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SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN DURING ARMED CONFLICTS: RUSSIAN AGGRESSION AGAINST UKRAINE AS AN EXAMPLE

Summary: 1. Introduction. – 2. Sexual Violence Against Women During Armed Conflict Under Provisions of International Law. – 3. Sexual Violence Under Provisions of International Humanitarian Law. – 4. Examples of Sexual Violence. – 4.1. The Democratic Republic of the Congo. – 4.2. Bosnia and Herzegovina War. – 4.3. The Pakistani War Against Bangladesh – 4.4. The American War Against Iraq. – 4.5. Armed Conflict in Syria. – 5. The Causes and Consequences of Sexual Violence. – 6. Sexual Violence During the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. – 7. Conclusions. – 8. Recommendations.

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Abstract

Background: Sexual violence is a significant issue that violates human rights and is a source of increasing concern for women during international and local armed conflicts. It has widespread impacts on civilian communities and on women in particular, with grave and long-lasting health, psychological, and social impacts. The descriptive analytical method was used to investigate and analyse laws prohibiting sexual assault against women, focusing on the role of international law in addressing these crimes. It was found that multiple international laws are in place to address this violence, but the enforcement of these laws requires work.

Methods: The descriptive-analytical method is used to investigate and analyse legal provisions prohibiting sexual violence against women. A set of recommendations is derived for how to limit and avoid the deterioration of such phenomena and to deal with it at legal, social, political, health, and other levels.

Results and Conclusions: Due to its consequences, which include physical, psychological, social, and economic complications, sexual assault is regarded as one of the most serious violations of human rights. The scarcity of judicial trials and prosecutions against perpetrators of this violence is considered to be a driving force behind these crimes.

About Authors

Maya Khater
Associate Professor in Public International Law, Faculty of Law, Al Yamamah University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
m_khater@yu.edu.sa
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5892-9176


Corresponding author, solely responsible for writing and research. Competing interests: Any competing interests were declared. Disclaimer: The author declares that her opinion and views expressed in this manuscript are free of any impact of any organizations.

Funding: The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Funding of this publication was provided by the author.

Managing editor – Dr. Serhii Kravtsov. English Editor – Dr. Sarah White.

Copyright: © 2022 Maya Khater. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

References

 

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Keywords

  • human rights, international humanitarian law, invasion of Ukraine by Russia, maintaining women’s rights, sexual assault

How to cite it?

  •  Khater M ‘Sexual Violence Against Women During Armed Conflicts: Russian Aggression against Ukraine as an Example’ 2022 4-2 (17) Special Issue Access to Justice in Eastern Europe 102-112. https://doi.org/10.33327/AJEE-18-5.4-n000431