RAPE WEAPON OF TODAY'S WARS!
TODAY'S WARS USE RAPE AS A IMMEDIATE CONTROL FOR POPULATIONS USING WOMEN
By Terry Miest
Oct. 2012
When we discuss war and security, we
don’t often explore its ramifications on women. Rape and sexual assault
are common threats women face globally. But of all the artillery and
tactics soldiers use, we rarely think of rape as a weapon of war. And
yet too often, it is.
On Tuesday night, I watched
I Came to Testify, the first in the 5-part documentary series,
Women, War and Peace, on PBS showcasing women’s role in war and its impact on women. Produced and written by
Pamela Hogan, one of the series’ executive producers,
I Came to Testify highlights the courageous women who testified about the rape camps during the Bosnian genocide.
The powerful film examines women’s
horrific experiences in the town of Foca in Bosnia (formerly
Yugoslavia), a site of one of the rape camps. Before the Bosnian War,
journalist Refic Hodzic said that brotherhood and unity was the
“ideology” in Yugoslavia; “no one cared who was Croat, who was Serb, who
was Muslim." But overnight, things changed. Many Serbs pulled their
children out of school and fled town. The Bosnian Muslims were
eventually dehumanized by Serbian soldiers, pitting neighbor against
neighbor.
In Foca, soldiers rounded up the
Bosnian men, women and children. Men “were beaten, starved and executed
in concentration camps” while the women “were locked in hotels, schools,
private homes & makeshift prisons around the city." After they were
gathered, the rapes began. Soldiers threatened women; to cut off their
breasts, slit their throats and kill their daughters. Hundreds of women
and girls were held captive in rape camps.
Established by the United Nations
Security Council in 1993, the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague,
Netherlands was the first tribunal established in Europe since
Nuremberg and the first ever convened during a war. 16 women agreed to
travel to The Hague to share their nightmarish ordeal. As narrator Matt Damon (who wanted to be a part of the documentary because of his 4 daughters) said:
"Their testimonies would embody the experience of hundreds of women held captive in Foca."
One of the witnesses, called Witness 99
to protect her anonymity, recounted how on the day they were rounded
up, she was raped in front of her in-laws and then they were murdered in
front of her. Witness 99 escaped to a refugee camp where the horror of
rape continued. Another witness said she "cried and pleaded" for the
soldiers to let her go "but they just laughed." Another witness
testified that one of the soldiers told another, "You have to learn how
to rape Muslim women like we are doing." The women said fear "paralyzed"
them.
In
Foca, half the residents, 20,000 Muslims were just gone. All 14 mosques
were destroyed. Evidence in Foca showed that a campaign could be built
to prove that a systematic, organized campaign of rape had been "used as
an instrument of terror." While the UN estimated 20,000 women raped in
Bosnia, others say it was more like 50,000.
Peggy Kuo served as a trial
attorney with the tribunal. She declared that "rape has always been an
undercurrent of war." When talking about war, the term "rape and
pillage" frequently arises. But we don’t really think about what the
words mean. Kuo said the soldiers raped the women, objectifying them and
attempting "to strip them of their identity." Journalist Hodzic
explained:
"Rape was used not only for the immediate impact on women but for the long-term destruction on the soul of the community."
Witness 99 asserted:
"Rape is the worst form of humiliation for any woman. But that was the goal: to kill a woman's dignity."
The
women heroically faced their fears to share their stories. They were
astutely deemed heroes by those interviewed in the film. As Kuo
articulated:
"…The
people who came and testified were able to maintain their dignity and
they didn't let the perpetrators take their humanity away from them. So
yes in one sense they were victims. But in another sense, they were the
strong ones. They survived."
While
rape had been charged as a crime before, it usually falls under the
umbrella of hate crimes. With this groundbreaking tribunal, for the
first time rape was charged as "a crime against humanity." The case
wouldn’t prevent all rapes. But Kuo said that even though they couldn’t
prosecute every rape, it was a significant statement to acknowledge what
happens to women during war. The case "transformed the definition of
wartime slavery," laying the "foundation of trials involving violence
against women in international courts."
War leaves devastation in its wake.
Yet historically, when we talk about war, we talk about it in terms of
soldiers and casualties; too often from a male perspective, forgetting
that it equally destroys women’s lives. Kuo explained:
"Looking at pictures of Nuremberg, it's mostly men...women aren't given a place at the table, even as a witness..."
And that still holds true today. We need to reframe security issues from a gendered lens.
Genocide frighteningly still occurs;
people systematically killed because of their ethnicity, religion or the
color of their skin. As tragically seen in
Sierra Leone and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo,
soldiers utilize rape as a weapon of war again and again. Rape and
sexual assault occur beyond conflicts and don’t only threaten women as
men face rape in wartime too. It’s an epidemic we must combat.
Bravery bolstered the 16 Bosnian women
to come forward, speaking out against the unspeakable atrocities they
survived. As Witness 99 so eloquently said:
"War
criminals wouldn't be known & there would be no justice if
witnesses didn't testify…I was glad to be able to say what happened to
me and to say who had done this to me & my people. I felt like I had
fulfilled my duty. I came to look him in the face. I came to testify."
We
live in a rape culture that continually silences women’s narratives.
The survivors’ horrific experiences shock and haunt. If we ever hope to
change things and obtain justice and peace, I Came to Testify reminds us that women’s voices must be heard.
Watch the full episode of
I Came to Testify online or on PBS.
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