Introduction: Rape
in times of war
Despite decades of emancipation and women’s liberation, women are and will
remain vulnerable due to their gender and their status in society.[2] 2
Wartime rapes[3] 3
are anything but new. Since the earliest days of human warfare, women were
often considered to be not more than war booty. So much that Coomaraswamy calls
it “an accepted practice of conquering armies”.[4] 4
During its war in Eastern and Southeastern Asia, Japan held women from many
countries as so called “comfort women”, meaning that they were interned and had
to be available for the sexual desires of members of Japan’s armed forces. This
sexual slavery resulted in millions of rapes.[5] 5
Immediately after the fall of Berlin in 1945, Soviet soldiers were given free
reign in the city which was mainly populated by women, children and elderly as
the male population had been send off to fight Hitler’s war, again resulting in
an uncounted number of rapes.[6] 6
Earlier, German forces invading the Soviet Union had committed numerous rapes.[7]
7
More recently, rape has been employed not only to terrorize the population but
also as weapon of genocide for example in Bosnia,[8] 8
Darfur,[9] 9
Iraq,[10] 10
Rwanda[11] 11
and – to this very day – in the Democratic Republic of Congo[12] 12:
Systematic Rape in the
Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
Often the women are kidnapped while working in the fields[13] 13
or on the way to fetch water, food or firewood. Often kidnappings occur during
raids of villages by armed attackers, who often come in groups of two to five.[14]
14
The victims are taken from the villages into the forest where they are held
captive and are gang raped for days or months.[15] 15
Children
as victims
The gravity of the situation is highlighted by a UN report on the situation
of children in Ituri, North- and South-Kivu, dated 28 June 2007: “Despite all
of the initiatives undertaken to counter sexual violence and the adoption of
two national laws on sexual violence on 20 July 2006, the number of sexual abuses
remains extremely high. Sexual violence has occurred virtually unabated, in a
climate of impunity and judicial dysfunction. Although the reported rate of
sexual violence remains high, such incidents are un-derreported and accurate
statistics are difficult to obtain because of a number of factors, including
the fear of ostracism and retribution which prevents survivors from coming
forward; the prohibitive distance and lack of access to medical care owing to
the prevailing security situation in some areas; a lack of faith in the
judicial system; and the local tendency of amicable settlement, whereby the
perpetrator pays the victim an agreed upon sum or value in kind. [Between June
2006 and May 2007], 12,867 survivors of sexual violence were identified by
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) partners in the eastern region of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. Of those survi-vors, 4,222 were children
(3,740 girls and 482 boys). Children represent an alarming 33 per cent of
survivors of sexual violence. Of 100 survivors in Ituri, 43 were children (of
whom approximately 18 per cent were boys). Of the aforementioned 4,222
children, information on the perpetrators is available in only 690 cases; in 29
cases, the perpetrators were members of [the Armed Forces of the D.R.C.] or
[Congolese National Police] (4.2 per cent); in 458 cases, they were from armed
groups (66 per cent); and in 203 cases, they were civilians (29 per cent).”[16]
16
The
stigma of rape
In some villages, two thirds of all women are thought to have been raped[17]
17
but until recently remaining silent was all that stood between the women and
complete disgrace in the eyes of their families[18] 18
and communities.[19] 19
Often the problem runs deeper than the wounds which are visible.[20] 20
Yet, it has become impossible for the women to remain silent and many finally
dare to seek medical help.[21] 21
Exact victim numbers, though, are impossible to come by since many women are
still prevented from seeking medical help. Often victims will not be able to
afford the trip to the nearest hospital or are simply unable to travel due to
their health condition. Often traditional taboos force victims to essentially
hide in the house. That is, if they are lucky enough to have a family which is
decides to allow them to return and which does not force them out of the house.
The stigma which is associated with having been raped is particularly strong in
the D.R.C.: among the most severely affected victims are the women who become
pregnant during the rape because they are burdened with the additional stigma
of carrying the enemy’s child, making it more likely that they are being
abandoned by their families. Consequently they will often have to raise the
child without the family support which is vital in traditional societies such
as the rural D.R.C.[22] 22
Also many victims will never see a doctor out of shame. Often rape victims will
not even be willing to refer to what the crime as rape but as “it” or “what happened”
and traditional ideas concerning the status of women in the D.R.C. are a major
obstacle to progress.
