Gendered Narratives of Genocide and the Ethics of Storytelling: An Analysis of Civil Society Representations of the Yazidi Genocide
Michelle Elizabeth Ringrose
Bachelor of Behavioural Science (Psychology)/Bachelor of Justice Bachelor of Justice (Honours)
Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy
School of Justice | Faculty of Law
Queensland University of Technology
2020
Keywords
Advocacy
Civil society
Conflict related sexual violence
Feminist research ethic
Framing theory
Gender
Genocide
Narratives
Resistance
Survivors
Yazidi
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Abstract
Civil society advocacy remains a vital tool to mobilise action during and after genocide. Yet, narratives used in civil society advocacy commonly reinforce colonial and patriarchal assumptions that position women as inherently vulnerable and victimised. The central argument of this thesis is that despite progress made at an institutional level addressing and responding to conflict related sexual violence, the dominant framing of the experiences of women and girls has not changed. This thesis explores the way narratives reproduce gendered insecurities in advocacy surrounding the Yazidi genocide perpetrated by Islamic State, asking the central question: why do gendered narratives of genocide persist in advocacy?
Through a critical feminist analysis this thesis moves beyond conceptualising women, who are survivors of sexual violence in conflict, through a dichotomy of agency and victimisation and instead focuses on which narratives are prioritised and silenced to consider the consequences this has on understanding gendered experiences of genocide. It draws on an analysis of the advocacy material of twelve civil society and advocacy organisations, and interviews conducted with advocacy practitioners, finding that there is a strong focus on narratives of sexual violence that foregrounds the victimhood of women and girls, which ‘fixes’ their oppression on gendered and racialised terrains. This thesis suggests that this narrative has consequences for the wellbeing of survivors and that such a focus is sustained through the complex socio- political dynamics of advocacy organisations.
Examining the framing of advocacy material is a productive way of conceptualising the gendered dimensions of genocide and presents a unique point of analysis for examining atrocity crimes from a feminist criminological perspective. This thesis seeks to inform an advocacy perspective that considers the gendered dimensions of conflict while also taking into consideration the agency and dignity of survivors. The enduring focus on narratives of sexual violence does not address the root cause of conflict related sexual violence and instead presents a reductive narrative of vulnerability,
iii victimisation and violation. This thesis specifically examines the ways genocidal crimes are framed in gendered ways by civil society, the consequences of the dominant focus on narratives of sexual violence, and the political context and variables that lead to this dominance. This thesis concludes by suggesting that narratives of resistance could positively reframe the way women and girls are positioned in advocacy and break down gendered tropes to help enable programming, aid and intervention to address the underlying inequality that leads to sexual violence in conflict.
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Contents Keywords ...... ii
Abstract ...... iii
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations ...... x
Statement of Original Authorship ...... xi
Acknowledgements ...... xii
1 Chapter One: Introduction ...... 1
1.1 Theoretical Foundation ...... 5
1.2 Civil Society Advocacy and Conflict ...... 6
1.3 Gender and Conflict ...... 7
1.4 Case Study ...... 9
1.4.1 August 3, 2014 ...... 10
1.4.2 Advocacy Context ...... 11
1.5 Feminist Research Ethic ...... 14
1.6 Structure of thesis ...... 15
1.7 Thesis Contribution ...... 18
2 Chapter Two: Background and Literature Review ...... 20
2.1 Introduction ...... 20
2.2 Representing Narratives of Sexual Violence in Advocacy ...... 21
2.3 Civil Society Advocacy ...... 22
2.3.1 Civil Society Advocacy and Human Rights ...... 23
2.3.2 Civil Society Advocacy and Movement Mobilisation ‘Success’ ...... 25
2.3.3 Agenda Setting ...... 28
2.4 Language ...... 29
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2.5 Genocide ...... 31
2.5.1 Genocide and Criminology ...... 33
2.5.2 Gender and Genocide ...... 34
2.5.3 Women’s Bodies as Sites of Violence ...... 37
2.5.4 Men and Boys ...... 40
2.6 The Gendered Nature of the Yazidi Genocide ...... 42
2.6.1 Treatment of Yazidi Men and Boys Twelve and Over ...... 42
2.6.2 Treatment of Yazidi Boys Seven to Twelve ...... 43
