To understand the persistence of wartime rape that the DRC has experienced during the sixteen years old civil war, this study undertakes a critical analysis of the concept of ‘symbolic violence’ as proposed by Bourdieu. I have suggested that this concept [symbolic violence] as developed by Bourdieu needs other dimensions of definition in order to be applied to other social crises outside the western world. Shaping a link between wartime rape and its symbolic dimensions enables us to clearly articulate that the symbolic order brought through the practice of wartime rape by perpetrators does not remain unchallenged by the dominated who are direct and indirect victims of wartime rape. For this purpose, data were collected from ordinary community members, community leaders; a doctor and nurse form Panzi Hospital, an army General, a lawyer and some NGOs members working in the area of study (Kamanyola)through in-depth interviews. Observation and document analysis have also been used in the process of data collection. As a result the study found that wartime rape, at first, is a threat that perpetrators use to impose their own symbolic power upon males from the enemy groups through the rape of females from the same enemy groups. Therefore, this physical attack [war rape] against females impacts the victims as individuals, the community and the whole nation. This helps to suggest that physical violence is also symbolic violence. This is rendered possible through social and cultural patriarchal norms shared by both victims and perpetrators. As a result, family and community ties as well as marriage – as constitutive elements of the community’s symbolic order – are directly fractured by wartime rape. Forcing women to be economically unproductive was another strategy to undermine community ties which were built through community-based activities. Secondly, the strategic use of war rape comes to counter the idea of symbolic violence as being just soft or an invisible violence but under some circumstances a symbolic violence might produce physical harm.Thirdly, the study found that, patriarchy as the dominant social and cultural order is resisted by the dominated (women respondents in majority) now that it is associated to wartime rape. Because of this, I proposed that symbolic orders are not always taken for granted; they maybe resisted by the dominated. Based on the findings, this research report advocates for a more gender inclusive policy to encourage women to participate in the making of decisions which concern their lives as main victims of wartime rape in DRC generally and in Kamanyola in particular.

In the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina, one of the critical elements of the ethnic cleansing regimes was rape and impregnation of women. When the international justice system was created to criminally try the perpetrators of the atrocities, including the rape victims was a new development. Looking at the tribunals and court system from a gendered perspective reveals that the efforts to include rape victims have not taken into account their specific needs, stemming from their trauma. A critical look the ICTY and other criminal courts are presented, as well as recommendations for improving inclusivity and reconciliation.

No description available.

The purpose of this thesis is to study under what conditions armed groups practice different repertoires of sexual violence, by studying ideology’s influence on behaviour. This will be explored through a structured focused comparison of three armed groups active in the conflict in Darfur 2003-2006, the Janjaweed, Sudan’s Liberation Army/Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement. The theory suggest that a strong implemented ideology will lead to control over behaviour and values, hence sexual violence will be practice in line with organizational objectives and ideas, either instrumental or not practiced at all. Consequently, a weak ideological framework will lead to variation in socialization processes and an opportunistic repertoire.  The findings correlate as expected by the hypothesis, while data constraints call for caution. The results suggests a broadening of the theoretical framework as well as further studies on the suggested causal mechanism, combatant socialization, to examine how, and under what circumstances, behaviours are spread as a social practice among combatants.

No description available.

[pt] A presente dissertação tem como objetivo discutir a relação entre infância, estupro e representação das crianças nascidas de estupro em contextos de guerra no cenário internacional. Mais especificamente, o objetivo central é entender as razões pelas quais saímos da invisibilização da existência de crianças nascidas de estupro na política internacional para a sua construção discursiva como um problema de segurança que merece atenção internacional. Por meio da análise de documentos das organizações que compõem o Sistema ONU, demonstramos que o reconhecimento dessas crianças como vítimas que necessitam da atenção internacional é derivado da evolução do debate do estupro como arma de guerra na política internacional, sobretudo com os genocídios de Bósnia (1992-1995) e Ruanda (1994). Desse modo, como o próprio acrônimo sugere, esse grupo tem seu reconhecimento vinculado ao estupro, e não pelas marginalizações que sofrem enquanto indivíduos vitimados por um conflito. Além disso, o fato do termo crianças nascidas de estupro se aplicar a pessoas em qualquer idade faz com que esses indivíduos tenham sua agência limitada, uma vez que as construções sociais acerca da infância colocam a criança como vulnerável, dependente e com capacidade reduzida de exprimir suas demandas. O arcabouço teórico pós-estruturalista adotado nessa pesquisa nos permite examinar como as representações sociais e culturais desse grupo excluem uma série de outros indivíduos nascidos de estupro fora de contextos de conflito. / [en] The dissertation discusses the relationship between childhood, rape and representation of children born of rape in wartime rape in the international scenario. The main purpose is to understand the reasons why we left the invisibility of the existence of children born of wartime rape in International Politics to its discursive construction as a security problem that deserves international attention. Through the analysis of documents from the organizations that make up the UN System, we demonstrate that the recognition of these children as victims who need international attention is derived from the evolution of the debate on rape as a weapon of war in International Politics, especially with Bosnian (1992-1995) and Rwandan (1994) genocides. In this way, as the acronym itself suggests, this group s recognition is linked to rape, and not to the marginalization they suffer as individuals victimized by a conflict. In addition, the fact that the term children born of wartime rape applies to people of any age means that these individuals have limited agency, since social constructions about childhood place the child as vulnerable, dependent and with a reduced ability to express themselves their demands. The poststructuralist theoretical framework adopted in this research allows us to examine how the social and cultural representations of this group exclude a series of other individuals born of rape outside conflict contexts.