Involvement of all armed
groups in the region
It is not one but many groups in Eastern Congo which commit such crimes.
According to Medecins sans frontieres (MSF), “[a]ll armed groups have been
involved in the widespread sexual violence. The intent to terrorise, punish,
and humiliate communities seen as supportive of the other side made rape a
weapon of war. Sexual violence has been so clearly linked to the military
strategy of warring parties and has occurred in such a systematic way that it
is wrong to think of it as a side effect of war.”[23] 23
Different groups have taken to inflict different types of wounds in order to
make clear to everyone who was behind the attack: some insert objects, some
burn women, some rape 11-14 year old girls, some tie the hands of the victims
so tight that they will often have to be amputated, an other group holds the
victims in slavery for months and rapes them until they get pregnant for the
sole purpose of aborting the child later.[24] 24
The age range is equally shocking: in the Eastern Congolese town of Shabunda,
MSF reports that the victims included eleven year old girls as well as
grandmothers in their seventies[25] 25
and at Panzi Hospital, doctors have treated patients with rape-caused fistulae
between 12 months and 71 years of age.[26] 26
Widespread occurrence of
fistulae caused by rape, insertion of objects
Fistulae can have many different causes, ranging from cervical cancer,
lymphogranuloma venereum, coital injury to traditional rituals e.g. in
different parts of Africa, including “ritual cleansing” of the vagina through a
solution containing potash shortly after the woman has given birth, which can
lead to the chemical destruction of the vaginal tissue, to gishiri.[27] 27
The latter is a practice found in the northern parts of West Africa and
involves the insertion of a long knife into the vagina in order to make a cut
with the aim of widening the vagina, since it is believed that many
gynaecologic problems were “caused by a vagina that is too narrow”.[28] 28
Fistulae are rarely seen in the developed world these days but in eastern Congo
they have become an epidemic, that is – fistulae caused by rape. According to a
Newsweek report in November 2006, it is estimated that 250,000 women were raped
in that conflict and thousands of them have been injured so severely that they
suffer from fistulae.[29] 29
At the time being, though, it is impossible for either the D.R.C. government or
outside observers to give accurate victim numbers. Many women here have not
only been raped but often gang-raped repeatedly,[30] 30
but “more often the damage is caused by the deliberate introduction of objects[31]
31
into the victim’s vagina when the rape itself is over. The objects might be
sticks or pipes. Or gun barrels. In many cases the attackers shoot the victim
in the vagina at point-blank range after the have finished raping her.”[32]
32
Often the perpetrators make sure that they don’t kill the victim but inflict as
much damage as possible, leaving the victim behind “permanently and obviously
marked”.[33] 33
HIV and other sexually
transmittable diseases
Given that many perpetrators are HIV positive, HIV/AIDS is rapidly becoming
a concern for victims. But while access to Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) is
crucial,[34] 34
awareness of the existence of PEP needs to be raised in order to encourage
victims to seek help as soon as possible after the rape.[35] 35
Other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are affecting many victims, too. In
Matili, MSF staff reported that on their first visit to the village after three
or four month, they had to treat all rape victims for STDs, such as
salpingitis.[36] 36
But the victims’ husbands are also aware of the victims’ potential exposure to
STDs. This knowledge leads many husbands to reject their wives after they had
been raped, because they fear that their wives might transmit STDs to them.[37]
37
Often, though, the rejection will be based on the stigma associated with having
been raped rather than the risk of STDs. But even if a rape victim is allowed
to return to her house, it is “normal for [the victim’s husband] to find a new
wife, moving the old one into a different room and ignoring her.”[38] 38
Responses
In order to respond adequately, the problem has to be seen from a number of
different angles:
Medical and psychiatric assistance
Any medical help therefore needs to include STD treatment, including PEP,
but also needs to take into account the psychological needs of the victims,
such as treatment for posttraumatic stress disorders (PTSD), mood disorders,
substance abuse and eating and sexual disorders.[39] 39
In particular trauma counseling will need to be improved: At the time being, as
even MSF admits,[40] 40
not enough is being done here: as long as the victim is victimized again by her
husband or family, the suffering will continue long after the actual crime has
been committed.
