for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict murad

Photo: NTB Scanpix, ShutterstockĪny warring parties can perpetrate sexual assaults in war. UN soldiers, the very ones who are there to protect the civilian population, have repeatedly been arrested for sexual assault. It took time to sentence individuals for sexual violence afterwards, but it did eventually happen. The violence in Guatemala happened in the 1980s when an estimated 200 000 people were killed, the vast majority by government forces. “This was the first time a national court convicted anyone of sexual slavery as a war crime,” says Associate Professor Karin Dyrstad in NTNU’s Department of Sociology and Political Science.

Last year a special sentence was pronounced in Guatemala. But until Rwanda in the 1990s, no one had been convicted of the crime. International rules against sexual abuse in war have been in place for at least a century. But the modern-day response to it is – in part – still new and emerging. Sexual violence in war is hardly a new phenomenon. Honour is often closely linked to women and their rights. You’re punishing both the woman and the man. “Sexual assault against women is a weapon. People are reduced to numbers if the sexual violence is widespread enough. When did you last read about these atrocities? Of these women, 240 000 are estimated to have died.

As many as two million German women were raped when the Russians gained the upper hand during and after World War II. Sexual assaults often end up in the background when war takes so many lives. Murad is a former victim of war crimes in Iraq who has spoken up to share her own abuse experiences. Gynecologist Mukwege has helped thousands of victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo). Honour is often closely linked to women and their rights,” says the professor.ĭenis Mukwege and Nadia Murad received the 2018 peace prize for their “efforts to stop the use of sexual violence as a weapon in war and armed conflicts.” “Sexual violence against women is a weapon. In Rwanda, separate divisions of HIV-infected men were set up to deliberately infect as many Tutsis and moderate Hutus as possible. In some cases, the sexual assaults are conducted systematically. Nadia Murad and Denis Mukwege received the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to stop the use of sexual violence as a weapon in war and armed conflicts.

For their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict murad