Social Science Research Council

Sexual Violence During Armed Conflict: Institutional and Judicial Responses

By Frances T. Pilch

While crimes involving sexual violence against women have always been present during internal and international conflicts, they are increasingly acknowledged and addressed by international actors and institutions. Developments in this area have been truly revolutionary and multifaceted. First, relief organizations, including those dealing with refugees, have developed some means of responding to issues concerning sexual violence. Where none existed before, or existed only informally, now international institutions have tried to develop rational and compassionate responses to rape and the consequences of rape, notably unwanted pregnancies. Second, those responsible for the security of refugees have had to more openly confront issues concerning protection of vulnerable women and children, particularly during transitional periods involving displacement and within camps. Third, the jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda has addressed crimes of sexual violence, and has clarified the relationship between rape, torture and genocide. The debate concerning the rights of victims versus the rights of defendants has emerged in the course of the work of the tribunals. Finally, the potential devastation of whole communities, not just through armed conflict but also through sexual violence, has been explored by jurists and scholars, as has the role of sexual violence in the myths and symbols of conflict between communities. These four areas, in which considerable change has occurred, will be addressed in this article.

While the reasons for this "virtual revolution" are many and varied, the importance of non-governmental actors has been among the most important. Grassroots women's organizations such as the Women in Black in the former Yugoslavia, coalitions of human rights advocates and legal experts, and loosely knit groups of scholars interested in gender issues have joined forces to become strong advocates for victims of sexual violence, to seek justice for those victims, and to affect jurisprudence concerning crimes involving sexual violence. The Internet has proven to be important in many ways-assisting communication, facilitating the creation of networks that can coalesce around issues, generating interest and concern through increased awareness of issues, and mobilizing new participants. Certainly diverse elements interested in human rights have found a new sense of solidarity through the growing importance of coalitions that advocate in various arenas concerning sexual violence.(1)

The United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) has pointed out the relationship between conflict, refugee crises, and sexual violence. "During war and armed conflict, violations of human rights and gender-based violence increase dramatically. Gender-based violence and persecution are often adopted as tactics of war and terrorism; indeed, recent history has all-too-often seen sexual violence and rape used deliberately and strategically as a weapon of war. Sadly, this kind of abuse can follow a refugee woman throughout her life as a refugee."(2)

In April 1999, Mrs. Dominique Serrano Fitamant, a psychology consultant specializing in sexual violence and trauma counseling, was dispatched by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFP) to undertake an assessment mission concerning sexual violence in the Kosovo crisis. The objective of the mission was to investigate increasingly widely reported allegations of rape among the Kosovar refugees, to delineate the target population, and to propose an appropriate plan of action to care for victims.(3)

The report emphasized the need for a coordinated approach to the problem of sexual violence in the Kosovo crisis. The team identified about 15 organizations that were developing projects for traumatized persons, and called for coordinated long-term strategies for dealing with victims. It specified the need, for example, for follow-up work on pregnant women who had been raped, children born of rape, and reintegration of victims into their families and communities. It recognized that many cases of rape go unreported, due to cultural values concerning sexual violence and stigmatization of victims. In addition, the report suggested that incidences of rape might only become apparent when the women actually gave birth as a result of impregnation during rape. One of the most controversial aspects concerning appropriate responses by humanitarian agencies to victims of rape in Kosovo concerns the use of the "morning after pill," which some organizations have made available to rape victims, and abortion. The Vatican opposes abortion and the use of the "morning after pill" by victims of sexual assault. According to Elio Sgreecia, an advisor to the Pope, "We must distinguish between the act of violence and the reality of new human beings who had no control over how their lives began."(4) A spokesperson for UNFP responded that "(t)o suggest that a woman who has lost her home and members of her family and then been subjected to rape, and become pregnant as a result, should be denied access to a product which is legal and available in her country and in Albania is absurd."(5) The controversy escalated, leading family planning groups, such as the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) to condemn the Vatican's "apparent indifference to human suffering."(6) Some opponents of the Vatican's position called for a review of the status of the Holy See in the United Nations. "Many Kosovar refugee families stated that it was impossible for them to keep a baby that was the result of a rape, even if the woman did not necessarily want to have an abortion. In this way a violated woman would be able to reintegrate into her family although the newborn baby would not be accepted. We should then expect to encounter a large number of abandoned babies in the months to come."(7)

