Sexual Violence against Men and Boys in Armed Conflict

Alice Priddy

Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:48:41 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d271 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi 2 Sexual violence against men and boys in armed conﬂict Alice Priddy* ‘Sexual violence in conﬂict is a weapon that is as deadly as any bullet and as destructive as any bomb . . .’ Zainab Hawa Bangura1 Introduction Thousands of men, women, girls, and boys continue to suffer sexual violence in conﬂict and post-conﬂict situations around the world. Afghanistan, the Central African Repub- lic, Columbia, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan (Darfur), Syria, and Yemen all witnessed large-scale sexual violence during 2013.2 Failures of law enforcement, buttressed by entrenched discrim- inatory attitudes and a culture of impunity, means that despite unprecedented efforts at international level, sexual violence remains a prominent and persistent feature of conﬂict and its aftermath. Sexual violence is not limited to any geographical region or cultural context. Nor is it limited in its form, its perpetrators, its victims, or its setting. Rape, castration, genital mutilation, deliberate infection with HIV/Aids, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy, forced sterilization, and forced marriage are just some of its many forms. Force is not a * Alice Priddy is a Researcher at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, specializing in women’s rights, the prevention of sexual violence in armed conﬂict, and counterpiracy. 1 Foreword by the United Nations (UN) Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conﬂict, in Team of Experts, Rule of Law/Sexual Violence in Conﬂict, Annual Report 2012, 10 April 2013, <http://www.securitycouncilreport.org>. 2 ‘Sexual Violence in Conﬂict’, Report of the UN Secretary-General, UN doc. S/2014/181, March 2014 (hereafter, UNSG 2014 Report on Sexual Violence in Armed Conﬂict). Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:48:44 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d272 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi 272 PART III IMPORTANT THEMES IN ARMED CONFLICTS IN 2013 necessary component of sexual violence (for example, an aid worker may offer food in exchange for a sexual act without threat or use of any physical force), nor is any notion of sexual gratiﬁcation a requisite element, as is evidenced, for example, in instances of electrocution of male genitalia. The perpetrators include all sections of society: members of armed forces, government ofﬁcials, the police, civilians, armed non-state actors (ANSAs), and humanitarian personnel. Victims include ﬁghters, refugees, internally displaced persons, and civilians. Sexual violence occurs on the street, in homes, at checkpoints, in places of detention, and in places of refuge. Sexual violence is consistently grossly under-reported. Under-reporting continues for a multitude of reasons, including a generalized lack of security, social stigma, cultural taboos, fear of reprisals, fear of cultural practices (such as honour killing), or traditional justice arrangements (for example, forcing the survivor to marry the perpetrator), fear of criminal prosecution, geographical barriers, economic obstacles (for example, if a bus ticket to the nearest police station is one month’s salary), apathy, and a lack of infrastructure (for example, lack of law enforcement mechanisms, including police and courts), and a wholly inadequate willingness to enforce the law. Due to under-reporting, accurate data is not available on the prevalence, scope, and character of sexual violence in conﬂict and post-conﬂict settings. We do know, however, that sexual violence is often used in conﬂict as a weapon and that it can be highly effective: it devastates the victim both physically and psychologically. Sexual violence is used to intimidate, demoralize, and control victims and their communities, to break up community structures, to elicit information or compliance, as a form of punishment, and in order to assert control over territory. It continues to be used in relation to other criminal activities, such as to control lucrative trafﬁcking routes or areas of natural resources.3 Sexual violence is also used against protesters in an attempt to silence them,4 and used in the context of elections.5 3 UNSG 2014 Report on Sexual Violence in Armed Conﬂict, }97. 4 In a case brought against the Egyptian authorities in relation to four female protestors who were subjected to sexual violence in Tahrir Square during the 2011 uprising, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights found that Egypt had failed to protect the protesters from sexual violence and in doing so, violated their human rights to equality and non-discrimination, their right to dignity and to protection from cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, and their right to express and disseminate opinions within the law. African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and Interights v Egypt, Decision, 16 December 2011. Also see Human Rights Watch, ‘Syria: Detention and Abuse of Female Activists’, 24 June 2013, <http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/06/24/syria-detention-and-abuse-female-activists>. 5 Sexual violence was a prominent feature of the post-election violence in Kenya in late 2007 and early 2008. At least 3,000 women were raped and up to 40,000 people fell victim to some form of sexual violence. Despite more than 600 complaints being ﬁled for rape, gang rape, forced pregnancy, and deliberate transmission of HIV, the Kenyan Government has so far failed to prosecute a single perpetrator. Eight survivors, joined by four NGOs (Coalition on Violence Against Women (COVAW); the Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU); the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ-Kenya) and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)) have ﬁled a complaint against the Kenyan authorities for failing to protect victims from sexual violence Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:48:44 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d273 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN AND BOYS 273 Survivors of conﬂict-related sexual violence often ﬁnd themselves living in the same community as the perpetrator, leading to prolonged intimidation and psychological trauma that may cause the victim to leave the community. Some of those displaced during 2013 cited sexual violence as a signiﬁcant factor in motivating their ﬂight.6 During ﬂight and once displaced (owing to conﬂict or natural disaster), individuals continue to be highly vulnerable to sexual violence; for instance, while trying to secure transport, shelter, food, and safe passage across borders. Once in a refugee or internal displacement camp, individuals remain vulnerable owing to lack of security and infra- structure, as well as loss of family and/or community protection.7 Impunity for sexual violence during conﬂict is still the norm, sending the message that it is somehow socially acceptable and perpetuating a culture of tolerance, particularly where peace agreements and/or ceaseﬁres fail to address the issue. It is therefore unsurprising that in the wake of some conﬂicts, levels of sexual violence have risen.8 Whereas sexual violence against women and girls is receiving growing attention, still relatively little attention has been paid to sexual violence against men and boys.9 Therefore, while acknowledging that most conﬂict-related sexual violence continues to be perpetrated against women and girls, this chapter focuses on the prevalence of such violence against men and boys. Section A discusses the forms and effect of male-directed sexual violence and the barriers survivors face to accessing services and justice. In Section B, the international legal framework applicable to sexual violence and how this relates to male-directed sexual violence is discussed. Section C describes conﬂict-related sexual violence against men and boys in 2013. during the post-election crisis, and for failing to investigate and prosecute the offences. The Kenyan Govern- ment has so far refused to acknowledge the problem. As at the time of writing, the case (Coalition on Violence Against Women and Ors v Attorney-General of Kenya and Ors) was being heard by the Constitutional and Human Rights Division of the High Court of Kenya in Nairobi. 6 Report of the independent commission of inquiry in the Syrian Arab Republic, UN doc. HRC/23/58, 4 June 2013, }91. 7 See: K. T. Seelinger with L. Wagner, Safe Haven: Sheltering Displaced Persons from Sexual and Gender- Based Violence. Case Study: Haiti, Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley, in conjunction with the Ofﬁce of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Geneva, May 2013 (hereafter, Safe Haven: Comparative Report). According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, globally 42.5 million people have been forcibly displaced. UNHCR, Global Trends 2011, 2012, p. 1. 8 E.g. cases of rape and forced prostitution in Liberia and Sierra Leone increased signiﬁcantly following conﬂict in these states. See, e.g., B. Ahonsi, ‘Gender and HIV/AIDS in Post-Conﬂict West Africa: Issues and Responses’, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala, 2010; K. Tayler-Smith et al., ‘Sexual Violence in Post-conﬂict Liberia: survivors and their care’, Tropical Medicine & International Health, Vol. 17 (2012), pp. 1356–60. 9 Notable exceptions include L. Stemple, ‘Male Rape and Human Rights’, Hastings Law Journal, Vol. 60 (2009), pp. 605–47; S. Sivakumaran, ‘Sexual Violence Against Men in Armed Conﬂict’, European Journal of International Law, Vol. 18 (2007), pp. 253–76; S. Sivakumaran; ‘Male/Male Rape and the “Taint” of Homosexuality’, Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 27 (2005), pp. 1274–306; C. Carpenter, ‘Recognizing Gender-Based Violence Against Men and Boys in Conﬂict Situations’, Security Dialogue, Vol. 37 (2006), pp. 83–103; D. Lewis, ‘Unrecognized Victims: Sexual Violence Against Men in Conﬂict Setting under International Law’, Wisconsin International Law Journal, Vol. 27, No. 1 (2009), pp. 1–49. Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:48:45 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d274 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi 274 PART III IMPORTANT THEMES IN ARMED CONFLICTS IN 2013 A. Sexual violence against men and boys Sexual violence against men and boys is typically a taboo subject,10 and it thus under- reported and under-researched.11 It is therefore impossible to know the precise scale and scope of the abuse. However, what is known is that sexual violence against men and boys has been a feature of conﬂicts for centuries.12 In contemporary history, conﬂict-related sexual violence against men and boys was recorded in Afghanistan,13 Argentina,14 Burundi,15 Chile,16 the Central African Republic,17 Chechnya,18 the Democratic Repub- lic of Congo,19 El Salvador,20 Iraq,21 Iran,22 Kenya,23 Kuwait,24 Liberia,25 Libya,26 10 While appreciating that dynamics of sexual violence against men and boys are likely to differ in many instances, this chapter considers the two phenomena together. 11 AQ1 12 According to a 2008 UN report, sexual violence against men and boys has taken place in at least twenty-ﬁve conﬂicts in the past decade. Ofﬁce for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), ‘The Nature, Scope and Motivation for Sexual Violence Against Men and Boys in Armed Conﬂict, Use of Sexual Violence in Armed Conﬂict: Meeting Report’, 28 June 2008, p. 4. 13 ‘Sexual Violence in Conﬂict’, Report of the UN Secretary-General, UN doc. A/67/792, 14 March 2013, }10. (Hereafter, 2013 UNSG Report on Sexual Violence in Conﬂict). 14 C. Skjelsbaek, ‘Sexual Violence in Times of War: A New Challenge for Peace Operations? International Peacekeeping, Vol. 8 (2001) p. 74. 15 Amnesty International, ‘Burundi Rape – the Hidden Human Rights Abuse’, Report, 24 February 2004, <http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AFR16/006/2004/en/9d8d7263-d63b-11dd-ab95-a13b602c0642/ afr160062004en.pdf>. 16 ‘Conference Report: Preventing sexual violence in conﬂict and post-conﬂict situation’, Wilton Park, November 2012, at }1. (Hereafter, Wilton Park Conference Report.) 17 ‘Central African Republic: Unending Misery of Rape Victims’, IRIN, Bangui, 19 August 2005, <http:// www.irinnews.org/report/55920/central-african-republic-unending-misery-of-rape-victims>. 18 Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, ‘Rape and Other Torture in the Chechnya Conﬂict: Documented Evidence from Asylum Seekers Arriving in the United Kingdom’, April 2004. 19 K. Johnson, et al., ‘Association of Sexual Violence and Human Rights Violations with Physical and Mental Health in the Territories of the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’, Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 304 (2010), pp. 553–62. 20 L. Stemple, ‘The Hidden Victims of Wartime Rape’, Op-Ed, New York Times, 1 March 2011, <http:// www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/opinion/02stemple.html?_r=0>. 21 The Taguba Report: Hearing Article 15-6 Investigation of the 800th Military Police Brigade, 2005, <http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/reports/2004/800-mp-bde.htm> 22 Wilton Park Conference Report, }1. 23 Sivakumaran, ‘Sexual Violence Against Men in Armed Conﬂict’, p. 258. 24 ‘Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Kuwait under Iraqi Occupation’, UN Commission on Human Rights, UN doc. E/CN.4/1992/26, 1992, }}106–12. 25 K. Johnson et al., ‘Association of Combatant Status and Sexual Violence with Health and Mental Health Outcomes in post-conﬂict Liberia’, Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 300 (2008), p. 670. 26 Human Rights Watch, ‘World Report 2011: Libya’, January 2012, p. 3. Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:48:45 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d275 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN AND BOYS 275 Northern Ireland,27 Rwanda,28 Sierra Leone,29 Sri Lanka,30 Sudan,31 Syria,32 Uganda,33 the former Yugoslavia,34 and Zimbabwe.35 Rape, castration, mutilation of the genitals, sexual humiliation, forced sterilization, forced masturbation or nudity, and sexual slavery are just some of the forms of conﬂict-related sexual violence perpetrated against men and boys. The vast majority of perpetrators are male. Male detainees, as with female detainees, are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, for example, four-ﬁfths of the 5,000 male detainees in the Sarajevo Canton concentration camp were raped.36 All victims of sexual violence are left devastated, often facing acute, long-term physical and psychological trauma as a result, irrespective of sex or age. Physical consequences of male-directed sexual violence include rupture of the rectum, castration, abscesses, damage to the penis and testicles, HIV/Aids and other sexually transmitted infections, incontinence, infertility, and sexual dysfunction.37 Psychological impacts include depres- sion, withdrawal, outbursts of anger and aggression, sleep disorders, loss of concentra- tion, anxiety, compulsive sexual behaviour, drug or alcohol abuse, self-harm, and 27 G. Adams, ‘I have been in torture photos too: The Abu Ghraib images are all too familiar to Irish republicans’, Guardian, 2 June 2004, <http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/jun/05/northernireland. northernireland>. 28 See, e.g., International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Prosecutor v Niyitegeka, Judgment and Sentence (Case No. ICTR-96-14-T), 16 May 2003, }}459–67. 29 Human Rights Watch, ‘We’ll Kill You If You Cry: Sexual Violence in the Sierra Leone Conﬂict’, January 2003, p. 42, <http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/sierraleone/sierleon0103.pdf>. 30 Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, ‘Caught in the Middle: a study of Tamil torture survivors coming to the UK from Sri Lanka’, Report, 2000, p. 26. 31 Stemple, ‘Male Rape and Human Rights’, p. 614. 32 UNSG 2014 Report on Sexual Violence in Armed Conﬂict, }}55–61. 33 W. Storr, ‘The Rape of Men: the Darkest Secret of War’, Guardian, 17 July 2011, <http://www. theguardian.com/society/2011/jul/17/the-rape-of-men>; UNICEF, ‘Suffering in Silence: A Study of Sexual and Gender Based Violence in Pabbo Camp, Gulu District Northern Uganda’, 2005, p. 10; ‘Promoting Accountability for Conﬂict-Related Sexual Violence Against Men: A Comparative Legal Analysis of Inter- national and Domestic Laws Relating to IDP and Refugee Men in Uganda’, Refugee Law Project Working Paper No. 24, International Human Rights Law Clinic, School of Law, University of California, Berkeley, July 2013, pp. 19–20 (hereafter, Berkeley Refugee Law Project Working Paper), <http://www.law.berkeley. edu/ﬁles/Sexual_Violence_Working_Paper_(FINAL)_130709.pdf>. 34 Prosecutor v Duško Tadić, Opinion and Judgment (Trial Chamber) (Case No. IT-94-1-T), 7 May 1997, }}193–206; Prosecutor v Milomir Stakić, Judgment (Trial Chamber) (Case No. IT-97-24), 31 July 2003, }241; Prosecutor v Cesić, Sentencing Judgment (Trial Chamber) (Case No. IT-95-10/1-S), 11 May 2004, }}13–14; Amnesty International, ‘Bosnia-Herzegovina: Rape and Sexual Assault by Armed Force’, 1993. 35 Sivakumaran, ‘Sexual Violence Against Men in Armed Conﬂict’, p. 258. 36 UN Population Fund (UNFPA), ‘The Impact of Armed Conﬂict on Women and Girls, A Consultative Meeting on Mainstreaming Gender in Areas of Conﬂict and Reconstruction’, Bratislava, Slovakia, 13–15 November 2001, p. 64. 37 P. Oosterhoff et al., ‘Sexual Torture of Men in Croatia and Other Conﬂict Situations: An Open Secret’, Reproductive Health Matters, 2004, pp. 71, 74–5; Berkeley Refugee Law Project Working Paper, p. 19. Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:48:46 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d276 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi 276 PART III IMPORTANT THEMES IN ARMED CONFLICTS IN 2013 suicide.38 As a result of physical and psychological trauma, victims may experience breakdown of marriage and family as well as of their social and work life. As with female-directed sexual violence, gender stereotypes and discriminatory ideas of gender feed into the motivation to commit sexual violence against males. Male victims of sexual violence often report feeling their masculine identity has been destroyed, and that they have been ‘feminized’, a statement that also illustrates the prevailing notion of women being of lesser social status.39 Indeed, sexual violence is an act of dominance and power; thus when perpetrated against males in societies where masculinity is associated with dominance, strength, and power, the victim is disempowered and demoralized on an individual as well as a community level. This is particularly so where the violence is conducted in public.40 Conversely, the perpetrator is seen as more masculine through his dominance of the victim.41 It appears that men and boys are particularly unlikely to report being the victim of sexual violence. This is attributed to a range of reasons including shame, fear of social stigma owing to discriminatory attitudes and gender stereotypes, fear of potential criminal prosecution under anti-sodomy laws,42 inadequate domestic law (for example, the Uganda Penal Code deﬁnes rape as ‘the unlawful carnal knowledge of a women or a girl’ thereby excluding male victims),43 lack of services,44 and lack of access to justice. Males may ﬁnd it difﬁcult to come to terms with being a ‘victim’ as they feel it is ‘incompatible with being a man’, either in terms of the attack itself (as a man ‘should have been able to protect himself ’) or in terms of its aftermath (a man should be able to ‘cope like a man’).45 Male victims may feel ashamed of the involuntary physical reaction to the violence (erection or ejaculation).46 The victim may also feel a sense of guilt if he 38 Oosterhoff et al., ‘Sexual Torture of Men in Croatia and Other Conﬂict Situations’, Reproductive Health Matters, p. 74; Sivakumaran, ‘Sexual Violence Against Men in Armed Conﬂict’, p. 259. 39 Sivakumaran, ‘Sexual Violence Against Men in Armed, pp. 210–71; Lewis, ‘Unrecognized Victims’, p. 8. 40 Oosterhoff et al., ‘Sexual Torture of Men in Croatia and Other Conﬂict Situations’. 41 Lewis, ‘Unrecognized Victims’, p. 7; Berkeley Refugee Law Project Working Paper, p. 13; A. Jones, ‘Straight as a Rule: Heteronormativity, Gendercide, and the Noncombatant Male’, Men and Masculinities, April 2006, p. 459. 42 E.g., the Uganda Penal Code criminalizes sodomy and places the burden on the prosecution to prove the victim did not consent thereby creating strong disincentives for male victims to report the crime. Ugandan Penal Code Act of 1950 (Ch. 120) (as amended) s. 145: ‘Unnatural offences’. 43 Ugandan Penal Code Act of 1950 (Ch. 120) (as amended) s. 123: ‘Offences Against Morality’. 44 Male survivors might also be expressly prohibited from accessing services. E.g. in Columbia single men were excluded from internal displacement camps to prevent those afﬁliated with armed groups accessing the camp, resulting in a protection gap for males survivors of sexual violence. Safe Haven: Comparative Report, pp. 31–2. 45 Sivakumaran, ‘Sexual Violence Against Men in Armed Conﬂict’, p. 255. 