|
Advanced search
Previous page
|
Title
To Counter the Rationality of Sexual Violence: Existing and potential policies against the genocidal use of rape as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo |
Full text
http://dspace.library.uu.nl:8080/handle/1874/352579 |
Date
2017 |
Author(s)
Wieringen, K. van |
Contributor(s)
Malcontent, Peter |
Abstract
The population in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been terrorized by widespread sexual violence for decades. Local armed groups, including the government army, continue to systematically rape civilians for strategic reasons. As a result, rape as a weapon of war narratives have become the most popular discursive trend in addressing conflict-related sexual violence in the DRC. In this paper, the concept of rape as a weapon of war is not applied in the generally superficial and descriptive way that has characterized its widespread use by academics, policymakers and media. Instead, it is used here as a theoretic framework to empirically analyze conflict-related sexual violence in the Congolese context. This more substantial application uncovers that rape as a weapon of war as it is used by armed groups in the DRC encompasses certain functions aimed to inflict genocide, including the forceful impregnation, HIV-infection, sterilization and social destruction of victims and their communities. Seeing as current policies have failed to stop the use of rape as a weapon of war through judicial and military means, other approaches to the problem should be explored. This paper argues that the discussed genocidal functions of rape as a weapon of war in the DRC can be neutralized or 'de-functionalized' by providing victims and targeted communities with safe abortion, anti-retroviral medication, reconstructive surgery and awareness programs. As the weapon becomes less functional, actors in the conflict will be discouraged from resorting to it. Adequate provision of these means has become more realistic because of recent developments in funding and technical innovation. They would furthermore not only provide in the short-term humanitarian needs of victims but could also have the long-term effect of preventing further sexual violence. The victim-centric approach advocated in this paper is therefore a way to reach out to the victims of sexual violence and to simultaneously make a fist against the further use of rape as a weapon of war. |
Subject(s)
Democratic Republic of Congo, RDC, sexual violence, rape as a weapon of war, genocide, functions, policy, policies, MONUSCO, legal, military, victim, pregnancy, abortion, HIV, medication, fistula, surgery, stigma, awareness |
Language
en |
Type of publication
Bachelor thesis |
Format
image/pdf |
Rights
info:eu-repo/semantics/ClosedAccess |
Repository
Utrecht - University of Utrecht
|
Added to C-A: 2017-08-08;12:50:23 |
© Connecting-Africa 2004-2024 | Last update: Friday, March 8, 2024 |
Webmaster
|