Ethnic/Communal Wars

Citation:

Kovarić-Kovačić, Dragica, Dubravka Kocijan-Hercigonja, and Andrea Jambrošić. 2002. “Psychiatric Help to Psychotraumatized Persons during and after War in Croatia.” Public Health and Peace 43 (2): 221–28.

Authors: Dragica Kovarić-Kovačić, Dubravka Kocijan-Hercigonja, Andrea Jambrošić

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Health, Mental Health, Trauma, Humanitarian Assistance, Context-Appropriate Response to Trauma, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Croatia

Year: 2002

Citation:

Feliciati, Clara Chapdelaine. 2006. “Restorative Justice for the Girl Child in Post-Conflict Rwanda.” Journal of International Women’s Studies 7 (4): 14–35.

Author: Clara Chapdelaine Feliciati

Abstract:

The girl child suffers from both sexism and “childism” for she is at the intersection of women’s rights and children’s rights. The question of her fate in post-conflict Rwanda is particularly crucial for during the Rwandan genocide in 1994, she suffered egregious sexual violence based on gender regardless of her age. Not only were two-year old girls raped, but there was a clear intention to make women and girls suffer differently from men and boys: while the latter were killed rapidly with a single shot or machete stroke, girl children and women were mutilated, tortured and left to die slowly. However, to focus solely on the sexual abuse of girl children in conflict hinders other aspects of the discrimination they undergo in numerous areas of their daily lives. Our hypothesis is that the sexual violence suffered by girl children during the genocide can be seen as emblematic of a general pattern of sexual discrimination in Rwandan society which was unleashed by the exacerbation of the ethnic conflict. Based on this premise, Rwanda will be studied as a case in point by defining the girl child in that specific context and suggesting a restorative approach to her fate. First, this article will study the status of the girl child in international law. Second, it will examine her status in Rwanda before and during the genocide, as well as in the transitional or post-conflict society she dwells in today. Finally, this article will provide recommendations for her healing through a “childered” and gendered approach to recovery by establishing a restorative paradigm in terms of safety, remembrance, and reconnection.

Keywords: girl child, Rwanda, restorative justice

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Gender, Girls, Gender-Based Violence, International Law, Justice, Reparations, Post-Conflict, Rights, Human Rights, Sexual Violence Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa Countries: Rwanda

Year: 2006

Citation:

Allen, Beverly. 1996. Rape Warfare: The Hidden Genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Author: Beverly Allen

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Genocide, Justice, War Crimes, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia

Year: 1996

Citation:

Nowrojee, Binaifer. 1996. Shattered Lives: Sexual Violence during the Rwandan Genocide and Its Aftermath. United States: Human Rights Watch.

Author: Binaifer Nowrojee

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Ethnicity, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Genocide, Health, Reproductive Health, Trauma, International Law, Justice, International Tribunals & Special Courts, Sexual Violence, Rape, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Sexual Slavery Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa Countries: Rwanda

Year: 1996

Citation:

Tétreault, Mary Ann. 1997. “Justice for All: Wartime Rape and Women’s Human Rights.” Global Governance 3 (2): 197–212.

Author: Mary Ann Tétreault

Abstract:

Among the issues to be resolved after an armed conflict are how to reconcile war victims to crimes committed against them, and whether sexual assaults should be incorporated formally among injuries to be redressed. The omission of rape as a war crime is attributed to the gender-differentiated development of human rights norms in the western tradition and in international law. The patterns of redress followed after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the recent civil war in Bosnia are compared. While each incorporates significant advantages to victims of wartime rape, the more cumbersome procedure requiring that criminals be tried before an international tribunal is more likely ultimately to assuage the pain of victims individually and promote reconciliation among groups formerly at war.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Gender, International Law, Justice, International Tribunals & Special Courts, War Crimes, Post-Conflict, Rights, Human Rights, Women's Rights, Sexual Violence, Male Perpetrators, Rape, SV against Women Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East, Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kuwait

Year: 1997

Citation:

Benard, Cheryl. 1994. “Rape as Terror: The Case of Bosnia.” Terrorism and Political Violence 6 (1): 29–43.

Author: Cheryl Benard

Abstract:

Using Bosnia since 1992 as a case study, this article examines the significance of rape as a deliberate instrument of terror in the context of war. Political science has generally neglected to analyze this phenomenon, but has instead generally adhered to the popular view that rape is simply an inevitable by-product of war. The article therefore seeks first to differentiate contexts and functions of rape on the basis of socio-military ideology, intent and consequences. Four distinct configurations of wartime rape are identified: rape as bounty; rape as a formally forbidden but de facto tolerated outlet for the soldiers; rape as a breakdown of the command structure and the morale of the troops; and rape as part of the deliberate assault strategy. The Bosnian case is found to represent a combination of the first and fourth configurations. Based on data from 250 interviews with Bosnian refugees in Croatia and Austria, the tactical functions of rape as a part of 'ethnic cleansing' are described, and parallels are determined between rape and the terrorizing of other vulnerable civilians such as children. The interviews also yielded incidental reports of the efforts of individual dissenting soldiers to prevent rape. In conclusion it is noted that while a tactical interpretation of rape is illuminating, it leaves many questions concerning the willingness of large numbers of men to employ sexual violence.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Combatants, Ethnicity, Gender, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Sexual Violence, Rape Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina

Year: 1994

Citation:

Stephens, Beth, and Mary Ann Dadisman. 1993. “Women and the Atrocities of War.” American Bar Association 20 (3): 12–15.