46 M. Peel, ‘Men as Perpetrators and Victims’, in Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, Rape and Other Torture in the Chechnya Conﬂict: Documented Evidence from Asylum Seekers Arriving in the United Kingdom, London, 2004, p. 67. Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:48:46 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d277 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN AND BOYS 277 has been forced to perpetrate sexual violence against another person. Such feelings will be particularly acute if the violence was culturally or religiously taboo. Fear of being stigmatized and of being labelled weak, a homosexual, or even a paedophile also has a silencing effect on male victims. This fear will be even greater in homophobic societies.47 Indeed, the motivation behind the sexual violence may be to strip the victim of his heterosexual status in society.48 A vicious cycle therefore exists in which male victims are unable or unwilling to report the violence they have suffered, continuing the gap in knowledge and understanding of the scale of sexual violence against men and boys. This in turn means that resources are not allocated nor services developed for male victims, typically resulting in victims having nowhere to turn to where they can safely report the violence and seek rehabilitation. When applied to the context of sexual violence in conﬂict, entrenched, discriminatory, and incorrect understandings about gender, where men are seen as naturally aggressive, dominant, sexually demanding, and invulnerable, while women are seen as passive, weak, subordinate and victims,49 has led to the widely held view that men are always the perpetrators of sexual violence and never the victims.50 This over-simplistic gender analysis disempowers women, reinforces chauvinistic stereotypes, and fails to account for female ﬁghters as well as male victims of sexual violence during armed conﬂict.51 Furthermore, it provides signiﬁcant disincentive to the international community, NGOs,52 and academics to research the issue, develop services and policies, and adopt laws to protect victims and prosecute perpetrators. This can be seen prominently at international level, where despite unprecedented efforts to tackle conﬂict-related sexual violence, the prevailing approach is to focus on such violence against women and girls and to neglect the plight of male victims.53 47 K. Doherty and I. Anderson, ‘Making sense of male rape: constructions of gender, sexuality and experience of rape victims’, Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, Vol. 14, No. 2 (2004) pp. 85–103; Sivakumaran, ‘Male/Male Rape and the “Taint” of Homosexuality’. 48 Sivakumaran argues that homophobia coupled with incorrect links being made between male rape and homosexuality ‘has ensured that the topic is one non grata’. Sivakumaran, ‘Male/Male Rape and the “Taint” of Homosexuality’, p. 1279. 49 Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conﬂict, Report of Workshop on Sexual Violence against Men and Boys in Conﬂict Situations, New York, 2 December 2013. 50 Also, homophobic attitudes lead to the assumption that sexual violence is only ever heterosexual in nature. 51 Stemple, ‘Male Rape and Human Rights’, p. 612. 52 A 2001 study showed that of the 4,076 NGOs around the world that address sexual violence during conﬂict in their work only 3 per cent address experiences of males. Del Zotto and Jones, Male-on-Male Sexual Violence in Wartime: Human Rights’ last taboo. This may be explained by the fact that owing to incorrect and discriminatory gender stereotypes—i.e. males are the perpetrators and females the victims— governments and trusts are unwilling to fund NGOs and researchers working on this issue. 53 This was, at least in part, driven by the women’s movement, which has highlighted that women’s rights have been largely ignored, and that they need to be recognized as human rights. Despite progress, none Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:48:46 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d278 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi 278 PART III IMPORTANT THEMES IN ARMED CONFLICTS IN 2013 Indeed, the UN Women, Peace and Security initiative may have itself inadvertently led to excluding male victims from consideration. In the UN Security Council, resolutions since Resolution 1325 have almost all addressed only the female victims of sexual violence.54 It was not until UN Security Council Resolution 2106, adopted in June 2013, that male-directed sexual violence was expressly addressed, although possibly as an afterthought. The UN Security Council with concern noted that sexual violence in armed conﬂict and post-conﬂict situations disproportionately affects women and girls, as well as groups that are particularly vulnerable or may be speciﬁcally targeted, while also affecting men and boys and those secondarily traumatized or forced witnesses of sexual violence against a family members.55 It has been argued that this female-speciﬁc approach leaves no space for recognition of male victims and that it violates the right to non-discrimination based on sex.56 Considering the discriminatory attitudes that prevail, it is unsurprising that services, where available, focus on the needs of women and girls. Humanitarian personnel, counsellors, police, and medical personnel are very rarely trained to look for signs of sexual violence against males and therefore are unlikely to detect them.57 Again, this feeds into the cycle of data not being gathered, therefore ignorance of the scale of male- directed sexual violence persists, meaning resources are not allocated to tackle this issue. A further hurdle is that sexual violence—against both males and females—is too often recorded as torture or abuse rather than sexual violence, leading to inaccurate data. This is a particular problem with male victims of sexual violence who, for reasons discussed earlier, are often unwilling to describe the violence they have endured as sexual vio- lence.58 During witness testimony at the South African Truth and Reconciliation could contest that sexual violence is seen as a women’s issue rather than a mainstream human rights issue. See: C. Bunch, ‘Women’s Rights as Human Rights: Towards a Re-vision of Human Rights’ Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 12 (1990) pp. 486–98. 54 UN Security Council Resolution 1325, adopted in 2000, outlines for the ﬁrst time a comprehensive approach and framework to prevent conﬂict related sexual violence but only foresees female victims of sexual violence by calling, in }10, ‘on all parties to armed conﬂict to take special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual violence’. 55 UN Security Council Resolution 2106 (2013). 56 Stemple, ‘Male Rape and Human Rights’, p. 638; and Berkeley Refugee Law Project Working Paper. Jones argues that this gendered approach to sexual violence reﬂects homophobic sentiments institutional- ized within and through Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. I. H Jones, ‘Cultural and historical aspects of male sexual violence’, in G. Mezey and M King (eds.), Listening to the Silences: Women and War, Oxford: OUP, 2000. 57 E. Carlson, ‘The Hidden Prevalence of Male Sexual Assault During War: Observations on Blunt Trauma of the Male Genitals’, British Journal of Criminology, 2008, p. 18. 58 Since conﬂict-related sexual violence is often perpetrated along with other forms of torture that leave visible signs, males without access to services may not need to disclose the sexual violence in order to gain a medical legal report for asylum purposes or drugs for pain relief. Peel, Men as Perpetrators and Victims, p. 65. Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:48:46 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d279 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN AND BOYS 279 Commission, male victims of rape never used the term ‘rape’; instead they said they had been ‘sodomized’ but more commonly described the experience as having a metal rod pushed up the anus.59 NGOs and intergovernmental organizations sometimes classify castration as mutilation and rape as torture in their reports.60 This is a concern because, although rape and other forms of sexual violence are indeed a form of torture, it is important for accurate data collection, essential to improve our understanding of the scale, manifestations, and characteristics of sexual violence, that it be correctly docu- mented. Accurate recording is also essential for prosecution, truth and reconciliation, and historical purposes, as well as to dispel discriminatory stereotypes and assumptions. B. Sexual violence under international law THE 1949 GENEVA CONVENTIONS AND THE 1977 ADDITIONAL PROTOCOLS International humanitarian law (IHL) has long prohibited sexual violence, albeit impli- citly and conservatively. Unsurprisingly, the body of IHL treaties only concern protec- tion of women—and sometimes the prohibitions are framed in rather archaic and discriminatory language. Nonetheless, the 1863 Lieber Code prohibited ‘all wanton violence committed against persons in the invaded country . . . [including] all rape . . . of such inhabitants.’61 The Code also provided that ‘unarmed citizens were to be spared in person and property and honor’,62 and that ‘persons of inhabitants, especially those of women; and the sacredness of domestic relations’ require protection.63 The 1949 Geneva Conventions built upon the Lieber Code and largely codiﬁed customary international law.64 Of the four Conventions, only the 1949 Geneva Conven- tion IV expressly refers to sexual violence and it only foresees female-directed sexual violence. Article 27 states: ‘Women shall be especially protected against any attack on their honour, in particular against rape, enforced prostitution, or any form of indecent assault.’ The provision identiﬁes these offences as attacks on women’s ‘honour’ rather 59 Peel, Men as Perpetrators and Victims, p. 61, referencing A. Krog, ‘Locked into Loss and Silence: Testimonies of Gender and Violence at the South Africa Truth Commission’ in C. O. N. Moser and F. C. Clark (eds.), Victims, Perpetrators or Actors? Gender, Armed Conﬂict and Political Violence, London: Zed, 2001. 60 Sivakumaran, ‘Sexual Violence Against Men in Armed Conﬂict’, p. 256. 61 1863 Lieber Code, General Orders No. 100, 24 April 1863, Art. 44. 62 1863 Lieber Code, General Orders No. 100, 24 April 1863, Art. 22. 63 1863 Lieber Code, General Orders No. 100, 24 April 1863, Art. 37. 64 The 1949 Geneva Conventions were the ﬁrst treaties in modern history to achieve universal accept- ance. ICRC, ‘A milestone for international humanitarian law’, Press release, 22 September 2006. Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:48:48 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d280 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi 280 PART III IMPORTANT THEMES IN ARMED CONFLICTS IN 2013 than as violent crimes.65 Despite the lack of express mention in the 1949 Geneva Convention IV, males are undoubtedly protected from sexual violence under Common Article 3, which prohibits ‘at any time and in any place whatsoever . . . outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment.’ The 1977 Additional Protocol I, which governs international armed conﬂict (IAC) also only envisages female victims of sexual violence and makes no express reference to males. Article 27 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I states: ‘[w]omen shall be the object of special respect and shall be protected in particular against rape, forced prostitution and any form of indecent assault.’66 Although Article 27 does not apply to men, Article 75 lists fundamental guarantees that must be enjoyed ‘without an adverse distinction’ based upon, inter alia, ‘sex’, including the prohibition of ‘outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment, enforced prostitution and any form of indecent assault’, under which sexual violence clearly falls. The 1977 Additional Protocol II, which governs non-international armed conﬂict (NIAC), takes a more gender-neutral approach. Article 4(2) contains fundamental guarantees that prohibit ‘violence to the life, health and physical or mental well-being of persons . . . [;] cruel treatment such as torture, mutilation’; and ‘outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment, rape, enforced prostitution and any form of indecent assault’.67 Rape and other forms of sexual violence are also prohibited under customary inter- national law in both IAC and NIAC, as reﬂected in Rule 93 of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) 2005 study. The prohibition codiﬁed in Rule 93 is gender neutral, applying equally to male-directed sexual violence as it does to female- directed sexual violence. Controversially, rape, or any other forms of sexual violence is not explicitly included as grave breaches in the 1949 Geneva Conventions or the two 1977 Additional Protocols (and therefore war crimes). Instead, sexual violence falls under the umbrella of ‘wilfully causing great suffering or serious bodily injury to body or health’.68 In response to human rights activists calling for this to be corrected, and spurred by the atrocities that occurred during the conﬂict in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the early 1990s, the ICRC issued an Aide-Mémoire in 1992 to clarify that the grave breach regime ‘obviously not 65 The archaic language used, such as ‘protected’ and ‘honour’, feeds the stereotype of women as weaker than their male counterparts and perpetuates discriminatory attitudes. For an overview of IHL from a feminist perspective, see C. Chinkin, ‘Gender and Armed Conﬂict’, in A. Clapham and P. Gaeta (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of International Law in Armed Conﬂict, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014; J. Gardam and M. J. Jarvis, Women Armed Conﬂict and International Law, The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2001. 66 Sexual violence is still placed in a framework of protection rather than prevention. 67 1977 Additional Protocol II, Art. 4(2)(a) and (e). 68 1949 Geneva Convention IV, Arts. 146 and 147. Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:48:49 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d281 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN AND BOYS 281 only covers rape, but also any other attack on a women’s dignity’.69 Furthermore, in the commentary to Rule 156, on the deﬁnition of war crimes, the ICRC reiterated that although rape—of males or females—was not ‘explicitly listed as a grave breach . . . [it] would be considered a grave breach on the basis that it amounts to inhumane treatment or wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health’. It is important to ascertain whether or not an offence is recognized as a grave breach since states are obliged to exercise universal jurisdiction over such breaches.70 Under the principle of universal jurisdiction, any state can investigate and prosecute any individual in respect of international crimes committed abroad, regardless of the nationality of the perpetrator and victim, and even if the accused is not present in the state seeking to prosecute.71 This form of jurisdiction is based on the principle that certain crimes are so heinous that every state should have the opportunity, and sometimes also the respon- sibility, to hold to account the perpetrators. With regard to sexual violence in 2013, the regime of grave breaches with compulsory universal jurisdiction offers little help for victims as the regime applies only to IACs (although diverging views exist on this point),72 and thus does not apply to the overwhelming majority of contemporary conﬂicts (NIACs).73 Therefore, any state that is serious about tackling impunity for acts of sexual violence, against males or females, must be willing to recognize that the duty to prosecute on the basis of universal jurisdiction applies also to NIACs. 69 ICRC, Update on Aide-Memoire of 3 December 1992; T. Meron, ‘Rape as a crime under international humanitarian law’, American Journal of International Law, Vol. 87 (1993), p. 427. 70 1949 Geneva Convention I, Art. 49; 1949 Geneva Convention II, Art. 50; 1949 Geneva Convention III, Art. 129; 1949 Geneva Convention IV, Art. 146. States also have a right to exercise universal jurisdiction in their national courts over other war crimes. This is a norm of customary international law and applies to war crimes committed in both IACs and NIACs. ICRC Customary IHL Study, Rule 157. See e.g. R. O’Keefe ‘The grave breaches regime and universal jurisdiction’, Journal of International Criminal Justice, Vol. 7, No. 4 (2009), pp. 811–31. Universal jurisdiction is additional to other bases of jurisdiction that may be exercised over offences involving sexual violence; namely territorial jurisdiction, the active personality principle of jurisdiction, and the passive nationality principle of jurisdiction. 71 Unless the legal system of the state seeking to prosecute permits trials in absentia, national law may require the presence of the accused within its territory to initiate trial proceedings. Cassese, International Criminal Law, p. 278. For further discussion of universal jurisdiction see R. O’Keefe, ‘Universal jurisdiction: clarifying the basic concept’, Journal of International Criminal Justice, Vol. 2 (2004) pp. 738–40 and 745–7. 72 Separate Opinion of Judge Georges Abi-Saab in ICTY, Prosecutor v Tadić, Decision on Jurisdiction (Appeals Chamber) (Case No. IT-94-1), 2 October 1995. 73 ICTY, Prosecutor v Tadic, (Appeals Chamber), (Case No. IT-94-1-AR72), 2 October 1995,}}79–84. The 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Additional Protocol I limit the concept of grave breaches to acts ‘against persons or property protected by the present Convention’, and the term ‘protected person’ is, as far as civilians are concerned, limited to ‘[p]ersons . . . who . . . ﬁnd themselves . . . in the hands of a Party to the conﬂict . . . of which they are not nationals’. Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:48:52 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d282 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi 282 PART III IMPORTANT THEMES IN ARMED CONFLICTS IN 2013 THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNALS AND THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT The ad hoc tribunals and the International Criminal Court (ICC) have clariﬁed and expanded on what constitutes sexual violence under international criminal law (ICL). Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, ‘or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity’ are all included in the 1998 Rome Statue of the ICC (ICC Statute) as crimes against humanity as well as war crimes.74 Contextual elements will determine whether the offence is a crime against humanity or a war crime. To constitute a crime against humanity, the acts must be ‘committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population’ with the perpetrator’s knowledge that the conduct was part of such an attack.75 To constitute a war crime, the offence must have taken place in the context of, and be associated with, either an IAC or an armed conﬂict ‘not of an international character’ with the perpet- rator’s awareness of the ‘factual circumstances that established the existence of an armed conﬂict’. The jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and later the ICC, has clariﬁed deﬁnitions and removed some of the traditional legal barriers to prosecuting sexual violence, for example by recognizing that sexual violence may occur as a result of coercive circumstances.76 This means that use of force, threat of force, or coercion all preclude the possibility of ‘genuine consent’, and thus any person who engages in prohibited sexual violence in these circumstances is committing an act of sexual vio- lence.77 Whether or not the victim put up a ﬁght or resisted is irrelevant.78 74 ICC Statute, Art. 7(1)(g) (crimes against humanity); Art. 8(2)(b)(xxii) (war crimes in an IAC); Art. 8(2)(e)(vi) (war crimes in a NIAC). A total of 108 states are party to the ICC Statute. Of states in which widespread sexual violence took place in 2013, Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Columbia, the DRC, and Mali are all party to the ICC Statute, but Syria is not. For the ICC to have jurisdiction, the accused must be a national of a state party to the ICC Statute, or the crime must have occurred in a state that has accepted the court’s jurisdiction or in a speciﬁc situation referred to the Court by the UN Security Council. The national court must be unwilling or unable to prosecute and the crime must be of ‘sufﬁcient gravity’. ICC Statute, Art. 17(1)(a)–(d). 75 Elements of Crimes, common elements in }}3 and 4 to Art. 7(1)(g): rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, enforced sterilization, and sexual violence; and }}2 and 3 to Art. 7(1)(g), forced pregnancy. 76 See Elements 1 and 2 of the Elements of Crimes relating to Art. 7(1)(g), Art. 8(2)(b)(xxii) and Art. 8(2)(e)(vi); ICTY, Prosecutor v Kunarac, Kovać, and Vuković, Judgment (Appeals Chamber) (Case No. IT-96-23) 12 June 2002, }}131–2. 77 AQ2 78 Rule 70 of the ICC Rule of Procedure and Evidence. ICTY, Prosecutor v Kunarac, Kovać and Vuković, Judgment (Appeals Chamber), 12 June 2002, }128. Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:48:53 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d283 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN AND BOYS 283 It is recognized under ICL that rape and sexual violence can constitute torture given that rape and ‘sexual violence gives rise to severe pain or suffering’,79 an element of the deﬁnition of torture.80 Furthermore, in contrast to the 1984 Convention Against Torture, ICL does not require the perpetrator of an act of torture to be a public ofﬁcial or a person acting with the acquiescence of a public ofﬁcial.81 It is also accepted that rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute genocide when committed with intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethical, racial, or religious group.82 Sexual violence as a tool for genocide may be perpetrated through preventing births of a particular group by rape (where a woman ‘is deliberately impregnated by a man of another group, with the intent to have her give birth to a child who will consequently not belong to its mother’s group’),83 forced sterilization, sexual mutilation, or separ- ation of the sexes.84 Importantly with regard to sexual violence in armed conﬂict, under the mode of liability of command responsibility not only can identiﬁed soldiers be prosecuted for their crimes but so too can their commanders.85 At its essence, command responsibility imposes criminal liability on a commander for his/her ‘failure to act when under a duty to do so’.86 Thus, a commander will be criminally responsible ‘if he or she knows or has 79 Kunarac, Kovać, and Vuković, }150. The deﬁnition of torture, as contained in Article 1 of the 1984 Convention Against Torture, includes ‘any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental is intentionally inﬂicted on a person’ (emphasis added) therefore one could argue that the threat of rape would also constitute torture. Indeed, it has been found that threats of rape can cause as much distress, if not more, as than other physical forms of torture. M. Başoğlu, M. Livanou, and C. Crnobarić, ‘Torture vs Other Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment: Is the distinction real or apparent?’, Archives of General Psychiatry Vol. 64 (2007), p. 279. The UN Human Rights Committee, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have all recognized that mental trauma can constitute torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. See, among others: Human Rights Committee, Quinteros v Uruguay, Views, 21 July 1983; ECtHR, Kurt. v Turkey, Judgment, 24 May 1998; IACtHR, Villagrán Morales et al. v Guatemala, Judgment, 19 November 1999. 80 The ICC Statute deﬁnes torture as the ‘intentional inﬂiction of severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental’: Art. 7(2)(e). 81 ICTY, Prosecutor v Kvocka et al., Judgment (Appeals Chamber) (Case No. IT-98-30/1-A), 28 February 2005, }284. 82 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide; ICTR, Prosecutor v Akayesu, Judgment (Trial Chamber) (Case No. 96-4-T), 2 September 1998, }597; ICTR, Prosecutor v Musema, Judgment (Trial Chamber) (Case No. ICTR-96-13-A), 27 January 2000. 83 ICTR, Prosecutor v Akayesu, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 2 September 1998, }507. 84 1948 Genocide Convention, Art. II(d); ICTR Prosecutor v Akayesu, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 2 September 1998, }508. 85 The doctrine of command responsibility is contained in inter alia Arts. 86 and 87, 1977 Additional Protocol I; Art. 7(3), ICTY Statute; Art 6(3), Statute of the Special Court for Sierra Leone; and Art 28, ICC Statute. 86 Judge B. J. Moloto, ‘Command responsibility in international criminal tribunals’, Berkeley Journal of International Law Publicist, Vol. 3 (2009), p. 12. Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:48:55 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d284 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi 284 PART III IMPORTANT THEMES IN ARMED CONFLICTS IN 2013 reasons to know that his or her subordinates are about to commit or have committed crimes, unless the superior prevents the subordinates’ crimes or punishes the perpetrators after the crimes are committed’.87 Therefore, it is not necessary that commanders ordered or encouraged crimes; if they have reason to know that soldiers under their command are about to commit, or have committed, an act of sexual violence and turn a blind eye, they can be prosecuted for the offence.88 ICL offences of particular relevance to sexual violence against men and boys are rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, and sexual violence. Each of these offences is now discussed brieﬂy, but it should ﬁrst be noted that the ICC Statute prohibits persecution as a crime against humanity based on gender, clarifying that ‘gender refers to the two sexes, male and female, within the context of society’.89 This is the ﬁrst international deﬁnition of ‘gender’ and it appears to be capable of expansive interpretation that may enable more prosecutions of gender-based crimes in the future.90 RAPE The ICTR has described rape as one of the ‘worst ways of inﬂicting harm on the victim as he or she suffers both bodily and mental harm’.91 Building upon the jurisprudence of the ad hoc tribunals, rape is deﬁned by the ICC as having two elements. First, the perpetrator must have ‘invaded the body of a person resulting in penetration however slight, of any part of the body of the victim or of the perpetrator with a sexual organ, or the anal or genital opening of the victim with any object or any part of the body’. A footnote to this element afﬁrms that such ‘invasion’ is to be regarded as gender-neutral. Second, the invasion must have been ‘committed 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 a person on another person, or by taking advantage of a coercive environment, or the invasion was committed against a person incapable of giving genuine consent’. The gender neutrality of the deﬁnition clearly includes sexual violence committed against men and boys. 87 Moloto, ‘Command responsibility in international criminal tribunals’, p. 13. 88 Indeed, the perpetrator need not even be identiﬁed; it is sufﬁcient that the perpetrators be identiﬁed as belonging to a unit or group controlled by the superior. ICTY, Prosecutor v Blaškić, Judgment (Appeals Chamber) (Case No. IT-95-14-A), 29 July 2004, }217. 89 ICC Statute, Art. 7(3). 90 A. Miller, Fighting Over the Figure of Gender, Pace Law Review, Vol. 31, No. 3 (2012), p. 855. 91 Emphasis added. ICTR, Prosecutor v Akayesu, Judgment (Trial Chamber) (Case No. 96-4-T), 2 September 1998, }731. Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:48:56 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d285 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN AND BOYS 285 SEXUAL SLAVERY AND ENFORCED PROSTITUTION Sexual slavery is deﬁned under the ICC Elements of Crimes to occur where the ‘perpetrator exercised any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership over one or more person, such as by purchasing, selling, lending or bartering such a person or persons, or imposing on them a similar deprivation of liberty’ and causing that person ‘to engage in one or more acts of a sexual nature’.92 The ICC Elements of Crimes deﬁne enforced prostitution as where the perpetrator ‘caused one or more persons to engage in one or more acts of a 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’, and the perpetrator or another person obtained or expected to obtain pecuniary or other advantage in exchange for or in connection with the acts of a sexual nature.93 It is the latter requirement that distinguishes the crime of enforced prostitution from that of slavery. In practice, the distinction between enforced prostitution and sexual slavery is blurred. Indeed, a number of survivors as well as commentators advocate that enforced prostitution is better characterized as sexual slavery and should be prosecuted as such.94 Survivors have expressed concern ‘that the term “forced prostitution” obscures the terrible gravity of the crime, suggests a level of voluntarism, and stigmatizes its victims as immoral or “used goods”’.95 However, by retaining enforced prostitution within the ICC Statute, sexual violence that does not meet the conditions required to meet the deﬁnition of sexual slavery will still fall within the jurisdiction of the ICC, thereby providing a further tool for the prosecution of sexual violence committed in armed conﬂict. ENFORCED STERILIZATION The ICC Elements of Crimes describes enforced sterilization as taking place where the perpetrator ‘deprived one or more persons of biological reproductive capacity’, and 92 Art. 7(1)(g); Art. 8 (2)(b)(xxii); and Art 8(2)(e)(vi). See further on the ICC’s approach to sexual slavery V. Oosterveld, ‘Sexual slavery and the International Criminal Court: advancing international law’, Michigan Journal of International Law, Vol. 25 (2004), p. 607. 93 Art. 7(1)(g); Art. 8(2)(b)(xxii); and Art. 8(2)(e)(vi). 94 ‘Final report on systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during armed conﬂict: Gay J. McDougall, Special Rapporteur’, UN doc. E/CN/.4/Sub.2/1998/13, 22 June 1998, }33. 95 C. M. Argibay, ‘Sexual slavery and the comfort women of World War II’, Berkeley Journal of International Law, Vol. 21, No. 375 (2003), p. 12. Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:48:57 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d286 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi 286 PART III IMPORTANT THEMES IN ARMED CONFLICTS IN 2013 where the conduct was ‘neither justiﬁed by the medical or hospital treatment of the person’ nor ‘carried out with their genuine consent’.96 It is noted in the Elements of Crimes that deception is incompatible with genuine consent. SEXUAL VIOLENCE Sexual violence is deﬁned in the ICC Elements of Crimes to be where ‘the perpetrator committed 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, 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 such person’s or persons’ incapacity to give genuine consent’.97 The ICTR has broadly deﬁned sexual violence to be ‘any act of a sexual nature committed under circumstances that are coercive’, explaining that ‘sexual violence is not limited to a physical invasion of the human body and may include acts that do not involve penetration or physical contact. Sexual violence covers both physical and psychological attacks directed at a person’s sexual characteristics.’98 Similarly, the ICTY has held that sexual violence ‘embraces all serious abuses of a sexual nature inﬂicted upon the integrity of a person by means of coercion, threat of force or intimidation in a way that is humiliating and degrading to the victim’s dignity’.99 One would expect courts to adopt a broad interpretation of ‘sexual violence’ to ensure that the forms of sexual violence men and boys are suffering during recent armed conﬂict, such as forced nudity and electrocution of the genitalia, are included. In conclusion, it is clear that sexual violence is duly prohibited under IHL and ICL, and that the prohibition applies equally to male-directed sexual violence as to female- directed sexual violence. However, as will now be discussed, the ad hoc tribunals and ICC appear reluctant to address the sexual nature of violence committed during recent conﬂicts, particularly where the victims are male. 96 ICC Elements of Crimes: Art. 7(1)(g); Art. 8(2)(vi); and Art. 8(2)(b)(xxii). 