Is rape inevitable during wartime?

Wartime rape and sexual violence has been a part and parcel of conflict since war itself, yet it never received the much needed attention until the early 1990s when massive widespread violation of sexual abuse and rapes were carried out by the Bosnian Serbs against the Bosniak Muslim women and girls in Bosnia-Herzegovina war during the 1992-1995 conflict. The mass rape and sexual violence carried out in that conflict brought the media, academia and human rights organisations together to look for immediate solutions. Following the Rwanda Genocide in 1994, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has accepted that rape during wartime is a form of genocide and crime against humanity. Many scholars and academia thereafter have voiced their concern on sexual violations and rape that happens invariable in conflicts. Scholars argue that rape is used as a deliberate ‘line of attack’ or strategy to demoralize and dehumanise the “enemy”. (Allen, Beverly (1996) Rape warfare : the hidden genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia, University of Minnesota Press) It is used as a deliberate attempt to destroy the community’s social fabric, and terrorize the community into flight. For example, the rampant and unyielding violence of sexual abuse and rape has labelled Congo as the rape capital of the world. Rape has been viewed as an unfortunate but inevitable part of every war.¹ (Becoming Abject: Rape as a weapon of war: BÜLENT DIKEN AND CARSTEN BAGGE LAUSTSEN). However, taking an exception to this rule, there were scholars like Elisabeth J. Wood and Dara Kay Cohen who have directed our attention to various conflicts where rape and sexual violence is almost negligible during war. E.J. Woods in her articles, Armed Groups and Sexual Violence: When Is Wartime Rape Rare?  cities various examples of conflicts where many armed groups refrained from sexual violence and rape. For example, Woods  leftist insurgent groups, and secessionist ethnic groups who do not engage in mass rape in spite of frequent interaction with civilians. (When war time rape) Woods cited these conflicts as examples where the armed group resorted to other forms of violence against the civilians but rarely engaged in rape and sexual violence. Confirming the same views stated by Woods, this essay will go on to prove that there is variation in sexual violence during different conflicts. This essay will prove this by citing various examples of conflicts where rape and sexual violence was predominately absent. In the first part of the essay, it will draw examples of various conflicts and armed groups around the around.  Instances like the 26 year old civil war fought between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam LTTE, the on-going conflict between Israel and Palestine or the El Salvador Civil War fought between 1979-1992. In all these war, despite of the orthodox believe that rape is an unfortunate part of conflicts, we have instances of one or both the parties refraining from rape and sexual violence. The second part of the essay challenges the existing theories and believes of rape and deconstructs some myth associated with rape and sexual violence during wartime. Seeking further explanation and causation for variation of rape in various conflicts by certain groups, this essay in the third part argues that factors like leadership qualities, cultural norm, future constituency, fear of loss of support from civilians and distraction are the main reason why we see the absence of sexual violence in some conflicts. In the last and the concluding part, the essay concludes that though rape and sexual violence has been rampant in certain conflicts, is not always used as a means to dehumanise the enemy. We also take a look at the possible ways how policy makers and academicians can take a leaf out of this example and can look forward in drafting some policies which might help to prevent such atrocities during war. This essay would also like to state that though rape of men during war is also an issue gaining much attention of late, yet owing to constrain of space, this essay deals with rape as a whole and does not dissect between men and women rape.

Case studies

In spite of this conformist view that wartime sexual violence and rape is predominate in every armed conflict, recent research in some conflicting zone shows pattern of almost negligible reports of rapes and sexual violence either by both the feuding parties or at least by one  party involved in the war. In a study conducted by the Peace Research Institute of Oslo (PRIO), it was reported that of all 48 wars fought around the world between the year 1989 to 2009, 64 per cent of armed groups refrained from any sexual violence. The study, which included both civic as well as inter-state wars, was conducted took into account 236 active armed groups including armed state organizations, rebel groups, and government militias (Dara Kay Cohen and Ragnhild Nordås, “Sexual Violence in African Armed Conflicts: Introducing the SVAC-Africa Dataset, 1989–2009)

In most of the conflicts there were talked and written about, we are often made to believe that rape is perpetrated mainly by the ordinary combats and the non-state actors. To cite examples, massive sexual violence and rape were conducted by various rebels groups in Congo upon the civilians. We also have references of armed conflict in northern Uganda, between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels and the Ugandan government, where rape was carried out by LRA indiscriminately with the particular intention of harming the civilian population. ((Kasaija Phillip Apuuli (2004) The International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) Insurgency in Northern Uganda Criminal Law Forum Volume 15, Issue 4, pp 391-409) However, this finding is far from the truth. Examples like the Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers, the Israel-Palestine conflict and the insurgent group of El Salvador reflects that some paramilitary forces not necessarily engage in rapes and sexual violence to the same extent as has always made to believe.  (Elisabeth Jean Wood, “Armed Groups and Sexual Violence: When Is Wartime Rape Rare?” Politics and Society 37, no. 1 (March 2009): 131–61.) Contrary to the old believe, Sri Lanka’s state military or SLA and the Sri Lankan police indulged into rape and sexual violence of Tamil women during various the military operations and at checkpoints. In contrast, the numbers of rape committed by the Tamil Tigers against civilians were almost negligible. The force displacement of tens of thousands of Muslims from Jafna peninsula in 1990 was a point in case. Not a single incident of rape and/or sexual violence was reported.  (Stack-O'Connor, Alisa, Lions, tigers and freedom birds: how and why the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam employ women in Terrorism and political violence Volume 19 Issue 1 (2007) Pages 43- 63) Another such example is the civil war in El Salvador. During the fighting between the state forces and the insurgent, it was reported that rapes of the civilians and political prisoners were carried by state military while no El Salvador insurgent was found guilty of any sexual atrocities. (Elisabeth J wood (2010) Sexual Violence during War: Towards an understand of Variation’ in Laura Sjoberg, Sandra Via (eds) Gender, War, and Militarism: Feminist Perspectives, Praeger Security International)

