Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Table of Contents
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Theory
Rhonda Copelon work deals with an extremely important field of research: Rape and
sexualized violence against women in times of war. Right in the beginning she brings up a
central question: Is rape a crime of war and why? Luckily, at least from the point of view of
international relations this question has been answered: Yes, it is. And for all the right reasons, as
laid out in Resolution 1820, on which the United Nations Security Council decided on 19 th of
4. Notes that rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute a war
stresses the need for the exclusion of sexual violence crimes from amnesty
provisions in the context of conflict resolution processes, and calls upon Member
States to comply with their obligations for prosecuting persons responsible for such
acts, to ensure that all victims of sexual violence, particularly women and girls, have
equal protection under the law and equal access to justice, and stresses the
provides. She offers two basic options: Rape is a crime of violence or a crime of honor – while
she obviously prefers the first notion. The interpretations of rape as a crime of honor differ only
in nuances in their awfulness: One reading is that the woman as property of her husband is
violated, thus his honor is violated. The other one, concerned about the womans honor, is only
better on a first look, as it interprets womans honor as stemming from virginity or castity – thus
perpetuating the notion that already fueled the interpretation. Luckily the Security Council goes
Recalling its condemnation in the strongest terms of all sexual and other forms
children;
violence in situations of armed conflict, and despite its calls addressed to all parties
to armed conflict for the cessation of such acts with immediate effect, such acts
continue to occur, and in some situations have become systematic and widespread,
Statute of the International Criminal Court and the statutes of the ad hoc
German motion picture with the title “Anonyma – Eine Frau in Berlin”. It is available at
www.spiegel.de/video/video-38387.html
This movie – and the accompanying scientific research – to me underline the importance of
the topic: It is the story of a woman who survived rape at the hand of red armists in the last days
of World War 2. This topic – rape of German women in the war – has been much of a taboo in
both German states after the war for different reasons and continued to be one even after the
Wende. Until now, 63 years later. I know of cases of this in my own family and how they have
devastated people ever since. That the topic is coming up now, losing its taboo, conveys the
chance for survivors to speak up about it – and perhaps find some closure.