22 SEXUAL FMR 27 against men and boys by Wynne Russell

It is well known that armed conflict and sexual violence Sexualised and boys can emerge in any form against women and girls often go hand in hand. What is less of conflict – from interstate widely recognised is that armed conflict and its aftermath to civil wars to localised conflicts also bring sexual danger for men and boys. – and in any cultural context. Both men and boys are vulnerable in The great reluctance of many men Organisations that have made conflict settings and in countries of and boys to report sexual violence preliminary efforts to reach out asylum alike. Both adult men and makes it very difficult to accurately to male survivors have often been boys are most vulnerable to sexual assess its scope. The limited statistics handicapped by lack of awareness violence in detention. In some places that exist almost certainly vastly of the issue on the part of survivors over 50% of detainees reportedly under-represent the number of male and staff alike. Even though male experience sexualised torture. victims. Nevertheless, in the last victims are included in some However, both adult men and boys decade, sexualised violence against international tribunals’ definitions of are also vulnerable during men and boys – including , sexual violence, the domestic operations in civilian areas and in sexual torture, mutilation of the of many countries do not include situations of military or genitals, sexual humiliation, sexual male victims in their definitions abduction into paramilitary forces. enslavement, forced incest and of sexual violence, particularly in Boys, meanwhile, are also highly forced rape – has been reported in cases where homosexual activity vulnerable in refugee/IDP settings. 25 armed conflicts across the world. attracts legal penalties.2 The If one expands this tally to include impact of this marginalisation and In addition to acts of individual cases of sexual exploitation of boys lack of care can only be guessed at. sadism, the main overt purposes displaced by violent conflict, the of sexualised violence against men Meanwhile, we remain ignorant of and boys appear to be torture, the place that such violence occupies initiation and integration into not ‘boys being boys’ in the perpetuation of conflicts or military/paramilitary forces, in the choice of particular forms punishment of individuals and a but an exercise in power of retaliatory violence. We do not strategy of designed to terrify, and humiliation understand its impact on post- demoralise and destroy family conflict reintegration of adult or and community cohesion.3 combatants, or of civilian men list encompasses the majority of the forced to rape family or community More fundamentally, most sexual 59 armed conflicts identified in the members. We are unaware of how violence is a mechanism by which recent Report.1 it affects the incidence of sexual men are placed or kept in a position and other subordinate to other men. Male- The problem of male-directed and children, including refugees directed sexual violence helps to sexual violence is not unknown and child soldiers, during and after expose the broader phenomenon to the humanitarian community. conflicts. From the perspective of the of conflict-related sexual violence, Many international organisations global trade in sex and persons, we including against the women and – UN agencies, governmental and remain ignorant of its contribution girls who are the most numerous intergovernmental organisations, to prostitution, survival sex or victims, for what it is: not ‘boys INGOs, international criminal trafficking in persons during and being boys’ but an exercise in courts – have acknowledged the after conflicts and in refugee/IDP power and humiliation. issue in their publications and settings. We do not know about their staff members show a high the relationship between conflict- degree of individual sensitisation related violence and sexual violence What is needed and concern. Nevertheless, male- within institutions such as , directed sexual violence remains forces and penal systems. Systematic collection of data is vital. largely undocumented. Organisations operating in conflict- From what little published affected zones should intensify Little is known either about the information exists on the efforts to identify male victims of scope or nature of such violence or subject, as well as the expertise and create reporting about the psychosocial consequences of many, it is possible to make categories for violence that affect for male survivors. For individual some rough observations. male sexuality and reproductive survivors, this collective ignorance capacity, such as mutilation of the leads to a lack of assistance or justice. FMR 27 SEXUAL VIOLENCE 23 genitals. All data must be able to be would help programme managers psychological consequences often broken down by and age. formulate effective strategies and far outlive those of other forms would also help advance the field of physical violence. We need Mechanisms for expert discussion of trauma studies more generally. to take care not to inadvertently on how to provide assistance for harm other vulnerable groups. men and survivors need to be Male victims need to be fully Psychosocial strategies aimed at established. Given the extraordinary represented in international justice the specific needs of male survivors sensitivity of the issue for victims initiatives and their inclusion in must be carefully designed to and communities alike, strategies national laws on sexual violence. avoid unintentional reinforcement need to be carefully thought out. The prosecution by the International of concepts of male dominance Many of those I have interviewed Criminal Tribunal for the Former over women or of . stressed the difficulty of formulating Yugoslavia4 of perpetrators of sexual programmes for male survivors, violence against male victims and Wynne Russell (wynneoz@yahoo. given that they often have very the Democratic Republic of Congo’s com.au) is a visiting fellow in different needs from survivors recent extension of the of the Department of International and are often extremely reluctant rape to include male victims are Relations at the Australian National to discuss the violence they have positive examples. Humanitarian University http://rspas.anu.edu.au/ir. suffered or its consequences. The actors should acknowledge that needs of male survivors often for male victims sexual violence 1. www.humansecurityreport.info/index.php?option=con tent&task=view&id=28&Itemid=63 vary widely according to cultural is not just another form of torture. 2. See article by Rodriguez p45 on DRC’s recent context. Creation of mechanisms Sexual and gender-based violence expansion of rape laws to include both . for expert discussion both within is a particularly vicious attack on 3. Thanks to Françoise Duroch of Médecins Sans and across cultural contexts personal and social identity whose Frontières for these observations. 4. www.un.org/icty Sexual violence and HIV/AIDS transmission by Jennifer Klot and Pam DeLargy

The high rates of sexual violence in sub-Saharan Africa may such as Liberia, levels of sexual help explain the disproportionate rates of infection among violence remain high and in some countries violence against women young women as compared to men, and also offer a new may actually increase in the aftermath conceptual framework for understanding HIV transmission. of a conflict, though dynamics may change.2 Understanding Sexual violence is vastly under- If sexual violence is a significant HIV how these patterns change over represented as an HIV risk and , it follows that conflict time is essential for effective HIV transmission factor both within situations may pose greater risks prevention and response. But and outside of conflict situations. for HIV, particularly where rape most of the relatively small body Sexual violence and coercion may is used as a weapon of war, where of literature linking conflict with increase susceptibility to HIV decreased security contributes to HIV/AIDS identifies sexual violence insofar as non-consensual sex is higher prevalence of opportunistic as only one among a broad range associated with increased genital sexual violence or where there is of factors that could increase the trauma and coital , the already HIV infection among the likelihood of HIV infection in conflict likelihood of anal penetration, the population. Given the high levels – including mobility and population vulnerability of adolescent girls of sexual violence occurring in a displacement, poverty, loss of access and the age difference between number of conflict-affected countries to services and information, partners. Heightened risk may also with significant HIV prevalence unsafe blood transfusion, civil- be associated with the probable (such as the Democractic Republic military interactions, changing infectiousness of the perpetrator, the of Congo, Liberia, Burundi and family and social structures, incidence and prevalence of sexual Cote d’Ivoire), this could be a demographic impacts, psychological violence, including of mass rape, and major driver of the epidemic. trauma, illicit drugs use and STIs. the likelihood of ulcerative sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV. A growing number of studies are The point here is not to negate the It may only require a small internal showing that sexual violence in significance of these factors but to or external genital to provide war does not disappear when the distinguish between ‘drivers’ and ‘risk the virus access to susceptible cells. agreements are signed.1 In factors’. The factors described above a number of post-conflict settings, are drivers of HIV vulnerability,