2.6.3 Treatment of Women and Girls ...... 44
2.6.3.1 Separation and Forcible Transfer ...... 44
2.6.3.2 Sexual Slavery and Rape ...... 44
2.6.4 Legal Analysis ...... 46
2.6.4.1 The Yazidis as a Protected Group ...... 47
2.6.4.2 Elements of Genocide ...... 48
2.6.4.3 Intent to Destroy ...... 51
2.6.4.4 International Politics Surrounding the Yazidi Genocide ...... 52
2.6.4.5 Accountability ...... 54
2.7 Conclusion ...... 59
3 Chapter Three: Methodology ...... 61
3.1 Introduction ...... 61
3.2 Framing Theory ...... 61
3.3 Narrative Theory ...... 66
3.3.1 Simple Storylines ...... 67
3.3.2 Gendered Narratives ...... 68
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3.4 My Feminist Research Ethic ...... 70
3.5 Methodological Approach ...... 72
3.5.1 Data Collection ...... 73
3.5.1.1 Documents ...... 73
3.5.1.2 Interviews ...... 75
3.5.1.3 Sampling and Recruitment ...... 76
3.5.2 Interview Reflections ...... 77
3.6 Data Analysis: Discourse Analysis ...... 78
3.6.1 Document Data ...... 79
3.6.2 Interview Data ...... 80
3.7 Analysis and Coding ...... 80
3.8 Ethical Considerations ...... 82
3.9 Limitations ...... 83
3.10 Conclusion ...... 84
4 Chapter Four: Narratives of the Yazidi Genocide: Vulnerable, Victimised and
Violated ...... 85
4.1 Introduction ...... 85
4.2 Narratives of Sexual Violence ...... 86
4.2.1 Women’s Victimisation ...... 86
4.2.2 The Ideal Victim ...... 88
4.2.3 Sexual Violence as the Universal Experience of Women ...... 94
4.3 Beyond a Single Story ...... 96
4.4 Acts of Resistance ...... 100
4.5 Men and Boys ...... 103
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4.6 Race and Ethnic Identity ...... 107
4.7 Language as a Narrative Strategy ...... 109
4.7.1 Repetition ...... 111
4.7.2 The Language of Victimhood ...... 112
4.8 Conclusion ...... 114
5 Chapter Five: The Power of Narrative Testimony and the Ethics of Storytelling 116
5.1 Introduction ...... 116
5.2 The Power of Individual Testimony ...... 117
5.2.1 The Personalisation of Suffering in Advocacy ...... 118
5.3 The Use of Survivors as an Advocacy Tool ...... 122
5.3.1 Advocacy Figureheads ...... 123
5.4 The Impact of Advocacy on Survivors ...... 126
5.4.1 Re-traumatisation ...... 127
5.4.2 False Expectations ...... 131
5.4.3 Informed Consent ...... 133
5.4.4 Narratives of Victimhood and the Impact on the Participation of Women
and Girls ...... 136
5.5 Survivor Rights and Forms of Justice ...... 139
5.5.1 Survivor Engagement with Advocacy ...... 140
5.5.2 What about the Yazidi community? ...... 142
5.5.3 Avenues for Justice and Accountability ...... 143
5.6 Conclusion ...... 146
6 Chapter Six: The role of Advocacy Agendas in Reproducing Narratives of Sexual
Violence ...... 148
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6.1 Introduction ...... 148
6.2 The Role of Advocacy Organisations as Gatekeepers ...... 149
6.3 Advocacy Strategy and Narratives of Vulnerability ...... 151
6.3.1 The Strategy of Incontestable Narratives ...... 151
6.3.2 Political Traction in Narratives of Sexual Violence ...... 154
6.4 Types of Organisation and Impact on Advocacy ...... 158
6.5 The Role of Donors in Narrative Construction ...... 162
6.6 The Role of Policy in Framing Narrative ...... 167
6.7 External Socio-political Dynamics ...... 170
6.8 Conclusion ...... 173
7 Chapter Seven: Conclusion ...... 175
7.1 Deconstructing the Narrative ...... 176
7.2 Interrogating Power in Advocacy Narratives: Choices and Limitations ...... 181
7.3 Avoiding the Danger of the Single Story ...... 183
7.4 The Way Forward: Narratives of Resistance ...... 184
References ...... 186
Appendix One: Document Analysis Organisations...... 209
Appendix Two: Interview Organisations ...... 212
Appendix Three: Interview Schedule ...... 213
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List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
AP Anti-Personnel
BiH Bosnia and Herzegovina
CSO Civil Society Organisation
FYF Free Yezidi Foundation
ICC International Criminal Court
ICJ International Court of Justice
ICTR International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
ICTY International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
IIIM International Impartial and Independent Mechanism
IS Islamic State
NGO Non-Governmental Organisation
PTSD Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
R2P Responsibility to Protect
SGBV Sex and Gender Based Violence
UN United Nations
UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
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Statement of Original Authorship
The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet requirements for an award at this or any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made.
