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Sexual Violence in War and Post War

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Sexual Violence in War and Post War MASTER THESIS SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN WAR AND POST WAR AFGHANISTAN Student: Lida Ahmad Supervisor: María José Gámez Fuentes Castellón, September 2013 DEDICATION To my Mother and all Women of Afghanistan i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is my great pleasure to acknowledge the help and support of my supervisor María José Gámez Fuentes; without her scholarly supervision and patience I could not have written this thesis. My sincere gratitude goes out to all the women and girls who shared their life stories with me. These brave individuals kindly and openly spoke with me about nightmarish and haunting experiences in their lives. I hope with my current work and in my future endeavors I can give voice to their concerns and contribute towards their own empowerment. Also my special thanks goes to Selay Ghaffar, director of Humanitarian Assistance for the Women and Children of Afghanistan (HAWCA) and Weeda Ahmad, director of Social Association of Afghan Justice Seekers (SAAJS) for their kind help during my field research. Furthermore, I give thanks to Manizha Nadiri, director of Women for Women for giving me the opportunity to interview victims in the Women for Women safe house. I deeply appreciate the knowledge and guidance of Dr. Fatuma Ahmed Ali, professor in the master program for Peace, Conflict and Development Studies in the Universitat Jaume I, and Dr. Noorddin Alavi who is Professor in the Sociology and Philosophy department in Kabul University, for their assistance in the writing of this thesis. I would also like to thank the UNESCO Chair of Philosophy at Universitat Jaume I for making this opportunity possible for me to study the Peace Master. I am thankful to all my friends and fellow students in the Peace Master program who gave me loving support. Furthermore my special thanks go to Dr. Alejandro Pozo for introducing me to this wonderful Peace Master program. ii Last but not least I thank my two kind friends; Ian Pounds from the USA who is a great friend of the Afghan people and Kim Asher from Australia, who always helped me with the English editing and did not hesitate to offer useful suggestions. iii EPIGRAPH “It has probably become more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in modern conflict.” Major-General Patrick Cammaert (2008) Former commander of UN peacekeeping forces in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION.............................................................................................................................................. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................................... ii EPIGRAPH ................................................................................................................................................ iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................................... v FORWARD ............................................................................................................................................... vii ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................................. viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS .................................................................................. x GENERAL INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 1 Background of the Study ........................................................................................................................ 5 Problem Statement .................................................................................................................................. 8 Conceptual Framework .......................................................................................................................... 9 Violence ................................................................................................................................................ 9 Peace ................................................................................................................................................... 11 Gender and Gender-Based Violence ............................................................................................... 12 Sexual Violence .................................................................................................................................. 17 Literature Review ................................................................................................................................. 18 Objectives of the Study ......................................................................................................................... 23 Significance of the Study ...................................................................................................................... 23 Scope and Limitation of the Study ...................................................................................................... 24 Methodology .......................................................................................................................................... 25 The Structure of the Thesis .................................................................................................................. 26 CHAPTER I: GENDER, SEXUAL VIOLENCE AND WARTIME RAPE: ...................................... 29 STATE OF THE ART .............................................................................................................................. 29 1.0. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 29 1.1. War and Postwar Sexual Violence and Philosophy for Peace ................................................... 30 1.2. Peace Studies and Gender Studies: What is the Connection? ................................................... 32 1.3. Women, Peace and War ................................................................................................................ 36 1.3.1. Women Peaceful, Men Violent ............................................................................................... 38 1.4. War and Sexual Violence .............................................................................................................. 41 1.4. 1. Opportunity and social breakdown ...................................................................................... 44 1.4.2. Gender Inequality and Identities ........................................................................................... 46 1.4.3. Gender and Ethnicity .............................................................................................................. 49 1.4.4. Military Organization and Structure .................................................................................... 51 v 1.5. Chapter Summary ......................................................................................................................... 53 CHAPTER II: AFHGANISTAN’S RECENT HISTORY AND WOMEN’S STATUS ..................... 57 2.0. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 57 2.1. Afghanistan and Afghans .............................................................................................................. 58 2.2. Political Contemporary History of Afghanistan ......................................................................... 64 2.2.1. Twentieth Century and Afghanistan’s Social Changes ....................................................... 64 2.2.2. Soviet Union Invasion and the Start of Conflict ................................................................... 71 2.2.3. Fundamentalists’ Power and Civil War ................................................................................ 73 2.2.4. Taliban Era .............................................................................................................................. 74 2.2.5. 9/11 and The Current Afghan Conflict ................................................................................. 76 2.3. Women’s Identity in Afghan Society ............................................................................................ 78 2.4. Chapter Summary ......................................................................................................................... 85 CHAPTER III: SEXUAL VIOLENCE DURING WAR AND POSTWAR: CONTEXT, CHARACTERISTICS AND INITIATIVES TO TRANSFORM IT ................................................... 87 3.0. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 87 3.1. The Effects of War on Afghan Women ........................................................................................ 88 3.2. Contextualizing the Field Research .............................................................................................. 93 3.3. Non-Legitimized Types of Sexual Violence.................................................................................. 97 3.3.1. Rape and Gang Rape .............................................................................................................
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