The Weaponisation of Sexual Violence in Conflict

This book contributes to the growing body of literature on the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war against women. Sexual violence in this context is finally receiving the attention it deserves, given the immense suffering of its victims and the widespread societal harm it causes. Focussing on how states legitimise and implement various forms of sexual violence, such as sexual slavery, harassment, and rape, as tools to torture, suppress, and silence women, it takes an international perspective to explore how women's bodies become battlegrounds and how the state itself often acts as the perpetrator of violence. Beginning with an examination of the historical and legal contexts surrounding rape and sexual violence in international criminal law (ICL), it uses a feminist analysis of sexual violence as a weapon of war to explore the legal and political landscapes of Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iran, South Sudan, Mexico, and Bangladesh. Showing how militarised regimes utilise various forms of sexual violence as instruments of political control and oppression, it will be of interest to all scholars and students of gender-based violence, peace and conflict studies, victimology and international law.

Atlas Torbati is a senior lecturer on the MA Understanding Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse (UDVSA) at Goldsmiths, University of London. She has extensive experience researching gender-based violence within diaspora communities, with a particular focus on how migration, displacement, and cultural belonging shape experiences of harm, help-seeking, and recovery. Her work also examines the intersections between diaspora, mental health, and lived experiences of both women and men who have been subjected to gender-based violence.

Introduction: Weaponised Bodies, Silenced Wars 1.The Evolution of the Concept of Rape and Sexual Violence and Its Criminalization in International Criminal Law 2.No Justice Without Peace for Survivors of Conflict-Related Gender-Based Crimes in Ukraine 3.Conflict related sexual violence in South Sudan: Factors affecting the reporting and response to sexual violence in conflict 4.The Political Myth of State Sexual Violence: Implications for Feminist Resistance in Mexico 5.Weaponising Gender: The Taliban's Use of Sexual Violence as a Tool of Governance Since 2021 6.Gendered Violence and Resistance in the Islamic Republic of Iran 7.Historicising the Birangona: Interrogating the Politics of Commemorating the Wartime Rape of 1971 in the context of the 50th Anniversary of Bangladesh 8.Rethinking Sexual Violence: Governance, Conflict, and Justice