A surge in wartime sexual violence

Rwanda, Bosnia, Ukraine and Now Hamas: October 7 and Surging Wartime Sexual Violence Around the World.  Over the last 30 years, women's bodies have increasingly become strategic targets in conflicts around the world. But despite the shocking accounts of rape and sexual assault by Hamas on October 7 and since, Israel's forensic failures mean perpetrators may not be brought to justice. Writes Tanya Domi an Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and the Harriman Institute.

The Guardian view on sexual violence in conflict: an unending crime that can be tackled

The trendlines for conflict-related sexual violence are worsening,” the United Nations special representative on the issue, Pramila Patten, warned this summer, highlighting “new waves of war’s oldest, most silenced and least condemned crime”. Greater awareness has not translated into more than very rare and limited accountability for a weapon unleashed primarily against women and girls, though also against men and boys. Wartime sexual violence is neither ubiquitous nor inevitable. Commanders can and do prohibit and prevent it. Yet it remains widely used by warring parties and repressive regimes. Read full article.

The threat of fundamentalist groups in Africa

Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein called on American Jewish leaders to recognise that “Israel’s war with Hamas – and by extension Iran – is against the same enemy raping and pillaging its way through African villages.”  He told the summit that ISIS gunmen had stormed a school in the town of Kuriga in Nigeria and kidnapped 287 children from a morning assembly. “Terrorists rode through the school on motorbikes, firing their weapons and rounding up students aged eight to 15. The horror is unspeakable and unending.”

Ten years on from Chibok

276 Chibok girls were abducted from their state school dormitories in April 2014 in a kidnapping that made headlines globally. Ten years on, many of the Chibok abductees, now women, have been freed or escaped, but about 100 are still missing. The Chibok abduction was not the first time militants had targeted schoolchildren – nor has it been the last. Months before, 29 boys were killed at a school in Yobe state. In 2018, Boko Haram kidnapped dozens of girls in Yobe, and in 2020, more than 300 boys were abducted from schools in Katsina state.

The war of being female in Africa

The nature of sexual violence and femicide during conflicts underscores the need to protect the rights of women and girls in conflict zones. Africa has witnessed a disturbing trend of coups d’état and unconstitutional changes in government in several countries, including Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Guinea, and Mali. The resulting conflicts have exacerbated conflict-related sexual violence against women and girls, particularly in areas where the fighting is heavy and along transit routes. Writes Mary Izobo an international human rights lawyer.

Five Gains and Gaps in the Campaign to End Conflict-Related Sexual Violence

Sexual violence is not an inevitable consequence of war — but the international community must do more to prevent it.  Writes Dr. Chantal de Jonge Oudraat a member of the board of directors at Women in International Security and a global fellow at the Wilson Center.