Written by:
I. Introduction
In times of conflicts and wars, gender–based violence (GBV), including rape, may take on a new
form and shape, even turning into an intentional tactics of battling. (UNFPA).
There are two essential types of attacking women by raping and harming them brutally. The
first type of GBV as a weapon of war is designed, planned and executed by a number of men or
small group. The second type of gender-based violence (raping) as a war weapon is considered
to be as an integral part of military strategy “weapon of war” . Usually, raping uses in order to
demoralize enemy and disintegrate its capabilities morally. ( Prof. Dr. Thomas Elbert, Dr.
HaraldHinkel, Dr. Anna Maedl, Katharin Hermenau, M.Sc., Tobias Hecker, M.Sc., Dr. Maggie
Schauer, Heike Riedke, Nina Winkler M.Sc. & M.A. , Dr. Philip Lancaster, 2013)
In post conflict areas, warriors and/ or combatants who have already got back from the
battlefield tend to be more aggressive and violent toward their community, families, children,
wives, relatives and citizens in general. (Rashida Manjoo & Calleigh McRaith, 2013)
This article aims at providing a brief overview of GBV in conflict and post-conflict settings, with
a particular focus on GBV as it has been used as a weapon of war in the time of conflict since
long time.
II. The Analysis:
At the onset of this analytically paper, there is a query putting itself strongly on what do we
mean by Gender-based violence (GBV), according to the European Institute for Gender Equality
(EIGE) “Gender-based violence (GBV) is violence that is directed against a person on the basis
of gender. It constitutes a breach of the fundamental right to life, liberty, security, dignity,
equality between women and men, non-discrimination and physical and mental integrity”
(EIGE)
“The concept of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) generally refers to “violence that occurs as a
result of the normative role expectations associated with each gender, along with the unequal
power relationships between the two genders, within the context of a specific society” (Shelah
S. Bloom, 2008, p.14)
In this regard and throughout the history of human beings, rape has been commonly
understood as something that must be expected in times of wars and conflicts, also as an
inevitable aspect of warring. Moreover, rape has been considered as a weapon of war aimed at
asserting and proving dominance, control and victory upon the defeated side. Therefore, GBV
in shape of rape has been occurring as it has been seen and/ or understood as a (battle loot ) in
term of rewarding the conquering soldiers with the rape of the women of the defeated( Maria
Eriksson Baaz, 2009)
Violence against women in conflicted setting, particularly rape, has been added as a new
weapon of war to recent wars tactics. Therefore and that’s why numbers of countries had been
witnessing an intensive conflict alongside with serious GBV for a long time such as Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Peru , Rwanda, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cyprus, Haiti, Liberia, Somalia and
Uganda.(UNCEF report on the state of the world’s children, 1996)
GBV in shape of rape is solely one way to commit genocide. This way is also regarded as a
weapon of war aimed at destroying a certain or specific community or group by demolishing its
cultural, religious and social bonds and structures. Furthermore, when women are being raped
during any conflict or war; most of them get killed straightforward by their rapists after they are
done with them. If a raped woman survives, the whole social structure will be drifted into
violence. Most of the martial rape are intended to destroy the structure and bonds of the
targeted community such as the mass rapes of women in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwandan
women by Hutu soldiers, Vietnamese women by U.S. GI’s, of the systematic rapes of Bengali
women by Pakistani soldiers in 197 1, and earlier of Na•ve American women by Bri•sh.
(CLAUDIA CARD, 1996)
GBV can also be regarded as a weapon of war as it is being used to destroy a certain community
morals and beliefs. Such weapon can be directed against women and men alike. Men can be an
object of GBV as a weapon of war; this can be easily noticed through the images
of Lynddie England1 abusing, torturing and ritually humiliating Iraqi men in Abu Ghraib prison.
While these images shocked the Western public and she and others involved were categorized
as being a minority of monsters (Kieran Ford artcle, 2011)
Note: 1LynndieRana England (born 1982) is a former United States Army Reserve soldier who served
in the 372nd Military Police Company. She was one of eleven military personnel convicted in
2005 by Army courts-martial in connection with the torture and prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib
prison in Baghdad during the occupation of Iraq.
