Thursday, June 26, 2008

Rape as a Weapon of War

Op-Ed from Slavenka Drakulic author of "They Would Never Hurt A Fly"

No longer can a man defend himself by saying that he "only" raped a woman he could have killed. We know now, as we knew before the passage of this resolution, that rape is a kind of slow murder.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shaina, that's a very powerfully written article. You've given the conclusion but the conclusion loses the rawness of the article for anyone who doesn't follow the link. Slavena Drakulic refers the resolution specifically to the crimes at Foca. I hope you won't mind me reproducing the last two paragraphs in full.

"At the trial of the three defendants in the Foca case, was one particular witness, the mother of a 12-year-old girl taken prisoner by Radomir Kovac, who raped her and then sold her to a Montenegrin soldier for 100 euros. The girl was never seen again. Her mother came to confront the perpetrator and to witness against him. But when she took the stand, no words came out of her. Just a sound, the unbearable howl of a mortally wounded dog.

The UN Security Council resolution on rape will not bring this woman's daughter back. But it is nonetheless historic because, finally, sexual violence is recognized as a weapon, and can be punished. No longer can a man defend himself by saying that he could have killed a women he had "only" raped. We know now, as we knew even before the passage of this resolution, that rape is a kind of slow murder."

Anonymous said...

Sorry, missing "k", Slavenka Drakulic.

Anonymous said...

Rape is the worst thing that can happen to a woman. It's disgusting and it's a weapon of war. Recently, the U.N. has recognized rape as a war crime.