Signature:
QUT Verified Signature
Michelle Ringrose
Date: 4 December 2020
xi Acknowledgements
A PhD is like a marathon, every step you question the choices you make and the path in front of you feels never ending. However, along the way you realise how many people are standing along the track cheering you on and running beside you. While at this point I would neither advocate for running a marathon, nor doing a PhD, there are many people I would like to thank for their unwavering support. First and foremost, my incredible supervisors Dr Helen Berents and Dr Erin O’Brien. This thesis would not have been possible without your brilliant minds and your continual encouragement. Helen, you have guided me through my honours and now my PhD. I am immensely grateful for your time and support over the past four and a half years. You helped me find my academic voice, pushed me when I needed it, and encouraged me constantly, even in the face of my continual existential crises. Erin, you always know exactly what to say, from your kind words to your invaluable feedback I am thankful. I do not believe I would have produced the work I have without these two intelligent women standing beside me. Additionally, I would like to acknowledge the financial support I have received in the form of the Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship as well as Grant in Aid funding and the Australian Institute of International Affair’s International Scholarship.
During my candidature I also received invaluable feedback at my milestones. I would like to thank Professor Sara Davies for her feedback during my Confirmation of Candidature, as well as Professor Susan Harris Rimmer for her contribution to my Final Seminar. The feedback I received at both milestones was invaluable in shaping this project. I am also immensely grateful to all twelve of my interviewees who gave up their time to speak to me about this project. I am thankful for the unique perspective each participant was able to share with me.
To my G block fam, we have been through a lot together and I know I could not have made it through without the family we built. From the long coffee breaks to the afternoons at the bar or just a friendly smile as we walk past each other, I am grateful
xii to each one of you. In particular I would like to acknowledge: Vanessa Ryan, Rahul Sinha Roy, Sahana Sarkar, Lesedi Mashumba and Eddy Hurcombe. There are a few people who deserve a special mention: Alice Witt, Rosalie Gillett, Antonia Horst and Laura McGillivray. You all inspire me. I have nothing but respect, admiration and love for each of you and your beautiful minds. All I can say is thank you.
I am also lucky enough to be surrounded by another incredible group of friends who have supported me throughout this journey. In particular I would like to thank: Meg Cumming, Olivia Buchanan, Jessa-michaela Gaveran, Josh Deang, Catriona Drummond, Aleesha Zaranis, Aimee Catt, Asha Black, Sarah Mckenzie and Clare Taylor. Your support, love and unwavering encouragement has helped more than you know.
To my family, I cannot put into words how invaluable your support has been. To my parents, Kyle and Jennifer, thank you for constant encouragement, support and love. I am eternally grateful for all the opportunities your hard work has given me. To my siblings, Lauren, Anna and Jonathan, you may have asked every week for the past three years if I have finished my thesis but I can finally say I have. You all hold a special place in my heart.
Finally, to my fiancé Inbar, I don’t have the words to express my thanks. You are my biggest cheerleader and I am so grateful for your continual support, love and encouragement. You have made this journey better in every conceivable way.
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1 Chapter One: Introduction
Ghazal was twenty-three years old when the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (IS) attacked her home. She was captured alongside her sister. Ghazal attempted to flee at least four times over an eleven-month period, despite knowing her punishment could kill her. Ghazal was beaten repeatedly and shot at. Yet when an IS emir threatened to “marry” her, she insulted him and spat in his face. In re-telling her story what was important to Ghazal was not how she was assaulted, rather, how she resisted (Minwalla 2017).
Ghazal’s story is one of power and resistance told by Iraqi human rights lawyer Sherizaan Minwalla to illustrate the ways Yazidi women and girls resist IS. Ghazal shares a story with many other Yazidi women; stories of strength and bravery. Stories are commonly used by advocacy organisations as a means of mobilisation, to gain support for a particular cause. In attempts to raise funding and awareness it would appear a compelling narrative emerges of resistance in the face of genocide. Yet, the powerful stories of Yazidi women rarely appear in civil society advocacy material. Instead, advocacy surrounding the Yazidi genocide has focused predominantly on graphic depictions of sexual violence. While this finding is not new, it does demonstrate that despite progress made by international institutions with regards to sexual and gender- based violence (SGBV)1, civil society advocacy narratives have not substantially changed. Women from Armenia, from Bosnia, from Rwanda and from Iraq are painted with the same brush and portrayed as victimised, vulnerable, and violated.
1 The Rome Statute (1998, 3) defines sexual and gender-based crimes to include “rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization and other forms of sexual violence of comparable gravity.”