Gender-based violence in conflict and post-conflict countries and areas may take abundant
ways and styles including rape, slavery, forced impregnation/abortion, kidnapping/trafficking,
subjection to the state of being naked, and disease transmission, with rape and sexual violence
being among the most regular ways. Furthermore, rape in conflict situations is often very
violent, aggressive and brutal to the last degree, such brutal acts usually involving gang-rape
and rape under the threat of external objects such as guns, knives, and other life-threatening
tools. In addition to rape, sexual assault is also prevalent and widespread, particularly in the
forms of forced nudity, strip searches, and other publicly/ overtly degrading and awful
aggressive acts. These acts and other acts of sexual violence, such as forced impregnation or
forced abortion, are often part of a deliberate strategy and tactics of war, used to destabilize,
subvert and psychology demoralize the civilian population and violate the dignity of the rival
enemy. (Rashida Manjoo & Calleigh McRaith, 2010)
The GBV can be used as weapon of war in conflicted societies or countries, more specifically
during ethnic conflict. Put differently, rape is often used in ethnic conflicts as a way for
attackers to immortalize and assert forcefully their social grip and redraw ethnic boundaries
such as what happened in Bosnia; systematic rape was used as part of the strategy of ethnic
cleansing, Women were raped so they could give birth to a Serbian baby.( Laura Smith-Spark ,
BBC)
Post-conflict societies mostly endure and also experience practices of gender-based violence
such as Kosovo. Actually, brutal rape and other forms of sexual violence and aggression have
been witnessed and exercised as major factors in undermining and posing a threat on postconflict
peace processes. It is also to some extent common for any society to experience an
increase in trafficking issues which based on gender, such as forced prostitution which may
include men and women. Domestic violence is one trait of conflicted and post-conflicted
communities. Therefore, domestic violence can be committed and/ or practiced by either men
or women who have already got back from the battlefield. Raping crimes following a conflict
are happening sometime more than before the raging of a conflict. Some of these issues,
particularly domestic violence and trafficking/kidnapping, may reach higher levels after the
winding up of a conflict than were practiced by the society during the conflict/war. The postconflict
increases in acts of domestic violence, for example, has led to speculation of a
connection between these forms of GBV and the accessibility to small arms, an increased
tolerance of violence within community , and the head of households having been partaking in
military violence during the conflict and/ or wars. (Rashida Manjoo &CalleighMcRaith, 2010)
Sexual violence as a weapons of war directed against individuals, not only on the basis of group
membership (i.e. ethnicity, tribe, race, etc.), but also exclusively on the bases of gender. Despite
the tangible increase in occurrence during conflict, international community and national
policies have ignored the tremendous negative effects of sexual violence in hampering peace
and security of the conflicted communities. The failure to plainly recognize sexual violence as a
weapon of war has resulted in impunity, a•ec•ng the likelihood. (Jennifer Park, 2001)
III. Conclusion
Gender-based violence (GBV) can be regarded as weapon of war as it has been exercised in so
many previous and ongoing conflicts and wars worldwide. GBV happens or takes place either
for military tactics such as asserting control and proving dominance or it goes beyond that and
becomes merely for gayness and entertainment.
Defeating the opposed rival requires using gender-based violence against its women, for
example, raping them, kidnaping/ trafficking them, humiliating them publicly, subject them to
the state of being naked, forced them to abort their babies, and hurt them to the last degree.
This is how gender-based violence becomes a tool of war, and this also how such awful acts
have been justified for a long time by those who have been committing Gender-based violence
in times of war and conflicts.