Some militant group many adhere to all kinds of atrocities like kidnapping and murdering of civilians but strangely refrain themselves from sexual violations during wartime. For example, the stark absence of sexual exploitations in the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Despite violations of other laws of war by both the parties, rape appears to be predominately absent in the conflict.  (Wood, Elisabeth J.(2006) ―Variation in Sexual Violence during War‖Politics and Society,34(3): 307-41)  Many human right organisations documented various kinds of abuses in this conflicts, however reported fewer cases of rape. (idib) Also, the LTTE’s militant frequently implicated civilian casualties, assassinated prominent political figures and carried out suicide bombings, but hardly any incident of rape and sexual violence was reported during their period of struggle.

Challenging the theories

For decades now political thinkers and academicians have analysed the pattern of rape and sexual violence in wars and came up with various theories, yet none of these theory are convincing enough to prove why there is a variation of sexual violence in conflicts. In order to understand why rape in explicit in some conflicts and non-existent in others, we must first diffuse some preconceived notion and analysis the theories and myths about rape. Firstly, the feminist theory.  Developed during the 1970s, this theory defines rape as a way of enforcing hierarchy and determining gender roles by stating that men are dominant by nature and like to oppress women. (Explaining Wartime Rape, Jonathan Gottschall, The Journal of Sex Research, Vol. 41, No. 2 (May, 2004), pp. 129-136). However, this theory seems faultier as it does not take into consideration why some soldiers rape both women but also men alike. In addition, this theory also fails to explain why in some combats, like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda or Sierra Leone, we see female perpetrators sexually victimising both male and female civilians. In a survey conducted in 2010, it was found that over 40 per cent of female victims and 10 per cent of male were perpetrated by females. (Kirsten Johnson, Jennifer Scott, Bigy Rughita, Michael Kisielewski, Jana Asher, Ricardo Ong, and Lynn Lawry, “Association of Sexual Violence and Human Rights Violations with Physical and Mental Health in Territories of the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo,” Journal of the American Medical Association 304, no. 5 (2010):553–62.)  In Rwanda, women were actively involved in both killing and sexual exploitations including rape. (Hogg, N, (2010) Women's participation in the Rwandan Genocide: Mothers or Monsters? in The international review of the Red Cross Volume 92 Issue 877 International Committee of the Red Cross Pages 69 - 102)

Secondly, the Biosocial theory of Rape states that men are unable to resist the sexual urge in them and therefore given an opportunity men rape. However, this theory does not hold much ground when we look at the pattern of violence in some conflicts. It will be hard to explain this theory in connection with some examples cited above. For instance, in El Salvador, this framework is difficult to fit when we have evidences of one party engaging in frequent rape whilst the other refrains.

Often scholar have cited massive occurrence of rape as a strategy of war to dehumanise and demoralise the enemy. Called the strategic rape theory, this theory states that rape in war is used as a strategic to demoralise and insult the ‘enemy’.  Scholar like Ruth Seifert states that sexual violence in war is employed to implicit harm on the collective identity of targeted groups, ethnicities and/or nations. (Seifert, Ruth (1996) ―The Second Front: The Logic of Sexual Violence in Wars,Women’s Studies International Forum 19(1-2): 35-43) Seifert cities examples of Bosnia and Rwanda where rape of women was strategise to completely destroy   the collective identity of a group. However this analytical focus in unable to explain rape is mostly implicated towards girls and women and is not as common a phenomenon with the men. Yet, this theory is falter as the there seems to be a confusion between the consequences and the motive for wartime rape. Surely, the impact of these mass rapes in Bosnia or Rwanda demoralised and fractured the populaces, but does it mean that these were the goals for which the rapes were perpetrated is very difficult to prove. All of these results could be unintended consequences of wartime rape.

