What are war rapes
War rape differs vastly from normal peace time rape, which is internal law and order problem of a state. War rape is no ordinary rape. This is part of deliberate strategy by the occupation forces to demoralize the enemy. War rape is beyond control of the defeated country. The area being in occupation of victor army, civilian population including men, women and children are at mercy of the occupation forces.
The rapes by army personnel during military occupation are war rapes. This includes forced prostitution by the occupation army. Rape is a weapon to humiliate the enemy. This is often systematic. This may consist of institutionalized sexual slavery. Even camps are established to keep the captive women whom the army personnel visit turn by turn for enjoyment. Geneva convention recognizes rape and sexual slavery as crime against humanity when practiced systematically and on wide scale. This is also considered as an element of genocide when a particular group is targeted for annihilation.
Psychological mindset of armed forces
Susan Brownmiller, Historian, described the psychological mindset of the armed forces. She wrote: "War provides men with the perfect psychological backdrop to give vent to their contempt for women. The maleness of the military—the brute power of weaponry exclusive to their hands, the spiritual bonding of men at arms, the manly discipline of orders given and orders obeyed, the simple logic of the hierarchical command—confirms for men what they long suspect—that women are peripheral to the world that counts." According to her, women are treated as one of the spoils of war.
According to Kelly Dawn Askin, civilians are the victims of war. Mostly, women are targeted more than men and they are rape victims more often. Men are also sexually assaulted but they complain less . Moreover, NGOs also concentrate more on women victims of war rapes.
Prosecution
Formerly the conqueror was considered entitled to the booty and consider men and women of the vanquished state as slave. The soldiers of the victor were entitled to rape or rather use women of the defeated country. War rapes were normal and so there was no question of prosecution. In Bangladesh war, Pakistani soldiers raped many women. In world war I and II also and in earlier wars, men were enslaved and women raped by the conquering army. The captured women were even named as ‘comfort women’. Prosecuting for war rape is recent development. The War Crimes Tribunal in Tokyo convicted Japanese Officers for failure to prevent rape in Nanking massacre. It is worth mention that rape is not mentioned in the ‘United nations declaration on the Protection of women and children in Emergency and Armed Conflict” ,
John of Salisbury wrote ‘Policraticus’ in which he opined that theft and rapine (property crimes) should be severely punished. However, he also stressed that soldiers are duty bound to obey their superior’s command without question.
The legal protection for women was included in treaties and war codes from late 18th century onward. The Treaty of amity and commerce (1785) specified that women and children be not molested in case of war. It was stated in the ‘Declaration of Brussels (1874) that honor and right of family should be respected. The Lieber Code (1863) codified for the first time international customary law of land war The code stressed that civilians be protected and prohibited all rape under penalty of death. After second world war, Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals were established by the victor powers to prosecute war criminals of Axis countries, in fact, Germany and Japan for crimes against humanity. There was possibility of prosecuting for rape also in view of Lieber Code and Hague Convention provision for respecting family honor and rights.
The War crimes Tribunal in Tokyo prosecuted sexual violence cases categorizing as ‘inhumane treatment’, ‘ill treatment’, ‘failure to respect family honor and rights’. .It was found that more than twenty thousand women and girls were raped during Japanese occupation of Nanking city of china.
The Fourth Geneva convention is prohibitive of wartime rape and forced prostitution. These prohibitions were reinforced by the 1977 additional protocols to the 1949 Geneva conventions. United Nations established in 1998 International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The tribunal made a landmark decision by defining rape as a crime of genocide under international law. The trial Chamber held that ‘sexual assault formed an integral part of the process destroying the Tutsi ethnic group and that the rape was systematic and had been perpetrated against Tutsi women only, manifesting the specific intent required for those acts to constitute genocide.” Thus rape became a war crime whereas since time immemorial, this was regarded as spoils of war.
The Rome statute Explanatory Memorandum defines jurisdiction of International Criminal court. The court has jurisdiction in offences like rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, etc.
In the year 2008, Security council of UNO adopted resolution that noted that ‘rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide.
Rape- a military strategy
According to Amnesty International, rape is a deliberate military strategy. This is used for conquering territory, by expelling the population from there. The remaining civilians are decimated by destroying their links of affiliation, by the spread of AIDS, and eliminating cultural and religious traditions. War rape is a weapon of war
Conclusion
Despite international cooperation and Geneva convention, it is not possible to completely eliminate the war atrocities against civilians including women. Each country is sovereign. There is no world government that could enforce the international law on the occupation forces. The armed forces often inflict atrocities like rape not only in external occupied area but also in internal matters to crush rebellion. Unless international peace is maintained and war eliminated, there is little hope.