In this context the children born out of rape must not be overlooked either.
With their mothers often finding themselves in extremely difficult
circumstances, there is a danger that these children will be neglected because
they are seen as being “the enemy”. This issue needs a two-fold approach:
counseling for the mother, including if necessary material support on one hand,
but also child protection on the other hand.
Access
to justice
Equally lacking is the access to justice for the victims: Although thousands
of women have been raped,[41] 41
less than a dozen perpetrators had been prosecuted by 2005.[42] 42
Rape and other forms of sexual violence in times of war are prohibited by
International Humanitarian Law.[43] 43
These prohibitions can be argued amount even to jus cogens[44] 44,
that is, to rules of international law which take absolute precedence over
other rules. In 1999 the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of
Human Rights demanded that all acts of sexual violence be condemned and
prosecuted[45] 45
and today wartime rape constitutes a war crime[46] 46
which can be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague[47]
47
and which in the past has already been prosecuted for example before the
International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda (ICTR)[48] 48
and the former Yugoslavia (ICTY):[49] 49
In Akayesu, the ICTR convicted the defendant for rape as a form of genocide[50]
50,
in Delalic, the ICTY held that sexual violence can constitute torture[51] 51
and in Kunarac the defendant was convicted for sexual slavery, rape and
violations of human dignity which the ICTY considered war crimes and crimes
against humanity[52] 52,
to give just a few examples. In the short term, targeting perpetrators as
directly as possible will have the greatest deterring effect. The message that
has to be sent must be clear: whoever commits such crimes will be identified,
hunted down and brought to justice. Many war criminals actually do not believe
that they will be caught.[53] 53
There is a general feeling that one gets away with rape. This illusion has to
be shattered. Since the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo is
unable to take adequate action, it has already asked the ICC to deal with the
international criminal law implications of the conflict in the D.R.C. – that is
the entire conflict in the D.R.C. of which wartime rapes are just one of many
issues. The only case pending at the ICC at the time being in relation to the
D.R.C. concerns the recruitment of child soldiers and there is no telling as to
when the Court will address the issue of systematic rape in the D.R.C. It would
be unrealistic in any case to assume that the ICC will be able to bring justice
to all victims. At best it will bring global attention to the problem and send
a message that the law also reaches to the D.R.C. Whether that will actually
prevent potential rapists from committing future crimes remains to be seen, in
particular since the ICC does not have a police force of its own but would have
to rely on international troops on the ground. This is not a feasible option
because at the time being the international community sees more danger than
potential for good in sending more troops to the D.R.C.,[54] 54
making the deployment of international forces highly unlikely which in turn
will make it extremely difficult if not impossible for the ICC to investigate
properly. A criminal justice solution is therefore not likely to be achieved
anytime soon, if at all. This also means that there will be es-sentially no
deterrent against future rapes and that the problem will continue.
Creating a culture of respect for women
But the key to ensuring both greater access to health care and improving
overall support for victims is the same as to protecting women against rape in
the first place: the traditional position of women in the D.R.C. (and the
problem is essentially the same in many other cultures around the Earth) has to
be overcome. This is certainly not “culturally sensitive”, but it is a
fundamental respect for women which is lacking here. It is necessary to create
a culture of respect for women and girls. This might take generations and many obstacles
will have to be overcome, such as ethnic of religious taboos and views
concerning the position of women in society and in particular the relation
between men and women, or low levels of education in most fundamental ethical
issues. Such changes, though, cannot be imposed top down but have to start with
each individual. The state, the international community or any outsider for
that matter, can only help by giving impulses and by assisting in creating a
favorable environment which includes better education opportunities for both
genders. The dissemination work of the Red Cross could play an important role
here, as well as work by religious and other groups. But the key to protecting
women hold those who have the greatest impact on the perpetrators: other men.
