War, Rape and Genocide: Never Again?

1. War, Rape and Genocide:Never Again? Martin Donohoe

2. Special Thanks To • Vic Sidel and Barry Levy (War and Public Health) • Photographers James Nachtwey, Sebastio Salgado, and others

3. Outline • Sudanese genocide • History of wartime violence against women in the 20th Century • VAW in the U.S. military • War and “Masculinity” • The Nature of Violence and Rape in War

4. Outline • Health Consequences • Refugee Camps • Human Rights Issues • Role of Health Professionals • Conclusions and Recommendations

5. Darfur, Sudan • As many as 300,000 - 450,000 deaths over last two years • >2 million in refugee camps • Government-supported, Islamic Janjaweed militias responsible for killing Black Africans • Arms sales to Sudan from China, Russia, France, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Poland, Lithuania

6. Darfur, Sudan • Bush administration has called situation “genocide”, yet failed to act substantively • Bush administration has been relying on Sudan, which used to harbor Osama bin Laden, for military intelligence

7. Darfur, Sudan • Bipartisan Congressional Research Service reports administration concerned that holding Sudanese officials accountable could “disrupt cooperation” • Nevertheless, mild economic sanctions and travel restrictions enacted in May, 2007

10. History • 250 wars in 20th Century • Most conflicts within and between small states • Many in sub-Saharan Africa • 85-90% of casualties among civilians • Opposite at end of 19th Century

11. Infamous Genocides • China (under Mao), late 1950s – early 1970s: 30 million killed • USSR (mostly under Stalin), 1920 – mid 1950s: 20 million killed • Germany (under Nazis), mid 1930s – 1945: over 11 million killed • Japan, late 1930s – mid 1940s: 10 million killed

12. History • Women considered spoils of war • Abduction of Helen of Troy • Rape of the Sabine women • Hundreds of thousands raped in 20th Century conflicts

17. History - World War II • Japanese soldiers forced between 100,000 and 200,000 women into sexual slavery (“comfort women”) • *Korea, Burma, China, Holland, Indonesia, Phillipines • Some underwent forced hysterectomies to prevent menstruation, make them constantly “available” • More than half died due to mistreatment

18. “Comfort Women” • 3-5 year detention • 5-20 rapes per day • For 3 yrs of enslavement, low estimate is 7500 rapes per woman • Japan has not compensated any victims • Historical blindness to atrocities

19. History • Vietnam War • Perpetrators included U.S. soldiers • Few brought to justice • 1971: Bangladesh War for Independence • 250,000 - 400,000 girls and women raped • 25,000 pregnancies

20. History • 1994: Rwandan genocide • At least 250,000 women raped • 1990s: ethnic cleansing in Bosnia • >20,000 Moslem women raped • Other 20th Century conflicts: civil wars in DRC, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Somalia

21. History • 2000s: Well-documented, credible allegations of sexual humiliation and rape against female detainees at US facilities in Afghanistan and Iraq • Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison: sexual humiliation, forced homosexual poses • Guantanamo Bay prison: Muslims taunted with fake menstrual blood • Amnesty International and Red Cross have condemned

24. Violence against women in the U.S. military • 5 - 20 times more likely than other government employees to have suffered a completed or attempted sexual assault • Higher rates of chronic pelvic pain, dysmenorrhea, abnormal periods, premenstrual syndrome, and dissatisfaction with sexual relations • all correlate with a history of sexual trauma while in the military

25. Violence against women in the U.S. military • U.S. military now 14% female • While racial epithets banned, terms like “bitch”, “pussy”, “dyke” still common • Pornography officially banned, but easily available

26. Violence against women in the U.S. military • 2007 Pentagon report: 2,085 sexual assaults • But est. 60%-80% not reported • Veterans Administration study: 24% of female patients under age 50 reported domestic violence within the past year

27. Violence against women in the U.S. military • Government Accountability Office Report, 2006 • Aggressive and duplicitous recruiting tactics on rise • Including sexual harassment and rape • 2008: Defense Dept. granting more moral waivers, due to declining recruitment, thus enlisting more men with records of domestic and sexual violence

28. Militarism and “Masculinity” • Pervasive glorification of war and its acceptance as means of conflict resolution • Linked to antiquated definitions of appropriate masculine behavior and coming-of-age rites

29. Militarism and “Masculinity” • Vocabulary and imagery laden with denigrations of the feminine and perverse phallic imagery of weapons as extensions of male generative organs • weapons ads employ sexual imagery • weapons described in terms of “hardness, penetration, and thrust”

30. War and “Masculinity” • Association of military bases with prostitution • Tacitly accepted by commanders • Men dominant decision-makers in pursuing militarization, fighting wars, and resolving international conflicts

31. Violence and Rape in War • Occurs against backdrop of ongoing individual and societal forms of violence against women • Rape • Individual acts of violence • Genocide (to terrorize, subjugate, humiliate, and ethnically cleanse subjugated population)

32. Violence and Rape in War • Usually more sadistic and violent than rape outside of war • Often committed in presence of woman’s husband and children, who are often then killed

33. Violence and Rape in War • Forced continuation of pregnancy • 1994 Rwandan genocide – 5000 pregnancies • Enfants mauvais souvenir (“children of bad blood”) • Difficulty caring for children • Abandonment and infanticide

37. Violence and Rape in War • Male victims: • Raped, forced to commit rape against other victims / perform sex acts on other prisoners and/or guards, castrations, forced circumcisions, other sexual mutilations • All under threat of torture or death

38. Health Consequences of Rape in War • Traumatic injuries • STDs, including HIV • Pregnancy • Access to emergency contraception, abortion, and antibiotics often extremely limited

39. Health Consequences of Rape in War • Short-term psychological sequelae: • Fear, profound sense of helplessness and desperation • Long-term psychiatric sequelae: • Depression, anxiety disorders (including PTSD), multiple somatic symptoms, flashbacks, difficulty reestablishing intimate relationships, shame, persistent fears, and blunted enjoyment of life

40. Peacekeepers / Refugee Camps • 7,000 man African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur under investigation for raping and abusing local women and girls • Refugees forced to endure rape at border crossings as “price of passage”

41. Refugee Camps • Guards rape women or force them into sex in return for protection from bandits or for basic goods, including food • Presence of abusive guards inside camps, and bandits just outside, makes simple tasks such as going to the latrine or gathering water or firewood dangerous/life threatening

48. Human Rights Issues • Violence against women and girls violates several principles enshrined in international and regional human rights law, including the right to life, equality, security, equal protection under the law, and freedom from torture and other cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment

49. Human Rights Issues • Tokyo War Crimes Trial: rape first identified as a war crime • Successful prosecution of some commanders • 1993: UN Commission on Human Rights resolution calls rape a crime of war

50. Human Rights Issues • 2001: International War Crimes Tribunal rules that rape in war is a crime against humanity • 1990s/2000s: successful prosecutions of rape as a war crime and act of genocide