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The Yazidis2 are an ethno-religious minority group living predominantly in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Armenia. This ancient religion is one of the least understood groups in the Middle East. They have been persecuted for generations due to the misconception that they worship the devil, and are thus seen by different religious factions as non- believers. As part of an escalating series of events in the region, on the 3rd of August 2014, IS3 launched a co-ordinated attack on Mount Sinjar, a city 150km west of Mosul in Iraq. Mount Sinjar was home to the largest community of Yazidis in the world, approximately 400,000 people (Cetorelli et al. 2017). IS attacked with the intent to destroy the Yazidis entirely.4 Genocidal crimes were committed along gendered lines that reflect the essentialist perceptions of the roles of women and men in society (Global Justice Center 2018). Yazidi men and older boys were executed due to their roles as religious and community leaders, and the group perceived most likely to resist. Younger boys were indoctrinated into the extremist ideology of IS and trained as child soldiers. Women and girls were also persecuted along gendered lines, based most commonly through acts of sexual violence. Older Yazidi women were killed as they
2 As ‘Yazidi’ is not an English word it can be spelt differently including, ‘Yazidi’ ‘Ezidi’ or ‘Yezidi.’ For the purpose of this thesis the spelling of ‘Yazidi’ has been adopted due to its prominence in research and advocacy materials.
3 The group known as IS has renamed and rebranded itself multiple times. IS is frequently referred to by other names including ISIS, ISIL and Daesh. For the purposes of this thesis the acronym ‘IS’ will be used due to its prevalence in literature and reports by civil society organisations (Amnesty International 2017; Yazda 2016, 2017). By using the acronym ‘IS’ the author is in no way suggesting that statehood has been established.
4 Throughout this thesis I have taken the position that the crimes perpetrated by IS are unequivocally genocide. This is a political statement and a statement of solidarity. I suggest that under Article II of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide (1951) IS perpetrated genocide against all members of the Yazidi community. To date neither the International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Court of Justice (ICJ) nor an independent mechanism have pursued charges of genocide. Yet, the UN has designated the crimes as geocide, and countries are holding some individuals accountable for acts of genocide (OHCHR 2016). Most notably, as of April 2020 an Iraqi man is on trial in Germany charged with human trafficking, torture, murder and genocide in what is thought to be the first charge of genocide in the Yazidi case (Schuetza 2020). A more detailed analysis of the designation of the crimes as genocide can be found on page 42.
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were seen by IS as having no intrinsic value, as a woman’s worth is seen in her ability to bear children (Global Justice Center 2018).
All members of the Yazidi community were persecuted. However, Yazidi women and girls who are survivors of sexual violence have become symbolic of the genocide. The violence inflicted on their bodies has become the focus of international institutions as well as advocacy organisations. Violent acts of rape are seen to represent the collective suffering of the Yazidi people, the brutality of IS, and the gendered nature of conflict. A familiar narrative emerges, embedded in racial and patriarchal essentialisms, where women are seen as passive victims of conflict. Through selective framing the persecution of Yazidi men and boys and older women is silenced; young women and girls become the only victims, and more concerningly, only victims.
In recent decades there has been increased attention from both scholarly and international communities to the previously silenced experiences of women in conflict. Following the feminist activist movements of the 1970s, the impact of conflict on women has been more openly discussed. From the 1979 United Nations (UN) Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, to the 2008 recognition of rape as an act of war and genocide in UN Security Council Resolution 1820, we have seen an evolution from narrative silence to narrative salience when discussing sexual violence against women and girls. The narrative of wartime rape has transformed from constructions as an unfortunate by-product of war to the dominant framing of conflict around the world. More recently there has been a much- needed focus at an international level on ending conflict related sexual violence and the impunity of offenders. UN Security Council Resolution 1820 (2008) recognised sexual violence as a weapon of war and more recently Resolution 2467 (2019) highlighted the need for a survivor-centred approach to justice and accountability when addressing sexual violence in conflict.
Despite these historic advances, the story told by advocacy organisations remains largely the same. During the Bosnian war the dominant construction of women in
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advocacy, particularly Bosnian Muslim women, was one of passive victimisation through acts of sexual violence (Helms 2003). While men are commonly viewed as political actors and warriors, women become identified through their role within the patriarchal gender regime (Helms 2003). Women are mothers, nurturers and victims of war (Brown 2018; Davies and True 2015; Henry 2014). Even with changing rhetoric at an international level the same narrative continues in advocacy around the Yazidi genocide.
Despite advancements made around the recognition and understanding of sexual violence in conflict, advocacy narratives remain largely the same with significant impacts on survivors. This thesis asks the central question, why do gendered narratives of genocide persist in advocacy?
In order to answer this question this thesis considers the following three sub questions:
1. How do civil society organisations frame women and girls in the context of genocidal crimes? 2. What are the potential impacts of a dominant narrative of sexual violence in conflict? 3. What factors contribute to the persistence of narratives of sexual violence?
