Sexual Violence in War: A Hidden and Accepted War Crime

Sexual violence is the most atrocious crime being committed in international warfare today, with zero consequences. Currently, the United Nations uses the term, “Conflict-related Sexual Violence (CRSV)”, describing it as the following:

rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, enforced sterilization, forced marriage and any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity perpetrated against women, men, girls or boys that is directly or indirectly linked to a conflict.

With women and girls as the primary targets, accounting for 95% of cases, CRSV is an extreme form of terrorism used in war to humiliate and dominate communities, destroying human dignity and the very strings that keeps societies together. CRSV is life altering, not only causing disease, reproductive health issues, death, and psychological trauma, but severing victims’ relationships with their families and communities. Though it is said we live in the human rights era, it is a crime that rises at astonishing rates, with a 50% rise in cases from 2022- 2023. CRSV is particular on the rise in conflicts going in Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan. Horrifyingly, Sudan saw a 288% increase in need for lifesaving aid due to incidents of rape and sexual violence in April 2025. With alarming statistics like this, one can not help but ask the following question: Why does CRSV continue to go unnoticed and unpunished?

Joint UN-AU High Level Delegation Visits IDP Camp in DRC. [Photo: UN Women/Carlos Ngeleka]

A Brief History of CRSV in the 20th Century

Sources in both grey literature and academic literature indicate that interest in CRSV rose in the early 1990s, after revelations of these inhumane crimes occurring in the 1994 Rwandan genocide and Yugoslavia Wars. However, we know that use of sexual violence in conflicts did not begin in the 1990s.

During World War II and Japan’s colonial expansion, a cruel system of wartime sexual enslavement was created where abducted women and girls, dubbed as “comfort women”, were forced to “service” Japanese soldiers at “comfort stations”. Over 200,000 women and girls from Korea, China, Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, East Timor and the Dutch East Indies were victimized by this system between 1932 and 1945.

It was not until 1992 that the Japanese government apologized to survivors of this inhumane system. After decades of tension, the Japanese and South Korean governments signed a landmark final agreement, at the disapproval of many Koreans, where $8.3 million in reparations was promised to the few remaining survivors.

Nonetheless, to say that the Japanese government have taken moral responsibility, let alone legal responsibility, is far from the truth. It continues to be an area of controversy, where the Japanese government continues to dispute facts like the forced abduction by the Japanese military and the estimated number of women and girls victimized, as well as strongly oppose commemorate statues located across the globe. Survivors have also long been denied justice. Over the past 30 years, women from South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, China, and the Netherlands brought 10 lawsuits against the Japanese government in Japanese courts, all of which were dismissed before a landmark ruling in South Korea in January 2021 finally ruled in favour of survivors.

Statue of Peace (Comfort Woman Statue) in Berlin, Germany. [Kim Seo-kyung and Kim Eun-sung]

Long Acceptance of Sexual Violence: Inevitable and Unfortunate Reality of Conflict

Through an intersectional feminist lens, it becomes evident that CRSV often goes unrecognized due to entrenched patriarchy, pervasive rape culture, and the intersecting identities of survivors, such as race, gender, religion, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation. However, intersectionality is often not explored enough in CRSV discussions. These discussions also tend to overlook the role language plays in shaping the ineffective responses to CRSV. In this conceptualization of language as a social determinant of health, language plays a powerful role in how health issues are described and how treatment options are provided or withheld, directly affecting a person’s access and level of care.

Often, when CRSV is discussed, the UN Womenwatch report observed that “Sexual violence during armed conflict is not a new phenomenon. It has existed for as long as there has been conflict.” News sources have even stated the following: “The use of sexual violence as a weapon in conflict is as old as the Bible – Deuteronomy 21 states that a victor in battle who ‘hast a desire’ for a ‘beautiful woman’ among the captives can ‘bring her home to thine house.’”

With language such as this, the atrocities that women and girls disproportionately face are normalized and deemed inevitable, leaving the impression that nothing can be done. This language also lays the foundation for survivors to experience double victimization, where they suffer both injury and stigmatization or rejection from their families and broader communities.

No Justice for Survivors of CSRV

One of the most damaging effects of language is its impact on a victim’s ability to secure legal justice. While international law includes protections against CRSV, enforcement remains weak. For example, it was not until 2008 that The UN Security Council formally declared sexual violence not merely a humanitarian concern, but a deliberate tactic of war and a direct threat to international peace and security. In addition, while rape was declared a war crime and crime against humanity in both the International Criminal Tribunals for Yugoslavia (1993) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (1994), only one case resulted in a guilty verdict.

As women victimized by Japan’s “comfort women” system continue to fight for justice 80 years later, it becomes clear that legal reforms alone are not enough to end CRSV. Many of these survivors, abducted in their early teens, are now in their 90s, and still justice has not been served. Meanwhile, every day, hundreds—perhaps thousands—of women and girls around the world are being victimized by CRSV.

Is this the reality we are willing to accept? One where states and military actors evade accountability for state-sponsored CRSV? We must say no. Ending CRSV require more than policy; it demands a fundamental shift in how societies perceive sexual violence. Perpetrators must be shamed and held accountable, not victims. Unless we actively confront the deeply embedded, harmful perceptions surrounding sexual violence, we will continue to fail survivors and fall short in preventing CRSV.

---

Where We Go Next

Part two of this series will examine theories as to why women and girls are being targeted in CRSV, particularly drawing on evidence that explores the leadership roles women tend to take during conflict times. Then, we will review case studies of women-led leadership initiatives in conflict areas.