Rape during the Syrian civil war

Last updated

Human toll of the Syrian civil war
Pre-war population 22 ±.5; Internally displaced 6 ±.5, Refugees 5.5 ±.5, Fatalities 0.5 ±.1 (millions)[ citation needed ]
Syrian refugees
By country Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey
Settlements Camps: Jordan
Internally displaced Syrians
Casualties of the war
Crimes War crimes, massacres, rape
Return of refugees, Refugees as weapons, Prosecution of war criminals

Rape during the Syrian civil war was used as a strategy throughout the Syrian conflict by pro government supporters, [1] members of the Free Syrian Army, [2] and militants fighting for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. According to the International Rescue Committee (IRC) rape has been a "significant and disturbing feature" during the conflict, [3] and the primary reason given for 600,000 women fleeing the war zone is fear of sexual assault. For the background and legal content use the prosecution of Syrian civil war criminals. Human Rights Watch have requested that the United Nations Security Council refer Syria to the International Criminal Court. [4]

Contents

Syrian state forces

Following the onset of the Arab spring, which had spread to Syria in 2011, reports of rape by pro-government forces increased. [5] In Daraa, at the onset of the conflict state forces organized the rape of women in the region. [6] [7]

In Syria women who are raped can become victims of honour killings, or if allowed by their families to live are no longer eligible for marriage. When the state forces began their crackdown on protesters in Jisr al-Shugour a tactic used was raiding homes in which women were sleeping. [8] A report released by Save the Children in 2013 stated, "There is proof that girls and boys scarcely over the age of 12 have experienced sexual violence, including both torture to their genitals and rape." [9] Sarah Leah, the director for the Middle East branch of HRW has said that, "Syrian security forces have used sexual violence… with complete impunity". [4]

A UN report published in 2015 stated:

"Women and girls were found to have been raped and sexually assaulted in government detention facilities, in particular in the investigation branches of the Military Intelligence Directorate and prisons administered by the General Security Directorate in Damascus. State officials have perpetrated rape, a crime against humanity. ... Victim and witness accounts of sexual violence were also recorded in northern governorates. During house searches in Aleppo city in 2012 and 2013, Government forces sexually assaulted women and men in their homes. In 2013, detainees were raped in the Political Security branch and sexual assaulted at the Military Security branch in Latakia. Many women and men, including minors, have been victims of the deliberate use of sexual humiliation, sexual torture and rape while in the custody of Government authorities throughout the span of the unrest and conflict in Syria (from 2011 – 2014)." [10]

Islamic State

During the Yazidis genocide, IS sold women into sexual slavery and raped girls as young as nine. [11] Amar Hussein, a captured IS terrorist who has admitted to raping over 200 women, stated that those in command had given free rein to IS fighters to rape as many Yazidi women as they wanted. [12]

A pamphlet published online by IS on the social media platform Twitter explicitly endorsed the rape of children; it reads: "It is permissible to have intercourse with the female slave who hasn't reached puberty, if she is fit for intercourse". [13]

International reactions

In 2012 in a declaration by the UN stated that in Syria rape was being used as a weapon of war, however the help being given to victims was "sorely lacking", and that "Hospitals and clinics are not equipped to deal with the sheer volume of victims, and many victims do not report their attacks" [14]

The NGO Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) released a report in November 2013 stated that, since the conflict began in 2011, approximately 6,000 women had been raped, which included gang-rapes, with figures likely to be far higher given that the majority cases go unreported. [15] According to the EMHRN report the majority of documented attacks have occurred during government-backed attacks on rebel positions, on those kept in detention and at checkpoints. [16]

Speaking at the UN in 2012, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide stated that the rapes which occurred during the Bosnian war were being repeated in Syria, with rapes in the tens of thousands. [17]

During the first 11 months of 2013 the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) released figures which showed that it had given psychological help to 33,430 people in Syria who had been victims of either rape or gender based violence, with a further 4,800 cases reported in December 2013. [18] Jody Williams of the International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict has said of the sexual violence being visited on the men, women and children of Syria, "With every war and major conflict, as an international community we say 'never again' to mass rape, Yet, in Syria, as countless women are again finding the war waged on their bodies--we are again standing by and wringing our hands." [19]

Related Research Articles

Sexual violence is any harmful or unwanted sexual act—or attempt to obtain a sexual act through violence or coercion—or an act directed against a person's sexuality without their consent, by any individual regardless of their relationship to the victim. This includes forced engagement in sexual acts, attempted or completed, and may be physical, psychological, or verbal. It occurs in times of peace and armed conflict situations, is widespread, and is considered to be one of the most traumatic, pervasive, and most common human rights violations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violence against women</span> Violent acts committed primarily against women and girls

Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), is violent acts primarily or exclusively committed by men or boys against women or girls. Such violence is often considered a form of hate crime, committed against women or girls specifically because they are female, and can take many forms.