In responding to these questions, this thesis extends contemporary feminist critiques on the framing of conflict and SGBV. Existing scholarship highlights the way representations of conflict create hierarchies of offences and silence some crimes (Carpenter 2016; Engle 2005). This is a pattern that has been seen in conflicts for decades, yet there is still inattention to underlying structural inequalities that lead to violence (Henry 2016). In analysing advocacy representations this thesis highlights the continuance of reductive tropes regarding the role women and girls play in conflict. Feminist scholarship has long suggested that women and girls must be seen as protagonists in their own stories; throughout this thesis I suggest we must not simply centre these experiences but address the underlying reasons for conflict related sexual violence(Serisier 2018). The following sections will outline the theoretical foundation
4 of this thesis, the role of civil society advocacy, the gendered nature of conflict and the Yazidi case study. The purpose of this is not an exhaustive literature review but rather to situate this work at the intersections of criminology, gender and genocide studies.
1.1 Theoretical Foundation
In order to examine how advocacy organisations frame genocidal crimes, this thesis uses both framing and narratives theories. Framing theory, in its application to civil society mobilisation, combines the use of rhetoric and language to shape public perceptions of a particular issue. Narratives, on the other hand, are one type of technique through which an issue can be framed. The combined use of these theories addresses the issue raised by Mayer (2014) that narratives remain largely ignored by scholars examining collective action.
The term framing is derived from Goffman’s “schemata of interpretation” that allows individuals to “locate, perceive, identify and label” occurrences within their space and the world at large (Goffman 1974, 21; Benford and Snow 2000). Framing is a way of assigning meaning and is commonly used by civil society groups to steer an audience towards specific events as well as to demobilise opposition to a cause (Snow and Benford 1988). In framing an issue, some parts are magnified and others are silenced. Arguably in a wider discourse of conflict, harm is often framed in terms of its impact on those perceived as the most vulnerable. As such, we see a focus in advocacy on the plight of ‘vulnerable’ women and children (Carpenter 2016). However, it is not sufficient for mobilisation to singularly highlight the plight of one victim group, rather, frames need to resonate with their target audience. Given the increased international focus on conflict related sexual violence, this topic has become an ideal platform for advocacy. Not only would resistance be limited among public and political audiences, but sexual violence in conflict has also become a ‘buzzword’ to increase resourcing and donor funding (Autesserre 2012). Yet, sexual violence in conflict is rarely framed in the context of broader structural issues. As such, we see the emergence of not just reductive tropes of violence, but responses to conflict that do not often consider the
5 gender inequalities that act as a catalyst for conflict related sexual violence (Davies and True 2015; Henry 2016).
Alongside framing, narratives are a powerful way to shape beliefs and actions and are a vital asset in generating collective action. Narratives do not have to contain a nuanced plot or show complex character development, rather the narrative is constructed by the reader (O'Brien 2019). Indeed, this is one of the advantages of the use of narratives in advocacy; a story can be told about a conflict without the need to outline complex social and political conditions. An uncomplicated storyline builds upon existing public schemas and often proposes a straightforward solution (Autesserre 2012). While fundraising efforts are generally more successful when a story line is uncomplicated, this can also lead to the use of reductive gendered and racialised tropes (Jacobs and Sobieraj 2007; Khoja-Moolji 2017). Women and girls are typically cast as the victim and their vulnerability is often seen as the grounds for intervention. Their victimisation is often amplified to increase their perceived weaknesses in comparison to the offender (Carpenter 2003). While the focus on the victimhood of women and girls may generate increased financial aid, it also leads to the exclusion of alternate storylines and other crimes (Autesserre 2012). Meger (2016a) also suggests that the use of narratives of violence in advocacy has become a further space for the commodification of violence and the subsequent consumption of stories of mass rape by largely Western audiences. The combined use of framing and narrative theories allows for a nuanced analysis of not only the stories that are told, but also those that are silenced.
1.2 Civil Society Advocacy and Conflict
Civil society organisations play an essential role in shaping policy and legal frameworks as well as placing human rights issues on the international agenda (Keck and Sikkink 1998; Rangelov and Theros 2009a). I argue that in paying attention to advocacy narratives this thesis centres material that is often seen as peripheral to wider policy decisions and public discourses. Throughout this thesis I propose that advocacy
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narratives and framing have a wider impact on emerging and ongoing conflicts through their ability to foreground and silence different crimes and victim groups. As Enloe (2011) suggests, we must pay attention to the mundane and the ‘everyday’ to critique gendered assumptions. I suggest the way stories are told, as opposed to a focus on the information they contain, is often not considered in discussions of conflict related sexual violence.
