Beyond the Weapon-of-War Thesis: Ordered and Enabled Wartime Sexual Violence

The United Nations (UN) and other institutions regularly document how various armed actors and organizations perpetrate wartime sexual violence. For example in recent years there have been reports of single and multiple-perpetrator rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), mass rape in Rakhine State (Myanmar), and forced marriage of girls in Afghanistan. There seem to be countless types and configurations of conflict-related sexual assault, abuse and atrocity. This research brief presents the current state of research knowledge. While earlier studies have explained sexual violence mainly in terms of the weapon-of-war thesis, drawing later research, this brief introduces a new, illustrative categorisation built on the distinction between ‘ordered’ and ‘enabled’ wartime sexual violence.

The FBA Research Brief Series is an integral part of FBA’s ongoing commitment to support and promote high quality research. The purpose of the publication series is to present research findings in an accessible format in order to contribute to the promotion of evidence-based policy and practice. 

Author: Angela Muvumba Sellström