Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal at Clark (SURJ)
Faculty Mentor Contact Information
Professor Srinivasan Sitaraman
Keywords
Human Rights, Wartime, Sexual Violence, War, Comparative Politics, Violence, Rape, Reproductive Rights, Human Rights Law, International Criminal Court, Crimes Against Humanity, International Law, International Human Rights Law, ICC, Women's Rights, Women's Health, Gender-Based Violence, Male-Perpetrated Violence, State Violence, Sexual Assault, Social Trauma, Cultural Trauma, Sexual Trauma
Abstract
Wartime sexual violence is a critical human rights issue that usurps the autonomy of its victims as well as their physical and psychological safety. It occurs in both ethnic and non-ethnic wars, across geographic regions, against both men and women, and regardless of the “official” position of commanders, states, and armed groups on the use of rape as tactic of war. This problem is current, pervasive, and global in spite of the status of wartime sexual violence perpetration as a crime against humanity and the capacity of the international criminal court to indict offenders. Though some scholars have argued that wartime rape is inevitable given a global patriarchal culture and the violent context of war, this argument upholds a problematic view of opportunistic sexual violence as an inevitable, anticipated side-effect of violent conflict. In order to counteract such harmful claims, this research examines two cases in which armed militant groups engaged in civil wars have limited the use of rape as a tactic of war. The examination of the cases of Sri Lanka and El Salvador may challenge the narrative of wartime rape inevitability and reinforce a framework through which perpetrators may be held accountable for sexual and gender-based war crimes. Further, this examination engages with the current body of sexual violence literature exploring not only the use of rape in armed conflict, but also the unique cases in which wartime rape is rare.
Recommended Citation
Bogen, Katherine W.
(2016)
"Rape and Sexual Violence: Questionable Inevitability and Moral Responsibility in Armed Conflict,"
Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal at Clark (SURJ): Vol. 2, Article 6.
Available at:
https://commons.clarku.edu/surj/vol2/iss1/6
Included in
Comparative and Foreign Law Commons, Comparative Politics Commons, Criminal Law Commons, Criminal Procedure Commons, Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Human Rights Law Commons, International Humanitarian Law Commons, International Law Commons, International Relations Commons, Latin American Studies Commons, Law and Gender Commons, Law and Society Commons, Legal Theory Commons, Military and Veterans Studies Commons, Military, War, and Peace Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Other International and Area Studies Commons, Other Law Commons, Peace and Conflict Studies Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons, Transnational Law Commons, Women's Studies Commons