While advocacy is often conceived as an altruistic forum, public and media attention, sympathy and funding are finite commodities and as such, civil society groups are forced to act strategically in pursing politically savvy and pragmatic strategies (Ron, Ramos and Rodgers 2005). Oftentimes this does not mean targeting the most prolific human rights abuses, but rather advocating around conflict situations that will most likely resonate with relevant audiences in order to influence the agenda (Sane 1998; Bob 2002). The selective nature of advocacy means mobilisation around particular causes is not always equal. Advocacy groups often act as gatekeepers, focusing on particular issues they perceive are more likely to generate support. This in turn silences some crimes and highlights others (Joachim 2007; Carpenter et al. 2014). As noted previously, the focus of much conflict related advocacy material in recent years surrounds sexual violence. The focus on civil society advocacy provides a platform to critique the persistent rhetoric surrounding gendered tropes of violence. Advocacy organisations, as narrative gatekeepers have the power to reaffirm or resist perpetuating structural gender inequalities.
1.3 Gender and Conflict
Sexual violence in conflict has not always garnered the attention and focus of the international community as is suggested throughout this thesis. As Henry (2014) argues, there has been a conceptual shift within the international community regarding the way sexual violence in conflict is perceived. While this conceptual shift was spurred on by the first international legal recognition of sexual and gender-based violence in the 1998 Rome Statute, it is important to acknowledge that crimes of sexual
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violence were commonly silenced and seen as a common outcome of war (Davies and True 2015). Thanks to widespread and enduring feminist activism, sexual violence in conflict was placed on the United Nations agenda. However, with the passing of Resolution 1325 in 2000 as the first resolution to focus on Women, Peace and Security, we see the emergence of a new trend that centres women, alongside children as in need of special protection as inherently vulnerably, victimised and violated (Scully 2009).
During conflict, gendered roles become more pronounced, and women’s roles are commonly fixed as wives, mothers and victims (Helms 2003). Despite the newfound awareness and advocacy surrounding women’s experiences during conflict and genocide, the masculinised interpretation of conflict continues with women’s roles predominantly seen as passive victims and bystanders (Marczak 2018). There is a gendered invisibility in conflict, if women are not seen as inherently passive victims, their voices, actions and experiences are excluded from the dominant narrative (Brown 2018). Alongside the focus on women’s vulnerability comes the fixation on women’s bodies as sites of violence. Despite the diversity of women’s experiences of conflict women are predominantly seen as victims of sexual violence (Engle 2005; Marcus 1992). As part of this wider narrative of sexual victimisation women are seen as requiring protection with Scully (2009) arguing that a narrow focus on sexual violence against women, and the inherent vulnerability of such framing, may hinder the pursuit of human rights objects in post-conflict reconstruction. Scully explores how vulnerable women, who the international community deems as needing protection, transform into strong leaders with the abilities to alter the status of liberty and security in post- conflict society (Scully 2009, 120). Building on this, I argue that centring the vulnerability of women and girls in advocacy narratives also has an impact on the way that sexual violence in conflict is addressed. The Yazidi genocide represents a timely example of the continued perpetuation of these issues in an advocacy setting.
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1.4 Case Study
The Yazidis are an ethno-religious minority group living predominantly in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Armenia. The Yazidis speak Kurmanji, a northern Kurdish language and largely identify as ethnically Kurdish5 (Hanish 2009; Maisel 2008). Yazidism is a monotheistic and syncretic religion dating back to the Sumerian period in Mesopotamia (Hanish 2009). Conversion to Yazidism is theologically impossible as a child must have two Yazidi parents, meaning marriage outside the religion is strongly discouraged (OHCHR 2016). A number of the religious and doctrinal aspects of Yazidism can be found in the traditions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam including; baptism, not consuming pork, pilgrimage and various taboos (Maisel 2008; Syrian Accountability Project 2017). As Yazidis are neither Muslim, Christian nor Jewish they are not considered ‘people of the book.’ Given the religious and ethnic diversity in Northern Iraq, this view of Yazidis has had repercussions both currently and in the past with respect to their legal and political status as well as their relationship with their neighbours and authority (Allison 2001).
Aside from their historical oppression from the Abbasid period to the Ottoman Empire rule, the Yazidis have also faced persecution during the forced Arabisation policies during the 1987-1988 Anfal Campaign. The fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and the sectarian warfare also acted as catalysts for increased attacks, particularly in the Nineveh province, where many Yazidis reside (Maisel 2008). However, the media focus on the Sunni-Shi’ite conflict left many attacks
5 The author notes that although most Yazidis identify as ethnically Kurdish “some communities particularity in Armenia and the Sinjar Mountains, want to be regarded as Yazidis- as a distinct ethnicity with their own Yazidi language” (Maisel 2008, 1).