This report was groundbreaking in its attempt to document through interviews incidences of sexual violence in Kosovo, and it had ramifications beyond those concerning the Kosovo crisis. Since then, several humanitarian organizations have developed guidelines on dealing with sexual violence, and are seeking to apply them globally. For example, the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) has developed a detailed plan of action entitled "Sexual Violence Against Refugees: Guidelines on Prevention and Response."(8) In this policy paper, the acute nature of crimes of sexual violence is acknowledged." Sexual violence against refugees is widespread. Women and young girls-and less frequently, men and boys-are vulnerable to attack both during their flight and while in exile. They are vulnerable from many quarters and in every case, the physical and psychological trauma that results can only add to the pain of displacement and the bitterness of exile."(9) Sexual violence, it notes, is frequently underreported. The policy paper emphasizes that "sexual violence in the country of origin may have a political motive, for example, where mass rape of populations is used to dominate, control and/or uproot, or where sexual torture is used as a method of interrogation. Sometimes sexual violence is used as a weapon of warfare, to humiliate or cause the disintegration of another community, as in "ethnic cleansing."(10)

The United Nations World Health Organization developed materials to guide practitioners in dealing with sexual violence. A recent report by WHO acknowledges the reluctance of victims of sexual violence to report such incidents and/or to seek help: "Both the physical and psychological impact of gender-based and sexual violence during armed conflict and displacement can by compounded by the victims being unable…or unwilling (due to feelings of shame or fears of reprisals) to seek assistance in the immediate aftermath of the attack."(11)

Security issues regarding refugees have become increasingly important in recent years as refugee populations have swelled and large refugee and displaced persons movements have accompanied or resulted from armed conflicts. Among the most vulnerable of refugees are women and children and, in many cases, have been victimized sexually. Reports of such incidents have come from East and West Timor, Sierra Leone, the former Yugoslavia, Burundi, and The Democratic Republic of Congo - in fact, one will find these incidences in virtually every refugee population.

For example, the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) has experienced severe problems in the Dadaab camp, which borders Ethiopia and Uganda. There, banditry and lawlessness have been rampant. Inter-clan rivalries have fuelled violence in the camps and among the refugee population, which is largely Somali. Women have been the principal victims, and UNHCR has reported a disturbingly high incidence of rape, some perpetrated by fellow refugees.(12) Because the local enforcement capacity of the Kenyan government was judged to be very weak, support was given to reinforce the police. In addition, there has been an attempt to provide support for the prosecution of rape cases in local courts.(13) According to one UNHCR expert, refugee communities are often very large, and involve typical law and order issues common to any large community-theft, rape, intimidation, and disorderly conduct. In many cases, the local judicial or legal enforcement infrastructure is unable to cope with the new security problems generated within the camps. Jail space may be very limited, or the judicial structure weak or non-existent. Increased attention is needed to provide adequate security for women and children in refugee camps and movements throughout the globe.

The International Criminal Tribunals for Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Rwanda (ICTR) have made great strides in bringing perpetrators of sexual violence to justice and in interpreting sexual violence in terms of international humanitarian and human rights law. In September 1998, Jean-Paul Akayesu was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity by Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).(14) In addition to the fact that this was the first conviction of the crime of genocide under International law, this case was remarkable in its explicit inclusion of rape as an instrument of genocide. Louise Arbour, Chief Prosecutor of both the ICTR and the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY), commenting on the importance of the judgement in the evolution of international law, stated, "The judgement is truly remarkable in its breadth and vision, as well as in the detailed legal analysis on many issues that will be critical to the future of both the ICTR and ICTY, in particular with respect to the law of sexual violence."(15)

The Akayesu judgement was remarkable in several ways in addition to linking rape with the crime of genocide. For one, acknowledging that there was no accepted definition of rape in international law, the judgement included a definition of rape and a clarification of sexual violence: "The Chamber defines rape as a physical invasion of a sexual nature, committed on a person under circumstances which are coercive. Sexual violence, including rape, is not limited to physical invasion of the human body and may include acts which do not involve penetration or even physical contact."(16) This broad and gender-neutral definition of the terms will have a significant impact on future interpretations of rape and sexual violence in armed conflict.