By treating women with respect in everyday life and by setting examples to
their children and indeed everyone else around them, it is men who have to set
the standard as to how to treat women. Respect is the key to preventing future
atroci-ties against women – in fact, against our wives, sisters, mothers and
daughters.
Summary
Despite the peace agreement which officially ended the war in the D.R.C.,
massive and systematic rapes continue in the war-torn nation in the heart of
Africa. In fact, rape has become a weapon of terror directed against the
civilian population in the Eastern D.R.C. and all armed groups are thought to
be involved. Often rape in the D.R.C. takes particularly violent forms, leading
to injuries such as fistulae. The high prevalence of HIV and other STDs among
perpetrators adds to the risks the victims are facing. In particular
psychological support needs to be improved as does access to any form of
medical help: although there has been some improvement, traditional taboos
continue to prevent many women from seeking help and the stigma associated with
having been raped places victims in danger long after the crime has been
committed. Given that it is highly unlikely that justice can be done for all
victims and there is no effective deterrent against systematic rape, the
position of women in the D.R.C. has to be strengthened considerably. The
creation of a culture of respect for women, though, will take generations
rather than years.
- Referendar jur.; Diploma
in International Law (with distinction) (University of Helsinki); Diplom
Humanitäres Völkerrecht (ICRC Geneva – IFHV Bochum – DRK Bonn); M.J.I.
Candidate, Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany. Doctoral student
and former Lehrbeauftragter (Associate Lecturer) at the Faculty of Law,
Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen Germany; Rechtsreferendar,
Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt am Main; former Emergency Medical Technician,
German Red Cross. Email: kirchnerlaw@yahoo.com. The authors wishes to
thank Beate Rossmanith at Hohemark, Oberursel, Germany, for many
discussions and Dr Margaret Salmon MD MPH at Harvard for her helpful
editorial remarks. All opinions expressed in this article, though, are of
course only attributable to the author. [55] [return]
- Cf. Fourth World
Conference on Women – Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, 15
September 1995, UN Doc. A /CONF.177/20 (1995) and UN Doc, para. 136.
A/CONF.177/20/Add.1 (1995). [56] [return]
- On wartime rape in
general cf. Forum Menschenrechte (ed.) – Hearing: Vergewaltigung –
Verbrechen an Frauen in Kriegs- und Friedenszeiten, 25 April 1996,
Redebeiträge, Materialien No. 6 (1996); Gleich-stellungsstelle für Frauen
(ed.) – Nirgend erwähnt – doch überall geschehen: Vergewaltigung im Krieg
(1992); Amnesty international – Rape as a Tool of War: A Fact Sheet, 25
August 2005; Peter Harder – 2. Rape and Ethnic Warfare, in: 5
International Journal of Refugee Law (2006), pp. 111 et seq.; Leslie
Shanks / Michael J. Schull – Rape in war: the humanitarian response, in:
163 Canadian Medical Associa-tion Journal (2000), pp. 1152 et seq.; United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights – Systematic rape, sexual
slavery and slaverylike practices, Sub-Commission resolution 1999/16. [57]
[return]
- Radhika Coomaraswamy –
Report on Violence Against Women, Its Causes and Consequences, Commis-sion
of Human Rights, 54th Session, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1998/54 (1998), Provisional
Agenda Item 9 (a). [58] [return]
- On the comfort women
system cf. Ustinia Dolgopol / Snehal Paranjape – Comfort Women: an
Unifinished Ordeal (1994); Christine M. Chinkin – Women’s International
Tribunal on Japanese Military Sexual Slavery, in: 95 American Journal of
International Law (2001), pp. 335 et seq.; Karen Parker / Jennifer Chew –
Compensation for Japan’s World War II War-Rape Victims, in: 17 Hastings
International and Comparative Law Review (1994), pp. 497 et seq.; Mira
Choi / Regina Mühlhäuser – “Wir wissen, daß es die Wahrheit ist…”. Gewalt
gegen Frauen im Krieg – Zwangsprostitution koreanischer Frauen 1936-45
(1996); Koreanische Frauengruppe in Deutschland (ed.) – In die Prostitution
gezwungen – Koreanische Frauen erinnern sich. Zeugenaussagen aus dem
