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From helplessness to agency: examining the plurality of women's experiences in armed conflict

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2010

Medina Haeri  and
Nadine Puechguirbal
Medina Haeri
Affiliation:
Medina Haeri is an attaché at the ICRC's Women and War division. She holds an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
Nadine Puechguirbal
Affiliation:
Nadine Puechguirbal is the ICRC's Women and War adviser. She was the former gender adviser to the UN peacekeeping operation in Haiti.
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Abstract

Although women routinely display remarkable resilience and fortitude by adopting new roles and taking on new responsibilities when confronted by the ravages of war, they continue to be depicted by many humanitarian actors as being intrinsically weak and vulnerable – a depiction that results in the perceptible absence of women from decision-making bodies both during and in the wake of conflict. This article argues for the need to consider the plurality of women's experiences in war, including as female heads of households, as victims (and survivors) of sexual violence, as community leaders, and as armed combatants.

Type
Women
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 92 , Issue 877: Women , March 2010 , pp. 103 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 2010

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51 Ibid., p. 31.

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58 United Nations, Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Rwanda submitted by René Degni-Ségui, Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights, under paragraph 20 of resolution S-3/1 of 25 May 1994, (E/CN.4/1996/68), 29 January 1996, para. 16.

59 For more on a discussion of honour within International Humanitarian Law, see ICRC frame of reference on sexual violence in armed conflict and other situations of violence, ICRC, March 2009, p. 12.

60 In Prosecutor v. Zejnil Delalic et al., the ICTY stated: ‘There can be no doubt that rape and other forms of sexual assault are expressly prohibited under international humanitarian law’. It considered ‘rape to constitute a physical invasion of a sexual nature, committed on a person under circumstances that are coercive’. It therefore found that whenever rape and other forms of sexual violence meet the criteria for torture, they constitute torture, in the same manner as any other acts that meet these criteria (ICTY, Prosecutor v. Zejnil Delalic et al, Case No. IT-96-21-T, judgement of 16 November 1998, paras 476, 479 and 496). In Prosecutor v. Furundzija, the ICTY Appeal Chamber stated: ‘With regard to the issue of the reaffirmation by the International Tribunal of rape as a war crime, the Appeals Chamber finds that the international community has long recognized rape as a war crime. In the Celebici Judgement, one of the accused was convicted of torture by means of rape, as a violation of the laws or customs of war. This recognition by the international community of rape as a war crime is also reflected in the Rome Statute where it is designated as a war crime’ (ICTY, Prosecutor v. Anto Furundzija (appeal), Case No. IT-95- 17/1-A, judgement of 21 July 2000, para. 210).

61 ICTY Statute, Art. 5.g; ICTR Statute, Art. 3.g; Rome Statute, Art. 7.1.g.

62 Security Council Resolution 1325 was passed unanimously on 31 October 2000 and was the first resolution ever passed by the Security Council that specifically addresses the impact of war on women, and highlights women's contributions to conflict resolution and sustainable peace. With regard to sexual violence, it specifically called ‘on all parties to armed conflict to take special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse, and all other forms of violence in situations of armed conflict.’ For more, see The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, http://www.peacewomen.org/un/sc/1325.html (last visited 28 January 2010).

63 On 19 June 2008, the Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1820, which noted that ‘rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide’. The resolution also affirmed the council's intention when establishing and renewing ‘state specific’ sanction regimes to consider imposing ‘targeted and graduated’ measures against warring factions who committed rape and other forms of violence against women and girls. For more on this resolution, see Stop Rape Now: UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict, http://www.stoprapenow.org/pdf/Security%20Council%20Resolution%201820.pdf (last visited 28 January 2010).

64 As a follow-up to Resolution 1820, on 30 September 2009, the Security Council once again unanimously adopted resolution 1888, calling for the appointment of a Special Representative to the Secretary-General to provide coherent and strategic leadership to address sexual violence in armed conflict. To commemorate the anniversary of Resolution 1325, the Security Council adopted Resolution 1898, urging Member States, United Nations bodies, donors and civil society to ensure that women's protection and empowerment was taken into account during post-conflict needs assessment and planning, and factored into subsequent funding and programming. It also called on all those involved in the planning for disarmament, demobilization and integration programmes, in particular, to take into account the needs of women and girls associated with armed groups, as well as the needs of their children. For more on these resolutions, see The United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service (UN-NGLS), http://www.un-ngls.org/spip.php?article1633 (last visited 28 January 2010).

65 For more on the human rights and specific vulnerabilities of children born of wartime rape, see Charli Carpenter (ed.), Born of War: Protecting Children of Sexual Violence Survivors in Conflict Zones, Kumarian Press, Bloomfield, 2007.