Variation in rape during war time

Several scholars like Macartan Humphereys and Jeremy M. Weinstein states that there could be and is complete absence of sexual violence during wartime against civilians. They argue that some armed groups may exert little violence upon civilians and completely abstain from sexual atrocities and rape during the conflict.( Humphreys Macartan, and Jeremy M. Weinstein (2006) ―Handling and Manhandling Civilians in Civil War,‖ American Political Science Review, 100(3): 429-47, p. 444) The question that lingers in our mind is what factors explain this variation? Macartan and Weinstein states that sometimes the soldiers are directed by their commanders to abstain from any sort of violence in order to retain high level of disciple within the group, be it sexual or otherwise. Stating the reason they argue in order to gain popular support and to obtain material resources, new recruits and even intelligence the combats refrain from any kind of violence- sexual or otherwise. (idbi) However, Elisabeth J Wood contesting this argument of Humphreys Macartan and Weinstein states that some combat groups may restore to all sort of violence but restrict themselves from sexual.  In her article “Armed group and sexual violence: When is war time rape rare?” cites the example of LTTE. She argues that LTTE committed adverse violence like killings and kidnapping of political leaders as well as civilians, but mostly abstained from rape and sexual violence. (idbi). Giving further reasons and explanation for this variation, Wood in consent with Macartan and Weinstein, argues that variation depends on the provision of support like material resources and intelligences from the civilians. Wood states two more explanation for the rarity of sexual violence by some armed groups. She states that a strong leadership quality could also be a deterrent factor for the combat to resist sexual urges. Citing an example Woods talks about Sri Lanka’s LTTE chief, Vellupillai Prabhakaran, who possessed a powerful command hierarchy and accountability mechanisms, viewed acts of sexual violence to be counterproductive for the realisation of its future goal. (Lions, Tigers, and Freedom Birds: How and Why the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Employs Women). In her study of the Tamil Tigers, Woods found that there was absolute prohibition of sexual violence both within and out the armed group and severe punishment was meted out to any LTTE personnel found to be violating the rules. (when is war rare) Secondly, Wood also asserts that cultural norm in a community may prohibit sexual violence by an armed group. For example, in orthodox societies like the Muslims or the Indian families it is sex before marriage or a man having sex with a women who is not his wife is considered a taboo. (Miranda Alison, (2004) Cogs in the wheel? Women in the liberation tigers of Tamil Eelam, Vol 6, pp-37-54) It is therefore likely that we see complete absence of sexual violence in conflicts of Israel-Palestine or the LTTE civil war. However this explanation falls flat when we judge the behaviour of Sri Lankan Army (SLA) who committed various rapes during the civil war. Even though both parties had same socio-cultural environment, sexual violence was rampant by SLA. This variation could possibly be explained that the Tamil Tigers aspired to rule its civilians in the future. An armed group that seeks to rule the civilians in the near future is likely to restrain its use of sexual violence as this might violate the norms of a society the armed group is hoping to create. (ibid)

Seeking yet another explanation for the variation, scholars like Randy Thornhill and Craig Palmer cites that if soldiers have regular excess to women they are less likely to commit sexual offences. (Thornhill, Randy and Craig Palmer (2000) The Natural History of Rape: Biological Basis of Social Coercion. Cambridge:MIT Press.) Examples were drawn from the “comfort women” of World War II and the bush wives of Sierra Leone. However, this theory is again highly contested. For example, even if the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone had easy access to bush wives, sexual slavery and rape of civilian women and girls were rampant in the region. ((Coulter Chris (2009)Bush wives and girl soldiers: women's lives through war and peace in Sierra Leone, Cornell University Press).  Many scholars also points to internal as well as external factors involved for the variation of sexual violence during war time. Jeremy M. Weinstein argues combats group with available access to material resources are likely to commit crimes against civilians than those without. Jeremy states that rebels who have material wealth and external support are more prone to commit violence against civilians including sexual violence as posed to insurgent groups who are poor in such resources. (Weinstein, Jeremy M. (2007) Inside Rebellion: The Politics of Insurgent Violence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p.7) His main finding is that group with high level of material resources and supplies are prone to commit atrocities in large numbers against civilians as they do not have to depend on them for any support. Adding further, Weinstein states that insurgent group with poor resources are likely to employ less violence or rather use violence more strategically and selectively.

Conclusion

To conclude, though there have been patterns of variation in sexual violence during conflicts and possible reason for the same, yet to prove and figure out the exact ones is a very difficult task. Sometimes the strong leadership qualities of an armed group could be the cause, yet at other times factors like prohibition of sex in a particular culture could be the viable reason. Reasons like absence of material goods, logistics or/ and intelligence in the armed group could possibly restrain an army from indulging in rape and sexual violence. Nevertheless, rape and sexual violence could be a starkly absent from wars as we have seen from examples like the Israel-Palestine conflicts, the LTTE group and the insurgents of El Salvador.  Also, the asymmetry of violence between the armed group in the same conflict states that a culture or society might also not be the direct cause of rape and sexual violence. Also a patriarchal society is also not a necessary reason for mass atrocities of rape.

In order to find an effective solution to this problem, scholars and policy makers must study both sides of the coin- armed groups that are involved in rape as well as those who are not. Also, analysis the internal dynamics of the armed group who does not involve in rapes could also help policy makers to find some effective ways of intervention. Better understanding of these groups by closing the gaps in our knowledge can take us further which might will allow policy makers and scholars come to some conclusion and work towards possible absence of rape and sexual violence during wartime.