japanischen Asien-Pazifik-Krieg (1996). On the rarely mentioned issue of
state-forced prostitution in Nazi Germany cf. Christa Paul –
Zwangsprostitution – Staatlich errichtete Bordelle im Nationalsozialismus
(1994). [59] [return]
- Cf. Pascale R. Bos –
Feminists Interpreting the Politics of Wartime Rape: Berlin, 1945;
Yugoslavia, 1992-1993, in: 31 Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and
Society (2006), pp. 995 et seq., at pp. 997 et seq.; Barbara Rohr – Rape
of Women in Germany During and After World War II, in: Swiss Peace
Foun-dation (ed.) – War against Women (1995), pp. 69 et seq.; Barbara Rohr
– Krieg gegen Frauen – Verge-waltigung während und nach dem Zweiten
Weltkrieg, in: Notruf und Beratung für vergewaltigte Mädchen und Frauen
(ed.) – Frauen und Krieg, pp. 21 et seq. [60] [return]
- Pascale R. Bos –
Feminists Interpreting the Politics of Wartime Rape: Berlin, 1945;
Yugoslavia, 1992-1993, in: 31 Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and
Society (2006), pp. 995 et seq., at p. 1002. [61] [return]
- Cf. ibid., at p. 1012;
Libby Tata Arcel – Deliberate Sexual Torture of Women in War: The Case of
Bos-nia-Herzegovina, in: Arieh Y. Shalev et al. (eds.) – International
Handbook of Human Response to Trauma (2000), pp. 179 et seq.; Karen Engle
– Feminism and its (Dis)contents: Criminalizing Wartime Rape in Bosnia and
Herzegovina, in: 99 American Journal of International Law (2005), pp. 778
et seq.; Catherine A. McKinnon – Rape, Genocide, and Women’s Human Rights,
in: Alexandra Stiglmayer (ed.) – Mass Rape: The War against Women in
Bosnia-Herzegovina (1994), pp. 183 et seq.; Joanne Barkan – As Old as War
Itself: Rape in Foca, in: Dissent, Winter 2002, pp. 60 et seq.; Cynthia
Enloe – Have the Bos-nian Rapes Opened a New Era of Feminist Consciousness
?, in: Alexandra Stiglmayer (ed.) – Mass Rape: The War against Women in
Bosnia-Herzegovina (1994), pp. 219 et seq. On rapes during the Balkan wars
cf. Reports of the Secretary General of the United Nations to the UN
Commission on Human Rights on Rape and Abuse of Women in the Territory of
the Former Yugoslavia, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1994/5, 30 June 1993 and UN Doc.
A/48/858, 29 January 1994 the Report of the Secretary-General on Rape and
Abuse of Women in the Areas of Armed Conflict in the Former Yugoslavia, UN
Doc. A/50/329, 4 August 1995, as well as UN General Assembly Resolution UN
Doc. A/Res/49/205, 6 March 1995; Beverly Allen – Rape Warfare: the Hidden
Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia (1996); Magdalini Karagiannakis
– The Definition of Rape and Its Characterization as an Act of Genocide –
A Review of the Jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunals for
Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia, in: 12 Leiden Journal of International
Law (1999), pp. 479 et seq.; James McHenry – Justice for Foca: The
International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia’s Prosecution of Rape and
Enslavement as Crimes Against Humanity, in: 10 Tulsa Journal of
Comparative and International Law (2002), pp. 183 et seq.; Beverly Allen –
Rape War-fare: The Hidden Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia
(1996); Richard P. Barrett / Laura E. Little – Lessons of Yugoslav Rape
Trials: A Role for Conspiracy Law in International Tribunals, in: 88
Minnesota Law Review (2003), pp. 30 et seq.; Susan Brownmiller – Making
Female Bodies in the Battle-field, in: Alexandra Stiglmayer (ed.) – Mass
Rape: The War against Women in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1994), pp. 180 et seq.;
Norma von Ragenfeld-Feldmann – The Victimization of Women: Rape and
Re-porting of Rape in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1992-1993, in: Dialogue, March
1997, http://www.members.tripod.com/~unconqueredbosnia/balk8.html; Jelena
Batinic – Feminism, National-ism, and War: The ‘Yugoslave Case’ in
Feminist Texts, in: 3 Journal of International Women’s Studies (2001),
http://www.bridgew.edu/SOAS/jiws/fall01/batinic.pdf; Vera Fonegovic-Smalc
– Psychiatric Aspects of the Rapes in the War Against the Republics of
Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, in: Alexandra Stiglmayer (ed.) – Mass
Rape: The War against Women in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1994), pp. 174 et seq.
