the forced evictions of Indigenous campesinos in land conflicts (Eade and Macleod, 2011).

Efrain Rios Montt, the Guatemalan dictator during the civil war, was prosecuted by the Guatemalan Supreme Court in 2013 (Doman 2018). He was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity, and his trial presented several testimonies of rape and sexual violence committed against Maya Ixil women - all of which were presented to show how sexual violence constituted part of the genocide. However, in just ten days after his verdict, the Guatemalan Constitutional Court annulled the trial on procedural grounds after sustained pressure from powerful sectors of Guatemala's economy and society (Doman 2018).
References

Asociación para la Justicia y Reconciliación AJR [Association for Justice and Reconciliation], Centro para la Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos CALDH [Center for Legal Action in Human Rights], Colectivo Nosotras las Mujeres [We Women Collective], Centro Medios Independientes [Independent Media Center], Alai, America Latina en Movimiento, Guatemala - Testimonies of the trial against Rioss Montt: Sexual Violence is Genocide: their truth is our truth, April 12, 2013. Available at: http://alainet.org/active/63244(last accessed on June 10, 2013)

Briggs, Billy (2 February 2007). "Billy Briggs on the atrocities of Guatemala's civil war". The Guardian (London) available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2007/feb/02/features11.g2 (last accessed on June 10, 2013)

Crosby, Alison and Lykes, M. Brinton, Mayan Women Survivors Speak: The Gendered Relations of Truth Telling in Postwar Guatemala IJTJ first published online September 15, 2011 http://ijtj.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/09/14/ijtj.ijr017.abstract (last accessed on June 10, 2013)

Doman, Juliette. How indigenous women who survived Guatemala's conflict are fighting for justice theconversation.com/how-indigenous-women-who-survived-guatemalas-conflict-are-fighting-for-justice-92872

Eade, Deborah and Macleod, Morna, "Women and armed conflict: from victims to activists", in State of the World's Minorities and Indigenous Peoples 2011, available at www.minorityrights.org/download.php?id=1017 (last accessed on June 10, 2013)

Guatemala National Survey of Maternal and Child Health, Encuesta Nacional de Salud Materno Infantil, ENSMI (2008-2009) www.ine.gob.gt/descargas/ind_edu/Principales_Indicadores.pdf (last accessed on June 10, 2013)

Huffman L., Amber, The Gendered Aspect of Maya Development in Guatemala, (Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for Honours in Geography) University of Mary Washington, 2011 http://cas.umw.edu/geography/files/2011/09/Huffman-Thesis-1.pdf

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, World Disasters Report, Oxford University Press (1996)

Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network, Tribunal of Conscience against Sexual Violence in Guatemala, (March 2010) http://www.reddesalud.org/news/act1_int.php?id=82

MADRE, the International Women's Human Rights Clinic at the City University of New York School of Law, Muixil, Barcenas Women Workers Committee, Colectivo Artesana, Women's Link Worldwide and the Guatemala Human Rights Commission, Demanding Rights, Resources & Results for Women Worldwide (2012) http://www.madre.org/images/uploads/misc/1332520499_Guatemala%20Shadow%20Report%20Shortened%20032312_FINAL.pdf (last accessed on June 10, 2013)

Madrid, Kathia Loyzaga Dávila and Fuentes, Patricia Figueroa, "A shared challenge Indigenous childhood and education, Bernard van Leer Foundation Early Childhood Matters, June 2007

Open Society Justice Initiative, Judging a Dictator: The Trial of Guatemala's Efrain Rios Montt http://www.riosmontt-trial.org/2013/05/rios-montt-convicted-of-genocide-and-crimes-against-humanity-the-sentence-and-its-aftermath/

Open Society Justice Initiative, Judging a Dictator: The Trial of Guatemala's Rios Montt http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/judging-dicatator-trial-guatemala-rios-montt-11072013.pdf

Paul, Lois & Paul, D. Benjamin, The Maya Midwife as Sacred Specialist: A Guatemalan Case, American Ethnologist, Vol.2, No. 4 (1975)

Pike, John, "Guatemalan Civil War - 1960-1996" Global Security, http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/guatemala.htm (last accessed on June 10, 2013)

Prosecutor v. Akayesu, (ICTR) Case No. ICTR-96-4 (Trial Chamber), September 2, 1998. Available at http://www.unictr.org/Cases/tabid/127/PID/18/default.aspx?id=3&mnid=4 (last accessed on June 10, 2013)

Roberts, Tobias, "Gender Equity and Mayan Spirituality", Huffington Post, May 8, 2013, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tobias-roberts/gender-equity-and-mayan-s_b_3233253.html

Rothenberg, Daniel, Memory of Silence, The Guatemlan Truth Commission Report, Palgrave Macmillan, March 2012

Schirmer, Jennifer (1998). The Guatemalan Military Project: A Violence Called Democracy. Penn Press.

Tedlock, Barbara, The Role of Dreams and Visionary Narratives in Mayan Cultural Survival, Ethos, Volume 20, Issue 4, pages 453-476, December 1992

UMAL IQ', "Monument to the Resilience of the Ixil-Maya" (2013) https://www.wepay.com/donations/154694

US Senate, Rape as a Weapon of War: Accountability for Sexual Violence in Conflict, (Hearing before the Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law of the Committee on the Judiciary), April 1, 2008 available at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-110shrg45210/pdf/CHRG-110shrg45210.pdf (last accessed on June 10, 2013)

Walsh, Linda, "Beliefs and Rituals in Traditional Birth Attendant Practice in Guatemala" Journal Of Transcultural Nursing, (2006)

Documented by Kirthi Jayakumar

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CRSV: Guatemala - The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
In August 2020, Genocide Watch had issued a genocide warning for Ethiopia, pointing out the government's inaction to stop ethnically motivated violence between Oromo, Amhara, Tigrayan, and Gedeo people. The violence continued, even as more and more separatists and armed groups began to take advantage of the unrest spreading across the country. In Tigray region, leaders conducted regional elections of their own accord, ahead of the now-delayed national elections.

The ongoing armed conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia began on November 4, 2020. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered the Ethiopian Defence Forces to engage with "the Tigray Regional Paramilitary Police and militia loyal to the Tigray People Liberation Front in response to multiple attacks by the Tigray Security Forces on the EDF North Command Base in Mekelle and other military camps in the Tigray Region." On November 9, 2020, there was evidence of the mass killing of several hundreds of Amharans in the western Tigray town of Mai Kadra. In the weeks that followed, several reports emerged, pointing at thousands of civilians being killed or fleeing to Sudan. In December 2020, the UN reported that violations of international human rights and humanitarian laws unfolded in the region, and mentioned the prevalence of the deliberate targeting of civilians, extrajudicial killings and widespread looting.

The genesis of the Tigray conflict goes back to the Ethiopian Civil War in 1991. After this war, Ethiopia became a dominant-party state, ruled by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPDRF) - which was a coalition of ethnically-based parties. The Tigray People's Liberation Front was a founding member, and was part of the Ethiopian Government until 2019, when it refused to merge into the Prosperity Party. In 2020, tensions between the government and the TPLF escalated. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, of Oromo descent, accused the TPLF of undermining his authority. The authorities in Tigray, meanwhile, went ahead and conducted the September 2020 elections to the Tigray Parliament - while all other elections in Ethiopia were postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Abiy Ahmed's government declared this election illegal. Tensions were exacerbated by Ahmed's government building a good relationship with Eritrean President, Isias Afwerki, who has a poor image in Tigray. In October 2020, the Ethiopian Reconciliation Commission attempted a mediation between the federal and Tigrayan governments, but the two sides set rather tall preconditions that hampered the peace process.

Mounting tensions culminated in Abiy's general being prevented by the Tigrayan government from taking his military post. On November 3, 2020, the Federal Parliament of Ethiopia proposed designating TPLF as a terrorist organization. The next day, the TPLF carried out the November Northern Command attacks on the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) Northern Command headquarters in Mekelle, and bases in Adigrat, Agula, Dansha, and Sero in the Tigray Region.
The Prevalence of Sexual violence
Pramila Patten, the United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, noted that the sexual violence that took place during the Tigray conflict included rape in Mekelle, individuals being forced to rape their family members, sex in exchange for basic goods, and a rise in the number of demands for emergency contraception and testing for sexually transmitted infections.

Reports put together by the Europe External Program with Africa from January 2021 show that large numbers of women were sexually abused and raped, both individually and in acts of gang rape; and that large number of women had been kidnapped by the security forces without any clarity on their whereabouts and sites of detention. The girls were forced to keep quiet and were threatened not to report the rape or seek medical care. A refugee from the Tigray Conflict told Reuters that she had been raped at gunpoint, and that the rapist was dressed in an ENDF uniform and stated that a condom was unnecessary. There have also been reports from aid workers and doctors who have indicated the prevalence of rape the Amhara and EDF security forces in the towns of Rawyan, Wukro, Adigrat, and Mekelle. The deposed leader of the Tigray Region, Debretsion Gebremichael, who had been elected in September 2020 and later deposed in the conflict, indicated that mothers and daughters were being raped by "the enemies." The Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General indicated that In May 2021, over 500 cases of gender-based violence, including rape, were reported - a number that included about 70 reported cases against girls under 18.

have suggested that the actual number could be much higher because medical facilities were not functioning to full capacity, and reportage was challenging because of the stigma associated with it. A doctor at Mekelle reported that each survivor reported that at least 20 other women had been raped along with her - and that these women could not report the incident to any hospital. Another suggests that 10,000 women had been raped during the conflict. By April 2021, the top public health official in the Transitional Government of Tigray reported that 829 cases of sexual assault had been reported - but that this was only likely to be the tip of the iceberg at best. The UNFPA reported by July 2021, that an estimated number of 26,000 women aged between 15 and 49 years would need services for sexual and gender based violence in the Tigray War.
Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence in the Tigray conflict has been carried out deliberately, as a weapon of war. The motivation for its deployment as a war tactic has centred on spreading fear among the targeted communities. The underlying motive of spreading fear is to threaten the community into compliance and to give up fighting. A second motive is to break the morale of the targeted communities. By forcing communities to resort to sex for basic commodities, the aim is to humiliate them. The deliberate targeting of mothers and daughters, and forcing family members to commit rape, all speak to the weaponization of stigma and cultural salience around notions of purity. This has also motivated some families to shave their daughters' heads and dress them as boys in order to protect them from rape. The absence of a robust security sector system has prevented reportage and appropriate response to keep the crime in check - thus providing an enabling environment for the crime.
References:

Al Jazeera, "'Disturbing' rape allegations in Ethiopia's Tigray conflict: UN." https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/22/disturbing-rape-allegations-in-ethiopias-tigray-conflict-un

United Nations, "United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Ms. Pramila Patten, urges all parties to prohibit the use of sexual violence and cease hostilities in the Tigray region of Ethiopia." https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/press-release/united-nations-special-representative-of-the-secretary-general-on-sexual-violence-in-conflict-ms-pramila-patten-urges-all-parties-to-prohibit-the-use-of-sexual-violence-and-cease-hostilities-in-the/