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underreported and the Yazidis unprotected, with hundreds of Yazidis killed since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
However, it is the oral dissemination of the Yazidi religion and their traditional ban on literacy which has led to Yazidis being one of the least understood groups of the Middle East (Dakhil, Zammit Borda and Murray 2017). Much of this persecution stems from the misconception by some groups in the Middle East that Yazidis are ‘devil worshipers’ as one of their central religious figures, Tawûsî Melek (‘the Peacock Angel’) shares similarities with Iblis, the devil figure of the Koran (Açikyildiz 2010). The historical persecution of the Yazidi people, alongside the misconceptions around their religion, has rendered this group vulnerable to continued violence.
1.4.1 August 3, 2014 In the early hours of the August 3rd 2014, IS launched a coordinated attack from Mosul and Tal Afar in Iraq and from Al-Shaddadi and the Tel Hamis region in Syria, besieging Sinjar city and local villages (Yazda 2017). IS advanced with limited resistance as the Kurdish Peshmerga forces mandated to protect that area had already withdrawn, leaving checkpoints and bases abandoned (OHCHR 2016). After strategically taking control of roads and setting up checkpoints, mobile patrols were established to track down fleeing Yazidi families. Many fled up Mount Sinjar as a last resort to avoid capture (OHCHR 2016). What followed was a humanitarian crisis as tens of thousands of Yazidis were trapped on Mount Sinjar with no food, water, shelter or medical care, and temperatures rising above fifty degrees Celsius. On the 7th of August, United States (US) President Barack Obama announced American military action to aid the Yazidis trapped on Mount Sinjar after noting:
ISIL forces below have called for the systematic destruction of the entire Yezidi people, which would constitute genocide. So these innocent families are faced with a horrible choice: descend the mountain and be slaughtered, or stay and slowly die of thirst and hunger (The White House 2014).
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Most Yazidis trapped on Mount Sinjar were evacuated between the 9th-13th of August once a safe corridor was opened by Kurdish forces allowing passage through Syria to the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (Cetorelli et al. 2017). This was not before an estimated 1,700 died on the mountain following the IS siege (Cetorelli et al. 2017). An estimated 9, 900Yazidis, equating to 2.5% of the Yazidi population, were killed or kidnapped during the siege and the immediate aftermath of the genocide (Cetorelli et al. 2017). While the focus of this thesis is on the selective nature of advocacy, the Yazidi genocide, and particularly the siege, was covered by many English language media organisations. The nature of media representations has also been described as salacious and embedded in narratives of protectionist hypocrisy when centring the experiences of passive victimisation (Minwalla, Foster and McGrail 2020). The prevalence of media coverage as well as the nature of these representations demonstrates how the Yazidi genocide came to be in the broader collective conscious of the public and advocacy organisations. While more detail regarding the crimes perpetrated by IS will be discussed in Chapter Two, what is clear is that the persecution of the Yazidi community was inherently gendered given the targeted nature of the crimes perpetrated by IS. All members of the Yazidi community were persecuted, however the focus from international institutions, as well as advocacy organisations, has been on women and girls who were victims of sexual violence.
1.4.2 Advocacy Context Since the beginning of the genocide in August 2014 both Yazidi communities and international advocacy organisations have been pushing for aid, intervention and justice. While Yazidi religious communities are historically insular, the need for public awareness has moved this group into the international spotlight (Foster and Minwalla 2018). Yazidi diaspora communities have played a large role in awareness raising and advocacy. While the largest Yazidi diaspora community is in Germany, advocacy groups have emerged around the world, particularly in the US, Canada, France, The Netherlands, Australia, the United Kingdom (UK) and Iraq (Tagay et al. 2017). For example, Yazda is a Yazidi run and led advocacy organisation, based in the US with
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offices in Germany, the UK, Sweden and Iraq. Yazda was formed in the immediate aftermath of the genocide by members of the diaspora and now has a large international presence in lobbying and aid acquisition (Charman 2018). While most existing Yazidi organisations are advocating for justice surrounding the genocide, their goals and advocacy methods are diverse. For example, the Yazidi Human Rights Organisation International advocates for the establishment of a Yazidi autonomous region in North Iraq and is seeking weaponry provisions for Yazidi and Assyrian groups (Yazidi Human Rights Organization International 2020). In contrast, the Free Yezidi Foundation takes a survivor centred approach to justice and accountability with a focus on support for survivors of SGBV (Free Yezidi Foundation 2020). The audience that Yazidi diaspora groups target differ depending on the organisation. However, most groups have a strong focus on genocide recognition and accountability, and therefore target those involved in policy making, governments and international institutions. As I will discuss later in Chapter Six, the audience and mandate of an organisation does have an impact on the framing of narratives in conflict situations.
