War, Ethnicity, and Violence Against Women

Abstract

Rape has long been used as a weapon of war and has been justified as a kind of war booty to be claimed by conquerors. In ethnic conflicts such as that in Bosnia-Herzegovina rape is often used to demean the victims entire ethnic group. The Bosnia-Herzegovina region is one of the less developed republics in the former Yugoslavia and patriarchal systems remain firmly entrenched especially among Muslims. By 1992 an estimated 30000 Muslim women were raped during the war and these attacks were marked by brutality and multiple assailants. Massive numbers of young girls aged 7-14 were raped and rapes often took place in the presence of family members who were unable to help the victims. Sometimes women were taken to camps and repeatedly raped. Those who became pregnant were forcibly detained until late in the pregnancy. In some cases commanding officers took part in the assaults. War rape objectifies women as territory to be conquered and destroyed to reduce the power of male opponents. Women raped in opponents camps are first faced by a struggle to survive and then must deal with the aftermath of the violence which can include continued traumatization stigmatization and unwanted children. If the women ultimately become refugees the way that the war is resolved will have a great impact on their fate and the possibility of their resettlement.