Gender-based violence is a blind tool of war as it cannot differentiate in its brutality and dirty
purposes between men, women, boys, girls, children and kids. It’s a tool has always been
directed to destabilize communities and decimate its people. Its tremendous negative effects
can be spilled in to a community even after the conclusion of a conflict. This is in turn led to
high rate of criminality, killings, brutal domestic violence, raping, kidnaping/trafficking and so
many other negative and horrific acts. All these acts pose a threat to the social and religious
bonds of a certain community which may drift it to chaos and disintegration, and hamper its
peace process particularly those post-conflict ones
IV. References:
1. Card, C. (1996), Rape as a Weapon of War, in Hypatia (1996), p.8
2. http://www.unicef.org/sowc96pk/sexviol.htm (accessed Thursday 01, May 2014)
3. http://www.unfpa.org/public/News/events/16days/ (accessed Thursday 01, May 2011
4. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4078677.stm (accessed 02.May 2014)
5. http://eige.europa.eu/content/what-is-gender-based-violence (accessed 01, May 2014)
6. Jennifer Par (2001) (SEXUAL VIOLENCE AS A WEAPON OF WAR IN INTERNATIONAL
HUMANITARIAN LAW, Women In International
Security and the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georown University in
Washington, DC.
7. Kieran Ford (2011) Should we regard gender-based violence as a weapon of war?, UK,
Aberystwyth University
8. Maria Eriksson Baaz (2009), Why Do Soldiers Rape? Masculinity, Violence, and Sexuality
in the Armed Forces in the Congo (DRC) Sweden, University of Gothenburg, pp.498
9. Prof. Dr. Thomas Elbert, Dr. HaraldHinkel, Dr. Anna Maedl, KatharinHermenau, M.Sc.,
Tobias Hecker, M.Sc., Dr. Maggie Schauer, Heike Riedke, Nina Winkler M.Sc. & M.A. , Dr.
Philip Lancaster (2013), Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in the Kivu Provinces of the
Democratic Republic of Congo: Insights from Former Combatants, Washington, DC, The
Interna•onal Bank for Reconstruc•on and Development / The World Bank, pp.5
10. Rashida Manjoo&CalleighMcRaith ( 2010) Gender-Based Violence and Justice in Conflict
and Post-Conflict Areas, Avon Global Center for Women and Justice at Cornell Law
School, Cornell Interna•onal Law Journal, pp.12
11. Shelah S. Bloom, Oct. 2008, Violence against women and girls – A compendium of
Monitoring and Evalua•on indicators, USAID, p. 14.
Basheer Omar Al-Selwi. Master Degree Student in the International Development and Gender Studies
..........................................................
Table of contents
I. Introduction
II.The analysis
III. Conclusion
IV. References
I. Introduction
In times of conflicts and wars, gender–based violence (GBV), including rape, may take on a new
form and shape, even turning into an intentional tactics of battling. (UNFPA).
There are two essential types of attacking women by raping and harming them brutally. The
first type of GBV as a weapon of war is designed, planned and executed by a number of men or
small group. The second type of gender-based violence (raping) as a war weapon is considered
to be as an integral part of military strategy “weapon of war” . Usually, raping uses in order to
demoralize enemy and disintegrate its capabilities morally. ( Prof. Dr. Thomas Elbert, Dr.
HaraldHinkel, Dr. Anna Maedl, Katharin Hermenau, M.Sc., Tobias Hecker, M.Sc., Dr. Maggie
Schauer, Heike Riedke, Nina Winkler M.Sc. & M.A. , Dr. Philip Lancaster, 2013)
In post conflict areas, warriors and/ or combatants who have already got back from the
battlefield tend to be more aggressive and violent toward their community, families, children,
wives, relatives and citizens in general. (Rashida Manjoo & Calleigh McRaith, 2013)
This article aims at providing a brief overview of GBV in conflict and post-conflict settings, with
a particular focus on GBV as it has been used as a weapon of war in the time of conflict since
long time.
