Sexualized Violence as a Weapon in the Bosnia War and Today – Societal Causes and Political Approaches to Solutions
The article can be found in German HERE
Abstract
During the first year of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, reports about the systematic sexual abuse and rape of Muslim-Bosnian women and girls by Serbian soldiers became public. The horrific extend of sexualized violence as a weapon of war triggered global attention to-wards the role of sexualized violence towards women and girls during armed conflicts and initiated a response by the UN-Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Se-curity. 20 years after the passing of the Resolution and 30 years after the war in Bosnia, news about sexualized violence as part of the Russian war strategy in Ukraine again gather political and societal attention across Europe. This article looks at the role of gender in armed conflicts and war. It sheds light on the function of gender-based, sexualized violence as weapon of war. It draws parallels between the war in Bosnia in the 1990s and the current Russian War in Ukraine. The article asks whether or how the introduction of the UN Women, Peace and Security Agenda has changed today’s awareness of the role of gender in armed conflict and political strategy towards ending war based on the premise of gender equality.
