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Below is my contribution to the Wikipedia article on Sexual violence. First is the introduction for the whole entry, to which the whole group has contributed. Second (Definition and Victims) is my personal contribution, which counts approximately 1200 words, excluding footnotes.

I have also edited parts of the section that is now entitled Statistics.

I have left 4 messages on the main article's talk page. In general, the group has communicated and commented on each others' contributions using the talk pages of our individual sandboxes.

The group has decided to be graded as a group.


Main Introduction for the whole entry

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Sexual violence includes, but is not limited to rape. Although there is no agreed upon definition of sexual violence, the ones commonly applied encompass any act of sexual nature, or an attempt to obtain a sexual act, carried out through coercion. Sexual violence also includes physical and psychological violence directed at a person’s sexuality, including unwanted comments or advances, or acts of traffic such as forced prostitution or sexual slavery.[1][2][3]

Sexual violence, both in times of peace and armed conflict situations, is widespread and considered to be one of the most traumatic, pervasive, and most common violations human beings suffer.[4][5] It is a serious public health and human rights problem and has a profound both short- and/or long- term impact on physical and mental health. Though women and girls suffer disproportionately from this kind of violence, it can occur to anybody at any age. It is also an act of violence that can be perpetrated by parents, caregivers, acquaintances and strangers, as well as intimate partners. Sexual violence is rarely a crime of passion, it is rather an aggressive act that frequently aims to express power and dominance over the victim.

Sexual violence remains highly stigmatized in all settings, thus levels of disclosure of the assault vary between regions. In general, it is a widely underreported phenomenon, thus available data tend to underestimate the true scale of the problem. In addition, sexual violence is also a neglected area of research, thus deeper understanding of the issue is imperative in order to promote a coordinated movement against it. It is important to distinguish between domestic sexual violence and conflict-related sexual violence.[6] Often, people who coerce their spouses into sexual acts believe their actions are legitimate because they are married.In times of conflict, sexual violence tends to be an inevitable repercussion of warfare trapped in an ongoing cycle of impunity.[7][8] Rape of women and of men is often used as a weapon of war, as a form of attack on the enemy, typifying the conquest and degradation of its women or men or captured male or female fighters.[9] Even if strongly prohibited by IHRL, Customary law and IHL, enforcement mechanisms are still fragile or even non-existent in many corners of the world.[10][11][12][13]

From a historical perspective sexual violence was considered as only happening to women and as being commonplace and “normal” during both war and peace times from the Ancient Greeks to the 20th century. This led to the negligence of any indications of what the methods, aims and magnitude of such violence was. In fact, only at the end of the 20th century sexual violence was not considered anymore as a minor issue and was gradually criminalized with a wider focus on the victims.


Definition

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There is no generally accepted definition of sexual violence; however, a commonly used definition is the one provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its World Report on Violence and Health 2002. In this report sexual violence is defined as: “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.”[14] WHO’s definition of sexual violence includes but is not limited to rape, which is defined as “physically forced or otherwise coerced penetration of the vulva or anus, using a penis, other body parts or an object.” Other acts incorporated in sexual violence are various forms of assaults such as forced contact between mouth and penis, vulva or anus.[15]


Broader definitions of sexual violence indicating that sexual violence is not limited to rape, are also found within international law. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has established in article 7(1)(g) that “rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity”[16] constitutes a crime against humanity. Sexual violence is further explained in the ICC’s Elements of Crimes, which the Court uses in its interpretation and application of article 7. The Elements of Crime establishes that sexual violence is:

  • “an act of sexual nature against one or more persons or caused such person or persons to engage in an act of sexual nature by force, or by threat of force or coercion, such as that caused by fear of violence, duress, detention, psychological oppression or abuse of power, against such person or persons or another person, or by taking advantage of a coercive environment or such person’s or persons’ incapacity to give genuine consent.”[17]


The Special Rapporteur on systemic rape sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during armed conflict, in a report in 1998, stipulated that sexual violence is “any violence, physical or psychological, carried out through sexual means by targeting sexuality.” This definition encompasses physical as well as psychological attacks aimed at “a person’s sexual characteristics, such as forcing a person to strip naked in public, mutilating a person’s genitals, or slicing off a woman’s breasts.”[18] The Special Rapporteur’s definition also refers to situations “in which two victims are forced to perform sexual acts on one another or to harm one another in a sexual manner.”[19]


Sexual violence consists in a purposeful action of which the intention is often to inflict severe humiliation on the victim(s) and diminish human dignity. In the case where others are forced to watch acts of sexual violence, such acts aim at intimidating the larger community.[20]

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An important distinction to be made is between conflict-related sexual violence and domestic sexual violence[21]:

  • Conflict-related sexual violence is sexual violence perpetrated by combatants, including rebels, militias, and government forces. The various forms of sexual violence can be used systematically in conflicts “to torture, injure, extract information, degrade, threaten, intimidate or punish.”[22] Sexual violence can in such cases amount to being a weapon of war.
  • Domestic sexual violence is sexual violence perpetrated by intimate partners and by other family/household members, and is often termed intimate partner violence. This kind of sexual violence is widespread both during conflict and in peacetime. It is often argued that incidences of domestic sexual violence increase in wartime and in post-conflict environments.