II. The Analysis:
At the onset of this analytically paper, there is a query putting itself strongly on what do we
mean by Gender-based violence (GBV), according to the European Institute for Gender Equality
(EIGE) “Gender-based violence (GBV) is violence that is directed against a person on the basis
of gender. It constitutes a breach of the fundamental right to life, liberty, security, dignity,
equality between women and men, non-discrimination and physical and mental integrity”
(EIGE)
“The concept of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) generally refers to “violence that occurs as a
result of the normative role expectations associated with each gender, along with the unequal
power relationships between the two genders, within the context of a specific society” (Shelah
S. Bloom, 2008, p.14)
In this regard and throughout the history of human beings, rape has been commonly
understood as something that must be expected in times of wars and conflicts, also as an
inevitable aspect of warring. Moreover, rape has been considered as a weapon of war aimed at
asserting and proving dominance, control and victory upon the defeated side. Therefore, GBV
in shape of rape has been occurring as it has been seen and/ or understood as a (battle loot ) in
term of rewarding the conquering soldiers with the rape of the women of the defeated( Maria
Eriksson Baaz, 2009)
Violence against women in conflicted setting, particularly rape, has been added as a new
weapon of war to recent wars tactics. Therefore and that’s why numbers of countries had been
witnessing an intensive conflict alongside with serious GBV for a long time such as Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Peru , Rwanda, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cyprus, Haiti, Liberia, Somalia and
Uganda.(UNCEF report on the state of the world’s children, 1996)
GBV in shape of rape is solely one way to commit genocide. This way is also regarded as a
weapon of war aimed at destroying a certain or specific community or group by demolishing its
cultural, religious and social bonds and structures. Furthermore, when women are being raped
during any conflict or war; most of them get killed straightforward by their rapists after they are
done with them. If a raped woman survives, the whole social structure will be drifted into
violence. Most of the martial rape are intended to destroy the structure and bonds of the
targeted community such as the mass rapes of women in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwandan
women by Hutu soldiers, Vietnamese women by U.S. GI’s, of the systematic rapes of Bengali
women by Pakistani soldiers in 197 1, and earlier of Na•ve American women by Bri•sh.
(CLAUDIA CARD, 1996)
GBV can also be regarded as a weapon of war as it is being used to destroy a certain community
morals and beliefs. Such weapon can be directed against women and men alike. Men can be an
object of GBV as a weapon of war; this can be easily noticed through the images
of Lynddie England1 abusing, torturing and ritually humiliating Iraqi men in Abu Ghraib prison.
While these images shocked the Western public and she and others involved were categorized
as being a minority of monsters (Kieran Ford artcle, 2011)
Note: 1LynndieRana England (born 1982) is a former United States Army Reserve soldier who served
in the 372nd Military Police Company. She was one of eleven military personnel convicted in
2005 by Army courts-martial in connection with the torture and prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib
prison in Baghdad during the occupation of Iraq.
Gender-based violence in conflict and post-conflict countries and areas may take abundant
ways and styles including rape, slavery, forced impregnation/abortion, kidnapping/trafficking,
subjection to the state of being naked, and disease transmission, with rape and sexual violence
being among the most regular ways. Furthermore, rape in conflict situations is often very
violent, aggressive and brutal to the last degree, such brutal acts usually involving gang-rape
and rape under the threat of external objects such as guns, knives, and other life-threatening
tools. In addition to rape, sexual assault is also prevalent and widespread, particularly in the
forms of forced nudity, strip searches, and other publicly/ overtly degrading and awful
aggressive acts. These acts and other acts of sexual violence, such as forced impregnation or
forced abortion, are often part of a deliberate strategy and tactics of war, used to destabilize,
subvert and psychology demoralize the civilian population and violate the dignity of the rival
enemy. (Rashida Manjoo & Calleigh McRaith, 2010)
The GBV can be used as weapon of war in conflicted societies or countries, more specifically
during ethnic conflict. Put differently, rape is often used in ethnic conflicts as a way for
attackers to immortalize and assert forcefully their social grip and redraw ethnic boundaries
such as what happened in Bosnia; systematic rape was used as part of the strategy of ethnic
cleansing, Women were raped so they could give birth to a Serbian baby.( Laura Smith-Spark ,
BBC)
Post-conflict societies mostly endure and also experience practices of gender-based violence
such as Kosovo. Actually, brutal rape and other forms of sexual violence and aggression have
been witnessed and exercised as major factors in undermining and posing a threat on postconflict
peace processes. It is also to some extent common for any society to experience an
increase in trafficking issues which based on gender, such as forced prostitution which may
include men and women. Domestic violence is one trait of conflicted and post-conflicted
communities. Therefore, domestic violence can be committed and/ or practiced by either men
or women who have already got back from the battlefield. Raping crimes following a conflict
are happening sometime more than before the raging of a conflict. Some of these issues,
particularly domestic violence and trafficking/kidnapping, may reach higher levels after the
winding up of a conflict than were practiced by the society during the conflict/war. The postconflict
increases in acts of domestic violence, for example, has led to speculation of a
connection between these forms of GBV and the accessibility to small arms, an increased
tolerance of violence within community , and the head of households having been partaking in
military violence during the conflict and/ or wars. (Rashida Manjoo &CalleighMcRaith, 2010)
Sexual violence as a weapons of war directed against individuals, not only on the basis of group
membership (i.e. ethnicity, tribe, race, etc.), but also exclusively on the bases of gender. Despite
the tangible increase in occurrence during conflict, international community and national
policies have ignored the tremendous negative effects of sexual violence in hampering peace
and security of the conflicted communities. The failure to plainly recognize sexual violence as a
weapon of war has resulted in impunity, a•ec•ng the likelihood. (Jennifer Park, 2001)
III. Conclusion
Gender-based violence (GBV) can be regarded as weapon of war as it has been exercised in so
many previous and ongoing conflicts and wars worldwide. GBV happens or takes place either
for military tactics such as asserting control and proving dominance or it goes beyond that and
becomes merely for gayness and entertainment.
