Open UKLSR Volume 1(2) - Uklsa

UK Law Students’ Review – 2013 – Volume 1, Issue 2
Even in smaller conflicts that do not amount to civil war, the rape of women is used
as a means to insert power and dominance over a population. For example, in Haiti,
where the country has been plagued with political unrest for decades, rape and other
violence against women has been utilised as a form of ‘political pressure’ to ensure
democratic suppression and the maintenance of a totalitarian regime in the country. 16
Similarly, Human Rights Watch have recently documented that in Cote d’Ivoire, State
forces have raped and killed women in far western villages where it is perceived that
they may be supporters of the political opposition party. 17
The rape of women during conflicts has relentless and lasting consequences affecting
every aspect of a victim’s life. Women have been rejected by family members
because they are seen to be ‘ruined’ and ‘dishonoured’. A sad example of this
occurring is in the conflict between West Pakistan and Bangladesh, where
Bangladeshi women were routinely raped by the other side and sent to military
brothels. They were then unable to return to their families and husbands because they
had been outcaste and degraded. 18 There are also acute concerns for the female child
that is subject to sexual violence because of the greater psychological trauma that they
are likely to suffer. The likelihood of contracting sexually transmitted diseases,
especially for those girls that are not yet sexually mature, is also increased. Socially, it
is much harder for them to reintegrate back into their families once the conflict is over.
This is especially so if their ‘marriage’ to a soldier has been for a long time and that is
the only life that they have come to know as reality. 19
I(b)– Domestic Violence
The correlation between domestic violence and violence during war is also a major
concern. Evidence has shown how women are not only more vulnerable to outside
violence during conflicts; they are also at higher risk from suffering at the hands of
their loved ones within their own home. 20 For example, in Croatia, domestic violence
against women had increased by nearly 30 per cent since the outbreak of war. 21 The
situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory also tells a similar story of gender
inequality being more pronounced by the conflict situation. The increased poverty and
social tensions within the region are contributing factors to the escalated domestic
violence due to patriarchal rule being used as a ‘defence mechanism to keep the
society intact’. 22 Refugee camps and detention facilities are another area where
women are subject to violence in the post-conflict phase. For example, in Burundi,
women have suffered high levels of sexual and domestic violence by other refugees
16 UNHRC, ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences:
Report on the mission to Haiti’ (27 January 2000) UN Doc E/CN.4/2000/68/Add.3. 12.
17
Human Rights Watch, ‘Newsletter: The Week in Rights’
accessed 14 April 2011.
18 C. Niarchos (n5) 667.
19 (n6) 16.
20 Ibid, 18.
21 C. Niarchos (n5) 671.
22 UNHRC, ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and
consequences: Mission to Occupied Palestinian Territory’ (2 February 2005) E/CN.4/2005/72/Add.4,
14.
41