Authors: Beth Stephens, Mary Ann Dadisman

Abstract:

The article highlights the need to revise the manner in which violence against women is addressed by international law as of 1003. Worldwide, women have called on the United Nations to incorporate women's human rights concerns into the international human rights agenda, particularly the right to be free from physical abuse. The widespread reporting of the brutal rapes inflicted on Moslem women by Bosnian Serb forces over the last year has given an unprecedented visibility to rapes committed during war. Estimates of the number of women raped--many repeatedly--range from several thousand to 20,000 and higher. Rapes have been committed in detention camps, including special prostitution camps, in homes and villages. There are several ways to approach the application of international law to the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Customary international law includes the basic human rights norms that cannot be derogated and are recognized as binding on all nations. It applies during war as well as during peace, prohibiting gross human rights violations. Many of the norms governing the conduct of war have been recognized as customary international law, binding on all parties whether or not they have ratified the Geneva Conventions or any other international agreement.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, International Law, International Human Rights, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Rights, Human Rights, Sexual Violence, Male Perpetrators, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina

Year: 1993

Citation:

Stiglmayer, Alexandra. 1994. Mass Rape: The War Against Women in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.

Author: Alexandra Stiglmayer

Abstract:

Alexandra Stiglmayer interviewed survivors of the continuing war in Bosnia-Herzegovina in order to reveal, to a seemingly deaf world, the horrors of the ongoing war in the former Yugoslavia. The women—primarily of Muslim but also of Croatian and Serbian origin—have endured the atrocities of rape and the loss of loved ones. Their testimony, published in the 1993 German edition, is bare, direct, and its cumulative effect overwhelming.

The first English edition contains Stiglmayer's updates to her own two essays, one detailing the historical context of the current conflict and the other presenting the core of the book, interviews with some twenty victims of rape as well as interviews with three Serbian perpetrators. Essays investigating mass rape and war from ethnopsychological, sociological, cultural, and medical perspectives are included.

New essays by Catharine A. MacKinnon, Rhonda Copelon, and Susan Brownmiller address the crucial issues of recognizing the human rights of women and children. A foreword by Roy Gutman describes war crimes within the context of the UN Tribunal, and an afterword by Cynthia Enloe relates the mass rapes of this war to developments and reactions in the international women's movement.

Accounts of torture, murder, mutilation, abduction, sexual enslavement, and systematic attempts to impregnate—all in the name of "ethnic cleansing"—make for the grimmest of reading. However brutal and appalling the information conveyed here, this book cannot and should not be ignored. (Amazon)

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Ethnicity, Gender, Women, Justice, International Tribunals & Special Courts, Rights, Human Rights, Sexual Violence, Male Perpetrators, Rape, Sexual Slavery, SV against Women, Torture Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Yugoslavia (former)

Year: 1994

Citation:

Snyder, Cindy S., Wesley J. Gabbard, J. Dean May, and Nihada Zulcic. 2006. “On the Battleground of Women’s Bodies: Mass Rape in Bosnia-Herzegovina.” Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work 21 (2): 184-95.

Authors: Cindy S. Snyder, Wesley J. Gabbard, J. Dean May, Nihada Zulcic

Abstract:

This article critically reviews the literature pertaining to mass rape during times of war to identify and understand the unique factors that promote it. A greater understanding of these factors is considered a productive initial step toward proffering effective solutions to address this significant problem. The former Yugoslavia, particularly Bosnia-Herzegovina, serves as a case study against which this literature is reviewed. The authors conclude that women's experience of rape in war, like the abuse of women's human rights, is often determined by the intersection of a variety of factors, such as age, race, class, religion, ethnicity, and nationality. Future studies should further explore how these complex variables relate to each other in an attempt to understand the horrific crimes that are often perpetrated against women during wartime.

Keywords: Bosnia, Yugoslavia, war, rape

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina

Year: 2006

Citation:

Olujic, Maria B. 1998. “Embodiment of Terror: Gendered Violence in Peacetime and Wartime in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.” Medical Anthropology Quarterly 12 (1): 31–50.

Author: Maria B. Olujic

Abstract:

Gendered violence is not a special type of torture used only in war. Its roots are well established in peacetime. This article discusses parallels between the patterns of everyday domination and aggression during times of peace and war. Further, it discusses how metaphors and acts of rape in peacetime are transformed into symbols and acts of rape for wartime purposes. During peacetime the individual body, especially its essence--sexuality and reproduction--becomes the symbol of everyday domination and aggression. Wartime transforms individual bodies into social bodies as seen, for example, in genocidal rapes or ethnic cleansing, which are thought to purify the bloodlines. Then, institutions--that is, medical, religious, and government establishments--further reinforce the wartime process by manipulating the individual/social body into the body politic by controlling and defining "human life" and using political rapes to entice military action by the West. The final transformation (at the war's conclusion) is the reformation of the social body back into the individual body, making the individual body once again the focus of dominance and aggression as the acceptable social "order."

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Gender, Gender-Based Violence, Religion, Sexual Violence, Rape, SV against Women, Sexuality, Torture, Sexual Torture Regions: Europe, Balkans, Eastern Europe Countries: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia

Year: 1998