BBC, "Ethiopia's Tigray crisis: 'I lost my hand when a soldier tried to rape me.'" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-55832711

Europe External Programme with Africa, "Situation Report EEPA HORN No. 45 - 4 January 2021." https://www.eepa.be//wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Situation-Report-EEPA-Horn-No.-45-4-January-2021.pdf

Reuters, "'Choose - I kill you or rape you': abuse accusations surge in Ethiopia's war" https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-ethiopia-conflict-rape-idUSKBN29S0BG

Eritrea Hub, "Dr. Debretsion Gebremichael's Statement, 30 January 2021." https://eritreahub.org/dr-debretsion-gebremichaels-statement-30-january-2021

The Guardian, "Ethiopia confirms reports of rape in Tigray war." https://guardian.ng/news/world/ethiopia-confirms-reports-of-rape-in-tigray-war/

BBC, "Tigray crisis: Ethiopia orders military response after army base seized." https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-54805088

France 24, "Ethiopia's Tigray region defies PM Abiy with 'illegal' election." https://www.france24.com/en/20200909-ethiopia-s-tigray-region-defies-pm-abiy-with-illegal-election-1

Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General (June 17, 2021). https://www.un.org/press/en/2021/db210617.doc.htm

Lucy Kassa and Anna Pujol-Mazzini (2021). "'We're here to make you HIV positive': Hundreds of women rush to Tigray hospitals as soldiers use rape as weapon of war". The Daily Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/women-and-girls/make-hiv-positive-hundreds-women-rush-tigray-hospitals-soldiers

Irish Times (2021). Men forced to rape family members in Ethiopia's Tigray region, says UN. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/africa/men-forced-to-rape-family-members-in-ethiopia-s-tigray-region-says-un-1.4520903

Hayes, Helen and Cleverly, James (2021). "Conflict in Tigray Region of Ethiopia - Volume 691: debated on Thursday 25 March 2021". Hansard. https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2021-03-25/debates/5D6EC59D-4744-425B-8086-2C13256A34ED/ConflictInTigrayRegionOfEthiopia

Katharine Houreld (2021). "Health official alleges 'sexual slavery' in Tigray". Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/special-report-health-official-alleges-sexual-slavery-tigray-women-blame-2021-04-15/

Gelaw, Abraham (13 July 2021). "UNFPA Ethiopia response to the Tigray crisis - Situation Report 15 to 30 June 2021" (PDF). United Nations Population Fund. https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/UNFPA%20Ethiopia%20Response%20to%20the%20Tigray%20Crisis%20-%20Situation%20report%20(15%20to%2030%20June%202021).pdf

Documented by Kirthi Jayakumar

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
In August 2020, Genocide Watch had issued a genocide warning for Ethiopia, pointing out the government's inaction to stop ethnically motivated violence between Oromo, Amhara, Tigrayan, and Gedeo people. The violence continued, even as more and more separatists and armed groups began to take advantage of the unrest spreading across the country. In Tigray region, leaders conducted regional elections of their own accord, ahead of the now-delayed national elections.

The ongoing armed conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia began on November 4, 2020. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered the Ethiopian Defence Forces to engage with "the Tigray Regional Paramilitary Police and militia loyal to the Tigray People Liberation Front in response to multiple attacks by the Tigray Security Forces on the EDF North Command Base in Mekelle and other military camps in the Tigray Region." On November 9, 2020, there was evidence of the mass killing of several hundreds of Amharans in the western Tigray town of Mai Kadra. In the weeks that followed, several reports emerged, pointing at thousands of civilians being killed or fleeing to Sudan. In December 2020, the UN reported that violations of international human rights and humanitarian laws unfolded in the region, and mentioned the prevalence of the deliberate targeting of civilians, extrajudicial killings and widespread looting.

The genesis of the Tigray conflict goes back to the Ethiopian Civil War in 1991. After this war, Ethiopia became a dominant-party state, ruled by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPDRF) - which was a coalition of ethnically-based parties. The Tigray People's Liberation Front was a founding member, and was part of the Ethiopian Government until 2019, when it refused to merge into the Prosperity Party. In 2020, tensions between the government and the TPLF escalated. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, of Oromo descent, accused the TPLF of undermining his authority. The authorities in Tigray, meanwhile, went ahead and conducted the September 2020 elections to the Tigray Parliament - while all other elections in Ethiopia were postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Abiy Ahmed's government declared this election illegal. Tensions were exacerbated by Ahmed's government building a good relationship with Eritrean President, Isias Afwerki, who has a poor image in Tigray. In October 2020, the Ethiopian Reconciliation Commission attempted a mediation between the federal and Tigrayan governments, but the two sides set rather tall preconditions that hampered the peace process.

Mounting tensions culminated in Abiy's general being prevented by the Tigrayan government from taking his military post. On November 3, 2020, the Federal Parliament of Ethiopia proposed designating TPLF as a terrorist organization. The next day, the TPLF carried out the November Northern Command attacks on the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) Northern Command headquarters in Mekelle, and bases in Adigrat, Agula, Dansha, and Sero in the Tigray Region.
The Prevalence of Sexual violence
Pramila Patten, the United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, noted that the sexual violence that took place during the Tigray conflict included rape in Mekelle, individuals being forced to rape their family members, sex in exchange for basic goods, and a rise in the number of demands for emergency contraception and testing for sexually transmitted infections.

Reports put together by the Europe External Program with Africa from January 2021 show that large numbers of women were sexually abused and raped, both individually and in acts of gang rape; and that large number of women had been kidnapped by the security forces without any clarity on their whereabouts and sites of detention. The girls were forced to keep quiet and were threatened not to report the rape or seek medical care. A refugee from the Tigray Conflict told Reuters that she had been raped at gunpoint, and that the rapist was dressed in an ENDF uniform and stated that a condom was unnecessary. There have also been reports from aid workers and doctors who have indicated the prevalence of rape the Amhara and EDF security forces in the towns of Rawyan, Wukro, Adigrat, and Mekelle. The deposed leader of the Tigray Region, Debretsion Gebremichael, who had been elected in September 2020 and later deposed in the conflict, indicated that mothers and daughters were being raped by "the enemies." The Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General indicated that In May 2021, over 500 cases of gender-based violence, including rape, were reported - a number that included about 70 reported cases against girls under 18.

have suggested that the actual number could be much higher because medical facilities were not functioning to full capacity, and reportage was challenging because of the stigma associated with it. A doctor at Mekelle reported that each survivor reported that at least 20 other women had been raped along with her - and that these women could not report the incident to any hospital. Another suggests that 10,000 women had been raped during the conflict. By April 2021, the top public health official in the Transitional Government of Tigray reported that 829 cases of sexual assault had been reported - but that this was only likely to be the tip of the iceberg at best. The UNFPA reported by July 2021, that an estimated number of 26,000 women aged between 15 and 49 years would need services for sexual and gender based violence in the Tigray War.
Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence in the Tigray conflict has been carried out deliberately, as a weapon of war. The motivation for its deployment as a war tactic has centred on spreading fear among the targeted communities. The underlying motive of spreading fear is to threaten the community into compliance and to give up fighting. A second motive is to break the morale of the targeted communities. By forcing communities to resort to sex for basic commodities, the aim is to humiliate them. The deliberate targeting of mothers and daughters, and forcing family members to commit rape, all speak to the weaponization of stigma and cultural salience around notions of purity. This has also motivated some families to shave their daughters' heads and dress them as boys in order to protect them from rape. The absence of a robust security sector system has prevented reportage and appropriate response to keep the crime in check - thus providing an enabling environment for the crime.
References:

Al Jazeera, "'Disturbing' rape allegations in Ethiopia's Tigray conflict: UN." https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/22/disturbing-rape-allegations-in-ethiopias-tigray-conflict-un

United Nations, "United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Ms. Pramila Patten, urges all parties to prohibit the use of sexual violence and cease hostilities in the Tigray region of Ethiopia." https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/press-release/united-nations-special-representative-of-the-secretary-general-on-sexual-violence-in-conflict-ms-pramila-patten-urges-all-parties-to-prohibit-the-use-of-sexual-violence-and-cease-hostilities-in-the/

BBC, "Ethiopia's Tigray crisis: 'I lost my hand when a soldier tried to rape me.'" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-55832711

Europe External Programme with Africa, "Situation Report EEPA HORN No. 45 - 4 January 2021." https://www.eepa.be//wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Situation-Report-EEPA-Horn-No.-45-4-January-2021.pdf

Reuters, "'Choose - I kill you or rape you': abuse accusations surge in Ethiopia's war" https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-ethiopia-conflict-rape-idUSKBN29S0BG

Eritrea Hub, "Dr. Debretsion Gebremichael's Statement, 30 January 2021." https://eritreahub.org/dr-debretsion-gebremichaels-statement-30-january-2021

The Guardian, "Ethiopia confirms reports of rape in Tigray war." https://guardian.ng/news/world/ethiopia-confirms-reports-of-rape-in-tigray-war/

BBC, "Tigray crisis: Ethiopia orders military response after army base seized." https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-54805088

France 24, "Ethiopia's Tigray region defies PM Abiy with 'illegal' election." https://www.france24.com/en/20200909-ethiopia-s-tigray-region-defies-pm-abiy-with-illegal-election-1

Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General (June 17, 2021). https://www.un.org/press/en/2021/db210617.doc.htm

Lucy Kassa and Anna Pujol-Mazzini (2021). "'We're here to make you HIV positive': Hundreds of women rush to Tigray hospitals as soldiers use rape as weapon of war". The Daily Telegraph. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/women-and-girls/make-hiv-positive-hundreds-women-rush-tigray-hospitals-soldiers

Irish Times (2021). Men forced to rape family members in Ethiopia's Tigray region, says UN. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/africa/men-forced-to-rape-family-members-in-ethiopia-s-tigray-region-says-un-1.4520903

Hayes, Helen and Cleverly, James (2021). "Conflict in Tigray Region of Ethiopia - Volume 691: debated on Thursday 25 March 2021". Hansard. https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2021-03-25/debates/5D6EC59D-4744-425B-8086-2C13256A34ED/ConflictInTigrayRegionOfEthiopia

Katharine Houreld (2021). "Health official alleges 'sexual slavery' in Tigray". Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/special-report-health-official-alleges-sexual-slavery-tigray-women-blame-2021-04-15/

Gelaw, Abraham (13 July 2021). "UNFPA Ethiopia response to the Tigray crisis - Situation Report 15 to 30 June 2021" (PDF). United Nations Population Fund. https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/UNFPA%20Ethiopia%20Response%20to%20the%20Tigray%20Crisis%20-%20Situation%20report%20(15%20to%2030%20June%202021).pdf

Documented by Kirthi Jayakumar

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CRSV: Tigray - The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

# data[].attributes.headline
Systemic use of Sexual Violence against Uyghur Muslims in China

# data[].attributes.subject
Systemic use of Sexual Violence against Uyghur Muslims in China

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Systemic use of Sexual Violence: Uyghur Women in China — The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the conflict
Sri Lanka, a country whose name translates to "resplendent island," continues to be haunted by its dark past filled with war and destruction. The conflict between the two ethnic groups of the land, the Tamils and the Sinhalese dates back to the middle ages when the Cholas from India arrived as merchants and invaders. Besides religious and linguistic differences, the two groups engaged in power struggles to gain control of the terrain; hence, creating hostility between the Tamils and Sinhalese (Sri Lanka, 2021; Anandakugan, 2020).

