Persuasive Writing

"Rape and sexual violence have become the tool of choice of many of the armed groups a means to control, subjugade, humiliate, intimidate, and ethnically cleanse".

Women and girls suffer disproportionately from violent conflict. They suffer not only from the by-products of war, but are also targeted as a strategy of war. Rape and sexual violence have been recognised as instruments of war, designed to weaken families and break down the social fabric of communities and societies. Although men and boys are also victims of gender-based violence, women and girls are the primary target.

There is increasing acknowledgement that women and girls play multiple roles during conflict. They are not only victims of violence, but can also be active participants in the violence, directly as combatants, or indirectly, by facilitating violence through fundraising or inciting their male relatives to commit acts of violence. Women also often become heads of households during war; women and girls learn new skills and contribute to peace making and rebuilding local economies and communities. These changes in gender relations, however, are usually short-lived and societies resort back to traditional gender roles after conflict.

Women also tend to be side-lined from formal conflict resolution and peace building processes, and post-conflict recovery programmes often overlook women’s security needs. This compromises the inclusiveness and sustainability of peace building efforts.

Sexual exploitation, trafficking and sexual slavery tend to increase in armed conflict. Women and girls who are recruited, often by abduction, into combat are in many cases forced to provide sexual services and/or are subjected to forced marriages. Refugee and internally displaced women and girls, separated from family members and traditional support mechanisms, are also particularly vulnerable. Government officials, civilian authorities, peacekeepers and aid workers have been reported to demand sexual favours in exchange for necessities – safe passage, food and shelter. Limited monitoring of camp security also renders women and girls vulnerable to sexual violence and forced combat.

The condition faced by women in conflict zones are of immense significance in the current scenario where one finds increased sites of conflict. The sites of conflict would not only include war zones but also areas of internal unrest due to self-determination issues, communal conflicts, Environmental disasters etc.

It is often seen that in the larger framework of addressing these issues, women’s concern take a backseat. Consequently their needs and issues get buried within larger scheme of things. It is submitted that conflict situations puts additional strain on women who get doubly marginalized as well as vulnerable to attacks from the aggressive opposition as women are most often symbolize the honour of the family. Violation of the bodily integrity of the women, displacement, Issues relating domestic violence, Denial of Properly rights etc. are some of the major issues which remain hidden. the international society has become aware of the specific challenges women have to face in times of conflict. A number of studies in this field have been undertaken by humanitarian and human rights organizations, such as the International Committee of the Red

Cross (ICRC) or the United Nations Development Fund for Women - Through these studies it has been shown how often the plight of women and the impact of war on their lives had been ignored. Women are, owing to their position in the society, affected by wars differently than men. Their problems resulting from situations of conflict are however very often neglected. It is important therefore to bring attention to these issues and create awareness of the rights women have in these circumstances as well as present possible means to improve their situation.

Other case laws:

Important international cases concerning issues faced by women in conflicts deal mostly with sexual violence. It is in fact in this particular problem that most progress has been made. A milestone in the prosecution of sexual violence was the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Both these tribunals were empowered to prosecute grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, other war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Rape was listed in their statutes as an act which may constitute a crime against humanity.15 several significant rulings concerning sexual violence have been passed by these tribunals.