In addition, the Chamber acknowledged the gravity of these crimes, by stating that rape and sexual assault "constitute genocide in the same way as any other act." It described rape and sexual violence as some of the "worst ways of inflicting harm on the victim, as he or she suffers both bodily and mental harm."(17) The 1999 Annual Report of Human Rights Watch declared the Akayesu decision a "milestone" in the struggle for women's human rights and showed that "there can be justice for women raped in conflict."(18)

On March 8, 2001, the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY) handed down another landmark decision in the quest for justice for the victims of sexual violence during war. Three former Bosnian Serb commanders received sentences ranging from 12 to 28 years for raping, enslaving and torturing Muslim women and girls in 1992.(19) Although the Ad Hoc Tribunals had dealt before with questions concerning rape and genocide, this case, commonly referred to as the Foca case, was the first time the tribunals had dealt separately with rape and sexual enslavement, treating them as crimes against humanity, a charge second only to genocide in severity. Presiding Judge Florence Mumba noted that "[R]ape was used by members of the Bosnian Serb armed forces as an instrument of terror. The three accused are not ordinary soldiers whose morals were merely loosened by the hardships of war…they thrived in the dark atmosphere of the dehumanization of those believed to be enemies." After a tortuous eight-month trial, in which testimony recounted the taking of women and girls as young as twelve to serve in "rape houses," where they were regularly assaulted and beaten, the guilty verdict was a victory not only for the victims of the violence, but also for the independent experts and representatives of NGO's, who have increasingly made their influence felt in this area of international law.(20)

The question of witness protection in crimes of a sensitive, sexual nature has also invited additional controversy. Lines have been drawn between those who advocate maximum protections for victims of sexual violence and those who fear the abridgement of the rights of the accused.(21) Both the ICTY and the ICTR have had to deal with this issue; in an attempt to encourage witnesses' testimonies and also to protect them from reprisals, these tribunals have incorporated many measures designed to protect victims-closed sessions, image and voice-altering devices, and nondisclosure of identifying information. Simultaneously, these measures have provoked criticism that the rights of defendants have been substantially compromised.

The NGO The Coalition on Women's Human Rights in Conflict Situations has been active with regard to issues of witness protection. Women's advocacy groups have worked to ensure the protection of those who have testified before the tribunals on matters involving sexual violence. For example, in a letter to Louise Arbour, Chief Prosecutor of the ICTY and ICTR in 1997, the Coalition asserted that the danger to past and future witnesses who testify before the ICTR was real, and that protection of "all people who cooperate with the Tribunal at any stage," could be facilitated by more cooperation with Rwandan women's groups, the use of trauma counselors, advisors on the trial process, and the provision of follow-up counseling.(22) Other initiatives have included efforts to preserve the anonymity of witnesses, sometimes even from defense counsel, through darkened glass and voice altering devices. In addition, a 24-hour hotline was instituted in conjunction with the Tribunals for witnesses to use if their safety was threatened in any way.

The Coalition's report entitled, "Witness Protection, Gender and the ICTR," fully explored several reprisal killings and the intimidation of witnesses and others who had cooperated with the ICTR. The report noted that the Rwandan women's community was comprised of survivors of sexual violence who were often the only ones who could provide information and testimony. It urged that several steps to be taken to improve communication with potential witnesses and to better ensure their protection in general. The report was especially critical of the relationship between the ICTR and Rwandan women's associations due to the lack of communication between the ICTR and the women's groups, which could potentially bridge the work of the tribunal and the community at large.(23)

The work of NGO's for witness protection has borne unanticipated fruit and has led to a new endeavor on "restitutive justice"-or assistance to victims. This concept has been pioneered to complement the retributive justice against perpetrators of crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. In a recent press briefing, an ICTR spokesman noted that "in the context of the proposed permanent International Criminal Court, several non-governmental organizations and some Governments, in response to and in agreement with the Registrar's (of the ICTR) advocacy, (have) pushed for the inclusion of such a framework in the Rome Statute of the ICC, leading to the provision for a Trust Fund for victims in the Statute of that Court."(24)