Tensions increased upon the arrival of the British as they displayed increased partiality towards the Tamils by providing them with greater professional opportunities in global trade and presenting them with higher authoritative positions in the government. This created sentiments of separation and subjugation amongst the Sinhalese community (Sri Lanka, 2021; Anandakugan, 2020).

After Sri Lanka regained independence from the British, the Sinhalese who constituted majority of the Sri Lankan population secured control of the government. As a result, Tamils were marginalized through laws like the "Sinhala Only Act," which recognized the language Sinhala as the sole national language of the country, and methods of standardization which provided Sinhalese students with superior educational opportunities. Though these legislations were passed to reclaim the lost pride of the Sinhalese community during the British rule, the Tamils began to feel discriminated due to lack of pedagogic and employment opportunities for their community (Anandakugan, 2020).

In 1976, the disenfranchised Tamils formed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a group that aimed to regain the supremacy and pride they once held by forming a separate state for the Tamils in the North and East. Thus began the civil war in 1983 between the Sinhalese and the Tamils of Sri Lanka, which lasted nearly three decades and ended in 2009 (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, 2021; Anandakugan, 2020).
The Prevalence of Sexual Violence
As horrific and violent as war habitually is, the Sri Lankan conflict was no different. It involved the use of torture and systematic targeting of detainees through sexual violence (Anandakugan, 2020). Existing anecdotal and medical evidence verifies that the Sri Lankan government used sexual violence to methodically target the Tamil population during the final years of the war and after. Conversely, there are no accounts suggesting that the LTTE implemented the use of sexual violence to target the Sinhalese. Reports indicate that the LTTE adhered to strict punishment for offenders who committed sexually violent acts (Traunmuller, Kijewski, & Freitag, 2017).

The Sri Lankan government perpetrated torture and violence on civilians based on the assumption that the victim or a family member of the victim had cooperated with the LTTE. Reports state that once taken into custody, no Tamil man, woman, or child escaped sexual brutality (Traunmuller, Kijewski, & Freitag, 2017). Men who were displaced during the war were at a higher risk of facing sexual violence and a significant number of Tamil men suffered carnal abuse during the end and after the war (Traunmuller, Kijewski, & Freitag, 2017; Sri Lanka: Rape of Tamil detainees, 2013). Research suggests that males sexually abuse other men to impose their superiority and effeminize the male victim, causing a breakdown of their willpower (Traunmuller, Kijewski, & Freitag, 2017). Women were made to engage in sexual acts in exchange for assistance, shelter, or food at displacement camps (Traunmuller, Kijewski, & Freitag, 2017). They were also subjected to humiliation, mutilation of body parts, rapes, forced birth control, and impregnation (UPR Submission: Sri Lanka, 2017).

Tamil nationals were picked up by anonymous men from displacement camps, checkpoints, or airports and were taken to official or secret detention centers (Traunmuller, Kijewski, & Freitag, 2017; Sri Lanka: Rape of Tamil detainees, 2013). These men were later identified as being a part of the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID), Criminal Investigation Department (CID), military intelligence and police force (Sri Lanka: Rape of Tamil detainees, 2013). Government officials used various forms of abuse and torture during interrogation, including molestation, rape, rape using sharp objects, insertion of sharp objects into genitals, application of chili powder to sensitive areas, asphyxiation, and administering electric shocks to victims. During these interrogation periods, victims reported having no access to legal counsel, doctors, or family. Victims were allowed to unofficially escape these centers after he or she signed a confession stating their involvement with the LTTE, followed by a bribe given by the victim's family (Traunmuller, Kijewski, & Freitag, 2017; Sri Lanka: Rape of Tamil detainees, 2013). Till date, no medical or psychological services have been provided to these survivors and no trials or convictions have occurred, questioning the government officials of Sri Lanka. If truth be told, the Sri Lankan government has dismissed these claims as false or pro-LTTE advertising (Sri Lanka: Rape of Tamil detainees, 2013).

Unfortunately, cases of sexual violence have been underreported due to various factors. Victims consider topics surrounding sexual violence to be shameful and fear being stigmatized. The socio-cultural ideals in Sri Lanka require women to be pure and virtuous by not engaging in sexual activity before marriage. There is greater underreporting of such cases amongst men because of cultural impediments associated with masculinity and legal obstructions surrounding homosexuality being a criminal offence in Sri Lanka. Moreover, the perpetrators of these horrendous acts currently hold political power and victims fear retaliation (Traunmuller, Kijewski, & Freitag, 2017; Sri Lanka: Rape of Tamil detainees, 2013).
The Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
The collapse of social structure, norms, and mutual respect for others is always a consequence of war and detrimental behavior takes its place. Men residing in a patriarchal society gain more incentives by asserting themselves on the assumed weaker gender: women. The perpetrators and conspirers of sexual violence hold political power in Sri Lanka, resulting in poor investigation procedures and legal obstructions to justice for victims (Traunmuller, Kijewski, & Freitag, 2017).

The war caused enormous damage comprising mass murder of civilians and assassination of important political leaders, leading to immense hatred towards the opposing Tamils. Sexual violence was not only used as a strategy to discourage collaborations with the LTTE, force confessions, and humiliate suspects, but also as a method to take revenge and instill fear amongst the Tamil population (Traunmuller, Kijewski, & Freitag, 2017; Sri Lanka: Rape of Tamil detainees, 2013).

References

Anandakugan, N. (2020, August 31). The Sri Lankan war and its history, revisted in 2020. https://hir.harvard.edu/sri-lankan-civil-war/

Association Le Pont. (2017, March 29). UPR submission: Sri Lanka. https://uprdoc.ohchr.org/uprweb/downloadfile.aspx?filename=4591&file=EnglishTranslation

Human Rights Watch. (2013, February 26). Sri Lanka: Rape of Tamil detainees. https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/02/26/sri-lanka-rape-tamil-detainees#

Human Rights Watch. (2013, February 26). We will teach you a lesson. https://www.hrw.org/report/2013/02/26/we-will-teach-you-lesson/sexual-violence-against-tamils-sri-lankan-security-forces

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. (2021, January 30). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_Tigers_of_Tamil_Eelam

Sri Lanka. (2021, January 28). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka#Ancient_Sri_Lanka

Traunmuller, R., Kijewski, S., & Freitag, M. (2017, March 20). The silent victims of wartime sexual violence: Evidence from a list experiment in Sri Lanka. https://ssrn.com/abstract=2937943

Documented by Rasika Sundaram

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the conflict
Sri Lanka, a country whose name translates to "resplendent island," continues to be haunted by its dark past filled with war and destruction. The conflict between the two ethnic groups of the land, the Tamils and the Sinhalese dates back to the middle ages when the Cholas from India arrived as merchants and invaders. Besides religious and linguistic differences, the two groups engaged in power struggles to gain control of the terrain; hence, creating hostility between the Tamils and Sinhalese (Sri Lanka, 2021; Anandakugan, 2020).

Tensions increased upon the arrival of the British as they displayed increased partiality towards the Tamils by providing them with greater professional opportunities in global trade and presenting them with higher authoritative positions in the government. This created sentiments of separation and subjugation amongst the Sinhalese community (Sri Lanka, 2021; Anandakugan, 2020).

After Sri Lanka regained independence from the British, the Sinhalese who constituted majority of the Sri Lankan population secured control of the government. As a result, Tamils were marginalized through laws like the "Sinhala Only Act," which recognized the language Sinhala as the sole national language of the country, and methods of standardization which provided Sinhalese students with superior educational opportunities. Though these legislations were passed to reclaim the lost pride of the Sinhalese community during the British rule, the Tamils began to feel discriminated due to lack of pedagogic and employment opportunities for their community (Anandakugan, 2020).

In 1976, the disenfranchised Tamils formed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a group that aimed to regain the supremacy and pride they once held by forming a separate state for the Tamils in the North and East. Thus began the civil war in 1983 between the Sinhalese and the Tamils of Sri Lanka, which lasted nearly three decades and ended in 2009 (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, 2021; Anandakugan, 2020).
The Prevalence of Sexual Violence
As horrific and violent as war habitually is, the Sri Lankan conflict was no different. It involved the use of torture and systematic targeting of detainees through sexual violence (Anandakugan, 2020). Existing anecdotal and medical evidence verifies that the Sri Lankan government used sexual violence to methodically target the Tamil population during the final years of the war and after. Conversely, there are no accounts suggesting that the LTTE implemented the use of sexual violence to target the Sinhalese. Reports indicate that the LTTE adhered to strict punishment for offenders who committed sexually violent acts (Traunmuller, Kijewski, & Freitag, 2017).

The Sri Lankan government perpetrated torture and violence on civilians based on the assumption that the victim or a family member of the victim had cooperated with the LTTE. Reports state that once taken into custody, no Tamil man, woman, or child escaped sexual brutality (Traunmuller, Kijewski, & Freitag, 2017). Men who were displaced during the war were at a higher risk of facing sexual violence and a significant number of Tamil men suffered carnal abuse during the end and after the war (Traunmuller, Kijewski, & Freitag, 2017; Sri Lanka: Rape of Tamil detainees, 2013). Research suggests that males sexually abuse other men to impose their superiority and effeminize the male victim, causing a breakdown of their willpower (Traunmuller, Kijewski, & Freitag, 2017). Women were made to engage in sexual acts in exchange for assistance, shelter, or food at displacement camps (Traunmuller, Kijewski, & Freitag, 2017). They were also subjected to humiliation, mutilation of body parts, rapes, forced birth control, and impregnation (UPR Submission: Sri Lanka, 2017).

Tamil nationals were picked up by anonymous men from displacement camps, checkpoints, or airports and were taken to official or secret detention centers (Traunmuller, Kijewski, & Freitag, 2017; Sri Lanka: Rape of Tamil detainees, 2013). These men were later identified as being a part of the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID), Criminal Investigation Department (CID), military intelligence and police force (Sri Lanka: Rape of Tamil detainees, 2013). Government officials used various forms of abuse and torture during interrogation, including molestation, rape, rape using sharp objects, insertion of sharp objects into genitals, application of chili powder to sensitive areas, asphyxiation, and administering electric shocks to victims. During these interrogation periods, victims reported having no access to legal counsel, doctors, or family. Victims were allowed to unofficially escape these centers after he or she signed a confession stating their involvement with the LTTE, followed by a bribe given by the victim's family (Traunmuller, Kijewski, & Freitag, 2017; Sri Lanka: Rape of Tamil detainees, 2013). Till date, no medical or psychological services have been provided to these survivors and no trials or convictions have occurred, questioning the government officials of Sri Lanka. If truth be told, the Sri Lankan government has dismissed these claims as false or pro-LTTE advertising (Sri Lanka: Rape of Tamil detainees, 2013).

