Sexual Violence In Armed Conflict Research Articles

Can the International Criminal Court prevent sexual violence in armed conflict?

Human rights activists, international organizations, and certain governments have championed prosecutions as a strategy to prevent conflict-related sexual violence, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) has focused extensively on prosecuting sexual violence crimes during its first two decades of operations. However, even as a growing body of empirical evidence suggests that the ICC contributes to improved human rights practices and the prevention of other atrocity crimes, such as violence against civilians, claims concerning the preventive effects of prosecutions on sexual violence remain largely untested. The purpose of this article is to test these claims. To this end, we analyzed the effects of ICC jurisdiction, interventions, and cross-case actions on sexual violence by government forces in intrastate conflicts from 1989 to 2018, using the Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict (SVAC) dataset. Contrary to the optimistic claims of proponents of prosecutions, we found that ICC jurisdiction and cross-case actions have negligible effects for this category of actors. We also found that ICC interventions are associated with increased sexual violence by government forces in intrastate conflicts. These findings suggest that prevention might require alternative—and, in some cases, potentially costlier—interventions.

Control over Bodies and Territories: Insurgent Territorial Control and Sexual Violence

Despite the popular narrative of “rape as a weapon of war,” research shows that only a minority of insurgent groups perpetrate sexual violence in armed conflict. We argue that territorial control is an overlooked factor that can increase the likelihood a group commits sexual violence for two primary reasons: (1) rebel groups seeking to establish control over territory are more likely to commit sexual violence; and (2) groups seeking to maintain territorial control emulate state behavior through violently controlling human, sexual, and reproductive capital, which manifests in forced recruitment and different forms of sexual violence, including rape and sexual slavery. We systematically test this argument using the Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict (SVAC) and the Big Allied and Dangerous Insurgent II (BAADI2) datasets. The results provide robust support for the argument. This constitutes an important addition to our understanding of conflict-related sexual violence and rebel governance.

SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO ARMED CONFLICT: TESTING THE AU AND EU PROTOCOLS

The purpose of this article is to examine measures for curbing the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Specifically, the article tests protocols provided by the African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU) in order to highlight the attendant key critiques and challenges. It highlights the prospects that protocols provided for by the AU and EU could mitigate and ameliorate sexual violence in armed conflict (SVAC) in contexts such as that of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Therefore, the article also examines strengths and weaknesses of the AU and EU protocols for SVAC. The article finds that there are more complex and area-specific reasons why sexual violence in armed conflict takes place in Africa, especially in the DRC. Furthermore, the article notes the notion that sexual violence as a weapon is recognized to be “cheaper than the use of bullets” as well as the societal preoccupation with biosocial and patriarchal military theory. This article finds that such acts or beliefs, which are morally unacceptable, are prevalent causes of SVAC in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The article concludes that protocols provided for by the AU and EU fall-short of what is required in the DRC because this country’s contexts entail more of redress than prevention. Indeed, prevention cannot be underrated, but there are already scars and victims of SVAC that require urgent intervention to build for a better society. The article recommends that a just and fair framework be established to address the problems that confront victims of SVAC as well as to hold governments and officials to account. Keywords: Armed conflict, Gender-based Violence, Institutional Frameworks, Security

Sexual violence in armed conflict

Which armed groups have perpetrated sexual violence in recent conflicts? This article presents patterns from the new Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict (SVAC) dataset. The dataset, coded from the three most widely used sources in the quantitative human rights literature, covers 129 active conflicts, and the 625 armed actors involved in these conflicts, during the period 1989–2009. The unit of observation is the conflict-actor-year, allowing for detailed analysis of the patterns of perpetration of sexual violence for each conflict actor. The dataset captures six dimensions of sexual violence: prevalence, perpetrators, victims, forms, location, and timing. In addition to active conflict-years, the dataset also includes reports of sexual violence committed by conflict actors in the five years post-conflict. We use the data to trace variation in reported conflict-related sexual violence over time, space, and actor type, and outline the dataset's potential utility for scholars. Among the insights offered are that the prevalence of sexual violence varies dramatically by perpetrator group, suggesting that sexual violations are common – but not ubiquitous. In addition, we find that state militaries are more likely to be reported as perpetrators of sexual violence than either rebel groups or militias. Finally, reports of sexual violence continue into the post-conflict period, sometimes at very high levels. The data may be helpful both to scholars and policymakers for better understanding the patterns of sexual violence, its causes, and its consequences.