[62] [return]
- Amnesty international –
Sudan, Darfur – Rape as a weapon of war – Sexual violence and its
conse-quences, July 2004. [63] [return]
- Diane King – Using Rape
as a Weapon, in: International Herald Tribune, 8 July 2007,
http://www.iht.com. [64] [return]
- Medecins sans frontieres
– Rape as a Weapon of War, 5 March 2004, http://www.msf.org. [65] [return]
- See also Marion Pratt /
Leah Werchick – Sexual Terrorism: Rape as a Weapon of War in Eastern
De-mocratic Republic of Congo – An assessment of programmatic responses to
sexual violence in North Kivu, South Kivu, Maniema and Orientale
Provinces, USAID / DCHA (2004); Juliane Klippenberg – The War within the
War – Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls in Eastern Congo, Human
Rights Watch (2002) and Juliane Klippenberg – Seeking Justice: The
Prosecution of Sexual Violence in the Congo War, 17 Human Rights Watch
Reports (March 2005), No. 1 (A). Both reports include a large number of
case studies based on interviews with victims in the D.R.C. [66] [return]
- Medecins sans frontieres
– Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War: MSF report eastern DRC, 1 April
2004, http://www.msf.org. [67] [return]
- Medecins sans frontieres
– Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War: MSF report eastern DRC, 1 April
2004, http://www.msf.org. [68] [return]
- Cf. Polly Markandya /
Fiona Lloyd-Davis– DRC: A plaster on a gaping wound, 16 April 2002,
http://www.msf.org. [69] [return]
- United Nations Security
Council – Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 28 June 2007, UN Doc. S/2007/391,
p. 10. [70] [return]
- Andrea Böhm – Wenn
Frieden Männersache ist – Gegen die Frauen im Kongo wird noch immer Krieg
geführt, in: Die Zeit, No. 50 (2006), available online at
http://zeus.zeit.de/text/2006/50/kongo. [71] [return]
- On the situation of the
children born as a result of rape cf. Ruth Harris – The “Child of the
Barbarian”: Rape, Race and Nationalism in France During the First World
War, in: Past & Present, Nos. 138-141 (1993), pp. 170 et seq. [72] [return]
- Andrea Böhm – Wenn
Frieden Männersache ist – Gegen die Frauen im Kongo wird noch immer Krieg
geführt, in: Die Zeit, No. 50 (2006), available online at
http://zeus.zeit.de/text/2006/50/kongo. [73] [return]
- On the psychological
effects of wartime rape cf. Sabina Popovic – Delayed Psychological and
Psychiatric Effects of Violence Committed Against Women During the War in
Bosnia and Herzegovina 1992 – 1995, in: Commission for Gathering Facts on
War Crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina (ed.) – The sin of silence – risk of
speech, Collection of the reports from international conference held in
Sarajevo on 10th and 11th March 1999, pp. 523 et seq.; Mujo Haskovic –
Psychosocial Support for Women – Victims of Sexual Violence During the War
in Bosnia and Herzegovina 1992 – 1995, in: Commission for Gathering Facts
on War Crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina (ed.) – The sin of silence – risk
of speech, Collection of the reports from international conference held in
Sarajevo on 10th and 11th March 1999, pp. 533 et seq.; Gillian Mezey –
Rape in War, in: 5 Journal of Forensic Psychiatry (1994), pp. 583 et seq.