Unfortunately, cases of sexual violence have been underreported due to various factors. Victims consider topics surrounding sexual violence to be shameful and fear being stigmatized. The socio-cultural ideals in Sri Lanka require women to be pure and virtuous by not engaging in sexual activity before marriage. There is greater underreporting of such cases amongst men because of cultural impediments associated with masculinity and legal obstructions surrounding homosexuality being a criminal offence in Sri Lanka. Moreover, the perpetrators of these horrendous acts currently hold political power and victims fear retaliation (Traunmuller, Kijewski, & Freitag, 2017; Sri Lanka: Rape of Tamil detainees, 2013).
The Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
The collapse of social structure, norms, and mutual respect for others is always a consequence of war and detrimental behavior takes its place. Men residing in a patriarchal society gain more incentives by asserting themselves on the assumed weaker gender: women. The perpetrators and conspirers of sexual violence hold political power in Sri Lanka, resulting in poor investigation procedures and legal obstructions to justice for victims (Traunmuller, Kijewski, & Freitag, 2017).

The war caused enormous damage comprising mass murder of civilians and assassination of important political leaders, leading to immense hatred towards the opposing Tamils. Sexual violence was not only used as a strategy to discourage collaborations with the LTTE, force confessions, and humiliate suspects, but also as a method to take revenge and instill fear amongst the Tamil population (Traunmuller, Kijewski, & Freitag, 2017; Sri Lanka: Rape of Tamil detainees, 2013).

References

Anandakugan, N. (2020, August 31). The Sri Lankan war and its history, revisted in 2020. https://hir.harvard.edu/sri-lankan-civil-war/

Association Le Pont. (2017, March 29). UPR submission: Sri Lanka. https://uprdoc.ohchr.org/uprweb/downloadfile.aspx?filename=4591&file=EnglishTranslation

Human Rights Watch. (2013, February 26). Sri Lanka: Rape of Tamil detainees. https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/02/26/sri-lanka-rape-tamil-detainees#

Human Rights Watch. (2013, February 26). We will teach you a lesson. https://www.hrw.org/report/2013/02/26/we-will-teach-you-lesson/sexual-violence-against-tamils-sri-lankan-security-forces

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. (2021, January 30). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_Tigers_of_Tamil_Eelam

Sri Lanka. (2021, January 28). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka#Ancient_Sri_Lanka

Traunmuller, R., Kijewski, S., & Freitag, M. (2017, March 20). The silent victims of wartime sexual violence: Evidence from a list experiment in Sri Lanka. https://ssrn.com/abstract=2937943

Documented by Rasika Sundaram

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CRSV: Sri Lanka - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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Liberia had a 14-year long civil war that began in 1989 and lasted until 2003. Founded by people who were freed from slavery and left the United States of America in 1821, Liberia's population is a mix of indigenous groups (95%) and individuals whose heritage goes back to free-born African-Americans and Africans who were captured from slave ships.

The indigenous people in Liberia saw the settlers as colonizers - especially because they took massive swathes of lands from the indigenous people. This led to many clashes, even as the people who arrived from the United States of America ruled the country as colonial powers did - excluding the indigenous population and exploiting them economically. With time, indigenous people ruled their local areas, while the Americo-Liberians controlled politics and society. Patriarchal traditions played a significant role: women did not have the right to vote until 1947, and indigenous women gained the right to vote only later, in the 1950s.

A man from Krahn (an indigenous group), named Samuel Doe, orchestrated a coup in 1980, to topple the regime of President William Tolbert. Along with the Mandingos (a minority ethnic group), he began executing a plan to take revenge against the Americo-Liberians. To do so, he relied on Charles Taylor (an Americo-Liberian himself), and made him the Director of General Services Administration in his government. Charles Taylor made full use of the money he received in this role, diverting all of it to a Swiss Bank Account before leaving the country. In 1989, Charles Taylor returned to Liberia after training in Libya, and launched an offensive against Samuel Doe, after founding the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL). Doe was killed the following year by a militia leader, and Charles Taylor rose in ranks as a highly feared warlord.

In the 14 years that followed, Liberia was in the throes of a civil war that involved several Liberians as ethnic groups fought one another aggressively. Liberia's conflict goes back to the days of colonialism. In 1997, elections were held and Charles Taylor was declared the winner. He continued his campaign of violence, conscripting young boys and men as members of his militia.
The Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence was rampant in Liberia. In the peacetime context before the civil war broke out, there were no particular facilities or measures in place for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence - attitudes that fed into the complete lack of support for survivors during the war. Women were abducted, gang-raped, and forced to engage in sexual slavery.
The Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
Women and girls of particular ethnic groups were deliberately targeted and thus more vulnerable to sexual violence. However, it does not seem to have been in the form of ethnic cleansing that has been documented in other conflict contexts. This is particularly relevant as the troops often came from several different ethnic backgrounds. In the words of Leymah Gbowee (n.d.):

"Women had to endure the pain of watching their young sons be forcibly recruited into the army. A few days later these young men would come back into the same village, drugged up, and were made to execute their own family members. Women had to bear the pain of seeing their young daughters...be used as sex slaves at night and as fighters during the day...women had to sit by and watch their husbands, their fathers be taken away. In most instances these men were hacked to pieces."

The aim was also to destroy communities to women, particularly leaving them at the mercy of stigma and vulnerable to more sexual violence. The intent was also to bring shame to women and their families, in instances where the rebels forced, with the threat of death, family members to commit acts of violation against a fellow co-ethnic or family member. Several women had to resort to what is known as "survival sex," where women had to "provide sexual favours just to pass checkpoints, thus severely restricting their ability to travel," or even to procure food, protection from violence, resources, and the ability to work for the men in their families during the war.
Redressal
Following several years of war, a group of Liberian women came together under Leymah Gbowee's leadership to create the "Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace." This group pushed for a meeting with Charles Taylor and made him commit to attend peace talks in Ghana. Following non-violent protests and peaceful demonstrations calling for the warring factions to prioritize peace, the women surrounded the Presidential Palace in a silent protest, calling for the delegations to arrive at a peace agreement. In their pursuit of peace, the women also went on a sex strike, demanding that their husbands set aside their weapons. When the men in the course of the peace talks did not arrive at an agreement, they threatened to undress during their sit in - eventually pushing the leaders to commit to peace.

Following the civil war, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became the president of Liberia. She prioritized criminal prosecution of rape and sexual violence. She established women protection units and protection centres within police stations, as well as a special court for the prosecution of sexual violence. However, even after the formal end of the conflict, sexual violence continues in a systematic manner.
References:

Gbowee, Leyman. "Women and Peacebuilding in Liberia: Excerpts from a talk by Leymah Gbowee at the ELCA's Global Mission Event in Milwaukee, WI." Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Nicola Jones, Janice Cooper, Elizabeth Presler-Marshall and David Walker, "The fallout of rape as a weapon of war The life-long and intergenerational impacts of sexual violence in conflict." ( Read

Liberia: Country Profile ( Read)

Liberia: Prosecuting Gender Violence Crimes ( Read)

Victimcy, Girlfriending, Soldiering: Tactic Agency in a Young Woman's Social Navigation of the Liberian War Zone ( Read)

Government of Liberia/UN Joint Programme on Sexual and Gender Based Violence,(2011).In-Depth study on reasons for high incidence of Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Liberia, Recommendations on Prevention and Response. ( Read)

Sexual violence in Conflict ( Read)

Violence Against Women During the Liberian Civil Conflict ( Read)

Definitions of Crimes of Sexual Violence in the ICC ( Read)

Liberia: The New War is Rape ( Read)

Fraud charged in Liberia's first one-man, one-vote election ( Read)

Republic of Liberia Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Volume Three: Appendices; Title 1: Women and the Conflict ( Read)

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CRSV: Liberia - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the conflict
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) was founded after the Second World War and was led by Marshal Tito. It comprised six republics, namely Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. Several ethnic groups lived in the region. In 1974, a new constitution was drafted and adopted, granting autonomous powers to Kosovo and Vojvodina, two regions within the territory. Although the social set up treated Bosnian-Croats, Serbs, and Bosnian-Muslims as distinct ethnic groups within the federation, the divisions were not allowed to be emphasized, as Marshal Tito forbade the expression of nationalism and jailed those who did.

After Marshal Tito's reign drew to an end in 1980, nationalistic and ethnic allegiances took over. In the years that followed, a broken economy proved an enabling environment for the amplification of prevailing ethnic tensions, and the Republic of Yugoslavia began to crumble. In 1991, Slovenia and Croatia seceded from the SFRY. The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (which at the time comprised 43 percent Bosnian Muslims (often referred to as Bosniaks), 33 percent Bosnian Serbs, 17 percent Bosnian Croats, and roughly 7 percent other nationalities (ICRC, 1999)) passed a referendum seeking independence on February 29, 1992. However, the political representatives of the Bosnian Serbs boycotted the referendum and rejected its outcome (ICRC, 1999).

After Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence and gained international recognition, Bosnian Serbs led by Radovan Karadžić, backed by the Serbian government under Slobodan Milošević, and the Yugoslav People's Army, all mobilized within Bosnia and Herzegovina to secure Serb territory. The Croats were also embroiled in a war against Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the war that unfolded thereon, sexual violence, rape, ethnic cleansing, and genocide followed.

The Serbs lost momentum when the Bosniaks and Croats joined hands against the Republika Srpska in 1994, when the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was formed after the Washington Agreement. The war ended with the NATO intervening in 1995, after the Srebrenica and Markale massacres.
The Prevalence of Sexual Violence
The war in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s witnessed some of the worst forms of conflict-related sexual violence. Alongside the Rwandan genocide, the sexual violence during the Bosnian genocide opened up the conversation around recognizing its prevalence not as a by-product of war, but as a systematic, planned war tactic. In the course of the war, rape camps were created, where women were tortured and violated over and over again (Crow, 2013). Even though much of the violence was carried out by all sides engaged in the war, Bosnian Serbs were responsible for most of the sexual violence, and they mostly targeted Muslim women.

Estimates show that as many as 60,000 women were raped (Wood, 2013; Burg and Shoup, 2015). There are several reports suggesting that there were as many as 20,000 to 60,000 rapes, although it is hard to identify a concrete number because of lack of reportage and the politicization of numbers (Burg and Shoup, 2015). A survivor from the Klainovik camp, where approximately 100 women had been detained and subjected to "multiple perpetrator rape," went on record to state that the rapists kept telling their victims, "You are going to have our children. You are going to have our little Chetniks," and that they were raped in order to "plant the seed of Serbs in Bosnia" (Weitsman, 2008). Women from such camps were forced to follow through with the full term of their pregnancies and give birth.

