The Unreported War: Tackling Denialism and Social Stigma towards Victims of Armed Conflict-Related Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Author: Maphosa, Ropafadzo
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.47348/SLR/v32/i1a7
• Published date: 21 June 2021
• Pages: 155-168
• Date: 21 June 2021
• Citation: (2021) 32 Stell LR 155

155

https://doi.org/10.47348/SLR/v32/i1a7

THE UNREPORTED WAR: TACKLING

DENIALISM AND SOCIAL STIGMA TOWARDS

VICTIMS OF ARMED CONFLICT-RELATED

SEXUAL AND GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

Ropafadzo Maphosa

LLB LLM (cum laude)

Researcher at the South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human

Rights and International Law, a centre of the University of Johannesburg*

Abstract

In addressing the United Nations Se curity Counc il at its 7938th meeting,

the Special Adviser on the Pre vention of Genocide, Adam a Dieng, said that

the social stigma attach ed to sexual violence is integ ral to the logic of using

sexual violence as a tact ic, a method of war or even torture. The per petrators

of sexual crimes und erstand that sexual violence attacks o ne’s individual a nd

collective identit y and ostracises sur vivors, thus untying the strings of family

and kinship that hold the ve ry fabric of communit ies together. As a result,

survivors of gender-based and sexual violence often nd it dif cult to cope

with its social repercussio ns. This article will pursu e a detailed discussion

pertaining to the severe stigma suffered by survivors of conict-related sexual

violence and how this issue i s not adequately addressed in internatio nal law.

The risk faced by sur vivors is threefold: rst by the action of the perpetrator,

then by the reaction of societ y through stereotypica l and patriarchal

attitudes, and nally by the court s, which often are not on ly unresponsive

but also perpetua te negative social norms and ra pe myths leading to double

persecution. D ue to a lack of evidence and othe r factors, such as patria rchy

and social inequalities, the stigma a ssociated w ith conict- related sex ual

violence is manifested in cou rt rooms through various ra pe myths about

its survivors. Se xual violence is a gendered phe nomenon, in that it is ofte n

linked to, and stems from , harmful social and t raditional practices rela ting

to perceptions of gende r and power dynamics sur rounding them. In times

of conict, prevalent power dynamic s, and the practices linked to them, can

be further exace rbated leading to a higher prevalence of se xual violence.

Therefore, the core argu ment advanced in this ar ticle is the necessit y of

* My sincere gra titude goes to Prof David Bilch itz for his assistance w ith editing earlier ver sions of this

article as well a s to the anonymous referee s and the editors who offered c omments and criticism s that

improved the over all quality of this ar ticle La stly, I would like to thank the at tendees of a conference

on Internation al Law and Just ice for Victims of t he Gross Human Ri ghts Violation of S exual and

Gender-Based Violence” hosted by SAIFAC, SARCIL and the Konrad Adenauer St iftung, and held i n

Johannesbu rg on 27-29 November 2019, for provid ing comments and quest ions that inspired ideas for thi s

article

(2021) 32 Stell LR 155

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