[74] [return]
- Cf. Andrea Böhm – Wenn
Frieden Männersache ist – Gegen die Frauen im Kongo wird noch immer Krieg
geführt, in: Die Zeit, No. 50 (2006), available online at
http://zeus.zeit.de/text/2006/50/kongo [75] [return]
- See ICRC – Stories from
the Field: Democratic Republic of the Congo: “I want my child and me to be
accepted”, 2 March 2007, http://www.icrc.org. [76] [return]
- Medecins sans frontieres
– Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War: MSF report eastern DRC, 1 April
2004, http://www.msf.org. [77] [return]
- Andrea Böhm – Wenn
Frieden Männersache ist – Gegen die Frauen im Kongo wird noch immer Krieg
geführt, in: Die Zeit, No. 50 (2006), available online at
http://zeus.zeit.de/text/2006/50/kongo; Rob Nord-land – Congo’s Wounds of
War: More Vicious than Rape – The atrocity reports from eastern Congo were
so hellish that Western medical experts refused to believe them – at
first, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/is/15704030/site/newsweek/page/3, 13
November 2006. [78] [return]
- Polly Markandya / Fiona
Lloyd-Davis– DRC: A plaster on a gaping wound, 16 April 2002,
http://www.msf.org. [79] [return]
- Rob Nordland – Congo’s
Wounds of War: More Vicious than Rape – The atrocity reports from eastern
Congo were so hellish that Western medical experts refused to believe them
– at first, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/is/15704030/site/newsweek/page/3, 13
November 2006. [80] [return]
- http://www.worldwidefistulafund.org/Other%20Causes.html.
[81] [return]
- Ibid. [82] [return]
- Rob Nordland – Congo’s
Wounds of War: More Vicious than Rape – The atrocity reports from eastern
Congo were so hellish that Western medical experts refused to believe them
– at first, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/is/15704030/site/newsweek/page/3, 13
November 2006. [83] [return]
- Ibid. [84] [return]
- The insertion of
objects, including broken bottles and gun barrels, into the victim’s
vagina has already been described as a practice also employed in Bosnia,
Pascale R. Bos – Feminists Interpreting the Politics of Wartime Rape:
Berlin, 1945; Yugoslavia, 1992-1993, in: 31 Signs: Journal of Women in
Culture and Society (2006), pp. 995 et seq., at p. 1019, there fn. 28.
[85] [return]
- Rob Nordland – Congo’s
Wounds of War: More Vicious than Rape – The atrocity reports from eastern
Congo were so hellish that Western medical experts refused to believe them
– at first, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/is/15704030/site/newsweek/page/3, 13
November 2006. [86] [return]
- Ibid. [87] [return]
- Medecins sans frontieres
– Rape as a Weapon of War, 5 March 2004, http://www.msf.org. [88] [return]
- Cf. Lucy Clayton – MSF
confronts sexual violence in Sierra Leone, 8 September 2003,
http://www.msf.org. [89] [return]
- Polly Markandya / Fiona
Lloyd-Davis– DRC: A plaster on a gaping wound, 16 April 2002,
http://www.msf.org. [90] [return]
- Ibid. [91] [return]
- Ibid. [92] [return]
- Cf. Carlo Faravelli /
Alice Gugni / Stefano Salvatori / Valdo Ricca – Psychopathology after
Rape, in: 161 American Journal of Psychiatry (2004), pp. 1483 et seq., at
p. 1483. See also D. S. Rose – “Worse than death”: psychodynamics of rape
victims and the need for psychotherapy, in: 143 American Journal of
Psychiatry (1986), pp. 817 et seq. [93] [return]
- Polly Markandya / Fiona
Lloyd-Davis– DRC: A plaster on a gaping wound, 16 April 2002, http://www.msf.org.
[94] [return]
- Cf. Medecins sans
frontieres – Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War: MSF report eastern DRC, 1
April 2004, http://www.msf.org. [95] [return]
- Human Rights Watch – D.
