An examination of the United Nations' policies towards sexual violence in armed conflict : rhetoric vs. reality

Abstract

The issue of Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict has become one of the darkest legacies of the last decade. Prior to the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and the genocide in Rwanda there was limited availability of documentation on the issue. However since the 1990s the situation has improved and there was an increased recognition that sexual violence was being used as a political weapon during armed conflicts. Hence, this study gives an overview of the main legal and political milestones that contributed to the development of resolutions, initiatives and programmes against sexual violence in armed conflict. This gives an indication of what the United Nations (UN) has been doing in this context, using the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Republic of Uganda as case studies. This thesis examines two specific case studies in order to give this study a more substantial approach. The choice of these two case studies is based on the fact that these two armed conflicts have been going on for a long period of time which gives a longer timeframe to examine and are also both situated in Central Africa. In addition, the two conflicts are in some aspects inter-related with each other. If one looks at the UN's approach towards this issue, it is evident that a rhetoric-reality gap is present. Therefore, these two case-studies are relevant to address the research question. In order to examine to what extent the rhetoric-reality gap is present in the UN's policies towards sexual violence in armed conflict, this study compares and contrasts the UN's formal policies, including the Security Council Resolutions and other relevant material and initiatives, and what has actually been and is being done by the UN in order to eradicate sexual violence in armed conflicts, with specific reference to the DRC and Uganda.