SV against Women

Citation:

Annan, Jeannie, and Moriah Brier. 2010. “The Risk of Return: Intimate Partner Violence in Northern Uganda’s Armed Conflict.” Social Science & Medicine 70 (1): 152–9. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.09.027.

Authors: Jeannie Annan, Moriah Brier

Abstract:

The physical and psychological consequences of armed conflict and intimate partner violence are well documented. Less research focuses on their intersection and the linkages between domestic violence, gender-based discrimination, and the structural violence of poverty in armed conflict. This paper describes emerging themes from qualitative interviews with young women who have returned from abduction into the Lord's Resistance Army in northern Uganda, many of whom were forcibly given as "wives" to commanders. Their interviews reveal multiple levels of violence that some women experience in war, including physical and sexual violence in an armed group, verbal and physical abuse from extended family members, and intimate partner violence. Striking is the violence they describe after escaping from the rebels, when they are back with their families. The interviews point to how abduction into the armed group may exacerbate problems but highlight the structural factors that permit and sustain intimate partner violence, including gender inequalities, corruption in the police system, and devastating poverty. Findings suggest that decreasing household violence will depend on the strength of interventions to address all levels, including increasing educational and economic opportunities, increasing accountability of the criminal justice system, minimizing substance abuse, and improving the coping mechanisms of families and individuals exposed to extreme violence

Topics: Armed Conflict, Domestic Violence, Gender, Gender-Based Violence, Governance, Households, Sexual Violence, Male Perpetrators, SV against Women Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Uganda

Year: 2010

Citation:

Newdick, Vivian. 2005. “The Indigenous Woman as Victim of Her Culture in Neoliberal Mexico.” Cultural Dynamics 17 (1): 73-92.

Author: Vivian Newdick

Abstract:

This article examines the appearance of an indigenous woman victim subject at the intersection of global and national rights discourses in Mexico. In the case of the rape of three indigenous women by the Mexican Army, in World Bank policy recommendations in which culture and gender are cast as 'impediments to development', and in everyday explanations for poverty, culture is cast as harmful to indigenous women. Structural violence and indigenous women's agency are obscured. This victim subject emerges to contest recent destabilizations of the meanings of gender and culture in the wake of indigenous women's militancy in the 1994 Zapatista uprising.

Topics: Economies, Gender, Women, Indigenous, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Non-State Armed Groups, Rights, Human Rights, Women's Rights, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women, Violence Regions: Americas, North America Countries: Mexico

Year: 2005

Citation:

Mackenzie, Megan. 2010. “Securitizing Sex? Towards a Theory of the Utility of Wartime Sexual Violence.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 12 (2): 202–21.

Author: Megan Mackenzie

Abstract:

Visions of the post-conflict reintegration process in Sierra Leone as a moment of healing, reconstruction, opportunitity and rehabilitation do not take into account the experience of women and girls who were raped during the conflict. For them, the post-conflict period is often characterized by trauma, silence and stigmatization. This article examines wartime rape in relation to the liberal family model and the perception of sex as a 'private' social concern rather than a public security issue.

Keywords: development, Gender, post-conflict reconstruction, Securitization, sexual violence, Sierra Leone, war rape

Topics: Armed Conflict, Security, Sexual Violence, SV against Women

Year: 2010

Citation:

Steiner, Birthe, Marie T. Benner, Egbert Sondorp, K. Peter Schmitz, Ursula Mesmer, and Sandrine Rosenberger. 2009. “Sexual Violence in the Protracted Conflict of DRC Programming for Rape Survivors in South Kivu.” Conflict and Health 3 (3): 1-9. doi:10.1186/1752-1505-3-3.

Authors: Birthe Steiner, Marie T. Benner, Egbert Sondorp, K. Peter Schmitz, Ursula Mesmer, Sandrine Rosenberger

Abstract:

Background: Despite international acknowledgement of the linkages between sexual violence and conflict, reliable data on its prevalence, the circumstances, characteristics of perpetrators, and physical or mental health impacts is rare. Among the conflicts that have been associated with widespread sexual violence has been the one in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Methods: From 2003 till to date Malteser International has run a medico-social support programme for rape survivors in South Kivu province, DRC. In the context of this programme, a host of data was collected. We present these data and discuss the findings within the frame of available literature.

Results: Malteser International registered 20,517 female rape survivors in the three year period 2005–2007. Women of all ages have been targeted by sexual violence and only few of those – and many of them only after several years – sought medical care and psychological help. Sexual violence in the DRC frequently led to social, especially familial, exclusion. Members of military and paramilitary groups were identified as the main perpetrators of sexual violence.

Conclusion: We have documented that in the DRC conflict sexual violence has been – and continues to be – highly prevalent in a wide area in the East of the country. Humanitarian programming in this field is challenging due to the multiple needs of rape survivors. The easily accessible, integrated medical and psycho-social care that the programme offered apparently responded to the needs of many rape survivors in this area.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Health, Mental Health, Trauma, Humanitarian Assistance, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Paramilitaries, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Africa, Central Africa Countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Year: 2009

Citation:

Baelani, Inipavudu, and Martin W. Dünser. 2011. “Facing Medical Care Problems of Victims of Sexual Violence in Goma/Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Conflict and Health 5 (2): 1-5.