97 ICC Elements of Crimes: Art. 7(1)(g); Art. 8(2)(b)(xxii); and Art. 8(2)(e)(vi). 98 ICTR, Prosecutor v Akayesu, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 2 September 1998, }}598, and 688. Similarly, Otto Triffterer asserts: ‘Sexual violence is a term broader than rape. The term is used to describe any kind of violence carried out through sexual means or by targeting sexuality’. O. Triffterer (ed.), Commentary on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 2nd edn, Oxford: Hart, 2008, p. 214. 99 Prosecutor v Stakić, Judgment (Trial Chamber) (Case No. IT-97-24), 31 July 2003, }757. Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:48:58 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d287 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN AND BOYS 287 PROSECUTIONS FOR SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN AND BOYS In the ﬁrst international war crimes trial involving charges of sexual violence heard by the ICTY, Duško Tadić was prosecuted, in part, for the role he played in the abuse of detainees, including sexual violence against men and boys, which included forcing a male detainee to perform fellatio on another detainee and then bite off his testicles.100 However, charges were limited to cruel treatment (violation of the laws and customs of war) and inhumane acts (crimes against humanity), rather than rape or other forms of sexual violence of comparable gravity. The ICTY’s reluctance to prosecute crimes as sexual violence in favour of other charges appears to have continued. In the Milosevic case, acts of forced oral sex, forced incest, and gang rape of men were charged as crimes against humanity under Article 5(g) of the ICTY Statute, despite evidence of approximately twenty fathers and sons being forced to perform fellatio on each other and bite off and swallow other detainees’ genitalia.101 The only occasion sexual violence against males was charged and prosecuted as such by the ICTY was in the Cesic case, where the defendant forced two brothers to perform fellatio on each other, for which the defendant was convicted of rape as a crime against humanity.102 Despite the gender-neutral standards of the ICC Statute and the fact that it has had jurisdiction for more than a decade, the ICC has failed to prosecute successfully a single case of sexual violence. In the ﬁrst successful prosecution by the ICC, the Lubanga case, charges were limited to recruitment of children despite ample evidence of sexual slavery and rape, much to one judge’s disapproval.103 In the court’s latest conviction, Germain Katanga was convicted on four counts of war crimes and one crime against humanity for his part in killing more than 200 people in a massacre in 2003 in north-eastern DRC. However, Katanga was cleared of charges for sexual violence (as well as the use of child soldiers) despite an initial ICC investigation ﬁnding that women who survived the 2003 massacre had been raped and/or kept as sex slaves.104 100 Prosecutor v Tadić, Opinion and Judgment (Case No. IT-96-1-T), 7 May 1997, }206. 101 Prosecutor v Slobodan Milosevic, Case No. IT-02-54-T, Open court testimony from Witness B 1461 in Prosecution Case, as reproduced in P. Sellers, ‘The Prosecution of Sexual Violence in conﬂict: The Importance of Human Rights as Means of Interpretation’, UN Ofﬁce of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Annex, 2008, <http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Women/WRGS/Paper_Prosecu tion_of_Sexual_Violence.pdf>. 102 ICTY, Prosecutor v Ranko Cesic, Sentencing Judgment (Case No. IT-95-10/1-S), 11 March 2007, }}13–14, 35, and 107. 103 ICC, Prosecutor v Thomas Lubanga, Decision on Sentence (Trial Chamber) (Case No. ICC-01/04-01/ 06-2901), 10 July 2012, }60. In her dissenting opinion, Judge Odio Benito expressed her frustration, afﬁrming that exclusion of charges related to sexual violence restricts the judges’ ability to render justice for victims. 104 Prosecutor v Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, Decision (Pre-Trial Chamber I) (Case No. ICC-01/ 04-01/07), 30 September 2008, }}347–54. Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:49:03 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d288 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi 288 PART III IMPORTANT THEMES IN ARMED CONFLICTS IN 2013 It appears that even where sufﬁcient evidence has been gathered, the ICC remains reluctant to address the sexual nature of crimes. In Prosecutor v Francis Kirimi Muthaura and Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, Pre-Trial Chamber II found substantial grounds to believe the defendants were responsible for ‘numerous cases of rape and forcible circumcision and penile amputation of Luo men, among other non-sexual crimes, and therefore they should stand trial.105 The ICC Prosecutor argued that the forced circumcision and sexual mutilation should be charged as crimes of sexual violence but the judges disagreed, holding that ‘not every act of violence which targets the body commonly associated with sexuality should be considered an act of sexual violence’, and that there was no evidence of the acts being of a sexual nature.106 The court concluded that the acts should be categorized as ‘other inhuman acts’.107 The court’s decision is a lost opportunity to raise awareness of the crime of sexual violence against men and boys, and it reinforces the unspoken nature of these crimes.108 INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW Sexual violence is prohibited under human rights law (HRL) primarily through the prohibition of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, as well as the prohibition of slavery. The prohibitions of torture109 and of slavery110 have been enshrined as absolute and non-derogable rights, and are widely 105 Prosecutor v Francis Kirimi Muthaura and Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, Decision on the conﬁrmation of charges (Pre-Trial Chamber II) (Case No. ICC-01/09-02/11), 23 January 2012, }}257–263. 106 Prosecutor v Francis Kirimi Muthaura and Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, Decision on the conﬁrmation of charges, 23 January 2012, }}264–6. 107 Prosecutor v Francis Kirimi Muthaura and Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, Decision on the conﬁrmation of charges, 23 January 2012, }270 and }280. 108 R. Corey-Boulet, ‘In Kenya, Forced Male Circumcision and a Struggle for Justice’, The Atlantic, 1 August 2011, <http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/08/in-kenya-forced-male-circumci sion-and-a-struggle-for-justice/242757/> S. Mouthaan, Sexual Violence against Men and International Law—Criminalizing the Unmentionable, International Criminal Law Review, Vol. 13 (2013) pp. 665–95. 109 Torture is deﬁned in Art. 1 of the 1984 Convention Against Torture as ‘an act by which severe pain of suffering, whether physical or mental’ is ‘intentionally inﬂicted on a person’ for the purpose of punishment, to obtain a confession or information, or to intimidate or coerce the victim or a third person ‘for any reason based on discrimination of any kind’ by the state, or with the ‘consent or acquiescence of a public ofﬁcial of another person acting in an ofﬁcial capacity’. Severe pain or suffering is the ultimate test for determining whether an act constitutes torture. See ICC Statute, Art. 7(2)(e); European Commission on Human Rights, Greek case, Yearbook of the European Convention on Human Rights, Vol. 12 (1969), p. 468; ECtHR, Ireland v United Kingdom, Judgment, 18 January 1978, }96; ECtHR, Romanov v Russia, Judgment, 24 July 2008, }}64–70; Committee against Torture, Keremadechiev v Bulgaria, Decision, 21 November 2008, }9.2; Inter- American Court Human Rights (IACtHR), Caesar v Trinidad and Tobago, Judgment, 1 March 2005, }69. 110 1926 Slavery Convention, Art. 2; Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices similar to Slavery; ICCPR, Art 8; ECHR, Art 4(1); ACHR, Art 6(1); ACHPR, Art 5. Slavery, today, means ‘the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:49:04 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d289 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN AND BOYS 289 accepted to be norms of jus cogens under customary international law.111 Rape is accepted as an act which constitutes torture.112 Under HRL, states are bound by both negative and positive obligations, which must be applied equally to men and women.113 Thus, states are clearly obliged not to commit acts of slavery, torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, but they also have a positive obligation to protect those within their jurisdiction from such acts, including by crim- inalizing these acts in national legislation and enforcing that legislation.114 Further, national law must offer equal protection to all persons and not discriminate on any ground, including sex.115 Any national law that only criminalizes sexual violence against females and does not offer protection to male victims is therefore unlawful. States also have a positive duty to investigate allegations of torture or of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment promptly and effectively.116 Importantly, in the attaching to the right of ownership are exercised, including sexual access through rape or other forms of sexual violence’, Special Rapporteur on the situation of systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during wartime, Final report’, UN doc. E/CN.47SUB.2/1998/13, 1998, }27. 111 On torture as jus cogens see IACtHR, Caesar v Trinidad and Tobago, Judgment, 2005, }70; N. Rodley, ‘The prohibition on torture: absolute means absolute’, Denver Journal of International Law and Policy, Vol. 34 (2006), p. 145; E. de. Wet, ‘The prohibition of torture as an international norm of Jus Cogens and its implications for national and customary law’, European Journal of International Law, Vol. 15, No. 1 (2004), p. 97. 