Victims

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Most research, reports and studies focus on sexual violence against women, and sexual violence in armed conflicts. Mainstream narratives on sexual violence also often depict men as perpetrators and women as victims. Indeed, women suffer disproportionately from sexual violence; however, sexual violence is committed by both men and women, and in peacetime as well as during conflict.[23]

Women

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Sexual violence against women can take many forms and is carried out in different situations and contexts. The WHO’s World Report on Violence and Health[24] lists the following ways in which sexual violence against females can be committed:

  • Systematic rape during armed conflict
  • Rape within marriage or dating relationships
  • Rape by strangers
  • Unwanted sexual advances or sexual harassment, including demanding sex in return for favors
  • Sexual abuse of mentally or physically disabled people
  • Sexual abuse of children
  • Forced marriage or cohabitation, including the marriage of children
  • Denial of the right to use contraception or to adopt other measures to protect against sexually transmitted diseases
  • Forced abortion
  • Violent acts against the sexual integrity of women, including female genital mutilation and obligatory inspection for virginity
  • Forced prostitution and trafficking of people for the purpose of sexual exploitation

Conflict

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Sexual violence is one of the most common and widespread violations to which women are subject in wartime. It also figures among the most traumatic experiences, both emotionally and psychologically, women suffer during conflict. Sexual violence, in particular rape, is often considered as a method of warfare: it is used not only to “torture, injure, extract information, degrade, displace, intimidate, punish or simply destroy”, but also as a strategy to destabilize communities and demoralize men.[25][26] The use of sexual violence as a weapon of war was widespread conflicts such as Rwanda, Sudan, Sierra Leone, and Kosovo.[27] The perpetrators of female-directed violence in times of conflict are often armed groups and local people.[28]

Men

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As with sexual violence against women, sexual violence against men can take different forms, and occur in any kind of context, including at home or in the workplace, in prisons and police custody, and during war and in the military.[29] The practice of sexually assaulting males is not confined to any geographical area of the world or its place of commission, and occurs irrespective of the victim’s age.[30][31] The various forms of sexual violence directed against males include rape, enforced sterilization, enforced nudity, enforced masturbation, genital violence, and enforced rape. Sexual violence against males also encompasses emasculation, which can take place through “feminization” or “homosexualization” of the victim, and the prevention of procreation.[32]

Male-directed sexual violence is more significant than is often thought. The scope of such crimes continues, however, to be unknown largely because of poor or a lack of documentation. The under- or non-reporting of sexual violence against males may often be due to fear, confusion, guilt, shame and stigma, or a combination thereof.[33][34] Moreover, men may be reluctant to talk about being victim of crimes of sexual violence. In this regard, the way in which societies construct the notion of masculinity plays a role. Masculinity and victimization may be considered incompatible, in particular in societies where masculinity is equated with the ability to exert power, leading to non-reporting.[35] The incompatibility between the conventional understanding of masculinity and victimization can arise both with regard to the attack itself and when coping with the consequences of such crimes.[36] Because of under- and non-reporting on sexual violence against men, the little evidence that exists tends to be anecdotal.[37]