R. Congo: Tens of Thousands Raped, Few Prosecuted,
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2005/03/07/congo/10258.html; for more
in-depth information see Juliane Klippenberg – Seeking Justice: The
Prosecution of Sexual Violence in the Congo War, 17 Human Rights Watch
Reports (March 2005), No. 1 (A). [96] [return]
- For a good overview over
how international law deals with gender-related crimes cf. Christine
Chinkin – Rape and Sexual Abuse of Women in International Law, in: 5 European
Journal of International Law (1994), pp. 1 et seq. and Helen Durham –
Women, armed conflict and international law, in: 84 International Review
of the Red Cross (2002), pp. 655 et seq. [97] [return]
- Cf. Kelly Dawn Askin –
The Quest for Post-Conflict Gender Justice, in: 41 Columbia Journal of
Transnational Law (2003), pp. 509 et seq. [98] [return]
- United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Sub-Commission on the Promotion and
Protection of Human Rights – Systematic rape, sexual slavery and
slaverylike practices, Sub-Commission resolution 1999/16, 26 August 1999.
[99] [return]
- On wartime rape as a
crime cf. Theodor Meron – Rape as a Crime Under International Humanitarian
Law, in: 87 American Journal of International Law (1993), pp. 424 et seq.;
Aiko Utsumi – How the Violence against Women were dealt with in War Crime
Trials, in: Indai Lourdes Sajor (ed.) – Common Grounds (1998), pp. 187 et
seq.; Kelly Dawn Askin – Prosecuting Wartime Rape and Other Gender-Related
Crimes Under International Law: Extraordinary Advances, Enduring
Obstacles, in: 21 Berkeley Journal of International Law (2003), pp. 288 et
seq.; Kelly Dawn Askin – War Crimes Against Women: Prosecution in
International War Crimes Tribunals (1997), pp. 262 et seq. [100] [return]
- Art. 8 (2) lit. b (XXII)
and Art. 8 (2) lit. e (VI) ICC-Statute; cf. Human Rights Watch –
International Justice for Women: The ICC marks a New Era, 1 July 2002,
http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/icc/icc-women.htm; Valerie Oosterveld –
Sexual Slavery and the International Criminal Court: Advancing
International Law, in: 23 Michigan Journal of International Law (2004),
pp. 605 et seq. [101] [return]
- Kelly Dawn Askin –
Sexual Violence in Decisions and Indictments of the Yugoslav and Rwanda
Tribu-nals: Current Status, in: 93 American Journal of International Law
(1999), pp. 97 et seq.; Stephanie K. Wood – A Woman Scorned for “Least
Condemned” War Crime: Precedent and Problems with Prosecut-ing Rape as a
Serious War Crime in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, in:
13 Columbia Journal of Gender and Law (2004), pp. 274 et seq. [102] [return]
- Catherine N. Niarchos –
Women, War, and Rape: Challenges Facing the International Tribunal for the
Former Yugoslavia, in: 17 Human Rights Quarterly (1995), pp. 649 et seq.
See also Kelly Dawn Askin – War Crimes against Women: Prosecution in
International War Crimes Tribunals (1997) and Richard Goldstone – The
United Nations’ War Crimes Tribunals: An Assessment, in: 12 Connecticut
Journal of International Law (197), pp. 227 et seq. [103] [return]
- ICTR – Prosecutor v.
Akayesu, ICTR-96-4-T, Judgment, 2 September 1998. [104] [return]
- ICTY – Prosecutor v.
Delalic, IT-96-21-T, Judgment, 16 November 1998. [105] [return]
- ICTY – Prosecutor v.
Kunarac, IT-96-23-T, Judgment, 22 February 2001. [106] [return]
- Charlotte Lindsey –
Women Facing War (2001), p. 52. [107] [return]
- Rwanda News
Agency/Agence Rwandaise d’Information (Kigali) – Sécurisation du Kivu – la
communauté internationale opposée à une solution armée préconisée par les
députés, 9 July 2007, http://fr.allafrica.com/stories/200707091236.html.
[108] [return]