Among the major sites of violence, a town called Foča, located in the south-eastern part of Bosnia, was the epicentre of rape (Allen, 1996). After being declared a safe zone by the United Nations, Srebrenica became the site of a major mass murder and rape under the direction of Ratko Mladić, the Colonel General of the Bosnian Serb Army, and politician Radovan Karadžić. Blame was placed on the Dutch UN army forces which were in charge of protecting the safe zone - and following investigations later, the then Dutch government resigned (Parrot and Cummings, 2008).
The Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence was used as a deliberate, planned strategy as part of the larger campaign of ethnic cleansing, where women were targeted for their ethnic backgrounds, raped and impregnated, and forced to have children who would look ethnically different from them. Several women were forced to carry their babies to full term. Sexual violence was also used as a tactic to humiliate and demean women and by extension, communities, and to spread fear in order to force large groups of people to flee the region and perhaps never return. In some instances, rape was also used to torture women into providing information on the whereabouts of their husbands, fathers, or sons, who were hiding in the forest. There are also reports suggesting that rape was carried out in the course of pillage and sometimes under pressure - where some soldiers were forced by their peers or superiors, to commit rape.
Prosecution of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia became the first international tribunal in Europe to convict people for rape as a crime against humanity (after Akayesu in Rwanda), and the first to "enter convictions for rape as a form of torture and for sexual enslavement as crime against humanity." Following the war, the Dayton Accords were signed, and emphasized that survivors were to receive property restitution and return home to a safe and dignified life. No rules were put in place to facilitate such restitution. Several women also had to return home to live among those who had committed acts of sexual violence against them or their families and friends (Amnesty International, 2009). Even as the WPS Agenda emerged shortly after, the judgments were - on paper - far reaching, many survivors continue to wait for justice.
References:

Allen, Beverly (1996). Rape Warfare: Hidden Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. University of Minnesota Press.

Amnesty International (2009): "Whose Justice? The Women Of Bosnia And Herzegovina Are Still Waiting". Available at http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR63/006/2009/en/8af5ed43-5094-48c9-bfab-1277b5132faf/eur630062009eng.pdf

Crowe, David M. (2013). War Crimes, Genocide, and Justice: A Global History. Palgrave Macmillan.

ICRC (1999). "Bosnia." https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/assets/files/other/bosnia.pdf

Wood, Elisabeth J. (2013). Miranda A.H Horvath, Jessica Woodhams (ed.). Handbook on the Study of Multiple Perpetrator Rape: A multidisciplinary response to an international problem. Routledge.

Parrot, Andrea; Cummings, Nina (2008). Sexual Enslavement of Girls and Women Worldwide. Greenwood Publishing Group

Steven L. Burg; Paul S. Shoup (4 March 2015). Ethnic Conflict and International Intervention: Crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1990-93: Crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1990-93. Taylor & Francis. pp. 222

Weitsman, Patricia A. (2008). "The Politics of Identity and Sexual Violence: A Review of Bosnia and Rwanda". Human Rights Quarterly. 30 (3): 561-578.

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the conflict
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) was founded after the Second World War and was led by Marshal Tito. It comprised six republics, namely Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. Several ethnic groups lived in the region. In 1974, a new constitution was drafted and adopted, granting autonomous powers to Kosovo and Vojvodina, two regions within the territory. Although the social set up treated Bosnian-Croats, Serbs, and Bosnian-Muslims as distinct ethnic groups within the federation, the divisions were not allowed to be emphasized, as Marshal Tito forbade the expression of nationalism and jailed those who did.

After Marshal Tito's reign drew to an end in 1980, nationalistic and ethnic allegiances took over. In the years that followed, a broken economy proved an enabling environment for the amplification of prevailing ethnic tensions, and the Republic of Yugoslavia began to crumble. In 1991, Slovenia and Croatia seceded from the SFRY. The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (which at the time comprised 43 percent Bosnian Muslims (often referred to as Bosniaks), 33 percent Bosnian Serbs, 17 percent Bosnian Croats, and roughly 7 percent other nationalities (ICRC, 1999)) passed a referendum seeking independence on February 29, 1992. However, the political representatives of the Bosnian Serbs boycotted the referendum and rejected its outcome (ICRC, 1999).

After Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence and gained international recognition, Bosnian Serbs led by Radovan Karadžić, backed by the Serbian government under Slobodan Milošević, and the Yugoslav People's Army, all mobilized within Bosnia and Herzegovina to secure Serb territory. The Croats were also embroiled in a war against Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the war that unfolded thereon, sexual violence, rape, ethnic cleansing, and genocide followed.

The Serbs lost momentum when the Bosniaks and Croats joined hands against the Republika Srpska in 1994, when the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was formed after the Washington Agreement. The war ended with the NATO intervening in 1995, after the Srebrenica and Markale massacres.
The Prevalence of Sexual Violence
The war in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s witnessed some of the worst forms of conflict-related sexual violence. Alongside the Rwandan genocide, the sexual violence during the Bosnian genocide opened up the conversation around recognizing its prevalence not as a by-product of war, but as a systematic, planned war tactic. In the course of the war, rape camps were created, where women were tortured and violated over and over again (Crow, 2013). Even though much of the violence was carried out by all sides engaged in the war, Bosnian Serbs were responsible for most of the sexual violence, and they mostly targeted Muslim women.

Estimates show that as many as 60,000 women were raped (Wood, 2013; Burg and Shoup, 2015). There are several reports suggesting that there were as many as 20,000 to 60,000 rapes, although it is hard to identify a concrete number because of lack of reportage and the politicization of numbers (Burg and Shoup, 2015). A survivor from the Klainovik camp, where approximately 100 women had been detained and subjected to "multiple perpetrator rape," went on record to state that the rapists kept telling their victims, "You are going to have our children. You are going to have our little Chetniks," and that they were raped in order to "plant the seed of Serbs in Bosnia" (Weitsman, 2008). Women from such camps were forced to follow through with the full term of their pregnancies and give birth.

Among the major sites of violence, a town called Foča, located in the south-eastern part of Bosnia, was the epicentre of rape (Allen, 1996). After being declared a safe zone by the United Nations, Srebrenica became the site of a major mass murder and rape under the direction of Ratko Mladić, the Colonel General of the Bosnian Serb Army, and politician Radovan Karadžić. Blame was placed on the Dutch UN army forces which were in charge of protecting the safe zone - and following investigations later, the then Dutch government resigned (Parrot and Cummings, 2008).
The Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence was used as a deliberate, planned strategy as part of the larger campaign of ethnic cleansing, where women were targeted for their ethnic backgrounds, raped and impregnated, and forced to have children who would look ethnically different from them. Several women were forced to carry their babies to full term. Sexual violence was also used as a tactic to humiliate and demean women and by extension, communities, and to spread fear in order to force large groups of people to flee the region and perhaps never return. In some instances, rape was also used to torture women into providing information on the whereabouts of their husbands, fathers, or sons, who were hiding in the forest. There are also reports suggesting that rape was carried out in the course of pillage and sometimes under pressure - where some soldiers were forced by their peers or superiors, to commit rape.
Prosecution of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia became the first international tribunal in Europe to convict people for rape as a crime against humanity (after Akayesu in Rwanda), and the first to "enter convictions for rape as a form of torture and for sexual enslavement as crime against humanity." Following the war, the Dayton Accords were signed, and emphasized that survivors were to receive property restitution and return home to a safe and dignified life. No rules were put in place to facilitate such restitution. Several women also had to return home to live among those who had committed acts of sexual violence against them or their families and friends (Amnesty International, 2009). Even as the WPS Agenda emerged shortly after, the judgments were - on paper - far reaching, many survivors continue to wait for justice.
References:

Allen, Beverly (1996). Rape Warfare: Hidden Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. University of Minnesota Press.

Amnesty International (2009): "Whose Justice? The Women Of Bosnia And Herzegovina Are Still Waiting". Available at http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR63/006/2009/en/8af5ed43-5094-48c9-bfab-1277b5132faf/eur630062009eng.pdf

Crowe, David M. (2013). War Crimes, Genocide, and Justice: A Global History. Palgrave Macmillan.

ICRC (1999). "Bosnia." https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/assets/files/other/bosnia.pdf

Wood, Elisabeth J. (2013). Miranda A.H Horvath, Jessica Woodhams (ed.). Handbook on the Study of Multiple Perpetrator Rape: A multidisciplinary response to an international problem. Routledge.

Parrot, Andrea; Cummings, Nina (2008). Sexual Enslavement of Girls and Women Worldwide. Greenwood Publishing Group

Steven L. Burg; Paul S. Shoup (4 March 2015). Ethnic Conflict and International Intervention: Crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1990-93: Crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1990-93. Taylor & Francis. pp. 222

Weitsman, Patricia A. (2008). "The Politics of Identity and Sexual Violence: A Review of Bosnia and Rwanda". Human Rights Quarterly. 30 (3): 561-578.

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CRSV: Bosnia and Herzegovina - The Gender Security Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the conflict
The Bangladesh Liberation War or the Bangladesh War of Independence was an armed conflict that emerged from the Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in the erstwhile East Pakistan, during the 1971 Bangladesh Genocide. The war culminated in Bangladesh gaining independence. The territory of Bangladesh was part of Pakistan, which was divided into West (Pakistan of today) and East (erstwhile Bangladesh), with India in between (BBC, 2019). The Pakistani army at the time largely comprised more representatives from West Pakistan than from East Pakistan, leaving the Bengali majority in the latter region poorly represented, and this added to the divide.

Two years after Pakistan was created, the Awami League was founded with the aim of calling for East Pakistan's autonomy (BBC, 2019). In 1970, the Awami League won in a landslide election in East Pakistan, and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the leader of the Awami League, was declared the Prime Minister-designate. This was the first election in Pakistani history where voters participated in electing the members of the National Assembly. However, the landslide victory implied the potential loss of control for the government in West Pakistan, as the Awami League was now going to be in charge. West Pakistan refused to acknowledge the outcome of the elections, and riots began (BBC, 2019).

In 1971, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared independence, renaming East Pakistan as Bangladesh. All attempts at reconciliation between West and East Pakistan failed. On March 23, 1971, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman called for the celebration of Resistance Day, as against national Republic Day (BBC, 2019). He was arrested and taken to West Pakistan. The Pakistani military junta in West Pakistan launched Operation Searchlight, targeting the people of East Pakistan, on March 25, 1971 (BBC, 2019). The operation aimed to eliminate nationalist Bengali society, and annulled the outcome of the 1970 elections in Bangladesh, arresting the elected Prime Minister-designate Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The war eventually ended on December 16, 1971, when West Pakistan surrendered, and Bangladesh's freedom fighters defeated Pakistan's soldiers with the help of Indian military forces (Alffram, 2009).

