Rape during the Syrian Civil War

Rape during the Syrian Civil War was used as a strategy throughout the Syrian conflict by pro government supporters[1], members of the Free Syrian Army[2], and militants fighting for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. According to the International Rescue Committee (IRC) rape has been a "significant and disturbing feature" during the conflict,[3] and the primary reason given for 600,000 women fleeing the war zone is fear of sexual assault. For the background and legal content use the prosecution of Syrian civil war criminals. Human Rights Watch have requested that the United Nations Security Council refer Syria to the International Criminal Court.[4]

Human toll of the Syrian Civil War

Population 21 ±.5: Displaced 6 ±.5, Refugee 5.5 ±.5, Casualty 0.5 ±.1 (millions)
Syrian refugees
By country	Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt
Settlements	Camps: (Jordan)
Displaced Syrians
De-escalation	Safe zone
Casualties of the war
Crimes	Human rights violations, Massacres, Rape
Return of refugees  · Refugees as weapons  · Prosecution of war criminals

Syrian state forces

Following the onset of the Arab spring, which had spread to Syria in 2011, reports of rape by pro government forces increased.[5] In Daraa, at the onset of the conflict state forces organized the rape of women in the region.[6][7]

In Syria women who are raped can become victims of honour killings, or if allowed by their families to live are no longer eligible for marriage. When the state forces began their crackdown on protesters in Jisr al-Shugour a tactic used was raiding homes in which women were sleeping.[8] A report released by Save the Children in 2013 stated, "There is proof that girls and boys scarcely over the age of 12 have experienced sexual violence, including both torture to their genitals and rape."[9] Sarah Leah, the director for the Middle East branch of HRW has said that, "Syrian security forces have used sexual violence… with complete impunity,"[4]

Islamic State

During the Yazidis genocide, IS sold women into sexual slavery and raped girls as young as nine.[10] Amar Hussein, a captured IS terrorist who has admitted to raping over 200 women, stated that those in command had given free rein to IS fighters to rape as many Yazidi women as they wanted.[11] A report by the United Nations Human Rights Council states that "women and girls as young as nine are being sold as slaves to ISIS soldiers who regularly beat them and rape them, re-sell them, and, if they try to escape, kill them."[12]

A pamphlet published online by IS on the social media platform Twitter explicitly endorsed the rape of children; it reads: "It is permissible to have intercourse with the female slave who hasn't reached puberty, if she is fit for intercourse".[13]

International reactions

In 2012 in a declaration by the UN stated that in Syria rape was being used as a weapon of war, however the help being given to victims was "sorely lacking", and that "Hospitals and clinics are not equipped to deal with the sheer volume of victims, and many victims do not report their attacks"[14]

The NGO Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) released a report in November 2013 stated that, since the conflict began in 2011, approximately 6,000 women had been raped, which included gang-rapes, with figures likely to be far higher given that the majority cases go unreported.[15] According to the EMHRN report the majority of documented attacks have occurred during government-backed attacks on rebel positions, on those kept in detention and at checkpoints.[16]

Speaking at the UN in 2012, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide stated that the rapes which occurred during the Bosnian war were being repeated in Syria, with rapes in the tens of thousands. [17]

During the first 11 months of 2013 the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) released figures which showed that it had given psychological help to 33,430 people in Syria who had been victims of either rape or gender based violence, with a further 4,800 cases reported in December 2013.[18] Jody Williams of the International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict has said of the sexual violence being visited on the men, women and children of Syria, "With every war and major conflict, as an international community we say 'never again' to mass rape, Yet, in Syria, as countless women are again finding the war waged on their bodies--we are again standing by and wringing our hands."[19]

References

1. Litsas & Tziampiris 2015, p. 202.
2. Priddy 2014, p. 320.
3. Fitzpatrick 2016, p. 33.
4. Proudman 2013.
5. Flock 2011.
6. Bentley 2016, p. 109.
7. Omar 2015.
8. Tuysuz 2011.
9. Minano & Andrzejewski 2017.
10. Wintour 2016.
11. Georgy 2017.
12. Chapman2016.
13. Callimachi 2013.
14. Harvey 2015.
15. BBC 2013.
16. Jackson 2013.
17. Brinkley 2013.
18. Miles 2013.
19. Wolfe 2013.

Bibliography

• BBC (26 November 2013). "Syria conflict: Women 'targets of abuse and torture'". BBC. Retrieved 11 June 2017.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Bentley, Michelle (2016). Syria and the Chemical Weapons Taboo: Exploiting the Forbidden. Manchester University Press. p. 109. ISBN 978-1526104717.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Brinkley, Joel (6 September 2013). "War Rape: Rwanda, Bosnia, and Now Syria". World Affairs. Retrieved 21 June 2017.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Callimachi, Rukmini (13 August 2013). "ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape". New York Times. Retrieved 17 June 2017.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Chapman, Michael W. (7 October 2016). "ISIS Genocide of Yazidis: 'Girls As Young as 9 Were Raped, As Were Pregnant Women'". CNS News. Retrieved 16 June 2017.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Fitzpatrick, Brenda (2016). Tactical Rape in War and Conflict: International Recognition and Response. Policy Press. p. 33. ISBN 978-1447326694.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Flock, Elizabeth (21 June 2011). "Women in the Arab Spring: The other side of the story". Washington Post. Retrieved 15 June 2017.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Georgy, Michael (17 February 2017). "Captive Islamic State militant says mass rapes were 'normal'". Reuters. Retrieved 9 June 2017.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Harvey, Allison (1 September 2015). "UN Inaction and Rape as a Weapon of War in Syria". Harvard Health Policy Review. Retrieved 11 June 2017.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Jackson, Allison (26 November 2013). "6,000 cases of women raped during Syrian conflict, human rights group says". Public Radio International. Retrieved 11 June 2017.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Litsas, Spyridon N.; Tziampiris, Aristotle (2015). The Eastern Mediterranean in Transition: Multipolarity, Politics and Power. Routledge. p. 202. ISBN 978-1472440396.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Miles, Tom (8 January 2013). "U.N. aided 38,000 victims of Syrian gender-based violence in 2013". Reuters. Retrieved 16 June 2017.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Omar, Manal (18 March 2015). "The Women in the Middle of the War". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 11 June 2017.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Minano, Leila; Andrzejewski, Cécile (2 July 2017). "How The Assad Regime Used Child Rape Aa a Weapon Of War". Zero Impunity. Retrieved 9 June 2017.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Priddy, Alice (2014). "Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict in 2012". In Casey-Maslen, Stuart (ed.). The War Report: 2012. Oxford University Press. p. 320. ISBN 978-0199689088.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Proudman, Charlotte R (21 January 2013). "War rape: The forgotten pandemic sweeping Syria". The Independent. Retrieved 11 June 2017.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Tuysuz, Gul (20 June 2011). "Syrian men promise to marry women who were raped". Washington Post. Retrieved 16 June 2017.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Wolfe, Lauren (3 April 2013). "Syria Has a Massive Rape Crisis". The Atlantic. Retrieved 21 June 2017.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Wintour, Patrick (16 June 2016). "UN condemns Isis genocide against Yazidis in Iraq and Syria". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 June 2017.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)