Authors: Martin W. Dünser, Inipavudu Baelani

Abstract:

Since 1998, the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has been torn by a military conflict. A particular atrocity of the war is widespread sexual violence. In this combined retrospective analysis and prospective survey, we sought to identify hospital facilities and resources available to treat victims of sexual violence in Goma, the capital city of the North Kivu province. Results: Of twenty-three acute care hospitals registered in the area of Goma, four (17%) regularly cared for victims of sexual violence. One hospital had all resources always available to appropriately care for victims of sexual violence. From Jan 2009 until Oct 2010, 7,048 females sought medical care because of physical or psychological sequelae from sexual violence in the four hospitals of Goma. Only half of the hospitals had physicians specialized in gynaecology or gynaecological surgery available. Similarly, anaesthetists and psychiatrists/psychologists were available in two (50%) and one (25%) hospital, respectively. Post-discharge care facilities, material resources, such as surgical and anaesthesiological equipment and drugs, were inconsistently available in the hospitals caring for sexually abused females. At one selected hospital, acyclovir and/or antibiotics were administered to 1,202 sexually abused females (89.5%), whereas post-exposure HIV prophylaxis and surgery because of vesico-vaginal fistula was provided to only 75 (5.6%) and 121 (9%) patients, respectively. This study provides data that only few hospitals in Goma care for victims of sexual violence. In addition, these hospitals suffer from a relevant shortage of human and material resources to provide adequate care for sexually abused females. Aside from establishment of adequate protection strategies, steps must be taken to increase the availability of trained health care professionals and resources to provide adequate care for victims of sexual violence in Goma and the North Kivu province.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Health, Sexual Violence, SV against Women Regions: Africa, Central Africa Countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Year: 2011

Citation:

Chinkin, Christine. 1994. “Symposium: The Yugoslav Crisis: New International Law Issues: Rape and Sexual Abuse of Women in International Law.” European Journal of International Law 5: 326–41.

Author: Christine Chinkin

Topics: Gender, Women, International Law, Sexual Violence, Rape, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, SV against Women Regions: Europe, Balkans Countries: Yugoslavia (former)

Year: 1994

Citation:

Zinsstag, Estelle. 2006. “Sexual Violence against Women in Armed Conflicts: Standard Responses and New Ideas.” Social Policy and Society 5 (1): 137–48.

Author: Estelle Zinsstag

Abstract:

This article aims to assess ways in which different justice schemes may operate together for an improved legal and political response to victims of sexual crimes in the aftermath of armed conflicts. The article will briefly present the problem of sexual violence against women in armed conflict. It will then consider the evolution of criminal justice in regard to this crime, the results of recent attempts to implement truth and reconciliation processes, as well as briefly assess reparation schemes. Finally it will suggest a series of measures for coordinating the various schemes of justice in a way that guarantees women’s rights in the aftermath of a conflict.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Justice, International Tribunals & Special Courts, Reparations, TRCs, Post-Conflict, Rights, Women's Rights, Sexual Violence, SV against Women

Year: 2006

Citation:

Josse, Evelyne. 2010. “‘They Came with Two Guns’: The Consequences of Sexual Violence for the Mental Health of Women in Armed Conflicts.” International Review of the Red Cross 92 (877): 177–95.

Author: Evelyne Josse

Abstract:

Sexual violence has serious and multiple consequences for the mental health of women. At the psychological level, it leads to radical changes in the image that the victim has of herself, in her relations with her immediate social circle and beyond, in the community as a whole, and in the way in which the victim sees the past, present, and future. It thus has a lasting negative impact on the victim's perception of herself, of events, and of others. At the community level, it stigmatizes the victim, depriving her of any social status or intrinsic value as a person (she is seen as unfaithful or promiscuous), and thereby modifies relationships within the community with an overall deleterious effect. This article discusses these consequences of sexual violence for the mental health of women, especially those who are its victims during armed conflicts.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Health, Mental Health, Post-Conflict, Sexual Violence, SV against Women

Year: 2010

Citation:

Wagner, Justin. 2005. “The Systematic Use of Rape as a Tool of War in Darfur: A Blueprint for International War Crimes Prosecutions.” Georgetown Journal of International Law 37 (1): 193–243.

Author: Justin Wagner

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Gender, Women, International Law, International Criminal Law, Justice, War Crimes, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Militias, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Sudan

Year: 2005

Citation:

Schneider, Mary Deutsch. 2007. “About Women, War and Darfur: The Continuing Quest for Gender Violence Justice.” North Dakota Law Review 83 (3): 915–96.

Author: Mary Deutsch Schneider

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Health, Reproductive Health, Humanitarian Assistance, International Law, International Criminal Law, Justice, International Tribunals & Special Courts, Reparations, Transitional Justice, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Sudan

Year: 2007