Human Rights Watch estimated that Pakistani forces killed up to 3 million people, though the Pakistani government sets that number much lower, at about 26,000. Hundreds of thousands of women and young girls were raped, though estimates on sexualized violence vary greatly as well. However, as Yasmin Saikia, chair of Peace Studies at Arizona State University's Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict and author of several books about the Indian subcontinent, explains, the 1971 war must be viewed in the context of longer-term conflict in the region. Present-day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, she says, all committed profound acts of violence between the late 1940s and early 1970s.
The Prevalence of Sexual Violence
During the 1971 war, several women were targeted through sexual violence. Women of all ages were targeted (Brownmiller, 1986). Rape camps were in operation where several Bengali women were abducted and held hostage in barracks where they were raped each night (Brownmiller, 1986). The women were tortured and deprived of food and had to dig graves for their fellow captives when they died from continuous torture. Pornographic movies were played for the soldiers to "work the men up" (Brownmiller, 1986; Lamb, 2020). Girls and women were strapped to banana leaves and gang-raped repeatedly (Das, 2011). Over the nine months of war, as many as 200,000 women and girls were raped according to Bangladeshi government estimates. Human Rights Watch (2009) noted that the numbers were large but remained undetermined. This was especially because reportage remained low, because survivors of rape were often excluded and stigmatized, and speaking up was not always easy.
The Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
Cultural attitudes centred on gender stereotypes and deep-rooted misogyny and patriarchy endured as the main basis for sexual violence. Women were part of the nationalist movement, but gender roles continued to prevail and operate. Sexual violence was used to dominate over women and to wield power over them. By abducting and holding women hostage and depriving them of food, the idea was to wield power and prevent access to basic resources and rights, while also repeatedly subjecting them to torture and sexual assault. A second major reason for sexual violence was to women and to destroy society. The prevalence of cultural and structural violence in the form of misogyny and patriarchy established the enabling environment for sexual assault. Once a woman faced rape, she was not accepted into her family, and she was stigmatized by society. When they were not accepted at home and were stigmatized outside of it, they had nowhere to go - and several of them wound up killing themselves. The idea of stigma followed these women, who the government called birongona or "war heroines" (Lamb, 2020).
Legal Redress
Following the war, a tribunal to prosecute war crimes began to prosecute the first perpetrator in 2011, a good 40 years after the war (BBC, 2011). However, it was limited to prosecuting only perpetrators in Bangladesh and not the Pakistani soldiers, who, at the most, could have only been tried by Pakistan. It charged and convicted four men of rape, abduction, confinement, and torture. However, the decisions of the tribunal have come in question for the lack of fairness in trial and non-adherence to due process. Of these men, two were given the death penalty, while another was given the death penalty but that was commuted to life imprisonment.
References:

Alffram, Henrik (2009) Ignoring Executions and Torture: Impunity for Bangladesh's Security Forces. Human Rights Watch.

BBC (2011) "Bangladesh war crimes trial begins in Dhaka" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15811848

BBC (2019) "Bangladesh profile - Timeline" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-12651483

Brownmiller, Susan. Against our will. Bantam, Doubleday, Dell, 1986.

Das, Bijoyeta (2011, September 4) "Bangladesh Rape Victims Say War Crimes Overlooked" https://womensenews.org/2011/09/bangladesh-rape-victims-say-war-crimes-overlooked/

Human Rights Watch (2009) "Ignoring Executions and Torture Impunity for Bangladesh's Security Forces." https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/bangladesh0509web.pdf

Lamb, Christina. Our Bodies, Their Battlefields: War Through the Lives of Women. Scribner, 2020.

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the conflict
The Bangladesh Liberation War or the Bangladesh War of Independence was an armed conflict that emerged from the Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in the erstwhile East Pakistan, during the 1971 Bangladesh Genocide. The war culminated in Bangladesh gaining independence. The territory of Bangladesh was part of Pakistan, which was divided into West (Pakistan of today) and East (erstwhile Bangladesh), with India in between (BBC, 2019). The Pakistani army at the time largely comprised more representatives from West Pakistan than from East Pakistan, leaving the Bengali majority in the latter region poorly represented, and this added to the divide.

Two years after Pakistan was created, the Awami League was founded with the aim of calling for East Pakistan's autonomy (BBC, 2019). In 1970, the Awami League won in a landslide election in East Pakistan, and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the leader of the Awami League, was declared the Prime Minister-designate. This was the first election in Pakistani history where voters participated in electing the members of the National Assembly. However, the landslide victory implied the potential loss of control for the government in West Pakistan, as the Awami League was now going to be in charge. West Pakistan refused to acknowledge the outcome of the elections, and riots began (BBC, 2019).

In 1971, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared independence, renaming East Pakistan as Bangladesh. All attempts at reconciliation between West and East Pakistan failed. On March 23, 1971, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman called for the celebration of Resistance Day, as against national Republic Day (BBC, 2019). He was arrested and taken to West Pakistan. The Pakistani military junta in West Pakistan launched Operation Searchlight, targeting the people of East Pakistan, on March 25, 1971 (BBC, 2019). The operation aimed to eliminate nationalist Bengali society, and annulled the outcome of the 1970 elections in Bangladesh, arresting the elected Prime Minister-designate Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The war eventually ended on December 16, 1971, when West Pakistan surrendered, and Bangladesh's freedom fighters defeated Pakistan's soldiers with the help of Indian military forces (Alffram, 2009).

Human Rights Watch estimated that Pakistani forces killed up to 3 million people, though the Pakistani government sets that number much lower, at about 26,000. Hundreds of thousands of women and young girls were raped, though estimates on sexualized violence vary greatly as well. However, as Yasmin Saikia, chair of Peace Studies at Arizona State University's Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict and author of several books about the Indian subcontinent, explains, the 1971 war must be viewed in the context of longer-term conflict in the region. Present-day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, she says, all committed profound acts of violence between the late 1940s and early 1970s.
The Prevalence of Sexual Violence
During the 1971 war, several women were targeted through sexual violence. Women of all ages were targeted (Brownmiller, 1986). Rape camps were in operation where several Bengali women were abducted and held hostage in barracks where they were raped each night (Brownmiller, 1986). The women were tortured and deprived of food and had to dig graves for their fellow captives when they died from continuous torture. Pornographic movies were played for the soldiers to "work the men up" (Brownmiller, 1986; Lamb, 2020). Girls and women were strapped to banana leaves and gang-raped repeatedly (Das, 2011). Over the nine months of war, as many as 200,000 women and girls were raped according to Bangladeshi government estimates. Human Rights Watch (2009) noted that the numbers were large but remained undetermined. This was especially because reportage remained low, because survivors of rape were often excluded and stigmatized, and speaking up was not always easy.
The Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
Cultural attitudes centred on gender stereotypes and deep-rooted misogyny and patriarchy endured as the main basis for sexual violence. Women were part of the nationalist movement, but gender roles continued to prevail and operate. Sexual violence was used to dominate over women and to wield power over them. By abducting and holding women hostage and depriving them of food, the idea was to wield power and prevent access to basic resources and rights, while also repeatedly subjecting them to torture and sexual assault. A second major reason for sexual violence was to women and to destroy society. The prevalence of cultural and structural violence in the form of misogyny and patriarchy established the enabling environment for sexual assault. Once a woman faced rape, she was not accepted into her family, and she was stigmatized by society. When they were not accepted at home and were stigmatized outside of it, they had nowhere to go - and several of them wound up killing themselves. The idea of stigma followed these women, who the government called birongona or "war heroines" (Lamb, 2020).
Legal Redress
Following the war, a tribunal to prosecute war crimes began to prosecute the first perpetrator in 2011, a good 40 years after the war (BBC, 2011). However, it was limited to prosecuting only perpetrators in Bangladesh and not the Pakistani soldiers, who, at the most, could have only been tried by Pakistan. It charged and convicted four men of rape, abduction, confinement, and torture. However, the decisions of the tribunal have come in question for the lack of fairness in trial and non-adherence to due process. Of these men, two were given the death penalty, while another was given the death penalty but that was commuted to life imprisonment.
References:

Alffram, Henrik (2009) Ignoring Executions and Torture: Impunity for Bangladesh's Security Forces. Human Rights Watch.

BBC (2011) "Bangladesh war crimes trial begins in Dhaka" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15811848

BBC (2019) "Bangladesh profile - Timeline" https://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-12651483

Brownmiller, Susan. Against our will. Bantam, Doubleday, Dell, 1986.

Das, Bijoyeta (2011, September 4) "Bangladesh Rape Victims Say War Crimes Overlooked" https://womensenews.org/2011/09/bangladesh-rape-victims-say-war-crimes-overlooked/

Human Rights Watch (2009) "Ignoring Executions and Torture Impunity for Bangladesh's Security Forces." https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/bangladesh0509web.pdf

Lamb, Christina. Our Bodies, Their Battlefields: War Through the Lives of Women. Scribner, 2020.

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CRSV: Bangladesh (1971) - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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The Holocaust, also known as Shoa, is among the biggest state sponsored genocides and case of ethnic cleansing of a particular community in recorded history (1933 - 1945). Two thirds of European jews, roughly 6 million people, including 1 million children, were exterminated during the Holocaust era (Encyclopaedia n.d.).

The Jews had been systematically subjected to anti-Semitic oppression based on Christian theology right from the middle ages. By the late 19th century, Germany and Austria-Hungary saw conservatives movements like the Völkischmovement that mushroomed in opposition to the socio-cultural changes of modernity (United Nations n.d.). Adolf Hitler was a prominent figure of the Völkischmovement. He blamed disloyal Jewish officers for orchestrating German surrender in World War 1. He rose to power after WW1 and took this oppression to the next level by shaping the German domestic and foreign policy to achieve his goals of racial purity. The systemic oppression of Jews by the Nazi party and the military was conducted in stages. First, the oppression targeted and confined the Communists and rebel politicians alone in concentration camps (Jewish Gen n.d.). Eventually, the general Jewish population was targeted, too. The first concentration camps started operations around 1933 and kept 'Communists' and other moral enemies of the government in protective custody (Jewish Gen n.d.). Racial enemies could never be 'corrected' in the camps. They had to be removed from the society and hence more camps sprouted.

With the start of World War 2, the Nazi party occupied areas of Poland and Austria and expanded the extermination (Jewish Gen n.d.). The Nazi party also conducted a campaign of euthanasia in the aftermath of the great depression, whereby people deemed handicapped or mentally ill were gassed to death. This ran as a "pilot" to eventually pave the way for the Holocaust. With the expanding control of the Nazi party over other parts of Europe (including the Netherlands, Belgium, parts of France, Luxembourg, Greece, Croatia, and Serbia) and parts of Soviet, the systemic isolation, humiliation, and extermination ran across boundaries.

The Nazi government decided to execute a 'final solution' by 1941 by getting rid of non-Aryans altogether. As part of this final cleansing, the confined Jews from all over Europe gathered together in Ghettos were mass transported to concentration camps for extermination. Most of these camps were in Austria and Germany and were held and maintained in secret, in the cover of a bigger war looming across the world (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d.).

The scale of operations by the Nazi were kept secret for the most part and conveniently so, as long as the operations were continued within the German borders (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d.). However, when Nazi activities spread to parts of captured Soviet in 1941, information began traveling to the rest of the world (Jewish Virtual Library n.d.).

The Prevalence of Sexual Violence

Although most of the violence was racial in nature, there is evidence supporting the prevalence of gender-based and sexual violence as well (Chalmers 2015). The Jewish population was subject to severe violence in the form of abuse, forced labour, starvation, deportation, disease exposure, humiliation, and death. Alongside this, women had to cope with pregnancies, abortions, invasive examinations, rape and other forms of sexual violence in addition. Sexual violence happened anywhere: on the streets, in Jewish homes, at factories and workplaces , the ghettos and concentration camps ( Heinrich Boll Stiftung 2020).

