Rape Camps as a Means of Ethnic Cleansing: Religious, Cultural, and Ethical Responses to Rape Victims in the Former Yugoslavia

Abstract

* Todd Salzman completed his doctorate in Moral Theology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in 1994. He taught ethics at the University of San Diego for two years (1995-1997), and is currently an Assistant Professor at Creighton University, Omaha, NE. His interest is in ethical theory, how it pertains to contemporary social issues such as the atrocities committed in the former Yugoslavia, and what can be done to both prevent such atrocities in the future and to seek justice for the victims of those atrocities. I dedicate this article to my wife, Katy Salzman, whose support and work in Geneva at UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) were invaluable in providing the documentation for this article. I would like to thank Maarit Kohonen at the United Nations Centre for Human Rights for her assistance in bringing this article to fruition. 1. See Working Paper on the Situation of Systematic Rape, Sexual Slavery and Slavery-Like Practices During Wartime, Including Internal Armed Conflict, Submitted by Ms. Linda Chavez in Accordance with Subcommission Decision 1994/109, U.N. ESCOR, Comm'n on Hum. Rts., 47th Sess., Agenda Item 16, I] 4, U.N. Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1995/38 (1995) [hereinafter Working Paped; M. CHERIF BASSIOUNI & MARCA MCCORMICK, SEXUAL VIOLENCE: AN INVISIBLE WEAPON OF WAR IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA 3 (1996) (distinguishing between rape, sexual assault, and sexual violence).