Finally, there has been a developing consensus on human rights as applied to problems of gender, and to the relationship of gender to internal and international conflict.(25) From the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), which was given expression in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to the Platform of the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, the rights of women and the appropriate means to protect these rights have been increasingly debated, codified, and promoted.(26) The rights of women have been increasingly incorporated into national laws of states.(27) Concomitantly, efforts of human rights advocates in general and women's groups in particular have fostered a much more sophisticated understanding of the plight of women in war.(28) Rape in war is often qualitatively and quantitatively different from rape in peacetime. In a memorable comparison, Catherine MacKinnon explained that "[r]ape in peace is to rape in war what anti-Semitism is to the Holocaust." The scale of horror, she suggests, is not comparable.(29)

Rape has many symbolic connotations in armed conflict. The accounts of victims from a wide range of situations of internal and international conflict throughout the world, have led to a broader understanding of the many functions that rape and sexual violence can serve. To the original and more commonplace conceptualizations of rape as booty or reward and rape as a boost to soldiers' morale, have been added rape as a symbol of domination, rape as an instrument of terror, rape with intent to impregnate, rape with intent to destroy or dilute culture, rape as torture, and rape as dehumanization.(30) In many instances in which rape has been a part of the landscape of war, mutilation has accompanied the act of sexual violence. This additional degradation, in which breasts may be cut off and wombs sliced open, has not been a historically uncommon occurrence.

It has been noted by many that rape leaves physical and mental scars on victims long after the violence has taken place. Ultimately, it may serve to destroy families, communities, and entire cultures.(31) Investigations of the alleged incidence of widespread rape in the former Yugoslavia focused international attention on the many functions of rape in the context of violent conflict.(32)

The United Nations Commission of Experts Report on the Former Yugoslavia had amassed overwhelming evidence on widespread sexual violence occurring in the conflict.(33) This evidence was corroborated by an independent investigation by the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe, as well as countless reports by human rights and other NGO's. There existed several "patterns of abuse." These included rape as a policy of terror, "rape camps" where forcible impregnation was often an explicit goal, rape as spectacle and rape in conjunction with mutilation. Although rape was practiced by all sides of the conflict, evidence pointed to the systematic use of rape as an instrument of the Serbian practice of "ethnic cleansing," in which whole populations of Bosnian Muslims were eliminated from specific regions through murder, forcible deportation, and terror. In addition to the use of rape as torture, reward, and a boost to soldiers' morale, rape of Bosnian women was used to terrorize the Bosnian Muslim population, making them less inclined to try to stay in or return to their homes. The rapes were neither random nor isolated acts. They appeared to be part of a deliberate policy designed "to ensure that the victims and their families would never want to return to an area.(34)

Todd Salzman, who has written extensively on the conceptualization of women in Serbian culture, linked rape with genocide. He noted that "the Bosnian conflict brought the practice of rape with genocidal intent to a new level, causing an outcry among the international community. Evidence suggests that these violations were not random acts carried out by a few dissident soldiers. Rather, this was an assault against the female gender, violating her body and its reproductive capabilities as a 'weapon of war.'"(35)

The portrayal of sexual violence played an insidious role in the propaganda preceding the Rwanda genocide of 1994.(36) According to Christopher Taylor's research, prior to 1994, women were not killed in proportion to men. In 1994, as many women as men were targeted. He notes that focusing on ethnicity has tended to obscure sex and gender. In his analysis of Rwandan attitudes and representations of women and men, gender politics and gender symbolism played an extremely important role. Powerful sexual motivations seem to have driven the genocidaires. For example, Tutsi women were perceived to be far more beautiful than Hutu women. To kill a Tutsi woman was perceived to help re-establish a desired social order. It was much more common for a Hutu man to be married to a Tutsi woman than vice versa. Ethnicity noted on official ethnic identity cards was determined by the father in pre-genocide Rwanda. The progeny of Hutu fathers and Tutsi mothers were perceived by many as racially impure. Thus to foster a pure Hutu state, it was essential to target Tutsi women-even pregnant women. To dramatize the importance of gender in the Rwandan genocide, Taylor presents graphic examples of cartoons from propagandistic literature, depicting sexual brutalization of Tutsi women or portraying Tutsi women in promiscuous relationships with the Belgian peacekeepers.

Scholarly discourse and examination on the role of sexual violence in the Yugoslavian conflict and the Rwandan genocide, among other crises, has led to a deeper understanding of the importance of gender issues in conflict between communities-first in the ethnic cleansing that was the hallmark of the Yugoslavian wars and also in the propaganda leading up to the horrific genocide in Rwanda in 1994. The dialogue continues with efforts to understand abuses of women in Sierra Leone and East Timor.

