Violence Against Women in Armed Conflict: A Fact Sheet

Like most violence that occurs in the course of armed conflict, violence against women is not accidental. It is a
weapon of war, a tool used to achieve military objectives such as ethnic cleansing, spreading political terror,
breaking the resistance of a community, rewarding soldiers, intimidation, or to extract information. Many forms of
violence that women suffer during armed conflict are gender specific in both nature and result.

Violence against women in armed conflict situations is largely based on traditional views of women as property,
and often as sexual objects. Around the world, women have long been attributed the role of transmitters of culture
and symbols of nation or community. Violence directed against women is often considered an attack against the
values or “honor” of a society and therefore a particularly potent tool of war. Women therefore experience armed
conflicts as sexual objects, as presumed emblems of national and ethnic identity, and as female members of ethnic,
racial, religious, or national groups. In Rwanda, up to half a million women were raped during the 1994 genocide.
The numbers were as high as 60,000 in the war in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. In Sierra Leone, the number of
war-related sexual violence against women was as high as 64,000.1

The consequences for victims of sexual violence in war are grave and may affect women for the rest of their lives.
These include serious and chronic medical problems, psychological damage, life-threatening diseases such as
HIV/AIDS, forced pregnancy, infertility, stigmatization and/or rejection by family members and communities.

Violence Against Women in Armed Conflict in the Context of International Law

The Rome Statute recognizes rape and other forms of sexual violence by combatants in the conduct of armed
conflict as war crimes. When rape and sexual violence are committed as part of a widespread or systematic
attack directed against any civilian population, they are considered crimes against humanity, and in some cases
may constitute an element of genocide.

The Jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda recognizes rape and other forms of
sexual violence by combatants in the conduct of armed conflict as war crimes. When rape and sexual violence
are committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, they are
considered crimes against humanity and in some cases may constitute an element of genocide.

Article 27 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, in response to the aggressive reprisal upon women during World
War II, states, "Women shall be especially protected against any attack on their honor, in particular against rape,
enforced prostitution, or any form of indecent assault." It further denounces these actions based upon
"nationality, race, religious beliefs, age, marital status or social condition."

Protocol I to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, addressing civilian and/or military authorities who involve
themselves in cases of international armed conflicts, as well as colonial domination and racist regimes, states
women "shall be protected in particular against rape, forced prostitution, and any other form of indecent assault."

Many acts of sexual violence – including rape, gang rape, abduction and sexual slavery, forced marriage,
forced pregnancy, forced maternity, and sexual mutilation – constitute torture under customary international law.
These acts are considered war crimes and constitute grave breaches of the Geneva Convention.

Impunity for Perpetrators of Rape and Sexual Violence in War

All too often, those responsible for acts of sexual violence and rape committed in war go unpunished. Factors
contributing to impunity with regard to sexual crimes in war are many, and include:

An overall climate of indifference towards many forms of violence against women;

The tacit acceptance of rape and other forms of sexual violence as an unavoidable part of
war;

1
UNIFEM Facts & Figures on Crimes against Women in Situations of Armed Conflict. 2007. (UNIFEM drew this figure from the
following report, which is not available online: Vlachova, Biason (eds). Women in an Insecure World. Geneva Centre for the
Democratic Control of Armed Forces. 2005.)
 Threats and reprisals against those who reveal abuses;
The existence of special national legislation in many countries which prevents prosecutions
for crimes committed in war;
Laws granting amnesty to perpetrators as part of peace-making „deals‟.

Underreporting is also a significant barrier to justice. Many women feel shame and fear rejection from their
husbands, families, and communities if they report having been raped. The threat of divorce or the possibility of
being considered “unmarriageable” cause many women‟s reluctance to report their experiences. The economic and
social dependence of women on men in many societies contribute to their fear of reporting rape.

Rape as a Tool for Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide

In situations of ethnic conflict, rape is used as a tool for “ethnic cleansing” or genocide. Women and girls may
be targets of sexual violence because they are members of a particular ethnic, national, or religious group. Rape
and other forms of sexual violence, including rape camps where women and girls are subject to systematic sexual
slavery, are used as weapons for spreading terror. In addition, rape is often a brutal precursor to murder. In some
conflicts, such as Rwanda, the planned HIV infection of women has been a tool of ethnic warfare.2

Trafficking and Sexual Slavery

According to the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and
Children, human trafficking is the illegal recruitment, sale, transport, receiving of, and/ or harboring of human
beings through force, deceit, coercion and abduction for the purpose of all forms of forced labor and servitude
(Article 3(a)). Women are particularly vulnerable to this modern day form of slavery, due largely to the persistent
inequalities and discrimination they face throughout the world. In many cases, victims of sex trafficking are
promised lucrative jobs in the country of destination, but instead are sold into sexual slavery.
During wartime, the safety and economic situation of many women deteriorates so drastically that the
offer of refuge and paid employment in another country may seem impossible to refuse, thereby heightening
women's vulnerability to being trafficked. Frequently aided by government, police, and military, traffickers
encounter few deterrents. In all cases, coercive tactics, including deception, fraud, intimidation, isolation, threat
and use of physical force, or debt bondage are used to control trafficked women.

Economic Hardship

The economic impact of armed conflict manifests itself in gender-specific ways. Women's burdens in
times of war become especially heavy as they take responsibility for household work and obligations, as well as
supplement the finances of absent male relatives. As a result, women's usual functions within the household
become more difficult to carry out. If women are forced to become the sole provider for their families, the absence
of an adequate infrastructure often leaves women unable to feed their families or find paid work. In periods of
extreme hardship and faced with a chronic lack of resources in order to provide for their families, women may feel
compelled to engage in work in the informal employment sector that place them at increased health and security
risks.

For more information on rape and violence against women in armed conflicts and other women‟s rights issues,
visit the Amnesty International Women‟s Human Rights website at www.amnestyusa.org/women or contact us at 5
Penn Plaza - 16th floor, New York, NY 10001 or at (212) 807-8400.

2
Rehn, E., and Sirleaf Johnson, E., The Independent Experts’ Assessment on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and
the Role of Women in Peace-building, Progress of the World’s Women, Vol.1, 2002, pg. 47. UNIFEM.
August 25, 2005