German soldiers, guards, SS members, non-German allies and collaborators, and civilians as well as fellow prisoners, all from different countries, perpetrated rapes and gang rapes (Chalmers 2015). There is no concrete and irrefutable evidence of any mention of orders from the authorities to rape and disgrace women during the Holocaust, as is common to genocides elsewhere (Heinrich Boll Stiftung 2020). However, this does not necessarily mean that sexual violence did not have state backing.

Misogyny was an imminent part of the Nazi ideology, well put in practice in the Third Reich (Goldenberg 1996, Heinrich Boll Stiftung 2020) Sexual violence targeting women was more or less a part of the bigger ideological campaign that prevailed outside the camps and was executed by frustrated men within the camps alongside men of power outside. (Kremer, 2010). Routine procedures included women being subjected to body-hair shaving, forced undressing and genital inspection by men. This was against the religious, conservative Jewish culture and thus particularly devastating to them (Goldenberg, 1996; Heinrich Boll Stiftung 2020) Adding to such 'routine' searches especially before extermination explored internal examinations to check for hidden valuables (Chalmers 2015). The clothing provided in the camps were insufficient, unwashed and unclean. No sanitary materials or even usable toilets were available for women, menstruating or not. The women with insufficient clothing on them, were subjected to more sexual violence for their 'exposure'. (Ibid.)

Forced nakedness was a repeated assault. The male authorities often groped and touched private parts as part of 'examinations'. Women were stripped and made to stand in assembly, perform physical activities for long hours. The 'unfit' were sent to gas chambers on priority. Women report that these naked sessions were often accompanied by lewd comments with sexual connotations (Ibid).

Women were also inspected for pregnancy and immediately sent to the gas chambers along with those who were deemed 'unfit'. Non-pregnant women who had stretch marks or who were obese were also deemed pregnant and sent along for gassing. There are also reports stating instances of SS men of all ranks pushing their fingers into the sexual organs of "pretty young women" (Goldenberg, Myrna 1996).

Rapes and gang rapes were a common occurrence too. Despite the notion that sex with a Jewish woman would constitute "racial defilement" (Rassenschande), SS soldiers and police units would rape Jewish women frequently. In ghettos, rape of Jewish women was perpetrated by German ghetto leaders, by those who enlisted women into forced labor, before their mass murder, during deportations and while on transit trains. The perpetrators were sometimes frustrated Jewish leaders of the ghetto appointed by the Nazis. (8; Katz 2012) Women were subjected to sexual violence in confinement, in public and in hiding as well. There were also reports of women in hiding being subject to rape as a show of power by the host providing shelter.

It has been reported that 50-80% troops that were operational in the eastern territory were guilty of sexual abuse towards Jewish women (Modern Judaism 2012). Hedgepeth and Saidel (2010) and Fogelman (2010) reported that approximately 1,000 of the 52,000 interviews conducted by the Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education at the University of Southern California mention rape or sexual violence. This number is most likely representative of extremely limited data. Reports suggest that rape as a final tool of humiliation was employed in concentration camps. Most who were raped in camps, however, may not have survived to tell of their experience.
The Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
The Völkisch movement was a German ethnic and nationalist conservative movement that was active through early 20th century Germany. The aim of the movement was to bring back the ancient German way of life and traditions by 'purifying' the country racially and ideologically. The common denominator of such movements has been inferred to be the myth of a 'national rebirth' in order to revive the pre-Semitic German traditions. Jews were called the 'pollutants' of German race.

Sexual violence targeting Jewish women was largely carried out as a power dynamic. The Nazi ideology was patently anti-Semitic, and their aim was to carry out the genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Jewish people. The systemic process of targeting Jewish women with sexual violence, and sending pregnant Jewish women to the gas chambers was informed by the goal of annihilating the Jewish population. The perception of the Jews as "pollutants" of the German race motivated the large-scale ethnic cleansing - not only through the concentration camps, but also through sexual violence.
Healing from Trauma and Reparations
The documentation of the cases of gender based violence faced by women clearly fails to reflect the actual scale of violence. This is because such violence was merely a weapon of show of power by the Nazis. Rape was often accompanied along with other brutal acts of whipping, forced stripping and cleaning, and burning alive. The statistics was neither actively recorded by the Nazi government nor by any other agent. This explains the extremely limited data available. Consequently, there were very few prosecutions for offences against the civilian populations for looting, rape or murder (Evans, 2009). Of the 1.5 million members of the German armed forces condemned by court-martial for offences of all kinds, only 5,349 were for sexual offences (Chalmers 2015).

References:

1. United Nations. (n.d.) Holocaust Remembrance: An Introduction. https://www.un.org/en/holocaustremembrance/PDF/Introduction%20to%20the%20Holocaust.pdf

2. Jewish Gen (n.d.) The Holocaust. https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/holocaust/

3. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (n.d.) "Killing Centers: An Overview. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/killing-centers-an-overview

6. Jewish Virtual Library. (n.d.). When did the World Find out about the Holocaust? https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/when-did-the-world-find-out-about-the-holocaust

7. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (n.d.) World War II and the Holocaust, 1939-1945. https://www.ushmm.org/learn/holocaust/path-to-nazi-genocide/chapter-4/world-war-ii-and-the-holocaust-1939-1945

8. Chalmers, B. (2015). Jewish women's sexual behaviour and sexualized abuse during the Nazi era. The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 24(2), 184-196.

9. Heinrich Boll Stiftung. (2020). Sexual Violence in the Holocaust: Perspectives from Ghettos and Camps in Ukraine. https://www.boell.de/en/2020/05/18/sexual-violence-holocaust-perspectives-ghettos-and-camps-ukraine 10. Goldenberg, M. (1996). Lessons learned from gentle heroism: Women's Holocaust narratives. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 548(1), 78-93.

11. Katz, S. (2012). Modern Judaism. Oxford University Press.

Documentation by: Madhumitha S

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CRSV: The Holocaust - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
Egypt, a transcontinental country between Africa and Asia, has been embroiled in wars and conflicts consistently throughout its long history. Over time, various catalysts like imperial interests, extremist movements, internal unrest and dwindling economy, often in combinations, have fed such conflicts. Egypt's on-going crisis is a typical example of chaos due to heavily distorted leaderless conflicts. A major pro-democracy revolution to oust Hosni Mubarak's dictatorship unfolded in 2011.

Although it removed Mubarak, it failed to bring respite even in the democratic elections that followed. In 2013, following protests by both pro-Islamic and the secular forces, Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president, was ousted and arrested by the military, orchestrated by then defense minister Abdel Fattah as-Sisi. Sisi's presidency since 2014 has seen a return of military rule and has contested mass arrests and killing of journalists and civilians in false pretexts of curtailing terrorism (HRW 2020).

Reports have said that violence in 2013-2014 resulted in about 2,600 deaths (HRW 2020) The government has granted unlimited powers and impunity to the military by declaring a "state of emergency" from 2017. In 2019, the government amended the constitution to consolidate authoritarian rule, undermine the judiciary's independence, and expand the military's power of interference (ICJ 2019; HRW 2020). The economy and political instability continue to keep the cycle of violence alive.
The Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Against this background, violence against women has manifested as large-scale overt violence augmented by longstanding cultural attitudes that are oppressive towards women. In 2013, the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women reported that 99.3% of Egyptian women had experienced some form of harassment. Mass sexual assault of women first began in 2005, when Egyptian security forces used sexual assault as a weapon against female protestors who demonstrated in Tahrir Square, Cairo, on May 25, 2005 - a day that came to be known as Black Wednesday. The police watched and did nothing to intervene or protect the women from further harm (Amar 2011).

This pattern continued to the point that by 2012, sexual assault by crowds of young women were commonplace in any mass gatherings - be they protests or festivals (Kassab and Mamdouh 2012). In 2006, after Eid al-Fitr, a group of men who had not been admitted into a movie theatre carried out a mass sexual assault of women on Talaat Harb Street that lasted five hours (Abdelhadi 2006; El Naggar & Slackman 2006). Here, too, the police did not do anything to stop the incidents - and bystanders tried their best to intervene (Rizzo, Price, & Meyer 2008). In February 2011, Lara Logan, correspondent for the American Network, CBS, was sexually assaulted by several men in Tahrir Square while reporting on the 2011 Egyptian Revolution (Replogle 2011).

In the course of these assaults, one round of men encircled women, and a second round encircled the men. The first round were assailants who carried out the sexual assault, while the second round comprised men who fought the rescuers and kept them from protecting the women. The attackers casually stood around claiming to protect women - which only led to more chaos. Instances of sexual violence documented in this time show that women were beaten, bitten, groped, stripped, penetrated with fingers, and even raped (Amnesty International 2015).

In the period of transitional government between February 2011 and June 2012 , Amnesty International (2015) reported that 18 female protesters arrested after army officers cleared Tahrir Square on March 9, 2005 were detained, beaten, and given electric shocks. Of these, 17 were then subjected to strip searches, forced to submit 'virginity tests' and threatened with prostitution charges. Egyptian authorities initially denied requiring virginity tests, but a senior general who asked not to be identified acknowledged the practice to CNN in February 2011 and said that the tests were performed as a safeguard against the women accusing authorities of sexual assault. However, the Egyptian court has since banned the tests (2011).
The Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
Broadly, the sexual assault was motivated by a sense of entitlement over women. The attacks were largely socially motivated, rather than politically, and was the result of "diverse motives including pleasure, a desire to dominate women and a perceived sense of sexual deprivation as marriage may be financially prohibitive" (Tadros 2013). The culture of impunity kept in place by the breakdown of surveillance and police apathy enabled its perpetration (El Feki 2013). The socio-political and economic oppression in the country has also been cited as a basis for the sexual assault (El Feki 2013).
References:

Abdelhadi, M. 2006. "Cairo street crowds target women", BBC News, 1 November 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6106500.stm

Amar, P. (2011). "Turning the Gendered Politics of the Security State Inside Out." International Feminist Journal of Politics, 13(3), 299-328.

Amnesty International. (2015). "Circles of Hell: Domestic, Public and State Violence Against Women in Egypt." January 2015. https://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/mde_120042015.pdf

El Feki, S. (2013). Sex and the Citadel: Intimate Life in a Changing Arab World. Canada: Double Day

El Naggar, M. & Slackman, M. (2006). "Silence and Fury in Cairo After Sexual Attacks on Women", The New York Times, 15 November 2006. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/15/world/africa/15cairo.html

Kassab, B. & Mamdouh, R. (2012). "The Widespread Plague of Sexual Harassment in Egypt", Al Akhbar. https://web.archive.org/web/20120924114457/http:/english.al-akhbar.com/node/12456

Replogle, E. (2011). "Reference Groups, Mob Mentality, and Bystander Intervention: A Sociological Analysis of the Lara Logan Case," Sociological Forum, 26(4), 796-805.