Statistics on rape and other acts of sexual assault are commonly available in industrialized countries, and have become better documented throughout the world. Inconsistent definitions of rape, different rates of reporting, recording, prosecution and conviction for rape can create controversial statistical disparities, and lead to accusations that many rape statistics are unreliable or misleading.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rape during the Bosnian War</span> Use of rape as a military strategy during the Bosnian War

Rape during the Bosnian War was a policy of mass systemic violence targeted against women. While men from all ethnic groups committed rape, the vast majority of rapes were perpetrated by Bosnian Serb forces of the Army of the Republika Srpska (VRS) and Serb paramilitary units, who used rape as an instrument of terror and key tactics as part of their programme of ethnic cleansing. Estimates of the number of women raped during the war range between 10,000 and 50,000. Accurate numbers are difficult to establish and it is believed that the number of unreported cases is much higher than reported ones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wartime sexual violence</span> Acts of sexual violence committed by combatants during armed conflict, war or military occupation

Wartime sexual violence is rape or other forms of sexual violence committed by combatants during an armed conflict, war, or military occupation often as spoils of war, but sometimes, particularly in ethnic conflict, the phenomenon has broader sociological motives. Wartime sexual violence may also include gang rape and rape with objects. It is distinguished from sexual harassment, sexual assaults and rape committed amongst troops in military service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denis Mukwege</span> Congolese gynaecologist and Nobel laureate (born 1955)

Denis Mukwege is a Congolese gynecologist and Pentecostal pastor. He founded and works in Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, where he specializes in the treatment of women who have been raped by armed rebels. In 2018, Mukwege and Iraqi Yazidi human rights activist Nadia Murad were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo</span>

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the east of the country in particular, has been described as the "Rape Capital of the World", and the prevalence and intensity of all forms of sexual violence has been described as the worst in the world. Human Rights Watch defines sexual violence as "an act of a sexual nature by force, or by threat of force or coercion", and rape as "a form of sexual violence during which the body of a person is invaded, resulting in penetration, however slight, of any part of the body of the victim, with a sexual organ, or of the anal or genital opening of the victim with any object or other part of the body."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War crimes in the Syrian civil war</span>

War crimes in the Syrian civil war have been numerous and serious. A United Nations report published in August 2014 stated that "the conduct of the warring parties in the Syrian Arab Republic has caused civilians immeasurable suffering". Another UN report released in 2015 stated that the war has been "characterized by a complete lack of adherence to the norms of international law" and that "civilians have borne the brunt of the suffering inflicted by the warring parties". Various countries have prosecuted several war criminals for a limited number of atrocities committed during the Syrian civil war.

Violence against men are violent acts that are disproportionately or exclusively committed against men or boys. Men are over-represented as both victims and perpetrators of violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Syria</span> Overview of the status of women in Syria

Women in Syria constitute 49.9% of Syria's population. According to World Bank data from 2021, there are around 10.6 million women in Syria. As important members of the Syrian community, they are active participants in social, economic and political factions of society. However, Syrian women and girls still experience challenges, especially since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011, in the areas of legal rights, suitable healthcare and challenges precipitated by wartime violence.

The term international framework of sexual violence refers to the collection of international legal instruments – such as treaties, conventions, protocols, case law, declarations, resolutions and recommendations – developed in the 20th and 21st century to address the problem of sexual violence. The framework seeks to establish and recognise the right all human beings to not experience sexual violence, to prevent sexual violence from being committed wherever possible, to punish perpetrators of sexual violence, and to provide care for victims of sexual violence. The standards set by this framework are intended to be adopted and implemented by governments around the world in order to protect their citizens against sexual violence.

The Islamic State (IS) has employed sexual violence against women and men in a terroristic manner. Sexual violence, as defined by The World Health Organization includes “any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, or acts to traffic, or otherwise directed, against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting, including but not limited to home and work.” IS has used sexual violence to undermine a sense of security within communities, and to raise funds through the sale of captives into sexual slavery.