112 See, among others: Committee against Torture, General Comment No. 2, UN doc. CAT/C/GC/2, 24 January 2008 }}12 and 18; ECtHR, Aydin v Turkey, Judgment, 25 September 1997, }86; IACtHR, Miguel Castro-Castro Prison v Peru, Judgment, 25 November 2006. Aside from torture, the ECtHR has found that strip-search of a male prisoner in front of a female ofﬁcer may be degrading treatment. ECtHR, Valasinas v Lithuania, Judgment, 24 October 2001. Furthermore the Committee against Torture has found held that female genital mutilation and sex trafﬁcking constitute acts of torture or ill-treatment. Committee against Torture, General Comment No. 2, 24 January 2008, }18. Regarding slavery as jus cogens see: ‘Special Rapporteur on the situation of systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during wartime, Final report’, UN doc. E/CN.47SUB.2/1998/13, 1998, }27. 113 ICCPR, Art. 3; Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 18 (1994). 114 CAT, Art 1 (applies only to acts of torture); ICCPR, Art, 2(2); ECtHR, M. C. v Bulgaria, Judgment, 3 December 2003, }151. IACtHR, Velasquez-Rodriguez v Honduras, Judgment, 29 July 1982, }172. Although CAT recognizes torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment only when committed at the instigation, or with the consent or acquiescence of, a public ofﬁcial, the Committee against Torture has afﬁrmed that where states authorities ‘know or have reasonable ground to believe that acts of torture or ill- treatment are being committed by non-state ofﬁcials or private actors and they fail to exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate, prosecute or punish such non-State ofﬁcials or private actors . . . the State bears responsibility . . . under the Convention’. General Comment No. 2, }18. 115 ICCPR. Art. 26. Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 18 (1994). 116 CAT, Art. 2; Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 20, }14; ECtHR Ribitsch v Austria, Judgment, 4 December 1995, }}108–11; ECtHR, M. C. v Bulgaria, Judgment, 3 December 2003, }153; IACtHR, Vargas Areco v Paraguay, Judgment, 26 September 2006, }53; ECtHR, Colibaba v Moldavia, Judgment, 23 October 2007, }53; Committee against Torture, Blanco Abad v Spain, Views, 14 May 1998, }8.2 (in which an 18-day delay in investigation was considered too long). On the obligation to conduct and effective investigation, see Committee against Torture, Ristoc v Yugoslavia, Views, 11 May 2001, }9.5; Human Rights Committee, Rodridguez v Uruguay, Views, 19 July 1994; ECtHR, Assenov and others v Bulgaria, Judgment, 28 October 1998. Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:49:04 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d290 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi 290 PART III IMPORTANT THEMES IN ARMED CONFLICTS IN 2013 context of conﬂict-related sexual violence, the Human Rights Committee has concluded that the duty to investigate extends to acts of a prior regime. This means that not only do governments of states in which sexual violence occurred during 2013 have a duty to investigate these acts, so too do future governments.117 Furthermore, states are obliged to ensure redress, including compensation, to victims of slavery, torture, or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.118 In conclusion, sexual violence is clearly prohibited under HRL and states are obliged not to participate in or condone acts of sexual violence as well as to protect those within its jurisdiction from such acts. These duties apply equally to males and females and also in conﬂict-related situations. C. Sexual violence in 2013 In 2013, sexual violence was widely reported in Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, the DRC, Mali, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan (Darfur), Syria, and Yemen. It should be noted, though, that examples and statistics given here are used to indicate a pattern and should not be taken to reﬂect the actual scale of the violence. AFGHANISTAN Impunity for sexual violence in Afghanistan remains the norm, in part owing to instability of the state and its legal and law enforcement agencies and victims’ fear of social stigma, but also to a pervasive culture of tolerance. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) reported that between March and September 2013 there was a 25 per cent increase in violence against women, including forced marriage and sexual violence.119 An increase in sexual violence against men and boys and a pattern of sexual exploitation of children was also reported. Men and boys in detention appear to be particularly vulnerable to sexual violence. Perpetrators include national and local police, military commanders, former warlords, tribal leaders, and armed non-state actors.120 Bacha bazi (a form of child prostitution and sexual slavery) is common among 117 Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 20, }5; Rodriguez v Uruguay, Views, 11 May 2001, }12.4. 118 CAT, Art 14; Committee against Torture, General Comment No 3 (2012); Committee against Torture, Agiza v Sweden, Views, 20 May 2005, }13.6 (only applies to torture); ICCPR, Art. 2(3); ECtHR, Assanidez v Georgia, Judgment, 8 April 2008, }198; ACHR, Art 3(1). 119 UNSG 2014 Report on Sexual Violence in Armed Conﬂict, }12. 120 UNSG 2014 Report on Sexual Violence in Armed Conﬂict, }12. Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:49:04 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d291 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN AND BOYS 291 military leaders and is reportedly prevalent in northern and southern provinces.121 There were even reports in 2013 of survivors of sexual violence being raped again by Afghan security forces after seeking their protection.122 CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC The security situation in CAR has continued to deteriorate, bringing increased levels of sexual violence which has been used by all parties in the conﬂict.123 Sexual violence was ‘a main feature’ of attacks between March and December 2013, and was perpetrated by ex-Séléka elements to ‘score-settle’.124 Toward the end of 2013, sexual violence was used as part of sectarian violence. Rape during house-to-house searches by anti-Balaka elements and ex-Séléka and other armed groups has been widely reported.125 There are also credible reports of girls being kept in sexual slavery, and falling pregnant as a result, in ex-Séléka military camps. In mining areas, such as Obo, Temio, Raﬁ, and Nzako, women and children are also reported to have been kidnapped and raped by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). CÔTE D’IVOIRE Rape, in particular, continues to be perpetrated on an appalling scale in Côte d’Ivoire. Slow progress in disarmament and peace-building processes, continued presence of armed groups across the country, an abundance of small arms and light weapons,126 and a culture of impunity all mean that girls and women are still extremely vulnerable to sexual violence throughout the country. Children are particularly vulnerable, with more than 60 per cent of recorded rape survivors aged between ten and eighteen years, and 25 per cent aged between fourteen 121 UNSG 2014 Report on Sexual Violence in Armed Conﬂict, }12. 122 UNSG 2014 Report on Sexual Violence in Armed Conﬂict, }12. 123 See the reports of the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and Ofﬁce of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), ‘Report on the investigation missions of the UN Joint Human Rights Ofﬁce into the mass rapes and other human rights violations committed in the villages of Bushani and Kalambahiro, in Masisi territory, North Kivu, on 31 December 2010 and 1 January 2011’, July 2011; and ‘Final report of the fact-ﬁnding missions of the UN Joint Human Rights Ofﬁce into the mass rapes and other human rights violations committed by a coalition of armed groups along the Kibua-Mpoﬁ axis in Walikale territory, North Kivu, from 30 July to 2 August 2010,’ July 2011. 124 UNSG 2014 Report on Sexual Violence in Armed Conﬂict, }15. 125 UNSG 2014 Report on Sexual Violence in Armed Conﬂict, }15. 126 Rape was reported to have occurred during a number of armed robberies, particularly in urban areas. Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:49:05 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d292 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi 292 PART III IMPORTANT THEMES IN ARMED CONFLICTS IN 2013 months and ten years.127 Elements of the Forces républicaines de Côte d’Ivoire (FRCI), the police, and the gendarmerie were all accused of sexual violence during the year, and all continue to enjoy general impunity. Impunity continues for a number of reasons including victims’ fear of reprisals and social stigma, insufﬁcient investigation by largely untrained police, rape being reclassiﬁed as the lesser offence of ‘indecent assault’, the lack of a regularly functioning High Court, and the cost (US$100) of a medical certiﬁcate that is, in practice, needed to bring a rape case to court. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO Rape and sexual violence continues to be used as a weapon by all parties to conﬂict in the eastern DRC.128 The Secretary-General’s Special Representative on sexual violence in armed conﬂict reported a 13 per cent annual increase in the prevalence of sexual violence in the DRC compared to 2012.129 Statistics gathered by UNHCR in North Kivu also indicate ‘an alarming rise’ in acts of violence against women and girls in the province, particularly rape, during 2013.130 Ethnically targeted sexual violence by Mai-Mai Cheka against Nanda and Hutu groups was also documented by the UN.131 During 2013, the DRC Government recorded 15,352 cases of sexual violence in eastern DRC (North Kivu, South Kivu, Katanga, and Ituri districts). In these areas, armed groups (mostly the Forces armées de la République du Congo, FARDC) commit- ted 71 per cent of veriﬁed cases of sexual violence, and the Police Nationale Congolaise (PNC) were responsible for 29 per cent.132 Mai-Mai Cheka, Raia Mutomboki, the FDLR, and the Alliance des patriotes pour un Congo libre et souverain, as well as some elements of the Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC) are involved in organized criminal activity such as the trafﬁcking of weapons and poaching, during which civilians and opponents are subjected to sexual violence. Sexual violence is also common during displacement and in and around displacement camps in North Kivu. 127 UNSG 2014 Report on Sexual Violence in Armed Conﬂict, }27. 128 25th Session of the Human Rights Council. High-level dialogue: Lessons learned and continuing challenges in combatting sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 25 March 2014. 129 UNSG 2014 Report on Sexual Violence in Armed Conﬂict, }27. 