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Definition

There is no generally accepted definition of sexual violence; however, a commonly used definition is the definition provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its World Report on Violence and Health 2002. In this report sexual violence is defined as: “any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, or acts to traffic, or otherwise directed, against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting, including but not limited to home and work.”[1] WHO’s definition of sexual violence includes but is not limited to rape, which is defined as “physically forced or otherwise coerced penetration of the vulva or anus, using a penis, other body parts or an object.” Other acts incorporated in sexual violence are various forms of assaults such as forced contact between mouth and penis, vulva or anus.[2]


The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has established in article 7(1)(g) that “rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity.”[3] constitutes a crime against humanity. Sexual violence is further explained in the ICC’s Elements of Crimes, which the Court uses in its interpretation and application of article 7. The Elements of Crime establishes that sexual violence is:

  • One “an act of sexual nature against one or more persons or caused such person or persons to engage in an act of sexual nature by force, or by threat of force or coercion, such as that caused by fear of violence, duress, detention, psychological oppression or abuse of power, against such person or persons or another person, or by taking advantage of a coercive environment or such person’s or persons’ incapacity to give genuine consent.”[4]


The Special Rapporteur on systemic rape sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during armed conflict, in a report in 1998, stipulated that sexual violence is “any violence, physical or psychological, carried out through sexual means by targeting sexuality.” This definition encompasses physical as well as psychological attacks aimed at “a person’s sexual characteristics, such as forcing a person to strip naked in public, mutilating a person’s genitals, or slicing off a woman’s breasts.”[5] The Special Rapporteur’s definition also refers to situations “in which two victims are forced to perform sexual acts on one another or to harm one another in a sexual manner.”[6]


Sexual violence consists in a purposeful action of which the intention is often to inflict severe humiliation on the victim(s) and diminish human dignity. In the case where others are forced to watch acts of sexual violence, such acts aim at intimidating the larger community.[7]

An important distinction to be made is between conflict-related sexual violence and domestic sexual violence[8]:

  • One Conflict-related sexual violence is sexual violence perpetrated by combatants, including rebels, militias, and government forces. The various forms of sexual violence can be used systematically in conflicts “to torture, injure, extract information, degrade, threaten, intimidate or punish”.[9] Sexual violence can in such cases amount to being a weapon of war.
  • Two Domestic sexual violence is sexual violence perpetrated by intimate partners and by other family/household members. This kind of sexual violence is often termed intimate partner violence. This kind of sexual violence is widespread both during conflict and in peacetime. It is often argued that incidences of domestic sexual violence increase in wartime and in post-conflict environments.

Victims of sexual violence

Men and boys

As with sexual violence against women and girls, sexual violence against men and boys can take different forms, and occur in any kind of context, including at home or in the workplace, in prisons and police custody, and during war and in the military.[10] The various forms of sexual violence directed against males include rape, enforced sterilization, enforced nudity, enforced masturbation, genital violence, and enforced rape. Sexual violence against males also encompasses emasculation, which can take place through “feminization” or “homosexualization” of the victim, and the prevention of procreation.[11]

Male-directed sexual violence is more significant than is often thought. The scope of such crimes continues, however, to be unknown largely because of poor or a lack of documentation. The under- or non-reporting of sexual violence against males may often be due to fear, confusion, guilt, shame and stigma, or a combination thereof.[12]


References

  1. ^ [WHO (2002), ’Sexual violence’, in World Report in violence and health, Chapter 6, pp. 149]
  2. ^ [WHO (2002), ’Sexual violence’, in World Report in violence and health, Chapter 6, pp. 147-181]
  3. ^ [Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Article 7(g) Crimes against humanity]
  4. ^ [Elements of Crimes, Article 7(1)(g)-6 Crimes against humanity of sexual violence, elements 1. Accessed through http://www.icc-cpi.int/en_menus/icc/legal%20texts%20and%20tools/official%20journal/Pages/elements%20of%20crimes.aspx]
  5. ^ [McDougall, Ms. Gay J. (1998), Special Rapporteur, Contemporary forms of slavery: systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during armed conflict, Final report submitted by Ms. Jay J. McDougall, Special Rapporteur, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/13, para. 21]
  6. ^ [McDougall, Ms. Gay J. (1998), Special Rapporteur, Contemporary forms of slavery: systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during armed conflict, Final report submitted by Ms. Jay J. McDougall, Special Rapporteur, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/13, para. 22]
  7. ^ [McDougall, Ms. Gay J. (1998), Special Rapporteur, Contemporary forms of slavery: systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during armed conflict, Final report submitted by Ms. Jay J. McDougall, Special Rapporteur, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1998/13, para. 22]
  8. ^ [Human Security Report (2012), Sexual Violence, Education and War: Beyond the mainstream narrative, Human Security Research Group, Simon Fraser University, Canada, Human Security Press]
  9. ^ [Goetz, Ms. Anne Marie (2008), ’Introduction’ at Wilton Park Conference, Women Targeted or Affected by Armed Conflict: What Role for Military Peacekeepers?, 27-28 May 2008]
  10. ^ [WHO (2002), ’Sexual violence’, in World Report in violence and health, Chapter 6, pp. 147-181]
  11. ^ [Sivakumaran, Sandesh (2007), ”Sexual Violence Against Men in Armed Conflict” in European Journal of International Law, Vol. 18, no.2, pp. 253-276]
  12. ^ [Russell, Wynne (2007), ”Sexual violence against men and boys” in Forced Migration Review, Issue 27, pp. 22-23; Sivakuraman, Sandesh (2005), “Male/Male Rape and the ‘Taint’ of Homosexuality” in Human Rights Quarterly, Volume 27, Number 4, November 2005, pp. 1274-1306]
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