INTRODUCTION

For a long time, sexual violence in conflict has been seen and largely prosecuted as crimes committed by men against women. Only recently, the international community is becoming aware of the brutality of sexual violence perpetrated against men in conflict situations, and that the number of these atrocities is much higher than has always previously been assumed. Similarly, like men, women and girls are capable – and indeed have done so – of committing atrocious forms of conflict-related sexual violence against men, boys, women and girls alike.

According to Rosalind Petchesky, ‘acts of sexual violence against men, women … are named and experienced differently, which is what it means to say they are gendered’. Building on this insight, this chapter deals with the two oft en marginalised categories of conflict situations with regards to sexual violence, namely male victims and female perpetrators. It first explores the lack of awareness and knowledge surrounding both male victims and female perpetrators of sexual violence and the underlying reasons for such violence. It then discusses how gender norms regarding sexual violence impact on all aspects of the international justice process. In the case of male victims of sexual violence, attention is drawn to the tendency to erase the sexual nature of the crime by using a more general label, such as torture. It will be argued that this state of affairs derives from gender norms, which make male victimisation, and especially male sexual victimisation, inconsistent with ideals of masculinity. In the case of female perpetrators of conflict-related sexual violence, it will be argued that the existence of female perpetrators of sexual violence in conflict is at odds with ideals of femininity. Attention will, inter alia, be drawn to the tendency of these women to deny their ability – as women – to commit sexual violence. The chapter ends with some concluding remarks on the ways forward in understanding and prosecuting male sexual victimisation and sexual violence perpetrated by women.

Although the explicit criminalization and efforts to prosecute sexual violence as an international crime are relatively new when compared to the long historic presence of these crimes in times of conflict, the international judicial response to such crimes is already breaking new ground in attending to the needs of individual survivors even while trying to establish a trail of mass brutality. The stories represented in this volume are very human whether of the survivors of these crimes or of those advocates dedicated to the prosecution of such violations or of the countless others who become involved as field workers or judicial officials. What this volume highlights is, amongst other things, that the issue of sexual violence is not an academic or theoretical subject far removed from people, but is very much an issue of individuals and communities caught up in waves of violence. An issue that concerns and affects us all, and that therefore needs to be recognized and addressed on multiple levels in order to be prevented and prosecuted. It further underscores the need to involve survivors and others in the peace-building process following a conflict beyond judicial process and the punishment of the perpetrators of these acts.

The juxtaposition of single acts of extreme violence against a backdrop of mass brutality of course is one of the reasons why these crimes have been difficult to address. For one thing, a conflict environment is not congenial to the systematic gathering of evidence and the carrying out of orderly judicial and legal process. Yet, strides have been made to prosecute those responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, but less so when the focus has been on sexual and gender based crimes.

The 1990s proved a turning point for international law and international institutions. In Europe the dissolution of the Soviet Union brought on the one hand hope that freedom and democracy would be restored in many countries, but also led to the destabilization of countries in Central Europe with unexpectedly bloody consequences. On a more global level, the aftermath of decolonization, in conjunction with shifting power balances after the end of the Cold War, ushered in unprecedented episodes of mass killing and brutality. It seemed to take the international community by surprise. The killing of an estimated 800,000 citizens in Rwanda in 1994 and the killing of an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 during the Yugoslav conflict are but two examples of the tremendous human toll taken by these post-Cold War conflicts. Embedded in these numbers are the many untold acts of sexual violence, predominantly against women and children, yet increasingly sexual violence against men is coming to the foreground. Despite the surge of international and noninternational armed conflicts reflecting severe breakdowns of the rule of law, the 1990s will also be remembered as a decade which marks important and innovative steps towards advancing international justice through the development of new codes of law and legal institutions to uphold them.

Although crimes of sexual violence and efforts to punish them can be traced to ancient times, a focused international effort to end impunity for sexual violence and gender-based crime has been much longer in coming. Since the 1970s concerted efforts of the international women's movement to end the silencing and to politicize the problem of violence against women, eventually led to the recognition that sexual violence and rape are systematically used as weapons of war. This historical shift in perspective on violence against women translated into international legal recognition of the discriminatory nature of violence against women and as a violation of the fundamental human rights of women. Since the early 1990s this is firmly established in binding international human rights law.

It should furthermore be noted that the occurrence and severity of sexual violence in times of war and conflict cannot be isolated from wider cultural and social dynamics which to a large extent condone sexual violence against women as an unfortunate yet inevitable part of social life, particularly when the victim and perpetrators are intimate partners.

Testimonial of Marie Louise Niyobuhungiro:

INTRODUCTION

In Rwanda: Death, Despair and Defiance, African Rights (1994) described the horrific cruelties against and killings of Tutsi and moderate Hutu by extremist Hutu over a period of a few months only (see also Ruvebana, this volume). In 1994, the beautiful country of Rwanda – also known as the country of one thousand hills – was engulfed by one of the most eff ective and most public genocides of all time. with in 100 days, from April 7 to July 18, about 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu were brutally murdered by extremist Hutu, including their neighbours, friends and acquaintances. In those 100 days, an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 women and girls, but also men, were raped and experienced other forms of sexual violence. As a 1996 United Nations report observed, “rape was the rule and its absence the exception”. For many survivors, rape and other forms of sexual violence, but also the resulting HIV infection, babies born from rape, and stigmatization and isolation by their family and community members, constitute the ultimate violation of their human rights. In addition, the genocide left hundreds of thousand children orphaned and a similar large number of survivors lost their husband, wife and/or child(ren). Many lost their houses and other possessions. The country's economy, its judicial institutions and social services were completely destroyed. Over 1 million people were involved in the genocide and survivors and perpetrators are now again living side by side. Slowly but withstrong determination, the country is recovering from its horrific past. Programs of reparation and reconciliation, national and local, have been developed, and (tradition-inspired) justice mechanisms put in place.

Many instances of mass atrocities and in many ways similar carnage preceded and followed the period of the Rwandan genocide in different parts of the world.

In the 20th century alone, hundreds of millions fatalities occurred (Rummel 1994), and the scourge of international crimes – genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes – remains a reality today. Attempting to do justice under the sceptre of such heinous cruelty and unspeakable suffering is a daunting task, withthe enormity of evil blowing up the limits of normally held trials and convictions.