The changes that have occurred in these four areas-institutional responses to sexual violence, protection of displaced persons, international jurisprudence, and the understanding of the relationship of sexual violence and gender issues to conflict-have been dramatic. Other areas have experienced change as well-for example, there has been a concerted attempt in the United Nations to foster gender balance within the organization itself, in the ad hoc tribunals, and in the coming International Criminal Court. NGO's have become increasingly important actors and catalysts in this transformation. Progress in understanding and responding to sexual violence and other issues concerning gender has been truly revolutionary, and this revolution is still gathering momentum as the relationship between gender and conflict is more fully examined.

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Notes:
1. For a more complete analysis of the roles and importance of non-governmental organizations, see the article by this author, "Sexual Violence: The Role of NGO's in the Evolution of International Law," Journal of Human Rights (forthcoming). For an excellent analysis of the expanding network of women's organizations, see Martha Alter Chen, "Engendering World Conferences: The International Women's Movement and the UN," in NGOs, The UN, and Global Governance, ed. Thomas Weiss and Leon Gordenker, (Boulder: Lynne Reinner, 1996).

2. "Refugee Women," 1999 Global Appeal, UNHCR,

3. See "Assessment Report on Sexual Violence in Kosovo," mission completed by D. Serrano Fitamant, UNFPA, 27 April to 8 May 1999, Albania,

4. Reported in "KOSOVO: Controversy Over Contraceptives Aid Continues,"

5. Ibid.

6. See a related story online at

7. Ibid.,7.

8. "Sexual Violence Against Refugees," UNHCR Policy Paper (Geneva, 1995).

9. Ibid.,1.

10. Ibid.,8.

11. "Gender-Based and Sexual Violence During Armed Conflict and Displacement," WHO Report,

12. See Africa Watch and Women's Rights Watch, Seeking Refuge, Finding Terror: The Widespread Rape of Somali Women Refugees in North East Kenya," Human Rights Watch Short Report 5, No. 13 (October 1993).

13. Interview, March 9, 2000, Bemma Dankoh, international refugee aid worker.

14. See Judgement, "The Prosecutor v. Jean-Paul Akayesu," Case No. ICTR-96-4-T, . Judgement hereinafter referred to as Akayesu. Also reported in New York Times, (3 September 1998), sec. A, 14. For an excellent analysis of the crime of genocide, see Guglielmo Verdirame, "The Genocide Definition in the Jurisprudence of the Ad Hoc Tribunals," International and Comparative Law Quarterly (July 2000), 578-598. See also William A. Schabas, Genocide in International Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002).

15. Statement by Justice Louise Arbour, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, CC/PIU/342-E, The Hague, 4 September 1998,

16. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, The Prosecutor v. Jean-Paul Akayesu, ICCTR-96-4-T (2 September 1998),

17. Ibid.

18. Human Rights Watch, World Report 1999 (New York: HRW, 1999), 427.

19. New York Times (23 February 23 2001), A1 and A10.

20. The author conducted telephone interviews and e-mail interviews with many of those involved in human rights and women's rights advocacy groups. Special thanks go to Kelly Dawn Askin, Rhonda Copelon, Roger S. Clark, Julie Mertus, Martina Vandenberg, Juli Drolet, Avril McDonald, Jessica Neuwirth, Dawn Calabia, Dee Aker, Sally Corcoran, Valerie Oosterveld, M. Elaine Harvey, William Pace, and Jennifer Flynn. Their eagerness to share information and cooperate with this project is greatly appreciated.

21. See, for example, M. Leigh, "The Yugoslav Tribunal: Use of Unnamed Witnesses against Accused," editorial comment in American Journal of International Law 90 (April, 1996), 235-238.

22. Letter to Justice Louise Arbour, Chief Prosecutor of the ICTY and ICTR, 17 October 1997, from the NGO Coalition on Women's Human Rights in Conflict Situations.

23. Connie Walsh, "Witness Protection, Gender and the ICTR: A Report Prepared as a Result of Investigations in Rwanda in June and July 1997, for the Centre for Constitutional Rights, International Centre for Human Rights, and Democratic Development, International Women's Law Clinic, and MADRE,"

24. "Press Briefing by the Spokesman for the ICTR" (19 October 2000).