In the case that sexual violence against males is recognized and reported, it is often categorized as “abuse” or “torture". This tendency to hide sexual assaults directed at men as something else contributes to the poor- or lack of reporting of such crimes, and can arise from the belief that sexual violence is a women’s issue and that men cannot be victims of sexual assaults.[38]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ [WHO (2002), ’Sexual violence’, in World Report in violence and health, Chapter 6, pp. 149]
  2. ^ [Elements of Crimes, Article 7(1)(g)-6 Crimes against humanity of sexual violence, elements 1. Accessed through http://www.icc-cpi.int/en_menus/icc/legal%20texts%20and%20tools/official%20journal/Pages/elements%20of%20crimes.aspx]
  3. ^ [McDougall, Ms. Gay J. (1998), Special Rapporteur, Contemporary forms of slavery: systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during armed conflict, Final report submitted by Ms. Jay J. McDougall, Special Rapporteur, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/13, para. 21]
  4. ^ Lindsey, Charlotte (2001). Women facing war. Geneva: ICRC. pp. 57–61.
  5. ^ "Advancement of women: ICRC statement to the United Nations, 2013". Retrieved 28 November 2013.
  6. ^ [Human Security Report (2012), Sexual Violence, Education and War: Beyond the mainstream narrative, Human Security Research Group, Simon Fraser University, Canada, Human Security Press]
  7. ^ International Committee of the Red Cross (2008). Women and War. Geneva: ICRC. p. 12.
  8. ^ United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (2007). The shame of war: sexual violence against women and girls in conflict. OCHA/IRIN Publication. pp. 57–75.
  9. ^ Swiss S et al. Violence against women during the Liberian civil conflict. Journal of the American Medical Association, 1998, 279:625–629.
  10. ^ Physicians for Human Rights (2002). War-related sexual violence in Sierra Leone : a population-based assessment : a report. Boston, MA: Physicians for Human Rights. ISBN 1-879707-37-3.
  11. ^ "Advancement of women: ICRC statement to the United Nations, 2013". Retrieved 28 November 2013.
  12. ^ Lindsey, Charlotte (2001). Women facing war. Geneva: ICRC. pp. 57–61.
  13. ^ United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (2007). The shame of war: sexual violence against women and girls in conflict. OCHA/IRIN Publication.
  14. ^ [WHO (2002), ’Sexual violence’, in World Report in violence and health, Chapter 6, pp. 149]
  15. ^ [WHO (2002), ’Sexual violence’, in World Report in violence and health, Chapter 6, pp. 147-181]
  16. ^ [Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Article 7(g) Crimes against humanity]
  17. ^ [Elements of Crimes, Article 7(1)(g)-6 Crimes against humanity of sexual violence, elements 1. Accessed through http://www.icc-cpi.int/en_menus/icc/legal%20texts%20and%20tools/official%20journal/Pages/elements%20of%20crimes.aspx]
  18. ^ [McDougall, Ms. Gay J. (1998), Special Rapporteur, Contemporary forms of slavery: systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during armed conflict, Final report submitted by Ms. Jay J. McDougall, Special Rapporteur, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/13, para. 21]
  19. ^ [McDougall, Ms. Gay J. (1998), Special Rapporteur, Contemporary forms of slavery: systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during armed conflict, Final report submitted by Ms. Jay J. McDougall, Special Rapporteur, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/13, para. 22]
  20. ^ [McDougall, Ms. Gay J. (1998), Special Rapporteur, Contemporary forms of slavery: systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during armed conflict, Final report submitted by Ms. Jay J. McDougall, Special Rapporteur, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/13, para. 22]
  21. ^ [Human Security Report (2012), Sexual Violence, Education and War: Beyond the mainstream narrative, Human Security Research Group, Simon Fraser University, Canada, Human Security Press]
  22. ^ [Goetz, Ms. Anne Marie (2008), ’Introduction’ at Wilton Park Conference, Women Targeted or Affected by Armed Conflict: What Role for Military Peacekeepers?, 27-28 May 2008]
  23. ^ [Sivakumaran, Sandesh (2007), ”Sexual Violence Against Men in Armed Conflict” in European Journal of International Law, Vol. 18, no.2, pp. 253-276]
  24. ^ [WHO (2002), ’Sexual violence’, in World Report in violence and health, Chapter 6, pp. 147-181]
  25. ^ [ICRC (2008), Women and War, pp. 12-13]
  26. ^ [Thomas, Katie (2007), “Sexual violence: weapon of war” in Forced Migration Review, Issue 27, January, pp. 15-16]
  27. ^ [Thomas, Katie (2007), “Sexual violence: weapon of war” in Forced Migration Review, Issue 27, January, pp. 15-16]
  28. ^ [Egeland, Jan (2007), “International responses” in Forced Migration Review, Issue 27, January, pp. 8-9]
  29. ^ [WHO (2002), ’Sexual violence’, in World Report in violence and health, Chapter 6, pp. 147-181]
  30. ^ [Solangon, Sarah and Preeti Patel (2012), “Sexual violence against men in countries affected by armed conflict” in Conflict, Security and Development, 12:4, pp. 417-442]
  31. ^ [Sivakumaran, Sandesh (2007), ”Sexual Violence Against Men in Armed Conflict” in European Journal of International Law, Vol. 18, no.2, pp. 253-276]
  32. ^ [Sivakumaran, Sandesh (2007), ”Sexual Violence Against Men in Armed Conflict” in European Journal of International Law, Vol. 18, no.2, pp. 253-276]
  33. ^ [Russell, Wynne (2007), ”Sexual violence against men and boys” in Forced Migration Review, Issue 27, pp. 22-23]
  34. ^ [Sivakuraman, Sandesh (2005), “Male/Male Rape and the ‘Taint’ of Homosexuality” in Human Rights Quarterly, Volume 27, Number 4, November 2005, pp. 1274-1306]
  35. ^ [Stanko, Elizabeth A. and Kathy Hobdell (1993), “Assault on Men: Masculinity and Male Victimization” in British Journal of Criminology, 33(3), pp. 400-415]
  36. ^ [Mezey, Gillian C. and Michael B. King (2000), “Treatment for Male Victims of Sexual Assault” in G. Mezey and M. B. King (eds.) Male Victims of Sexual Assault]
  37. ^ [Solangon, Sarah and Preeti Patel (2012), “Sexual violence against men in countries affected by armed conflict” in Conflict, Security and Development, 12:4, pp. 417-442]
  38. ^ [Sivakumaran, Sandesh (2007), ”Sexual Violence Against Men in Armed Conflict” in European Journal of International Law, Vol. 18, no.2, pp. 253-276]
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