Systematic rape is a brutal tactic used in times of war to terrorize women by sexually assaulting them. It has also been used as a means to perform ethnic cleansing by degrading and demoralizing the persecuted ethnic group. According to international law, systematic rape has been declared a crime against humanity as well as a war crime. It is also one of the criteria that identifies a genocide.

The concept of systematic rape was utilized during the genocide in the Bosnian War. During the ethnic cleansing performed by the Serbian soldiers against the Bosnian Muslims, the Bosnian women and girls were tortured by sexual violence. A United Nations committee determined that the number of women who were raped was around twenty thousand, whereas the Bosnian government estimated that there were in fact fifty thousand rape victims. As a result, war crime tribunals are now allowed to prosecute superior officers and hold them liable for the actions of their subordinate soldiers.

Currently in the city of Darfur in Sudan, the Janjawid militia is systematically raping the women there leading to another human rights crisis. This is similar to the brutality faced by Tutsi people in Rwanda where the women and children today still remain distraught and tormented as the deal with the aftermath of the systematic rape by the Hutu tribe that occurred there 10 years ago. There is no question that rape is a tool of genocide even if it does not result in physical death, it does have a decided impact on the rape victims both mentally and spirtually.

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