Annotated Bibliography on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence
Rape as Genocide
Short, Jonathan M.H. “Sexual Violence as Genocide: The Developing Law of the International Criminal Tribunals and the International Criminal Court.” The University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository, 2003. https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?params=/context/mjrl/article/1177/&path_info=.
Rape is used strategically in genocide to inflict serious bodily and mental harm, fulfilling a key criterion of the Genocide Convention. It aims not only to harm individuals but to destroy the targeted group through widespread psychological and physical trauma. Perpetrators exploit cultural stigmas, knowing rape can isolate survivors, fracture families, and prevent future births—particularly in patriarchal societies where victims are deemed “spoiled” and unfit for marriage or motherhood. Rape is used to introduce disease, disrupt community cohesion, and force population displacement, thus making it an effective weapon for long-term ethnic destruction beyond physical killings
Overview of International Laws Regarding Conflict-Related Sexual Violence
United States War Department. 1863. Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field (Lieber Code). General Orders No. 100. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
The Lieber Code is one of the earliest forms of customary international law. Rape is considered a prohibited crime that is punishable.
Article 44: All wanton violence committed against persons in the invaded country, all destruction of property not commanded by the authorized officer, all robbery, all pillage or sacking, even after taking a place by main force, all rape, wounding, maiming, or killing of such inhabitants, are prohibited under the penalty of death, or such other severe punishment as may seem adequate for the gravity of the offense.
Article 47: Crimes punishable by all penal codes, such as arson, murder, maiming, assaults, highway robbery, theft, burglary, fraud, forgery, and rape, if committed by an American soldier in a hostile country against its inhabitants, are not only punishable as at home, but in all cases in which death is not inflicted, the severer punishment shall be preferred.
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). 1949. Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Fourth Geneva Convention). August 12, 1949. https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/ihl-treaties/gciv-1949.
Article 27: Protected persons are entitled, in all circumstances, to respect for their persons, their honour, their family rights, their religious convictions and practices, and their manners and customs. They shall at all times be humanely treated, and shall be protected especially against all acts of violence or threats thereof and against insults and public curiosity. Women shall be especially protected against any attack on their honour, in particular against rape, enforced prostitution, or any form of indecent assault
United Nations Security Council. 1994. Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). November 8, 1994.
Article 3 lists rape as one of the crimes against humanity. Article 4 outlines that the Tribunal shall have the power to prosecute persons committing crimes against humanity, including rape.
United Nations. 2002. Statute of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. January 16, 2002.
Article 3 lists rape as one of the crimes against humanity. Article 4 outlines that the Tribunal shall have the power to prosecute persons committing crimes against humanity, including rape.
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). 2001. The Prosecutor v. Jean-Paul Akayesu, Case No. ICTR-96-4-A, Judgment (Appeals Chamber), June 1, 2001. https://unictr.irmct.org/en/cases/ictr-96-4.
In 2001, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda found Jean-Paul Akayesu guilty for crimes against humanity. This conviction was the first conviction ever for genocide and it was the first time that an international tribunal ruled that rape and other forms of sexual violence could constitute genocide. It was also the first conviction of an individual for rape as a crime against humanity.
The Use of Rape as a Weapon of War
Wallström, Margot. “Rape as a Tactic of War.” United Nations Development Fund For Women, n.d.
This report outlines how sexual violence, particularly rape, is used as a deliberate tactic of war. By explaining the impacts of sexual violence in conflict, the report illustrates how rape can be used strategically to achieve specific aims in war. The report also highlights how historically it has been difficult for victims of rape during war to seek help, particularly help holding their perpetrators accountable for their actions. It concludes with action items that can be implemented to prevent rape from occuring during war and support victims after they have been attacked.
Carter, K. R. “Should International Relations Consider Rape a Weapon of War?” Politics & Gender 6, no. 3 (September 2010): 343–71. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X10000280.
Carter argues that systematic rape should be understood as a war crime and a war weapon. She supports her hypothesis by explaining how the concept of rape as a weapon of war falls into the arena of state security because it occurs under the presupposition of zero-sum power and rational behavior. Moreover, the paper contends that people of all ages and genders suffer from the impacts of rape during war, and thus it cannot be marginalized as a “women’s issue” but must be mainstreamed into general warfare analysis. With rape understood as both a war crime and weapon, it could be included in arms control discussions and security studies more generally.
“Sexual Violence: A Tool of War.” United Nations Department of Public Information, March 2014. https://www.un.org/en/preventgenocide/rwanda/assets/pdf/Backgrounder%20Sexual%20Violence%202014.pdf.
This UN report provides an overview of incidences of rape used during conflict in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, the former Yugoslavia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and when there has been international acknowledgement of rape in the context of war. The evidence reveals that during conflict rape is used to terrorize populations and weaken community solidarity. In the cases where rape has genocidal intentions, perpetrators may intend to change the ethnic make-up of the next generation or make women incapable of procreation by infecting them with sexually-transmitted diseases or intentionally injuring their reproductive organs. This report effectively summarizes how international governing bodies have responded to the occurrence of rape during war.
Bergoffen, Debra. “Exploiting the Dignity of the Vulnerable Body: Rape as a Weapon of War.” Philosophical Papers 38, no. 3 (November 1, 2009): 307–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/05568640903420889.
Bergoffen explores how the exploitation of bodied vulnerability assaults dignity. In this way, she asserts that the symbolic meanings of bodies contribute to the construction of specific social structures. These social structures, specifically gender hierarchies, create social conditions that allow for the possibility of rape. Thus, this paper contends that unequal gender structures that promote men as the protectors of women allow for rape to be used as an effective weapon of war.
Diken, Bülent, and Carsten Bagge Laustsen. “Becoming Abject: Rape as a Weapon of War.” Body & Society 11, no. 1 (March 1, 2005): 111–28. https://doi.org/10.1177/1357034X05049853.
Diken and Laustsen argue that war rape is an example of an asymmetric strategy in warfare. Through an analysis of the rape inflicted by Serbian soldiers in Bosnia, the paper contends that war rape causes women to be alienated from their family and community. The paper also conclude that rape can result in self-hate, potentially to the point of suicide. The infliction of trauma on the individual results in the dissolvement of family ties and group solidarity in a community, soldiers can indirectly gain territorial advantage over the enemy. This gain occurs because the physical penetration of the victim is correlated with the symbolic penetration of the community by the enemy. Thus, the paper asserts that the use of rape in war is a bio-political strategy to assert sovereignty over another person and abuse the distinction between the self and the body.
Buss, Doris E. “Rethinking ‘Rape as a Weapon of War.’” Feminist Legal Studies 17, no. 2 (August 1, 2009): 145–63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10691-009-9118-5.
Buss asserts that acknowledging “rape as an instrument of the genocide” constrains investigations into why rape occurs during conflict and assumes that rape is inevitable during conflict. Through an analysis of rape during the Rwandan genocide, Buss concludes tha the narratives surrounding rape were homogenized, focusing exclusively on ethnic tensions. While this focus highlighted the genocidal intentions behind the rape of Tutsi women, it undercut attention on the rape of Hutu women and men in general. Moreover, while Buss agrees that the ethnic component is foundational to understanding rape in this conflict, she argues that social, political, and economic factors that contribute to vulnerability need to be considered to acknowledge the multiple factor that coalesce to cause rape and recognize that rape during conflict is not inevitable.