The condition of human rights in the territory controlled by the Islamic State (IS) is considered to be among the worst in the world. The Islamic State's policies included acts of genocide, torture and slavery. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) stated in November 2014 that the Islamic State "seeks to subjugate civilians under its control and dominate every aspect of their lives through terror, indoctrination, and the provision of services to those who obey". Many Islamic State actions of extreme criminality, terror, recruitment and other activities have been documented in the Middle East.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nadia Murad</span> Yazidi human rights activist from Iraq and winner of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize

Nadia Murad Basee Taha is an Iraqi-born Yazidi human rights activist based in Germany. In 2014, as part of the Yazidi genocide by the Islamic State, she was abducted from her hometown of Kocho in Iraq and much of her community was massacred. After losing most of her family, Murad was held as an Islamic State sex slave for three months, alongside thousands of other Yazidi women and girls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yazidi genocide</span> 2014 ethnic cleansing and genocide campaign by the Islamic State in Sinjar, northern Iraq

The Yazidi genocide was perpetrated by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria between 2014 and 2017. It was characterized by massacres, genocidal rape, and forced conversions to Islam. The Yazidi people, who are non-Arabs, are indigenous to Kurdistan and adhere to Yazidism, which is an Iranian religion derived from the Indo-Iranian tradition. Over a period of three years, Islamic State militants trafficked thousands of Yazidi women and girls and killed thousands of Yazidi men; the United Nations reported that the Islamic State killed about 5,000 Yazidis and trafficked about 10,800 Yazidi women and girls in a "forced conversion campaign" throughout Iraq. By 2015, upwards of 71% of the global Yazidi population was displaced by the genocide, with most Yazidi refugees having fled to Iraq's Kurdistan Region and Syria's Rojava. The persecution of Yazidis, along with other religious minorities, took place after the Islamic State's Northern Iraq offensive of June 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yazda</span>

Yazda: Global Yazidi Organization, is a United States-based global Yazidi nonprofit, non-governmental organization (NGO) advocacy, aid, and relief organization. Yazda was established to support the Yazidi, especially in northern Iraq, specifically Sinjar and Nineveh Plain, and northeastern Syria, where the Yazidi community has, as part of a deliberate "military, economic, and political strategy," been the focus of a genocidal campaign by ISIL that included mass murder, the separation of families, forced religious conversions, forced marriages, sexual assault, physical assault, torture, kidnapping, and slavery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict</span> Office of the United Nations Secretariat

The Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict (OSRSG-SVC) is an office of the United Nations Secretariat tasked with serving the United Nations' spokesperson and political advocate on conflict-related sexual violence, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict (SRSG-SVC). The Special Representative holds the rank of Under-Secretary-General of the UN and chairs the UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict. The mandate of the SRSG-SVC was established by Security Council Resolution 1888, introduced by Hillary Clinton, and the first Special Representative, Margot Wallström, took office in 2010. The current Special Representative is Pramila Patten of Mauritius, who was appointed by UN Secretary General António Guterres in 2017. The work of the SRSG-SVC is supported by the UN Team of Experts on the Rule of Law/Sexual Violence in Conflict, co-led by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPO), Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), also established under Security Council Resolution 1888.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Nobel Peace Prize</span> Award

The 2018 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad "for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict," according to the Norwegian Nobel Committee announcement on 5 October 2018 in Oslo, Norway. "Both laureates have made a crucial contribution to focusing attention on, and combating, such war crimes," according to the award citation. After reading the citation, Committee Chair Berit Reiss-Andersen told reporters that the impact of this year's award is to highlight sexual abuse with the goal that every level of governance take responsibility to end such crimes and impunities.

International law is a series of verbal agreements and written contracts between nations that govern how those nations interact with one another. "Public" international law includes human rights both in conflict situations and post-conflict reconstruction. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979 and has the goal of promoting women's rights. Women have contributed to work on post-conflict reconstruction, aid and ceasefire negotiations. They have also contributed to the Geneva II peace talks regarding Syria, and were involved in the Rohingya conflict in Myanmar as 'front-line responders'.

Sexual violence in the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been committed by Armed Forces of Russia, including the use of mass rape as a weapon of war. According to the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, the victims of sexual assault by Russian soldiers ranged from 4 years old to over 80 years old.

References

  1. ↑ Litsas & Tziampiris 2015, p. 202.
  2. ↑ Priddy 2014, p. 320.
  3. ↑ Fitzpatrick 2016, p. 33.
  4. 1 2 Proudman 2013.
  5. ↑ Flock 2011.
  6. ↑ Bentley 2016, p. 109.
  7. ↑ Omar 2015.
  8. ↑ Tuysuz 2011.
  9. ↑ Minano & Andrzejewski 2017.
  10. ↑ Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic (PDF). United Nations. General Assembly. Human Rights Council. 5 February 2015. pp. 9, 10, 48. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 April 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  11. ↑ Wintour 2016.
  12. ↑ Georgy 2017.
  13. ↑ Callimachi 2013.
  14. ↑ Harvey 2015.
  15. ↑ BBC 2013.
  16. ↑ Jackson 2013.
  17. ↑ Brinkley 2013.
  18. ↑ Miles 2013.
  19. ↑ Wolfe 2013.

Bibliography

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