25. "Women have created the idea of women's human rights by refusing to abandon ourselves and each other, out of attachment to a principle of our own humanity." Catherine MacKinnon, "Rape, Genocide, and Women's Human Rights," in Mass Rape: the War against Women in Bosnia-Herzegovina, ed. Alexandra Stiglmayer (Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 1994) 184.

26. See, for example, GA Res. 48/104, UN GAOR, 48th Sess, Supp. No 49, at 217, UN Doc. A/48/49 (1993). In this resolution, titled "The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women," violence against women is defined as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such act, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life." The Beijing Platform includes several references to violence against women, especially Article 226, which states that "Violence against women both violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Taking into account the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women and the work of Special Rapporteurs, gender-based violence…as well as violence against women, resulting from cultural prejudice, racism and racial discrimination, xenophobia, pornography, ethnic cleansing, armed conflict, foreign occupation, religious and anti-religious extremism and terrorism are incompatible with the dignity and the worth of the human person and must be combated and eliminated." The Beijing Platform is available in electronic form at . The principal instruments concerning the human rights of women are presented in Carol Lockwood, Daniel Magraw, Margaret Spring, and S.I. Strong, eds, The International Human Rights of Women, (Chicago:American Bar Association, 1998). Also see Rebecca J. Cook, Human Rights of Women (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994).

27. A summary of some of the important progress made to date in combating violence against women in Latin America appears in Aparna Mehrotra and Rini Banerjee, "Where Violence Begins at Home," UN Chronicle XXXV, No. 4 (1998), 38-42.

28. For a discussion of the important work of women's human rights groups in calling attention to the plight of women in war, see Judith Gardam, "Women, Human Rights, and International Humanitarian Law," International Review of the Red Cross No 324 (September, 1998), 421-432. See also Margaret Keck and Kathryn Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1998).

29. MacKinnon, 186-187.

30. One of the best analyses of the crime of rape in International Law in general and in the former Yugoslavia in particular is presented by Catherine N. Niarchos in "Women, War and Rape: Challenges Facing the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia," Human Rights Quarterly 17 (1995), 649-690. See especially 675-676.

31. "Rape of an object doubly dehumanized-as woman, as enemy-carries its own terrible logic. In one act of aggression, the collective spirit of women and of the nation is broken, leaving a reminder long after the troops depart." Susan Brownmiller, "Making Female Bodies the Battlefield," in Mass Rape: The War Against Women in Bosnia-Herzegovina, ed. Alexandra Stiglmayer (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994), 181.

32. The Commission of Experts, appointed by the UN Secretary General to investigate crimes in the former Yugoslavia in 1992, was chaired by Professor Cherif Bassiouni. The Bassiouni Report, as the report of this commission came to be called, was influential in determining the extent and systematic nature of ethnic cleansing in these areas. Reported in Beverly Allen, Rape Warfare (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1996), 43-48.

33. Final Report of the Commission of Experts Established Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 780 (1992), U.N. SCOR, Annex 1, para. 129, U.N. Doc. S/1994/674(1994).

34. For first person testimonies on rape and systematic sexual abuse in the former Yugoslavia, see "A Pattern of Rape," Newsweek (4 January 1993), 32-36, and Alesandra Stiglmayer, "The Rapes in Bosnia Herzegovina," in Mass Rape: The War Against Women in Bosnia-Herzegovina (Alesandra Stiglmayer, ed., 1994) 82-170.

35. Todd A. Salzman, "Rape Camps as a Means of Ethnic Cleansing: Religious, Cultural and Ethical Responses to Rape Victims in the Former Yugoslavia," Human Rights Quarterly 20 (1998), 348,349. See also Niarchos, supra note 30, at 651. She notes that "[t]he war in the former Yugoslavia involves savage rape on a horrifying scale…It is war fought on and through women's bodies. It is rape as a military strategy."

36. For an insightful analysis of this phenomenon, see Christopher Taylor, Sacrifice as Terror: The Rwandan Genocide of 1994 (Oxford: Oxford International Publishers, 1999).


Frances T. Pilch is Associate Professor of Political Science at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. She was awarded her Ph.D. in International Relations from Yale University in 1981. Her areas of expertise include gender issues in international law and refugee issues. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and should not be attributed in any way to the Department of Defense or to the United States Air Force Academy.