130 UNHCR, Sexual Violence on the rise in the DRC’s North Kivu: Brieﬁng notes, 30 July 2013; See reports of MONUSCO and OHCHR: ‘Report on the investigation missions of the UN Joint Human Rights Ofﬁce into the mass rapes and other human rights violations committed in the villages of Bushani and Kalambahiro, in Masisi territory, North Kivu, on 31 December 2010 and 1 January 2011’, July 2011; and ‘Final report of the fact-ﬁnding missions of the UN Joint Human Rights Ofﬁce into the mass rapes and other human rights violations committed by a coalition of armed groups along the Kibua-Mpoﬁ axis in Walikale territory, North Kivu, from 30 July to 2 August 2010’, July 2011. 131 UNSG 2014 Report on Sexual Violence in Armed Conﬂict, }28. 132 UNSG 2014 Report on Sexual Violence in Armed Conﬂict, }27. Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:49:05 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d293 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN AND BOYS 293 The vast majority of sexual violence that occurs in the DRC is rape, sexual slavery, and forced marriage of girls. However, sexual violence against men and boys is not uncommon, occurring mostly in the M23-controlled area of Rutshuru (North Kivu).133 From January to July 2013, UNHCR registered 705 cases of sexual violence in the region, including 619 cases of rape, with survivors including 288 minors and 43 men.134 Lack of law enforcement, owing to insecurity, means that very few survivors of sexual violence in the DRC are able to access justice. However, during 2013, sixty-one members of the national security forces were convicted of sexual violence offences.135 On 16 May 2013, the Prosecutor General of the Armed Forces issued international arrest warrants and extradition requests for war crimes (including sexual violence) for various M23 leaders, including former President Jean Marie-Runinga, all of whom surrendered to Rwandan authorities in 2013. In a welcome move, on 30 March 2013 the DRC Government adopted a Joint Communiqué on Combating Conﬂict-related Sexual Violence, and a UN team of experts has been helping the government develop an implementation plan for the Communiqué. Furthermore, in October 2013, DRC President Joseph Kabila announced the Govern- ment’s intention to appoint a Presidential Representative on Sexual Violence and Child Recruitment and to create a Special Chamber to prosecute international crimes, includ- ing sexual violence. SUDAN (DARFUR) Reports of sexual violence in Darfur increased during 2013.136 Women and girls living in IDP camps are particularly vulnerable, both in and around the camps. Women and girls working in the ﬁeld during the harvesting season (June and November) were also subjected to sexual violence. Sexual violence was also a feature of tribal clashes, in particular in connection with gold mining in Jebel Amir. Most perpetrators are armed men in uniform, and victims often struggle to identify the perpetrator owing to the range of uniformed actors in Darfur. Even where a perpetrator is identiﬁed prosecution is unlikely as victims are unwilling to formally press charges due to fear of stigma and repercussions. For example, rape victims run the risk of being charged with zinna (adultery) and reference to adultery is even made in the 133 UNSG 2014 Report on Sexual Violence in Armed Conﬂict, }29. 134 UNHCR, Sexual Violence on the rise in the DRC’s North Kivu: Brieﬁng Notes, 30 July 2013. 135 UNSG 2014 Report on Sexual Violence in Armed Conﬂict, }30. 136 UNSG 2014 Report on Sexual Violence in Armed Conﬂict, }50. Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:49:06 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d294 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi 294 PART III IMPORTANT THEMES IN ARMED CONFLICTS IN 2013 deﬁnition of rape in the Criminal Act 1991.137 UNAMID reports survivors who became pregnant as a result of rape during 2013 being accused of unlawful pregnancy.138 SYRIA Sexual violence persists in the Syrian conﬂict,139 but is chronically under-reported due to fear of reprisals, social stigmatization, lack of stable legal and law enforcement agencies, and lack of safe and conﬁdential response services. Rape and sexual violence are perpetrated by government forces and militia, against both males and females, in detention (often as part of interrogation), during house searches, and at checkpoints.140 Sexual violence is mostly perpetrated by members of the Syrian intelligence services and armed forces against those perceived to be part of or afﬁliated with the opposition, in order to punish the victim, force a confession, or put pressure on a relative to surrender.141 The independent commission of inquiry in Syria, while reiterating that extreme insecurity means they have very limited access, report the tying of genitals to be ‘systematically perpetrated against men and boys in custody in Damascus, Homs and Aleppo’, as well as electrocution of genitalia during interrogation.142 The commission also reported that in January 2013, at the Homs Security Branch, security agents beat and electrocuted the genitals of a seventeen-year-old boy and raped him while others watched.143 Rape and torture of men at government checkpoints in Damascus on grounds of their sexual orientation was also reported during 2013.144 An estimated 6.5 million people are displaced within Syria and more than 2 million are in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and North Africa, all of whom are vulnerable sexual violence and sexual exploitation.145 Most of those displaced have little or no income, placing women and girls in particular at risk of early and forced marriage, and exposing them to prostitution as a means to pay for shelter or food or to gain access to services. 137 }149 of the Sudanese Criminal Act 1991. 138 UNSG 2014 Report on Sexual Violence in Armed Conﬂict, }52. 139 Report of the independent commission of inquiry in the Syrian Arab Republic, UN doc. A/HRC/25/ 65, 12 February 2014, }62. 140 UNSG 2014 Report on Sexual Violence in Armed Conﬂict, }}55–60. 141 Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conﬂict in the Syrian Arab Republic, UN doc. S/2014/31, 27 January 2014, }35. 142 Report of the independent international commission of inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, UN doc. A/HRC/25/65, 12 February 2014, }65. 143 Report of the independent international commission of inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, }65. 144 Report of the independent international commission of inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, }62. 145 UNSG 2014 Report on Sexual Violence in Armed Conﬂict, }59. Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:49:06 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d295 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN AND BOYS 295 Concluding remarks International attention to conﬂict-related sexual violence has surged in recent years and is now at an all-time high. While this commitment is welcome, it should also be acknowledged that international recognition of sexual violence in armed conﬂict has, even if inadvertently, adopted a biased gender perspective whereby women are assumed to be victims and men perpetrators. This has resulted in the plight of male victims being largely ignored, and although there is growing recognition of male-directed sexual violence,146 the issue still remains marginal. Acute social stigma, lack of rehabilitation services, and lack of access to justice mean that male survivors continue to suffer the trauma of the abuse in silence, without treatment and reparation, while perpetrators remain free and enjoy impunity. To tackle this, our understanding of the scale and characteristics of sexual violence against men and boys needs to improve. The stigma attached to male-directed sexual violence needs to be dispelled through eradicating homophobia and gender discrimination, and shame shifted from the victim onto the perpetrator. Policy and services need to be developed so that male survivors can access services sensitive to their needs. Humanitarian and medical personnel need to be trained to look for signs of sexual violence in males and to record this accurately. Of course, it must still be recognized that women and girls are disproportionally the victims of sexual violence, and we must not ignore the role of males as perpetrators. However, increasing efforts to tackle sexual violence against men and boys does not mean that efforts to tackle sexual violence against women and girls will or should decrease. As one commentator notes, ‘compassion is not a ﬁnite resource’ and new concern for men and boy victims does not mean concern for women and girls is lessened, for it is not ‘a zero-sum game’.147 On the contrary, we should recognize that gender stereotypes and discriminatory attitudes that manifest in sexual violence against men and boys also manifest in sexual violence against women and girls. Sexual violence often involves purposeful action aimed at maintaining male supremacy whether the victim is male or female.148 It is part of the same problem—the inherent inequality in society— which is magniﬁed during armed conﬂict. Ignoring sexual violence against men and boys not only neglects men, but also feeds into the discriminatory views of ‘weak, victim’ females, hampering our ability to see women as strong and empowered. In the same way, 146 See, e.g., UN Security Council Resolution 2106 (2013); and G8, Declaration on Preventing Sexual Violence, adopted in April 2013, which underlines the importance of responding to the needs of men and boys who are victims of sexual violence in armed conﬂict, }3. 147 Stemple, ‘Male Rape and Human Rights’, p. 646. 148 Del Zetto and Jones, ‘Male-on-Male Sexual Violence in Wartime: Human Rights Last Taboo?’. Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:49:07 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d296 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi 296 PART III IMPORTANT THEMES IN ARMED CONFLICTS IN 2013 silence about male victims reinforces unhealthy expectations about men and their supposed invulnerability. Ultimately, the goal of eradicating sexual violence in armed conﬂict should be a shared priority irrelevant of the sex of the perpetrator or victim. This is critical for the sake of victims and also to secure long-term peace, as sexual violence is itself a source of conﬂict and insecurity.149 149 See UN Security Council Resolution 1960, 16 December 2012, }1. Comp. by: Bendict Richard Stage : Proof ChapterID: 0002194725 Date:13/8/14 Time:13:49:07 Filepath:// ppdys1122/BgPr/OUP_CAP/IN/Process/0002194725.3d297 OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRST PROOF, 13/8/2014, SPi Author Query Form Book Title: The War Report Chapter No: 2 Query No. Query Remarks AQ1 Please provide the text for footnote 11 AQ2 Please provide the text for footnote 77

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Sexual Violence against Men and Boys in Armed Conflict