In modern combat the atrocities of rape and mutilation, have become all too common strategic tools of warfare.The use of rape as a weapon is one of the most violent and humiliating offenses inflicted on the enemy, the brutalization of rape permanently scars the victim’s mind, soul and often body. The World Health Organization (WHO) claims that violence against females is the cause of more death or disability, for girls and women aged 15 to 44, than that of cancer, malaria, traffic injuries and general warfare combined. The continued use of rape to terrorize women and girls in many countries across the globe, has continued despite many efforts in recent years to bring light to this horrendous crime. Therefore women and girls remain trapped living in daily fear, as the numbers of rape victims continuously rises, becoming a common feature of daily life in many countries embattled in armed conflict.
2010 began no differently than any other as the first day of the year dawned with the reporting of mass rapes in the Congo;
“Women had been restrained with ropes or beaten unconscious with the butt of a gun before being attacked, some in front of their children,” said Annemarie Loof, an official with the agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (CNN).
Reports of rape from the Congo continue to flood in, however the women and girls of the Congo are far from alone as the use of rape as a weapon of war is a war crime which continues to plague countries such as Sudan, Congo, Burma, Colombia, Iraq, Chechnya, Nepal, and Afghanistan.
In recent news reporting Myanmar’s army has been highlighted for the use of rape as a weapon against the Chin minority including rape, religious persecution, torture, and extrajudicial killings, Physicians for Human Rights charges in a new report, “Life Under the Junta: Evidence of Crimes Against Humanity in Burma’s Chin State”. The group calls on the United Nations to establish an inquiry commission to investigate claims of abuse (The Associated Press).
The Economist recently published Wars Overlooked Victims, which shows clearly the increasing climb of the use of rape warfare and that while reporting of the crime have improved over the years it remains shockingly disproportionate to the increasing scale of the crime. However documented reports of rape remain low and the gravity of the problem is far from shown, as rapes continue to follow societies long after the conflicts are over via continued sexual violence and the ostracizing and abuse of victims and children born of rape.
Why does rape in the Congo continue? The increase in sexual violence is directly linked to the increase in rebel activity, and is only compounded by both national and international impunity of the crime. While many governments have passed stronger laws to punish offenders of sex crimes, the effect of these laws has been minimal, as women and girls continue to be raped and assaulted in mass and impunity continues to reign for the perpetrators. Thus an end to the perception that rape is a common and unavoidable tactic of war must occur, making it unequivocally unacceptable.