Defeating the opposed rival requires using gender-based violence against its women, for
example, raping them, kidnaping/ trafficking them, humiliating them publicly, subject them to
the state of being naked, forced them to abort their babies, and hurt them to the last degree.
This is how gender-based violence becomes a tool of war, and this also how such awful acts
have been justified for a long time by those who have been committing Gender-based violence
in times of war and conflicts.
Gender-based violence is a blind tool of war as it cannot differentiate in its brutality and dirty
purposes between men, women, boys, girls, children and kids. It’s a tool has always been
directed to destabilize communities and decimate its people. Its tremendous negative effects
can be spilled in to a community even after the conclusion of a conflict. This is in turn led to
high rate of criminality, killings, brutal domestic violence, raping, kidnaping/trafficking and so
many other negative and horrific acts. All these acts pose a threat to the social and religious
bonds of a certain community which may drift it to chaos and disintegration, and hamper its
peace process particularly those post-conflict ones
IV. References:
1. Card, C. (1996), Rape as a Weapon of War, in Hypatia (1996), p.8
2. http://www.unicef.org/sowc96pk/sexviol.htm (accessed Thursday 01, May 2014)
3. http://www.unfpa.org/public/News/events/16days/ (accessed Thursday 01, May 2011
4. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4078677.stm (accessed 02.May 2014)
5. http://eige.europa.eu/content/what-is-gender-based-violence (accessed 01, May 2014)
6. Jennifer Par (2001) (SEXUAL VIOLENCE AS A WEAPON OF WAR IN INTERNATIONAL
HUMANITARIAN LAW, Women In International
Security and the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georown University in
Washington, DC.
7. Kieran Ford (2011) Should we regard gender-based violence as a weapon of war?, UK,
Aberystwyth University
8. Maria Eriksson Baaz (2009), Why Do Soldiers Rape? Masculinity, Violence, and Sexuality
in the Armed Forces in the Congo (DRC) Sweden, University of Gothenburg, pp.498
9. Prof. Dr. Thomas Elbert, Dr. HaraldHinkel, Dr. Anna Maedl, KatharinHermenau, M.Sc.,
Tobias Hecker, M.Sc., Dr. Maggie Schauer, Heike Riedke, Nina Winkler M.Sc. & M.A. , Dr.
Philip Lancaster (2013), Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in the Kivu Provinces of the
Democratic Republic of Congo: Insights from Former Combatants, Washington, DC, The
Interna•onal Bank for Reconstruc•on and Development / The World Bank, pp.5
10. Rashida Manjoo&CalleighMcRaith ( 2010) Gender-Based Violence and Justice in Conflict
and Post-Conflict Areas, Avon Global Center for Women and Justice at Cornell Law
School, Cornell Interna•onal Law Journal, pp.12
11. Shelah S. Bloom, Oct. 2008, Violence against women and girls – A compendium of
Monitoring and Evalua•on indicators, USAID, p. 14.
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