rape as a tool of war
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A challenge to discourse on gender and violence
Definitions
International Humanitarian Law is “a set of rules which seek, for humanitarian reasons to limit the effects of armed conflict” (ICRC, 2004)
Gender-Based Violence as “violence, sexual or otherwise, which plays on gender norms and gender exclusions to break people down both physically and psychologically (BRIDGE Report, 2003)
“Rape as a cross- cultural language of male domination (that is domination by males; it can also be domination of males)” (Card, 1996)
Statistics
“Up to 50,000 women were raped in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and up to 500,000 during the Rwandan genocide. Horrifyingly still, 40 women are brutally raped each day in just one province of DRC” (Care UK, 2009)
“In the DRC at least 200,000 cases of sexual violence have been recorded since 1996” (UNHCR, 2010)
“New UN figures show 1,244 women have been raped in DRC during the first three months of this year”
The Rape of an Ethnic Group
Serbian regime recognized cultural and religious norms, and sought to destroy/break them
Patriarchal Society- women’s bodies as property of men
“In wartime, violation of female honor is a weapon used by the men of one ethnic group against those of another” (Olujic,1998, pg39)
It is “through the penetration of a woman’s corporeal body that the social body of her family is permanently and irretrievably damaged” (Olujic,1998, pg44)
Shared concept of Honor/ Shame/ Sexuality that are attached to women’s bodies
International Humanitarian Law and the United Nation’s Current Position
1949: Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War
1990s-2000s: Decisions of the ICTY and the ICTR
1998: The Statute of the International Criminal Court
…continued
UN Resolution 1325: Reflection on conflicts during the 90’s in the Balkans
and Rwanda
Focuses on women, peace and security
Women and children as vulnerable groups in conflict and that they often make up the majority of refugees and IDP’s
Calls for women to be involved in peace building and post-conflict reconstruction as well as peacekeeping deliberations. (Scully, 2009)
…continued
UN Resolution 1820: Links sexual violence against women and girls
to threats to international peace and security
Reflection on conflicts during 2000’s such as Liberia, Sierra Leone and the DRC
Sexual crimes to be excluded from any amnesty provisions
Zero tolerance of sexual exploitation and abuse by Peacekeeping forces
Calls for an end to impunity
Where the Gaps Remain
Recognizing the link between peacetime and war
Lack of reference to men and boys as victims
Implementation and enforcement?
National Response to Raped Victims in Bangladesh
Gender in institutions The construction of gender explains the
continuum of misogyny through state institutions
Gender is understood in South Asia through the overarching environment of patriarchy
Thus a woman’s sexuality is considered responsible for crimes against women and instrumentalized by the concept of ‘honor’
Misogyny translated into institutional violence
Bangladesh initiated 3 national programmes:
The national use of the term ‘Birangonas.’ To title the raped victims as heroes purportedly to “acknowledge their ‘sacrifice’ for the country”
“Marry them off campaign”
“National Central Women’s Rehabilitation Board” included abortion, adoption and the “rehabilitation” of victims
The outcome of the national programme
Disingenuous efforts of the government
The programmes back fired with results that further traumatized the victims
Bangladeshi men’s concerns addressed and their crimes overlooked
Continuum of institutional violence: From disingenuity to indifference?
Post conflict local reconstruction: Bangladesh govt. Understood the politics of gender norms, but only addressed the concerns of male social codes.
Post conflict international peacekeeping: International institutional bodies lack of local knowledge. Indifference?
Both forms of institutional violence illustrate the exacerbation of gender violence.
Challenges to the “Savior Complex”
Peacekeepers – channels of gender assumptions? UN peacekeepers to facilitate a return to normal
in war-torn societies, but… Failure to understand the politics of masculinity
and femininity (Cockburn & Zarkov, 11: 2002) Troop contributing countries deploy gender
concepts Role of masculinity in military culture (Patel &
Tripodi) Aggressive and predatory forces entrench
violent and unstable environments (Cockburn) Gender awareness training – underfunded and
rarely taken seriously (Murphy, 2006)
Peacekeepers as violators Zeid Report: widespread instances of rape
on the part of UN peacekeepers (Vojdik, 2007)
Violence against women by peacekeepers – part of the continuum of violence?
Exploitative relations – easy to establish in post-conflict environments (Murphy, 2006)
Male peacekeepers vs female peacekeepers – abuses of power?
‘As far as I’m concerned, there is no such thing as consensual sex between soldiers and the local population in a war or conflict zone’ – Gen. Romeo Dallaire
Who guards the guards? (Du Plessis and Pete) UN PK forces = subsidiary organ of
the UN Inability to hold individual
peacekeepers accountable Little alternative to present system
where UN forces are prosecuted by relevant national authorities
Difficulties in prosecution Zeid report: proposes broad
‘Peacekeeping Bill of Rights’ Role of the ICC? (Du Plessis & Pete)
Women, Peace and Security Women’s potential and strength in post-
war situations Resolution 1325 – a step in the chain of
attempts to mainstream gender in UN discourse in peace operations
UN gender discourse and the confines of modernity
Nature/body/private/women/peace vs. culture/mind/public/men/war (Vayrynen)
State-centred and patriarchal practices of conflict resolution and peacebuilding
A challenge to discourse on gender and violence
Dominant hegemonic masculinity
Gender based violence against men
Sex selective massacres
Forced recruitment
Sexual violence
Sex selective massacres
Men are more likely to take up arms
Men, not women, are assumed to carry ethnicity
Only the “humans” need be killed
Men are seen as disposable
Sex selective massacres Vukovar (November 1991) 200 – 300
Croatian men executed
Vlasic (August 1992) 200-250 male prisoners executed
Brcko (spring / summer 1992) Muslim men routinely executed, some 3000 estimated to have died.
Srebrenica (July 1995) men explicitly separated from women & children and over 8000 executed
Conscription ‘Men are made not born’ (Goldstein
2001)
Forced recruitment responsible for millions of overwhelmingly male deaths throughout history
The uncritical assumption that men, real men, will fight for their country when asked
Sexual Violence Being raped
Being forced to commit rape and other gratuitous sexual acts
Being forced to witness sexual violence, esp. against loved ones
Castration – explicitly connected to the feminization of the enemy
Sexual Violence
Shame is the glue that holds the man-making process together. Males who fail tests of manhood are publicly shamed, humiliated, and become a negative example for others (Goldstein 2001)
Men, beyond perpetrators Gender-based violence affects both
men and women
Men must be considered victims of the construction of a dominant hegemonic masculinity
‘Men are more vulnerable to getting killed. That’s a pretty big deal... Dead is dead’ (Carpenter 2006)
A challenge to discourse on gender and violence
Peaceful
Mothers, wives, daughters
Sex
Vulnerable
Communal
Children
Honour
Protected
Pedestal
Manipulative
Emotional
Domestic
Caretakers
Whores or Sexual Deviants?
Jezebel
MedusaThe Gorgons
Leila Khaled
Bernardine Dohrn
“Girls with guns” and gender equality?
Where is the equality line drawn?
Nationalist struggles – avenue for equality, or recreating patriarchy?
Women as soldiers and violence against
women
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