Violated or Protected. Women's Rights in Armed Conflicts after the Second World War

This article makes inquiries into the position of women in contemporary armed conflicts and whether it has, in legal terms, changed at all since the Second World War. The author identifies that the method and scale of perpetration of violence significantly changed, such that sexual violence against women in war is no longer a side effect of hostility but has evolved to become deliberately used as a weapon of war and a means of political repression to intimidate members of an entire community or ethnic group. Moreover, the author examines the evolution of legal frameworks including the Geneva Conventions 1949, Statutes of International Criminal Tribunals and other regulations, coming to the conclusion that women’s rights in armed conflicts are simultaneously more protected and more violated, and that the efforts of international actors have not been proven effective.