Rape as weapon of war is dispicable

RAPE is often used as a weapon of war. Soldiers rape girls and women in front of parents and husbands to force the local population into submission. Girls and women, tragically, do become pregnant as a result of these rapes.

To cite one example, in the 1990s, Serbian soldiers raped Bosnian women as part of a strategy of “ethnic cleansing” so they would give birth to a Serbian baby, a strategy that was often successful.

Rape as a weapon of war has been documented in Bangladesh, Colombia, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Sudan and Liberia, among other places. Rape was first properly recognised as a weapon of war after the conflict in Bosnia. Although all sides were guilty, most victims were Bosnian Muslims assaulted by Serbs.

Muslim women were herded into “rape camps” where they were raped repeatedly. The horrors of these camps emerged in hearings at the war-crimes tribunal on ex-yugoslavia in The Hague.

In the Sudanese region of Darfur, rape and other forms of sexual violence have also been a brutally effective way to terrorise and control civilians.

Women and girls suffer disproportionately from high rates of violence and extreme poverty during times of conflict.

In recent times, rape is being used as a weapon of war in the Rohingya crisis, with no woman safe from the risk of sexual attacks. The Burmese military has clearly used rape as one of a range of horrific methods of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya.

Let’s not forget the victims of similar atrocities around the world. Above all, let’s make a concerted global effort to collect money and resources for the medical and psychological care the survivors so urgently need.

YUNUS SOOMAR Durban North