Sexual Violence, Armed Conflict and International Law in Africa

Abstract

Recent empirical evidence suggests that sexual violence is increasingly becoming a phenomenon of armed confl ict. There is a causal link between armed confl ict and sexual violence: armed confl ict results in casualties and many of those casualties tend to include women who have been sexually violated. The occurrence of sexual violence during armed confl ict necessitates a reaction from states in accordance with their obligations under international law. This article examines the phenomenon of sexual violence in armed confl ict in Africa and the international legal framework dealing with this problem. There is a long history of sexual violence during armed confl ict. For example, during World War II in occupied Europe thousands of women were subjected to rape and thousands more were forced to enter brothels for Nazi troops. In addition, thousands of Korean women were forced by the Japanese army to work as ‘comfort’ women in Japanese army brothels. Only in 1992 did some Japanese leaders apologise for this practice. Further, about 900 000 German women are estimated to have been raped by Russian forces in Berlin during the fi nal days of World War II, and about 20 000 Chinese women were raped in Nanking following the Japanese takeover of the city in 1937. It is estimated that about 20 000 women were raped during the armed confl ict in the former Yugoslavia. These women were raped by the Serbian, Croatian and Muslim military groups,