Rizzo, H., Price, A. M., & Meyer, K. (2008). "Targeting Cultural Change in Repressive Environments: The Campaign against Sexual Harassment in Egypt", The Egyptian Center for Women's Rights. http://ecwronline.org/pdf/studies/AntiHarassment_for_ECWR.pdf

Tadros, M. (2013). "Politically Motivated Sexual Assault and the Law in Violent Transitions: A Case Study From Egypt" (PDF). Institute of Development Studies. http://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/2950/ER8%20final%20online.pdf

Zuhur, S. 2014. "Women's Quest for Equality in Post-Revolutionary Egypt," in Claudia Derichs, Dana Fennert (eds.), Women's Movements and Countermovements, Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Documented by: Madhumitha S

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict
Egypt, a transcontinental country between Africa and Asia, has been embroiled in wars and conflicts consistently throughout its long history. Over time, various catalysts like imperial interests, extremist movements, internal unrest and dwindling economy, often in combinations, have fed such conflicts. Egypt's on-going crisis is a typical example of chaos due to heavily distorted leaderless conflicts. A major pro-democracy revolution to oust Hosni Mubarak's dictatorship unfolded in 2011.

Although it removed Mubarak, it failed to bring respite even in the democratic elections that followed. In 2013, following protests by both pro-Islamic and the secular forces, Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president, was ousted and arrested by the military, orchestrated by then defense minister Abdel Fattah as-Sisi. Sisi's presidency since 2014 has seen a return of military rule and has contested mass arrests and killing of journalists and civilians in false pretexts of curtailing terrorism (HRW 2020).

Reports have said that violence in 2013-2014 resulted in about 2,600 deaths (HRW 2020) The government has granted unlimited powers and impunity to the military by declaring a "state of emergency" from 2017. In 2019, the government amended the constitution to consolidate authoritarian rule, undermine the judiciary's independence, and expand the military's power of interference (ICJ 2019; HRW 2020). The economy and political instability continue to keep the cycle of violence alive.
The Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Against this background, violence against women has manifested as large-scale overt violence augmented by longstanding cultural attitudes that are oppressive towards women. In 2013, the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women reported that 99.3% of Egyptian women had experienced some form of harassment. Mass sexual assault of women first began in 2005, when Egyptian security forces used sexual assault as a weapon against female protestors who demonstrated in Tahrir Square, Cairo, on May 25, 2005 - a day that came to be known as Black Wednesday. The police watched and did nothing to intervene or protect the women from further harm (Amar 2011).

This pattern continued to the point that by 2012, sexual assault by crowds of young women were commonplace in any mass gatherings - be they protests or festivals (Kassab and Mamdouh 2012). In 2006, after Eid al-Fitr, a group of men who had not been admitted into a movie theatre carried out a mass sexual assault of women on Talaat Harb Street that lasted five hours (Abdelhadi 2006; El Naggar & Slackman 2006). Here, too, the police did not do anything to stop the incidents - and bystanders tried their best to intervene (Rizzo, Price, & Meyer 2008). In February 2011, Lara Logan, correspondent for the American Network, CBS, was sexually assaulted by several men in Tahrir Square while reporting on the 2011 Egyptian Revolution (Replogle 2011).

In the course of these assaults, one round of men encircled women, and a second round encircled the men. The first round were assailants who carried out the sexual assault, while the second round comprised men who fought the rescuers and kept them from protecting the women. The attackers casually stood around claiming to protect women - which only led to more chaos. Instances of sexual violence documented in this time show that women were beaten, bitten, groped, stripped, penetrated with fingers, and even raped (Amnesty International 2015).

In the period of transitional government between February 2011 and June 2012 , Amnesty International (2015) reported that 18 female protesters arrested after army officers cleared Tahrir Square on March 9, 2005 were detained, beaten, and given electric shocks. Of these, 17 were then subjected to strip searches, forced to submit 'virginity tests' and threatened with prostitution charges. Egyptian authorities initially denied requiring virginity tests, but a senior general who asked not to be identified acknowledged the practice to CNN in February 2011 and said that the tests were performed as a safeguard against the women accusing authorities of sexual assault. However, the Egyptian court has since banned the tests (2011).
The Strategic Use of Sexual Violence
Broadly, the sexual assault was motivated by a sense of entitlement over women. The attacks were largely socially motivated, rather than politically, and was the result of "diverse motives including pleasure, a desire to dominate women and a perceived sense of sexual deprivation as marriage may be financially prohibitive" (Tadros 2013). The culture of impunity kept in place by the breakdown of surveillance and police apathy enabled its perpetration (El Feki 2013). The socio-political and economic oppression in the country has also been cited as a basis for the sexual assault (El Feki 2013).
References:

Abdelhadi, M. 2006. "Cairo street crowds target women", BBC News, 1 November 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6106500.stm

Amar, P. (2011). "Turning the Gendered Politics of the Security State Inside Out." International Feminist Journal of Politics, 13(3), 299-328.

Amnesty International. (2015). "Circles of Hell: Domestic, Public and State Violence Against Women in Egypt." January 2015. https://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/mde_120042015.pdf

El Feki, S. (2013). Sex and the Citadel: Intimate Life in a Changing Arab World. Canada: Double Day

El Naggar, M. & Slackman, M. (2006). "Silence and Fury in Cairo After Sexual Attacks on Women", The New York Times, 15 November 2006. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/15/world/africa/15cairo.html

Kassab, B. & Mamdouh, R. (2012). "The Widespread Plague of Sexual Harassment in Egypt", Al Akhbar. https://web.archive.org/web/20120924114457/http:/english.al-akhbar.com/node/12456

Replogle, E. (2011). "Reference Groups, Mob Mentality, and Bystander Intervention: A Sociological Analysis of the Lara Logan Case," Sociological Forum, 26(4), 796-805.

Rizzo, H., Price, A. M., & Meyer, K. (2008). "Targeting Cultural Change in Repressive Environments: The Campaign against Sexual Harassment in Egypt", The Egyptian Center for Women's Rights. http://ecwronline.org/pdf/studies/AntiHarassment_for_ECWR.pdf

Tadros, M. (2013). "Politically Motivated Sexual Assault and the Law in Violent Transitions: A Case Study From Egypt" (PDF). Institute of Development Studies. http://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/2950/ER8%20final%20online.pdf

Zuhur, S. 2014. "Women's Quest for Equality in Post-Revolutionary Egypt," in Claudia Derichs, Dana Fennert (eds.), Women's Movements and Countermovements, Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Documented by: Madhumitha S

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CRSV: Egypt - The Gender Security Project

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This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

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India - Pakistan Border Road, Bakhasar, Rajasthan

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The Partition of British India into India and Pakistan is a traumatic memory in the history of the subcontinent. The birth of two nations from the erstwhile British colony as part of the global wave of decolonization came at a heavy cost: it sparked off the largest mass migration in the world, where about 12 million people were displaced. Even if the partition was not an active armed conflict zone within the conventional definition of armed conflict under International Humanitarian Law, the partition ushered in violent conflict in the form of riots. Against this backdrop of rioting and violence, as many as between 75,000 and 100,000 women were thought to have been raped, abducted, or killed (Aftab 2007).

Prevalence of Sexual Violence

The enabling environment for sexual violence during, before, and after the Partition of British India into India and Pakistan was the impact of the partition itself on Punjab. With communities targeting women in their rival communities, crimes in the form of rape, abduction, and forcible conversions took place both in Punjab, as well as in Jammu and Kashmir and the Rajputana States (Major 1995).

Sexual violence targeting women by cis-het men in this time has been documented, with evidence of women being complicit in some of these attacks, as well (Kabir, 2010; Chowdhry 2000). Riots across the country placed women in particularly vulnerable positions. In Calcutta, women were targeted during the Direct Action Day riots (Talbot and Singh 2009), while in the Noakhali violence, several Hindu women were kidnapped (Ibid.). In the course of the massacres of Muslims in Bihar, several women were targeted (Ibid).

In November 1946, several Muslim women were stripped and taken on nude processions by Hindu mobs in Garhmukteshwar (Pandey 2001). This was the larger background against which systemic violence began to unfold ahead of the partition in March 1947, in Rawalpindi. Sikh women were targeted by Muslim mobs, followed by organized campaigns where Pathans took Hindu, Sikh, and Muslim women out of trains (Shani 2007; Major 1995). A nude procession of Muslim women took place near the Golden Temple in Amritsar (Talbot and Singh 1995). The Pathans abducted several non-Muslim women from Kashmir, and sold them in West Punjab - forcing them into factories as "slave girls," before abducting Muslim women by 1948 (Major 1995). Abducted women were "distributed" among the police and army, and other attackers (Kidwai 2011). Forced marriages were also performed. In several instances, women committed suicide by jumping into wells, to avoid being raped or facing sexual violence.
Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence
The struggle for independence against the British was brutally repressed on several occasions, with the colonial power employing its tested strategy of divide and rule. By pitting communities against one another to ensure disunity and infighting, the British safeguarded its control over its several colonial empires - and British India was no different. The fomentation of ethnic tensions reached a tipping point at the time of partition, where a boundary etched on a map changed the idea of home and hearth for several and exacerbated ethnic tensions.

Sexual violence during the Partition of British India into India and Pakistan was carried out for several reasons. While several communities themselves cited revengeas their reasons (Talbot and Singh 2009), several of the systemic campaigns targeting women through sexual violence were carried out with the goal of ethnic cleansing (Major 1995). The perpetrators were a blend of men in power (such as police officials, army soldiers, landed and wealthy businessmen, and even members of the Muslim league) and criminal elements that had no direct affiliation with positions of power. For those that had no coals in the fire to exact revenge or cause ethnic cleansing, the situation of brazen impunity afforded opportunity to wield power over vulnerable women through sexual violence.

Healing from trauma and reparations

Even as the new governments of India and Pakistan took a firm stand not to recognize the forced marriages that took place in that time - a decision that was included in the agreement that emerged from Inter-Dominion Conference in December 1947, precious little was done in the aftermath. Although a recovery procedure was established, the implementation did not follow through - to the point that both countries decided not to publicize the number of women repatriated and the number of women who remained without support (Major 1995). While implementation was slow, several of the women also feared returning home: the burden of stigma and social ostracism that would await them back at home and in their communities, where they would be seen as defiled, was a difficult burden to bear. In 1954, both governments decided not to force any of the women to return (Major 1995).

References

Aftab, T. (2007). Inscribing South Asian Muslim Women: An Annotated Bibliography & Research Guide.Brill.

Chowdhry, G. (2000). Sita Ranchod-Nilsson, Mary Ann Tétreaul (ed.). Women, States, and Nationalism: At Home in the Nation? (1st ed.). Routledge.

Kabir, A. J. (2010). Feminism, Literature and Rape Narratives: Violence and Violation. Routledge.

Kidwai, A. (2011). In Freedom's Shade. Penguin Books Limited.

Major, A. (1995). "Abduction of women during the partition of the Punjab", South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 18 (1).

Pandey, G. (2001). Remembering Partition: Violence, Nationalism and History in India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Shani, G. (2007). Sikh Nationalism and Identity in a Global Age. Routledge.

Talbot, I., & Singh, G. (2009). The Partition of India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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CRSV: The Partition of India - The Gender Security Project

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This case note is a part of our series of case notes that document the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. The case note contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.