Advocacy figureheads have also become a prominent means of generating movement mobilisation. Yazidi survivor Nadia Murad has undoubtedly become the “face” of the Yazidi genocide as one of the first survivors to engage with mass Western media and non-government organisations (NGOs),6 with many considering her voice vital to advocacy (Mustafa 2018). Murad travelled around the world speaking with global leaders, telling her story and raising awareness around the Yazidi genocide (Nadia's Initiative 2020). Murad is a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
6 Many advocacy campaigns involve a figurehead, a champion who becomes the ‘face’ of a particular act or event. Nadia Murad has undoubtedly become the face of the Yazidi genocide. Murad is a Yazidi woman, a genocide survivor, an author, an advocate and a Nobel peace prize recipient. While many of my interviewees have worked with Murad I wish to stress that in no way does my work claim to speak for her.
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Goodwill Ambassador and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate: she has been actively involved in working with Yazidi advocacy organisations and is now the President and Chairwoman of Nadia’s Initiative, focusing on community driven and survivor-centric sustainable development programs (Murad 2020).
Transnational advocacy organisations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have also played a role in generating attention and funding to the Yazidi cause. Since the beginning of the conflict these organisations have been active in releasing research reports and awareness raising. However, these larger international advocacy organisations are also politicised and diverse. For example, Amnesty International did not refer to the atrocities perpetrated against the Yazidi people as genocide in any of their advocacy material from 2014- 2017. This demonstrates the political nature of advocacy in both diaspora communities as well as large advocacy organisations. While large civil society organisations may direct their advocacy towards a variety of stakeholders, they also play a large role in engaging with the wider public. As such, this does have an impact on the narratives they produce. Many other organisations have been involved in advocacy including those involved in mass atrocity work, such as Genocide Watch and the Auschwitz Centre, as well as organisations that focus on conflict related violence against women.
The advocacy world is complex and nuanced. Getting issues on the agenda, gaining funding and attention from policy makers or the public is a constant battle. I acknowledge the difficult and tireless efforts of advocates who are doing what they can with the resources they have available to help survivors of unimaginable atrocities. The genocide by the Islamic State, as a non-state actor, may represent a shift in the nature of conflict. As the world evolves and new threats emerge, the importance of a coherent and strong response that allows for women’s active participation in political and social processes becomes crucial.
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1.5 Feminist Research Ethic
This research is underpinned by a feminist research ethic. While there is no one feminist method, it is the questions this work seeks to address that resonate with feminist frameworks and scholarship (Ackerly and True 2020). In analysing the continued reproduction of gendered insecurities in advocacy this thesis critiques the silencing of some aspects of conflict and questions the processes and institutions that sustain them. In borrowing from Cynthia Enloe’s Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics, we need to think seriously and pay attention to gendered politics in international spaces (Enloe 2014). In “paying attention” to women in political spaces I am not suggesting they are never discussed or noticed, but rather that their role is pre-determined. When there is a discussion on the role of women in conflict spaces they are seen as apolitical victims (Zalewski 2015; Helms 2014).
As Sjoberg (2013) suggests, we cannot understand the consequences, causes and meanings of war and conflict without understanding gender. Given the essential role advocacy plays in not only raising awareness, but financing and administering programming and intervention, an understanding of the gendered dynamics of advocacy framing may allow us to better target the root cause of sexual violence in conflict.
An essential part of my feminist research ethic is who and what I choose to study. From the beginning of this project a conscious choice was made to not impose pressure on survivors to retell their trauma. Instead, I am asking how institutions, both small and large, frame and tell stories of gendered violence. In doing so I am analysing and tracing the production and contestation of power (Krystalli 2019).
My feminist research ethic also informed the methods for this research. The combined use of both document and interview data allowed for an intersectional understanding of the way narratives are written as well as the politics and framing behind these constructions. In analysing both spoken and written word a more complete and
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nuanced understanding of the stories that are told and those that are silenced could be deduced. The document analysis involved the collection of advocacy material from 2014-2017 from twelve organisations that advocate around the Yazidi genocide, totalling 308 documents. These documents included press releases, advocacy statements and research reports, and were gathered from the public webpages of a range of advocacy organisations including: Yazidi diaspora advocacy groups, human rights organisations and organisations with a focus on mass atrocities. I subsequently conducted twelve semi-structured interviews with individuals who have worked for, or are currently working for, an organisation involved in conflict related advocacy. These interviews were conducted in person in Australia, New York, Washington DC and Lincoln, Nebraska, as well as via phone and Skype. While many interviewees chose to remain anonymous, those individuals and organisations who are identifiable are outlined in Appendix Two. While more detail will be provided on the methods in Chapter Three, it is important to note the relationship between the document data, and its ability to demonstrate the way women and girls are publicly represented, and the interviews, in addressing why these narratives of sexual violence persist and the impact of this on survivors of sexual violence.
1.6 Structure of thesis
This thesis is divided into seven chapters. To contextualise the focus of this thesis, Chapter One provided an introduction to the thesis, including an overview of the Yazidi genocide, background information on advocacy and gender in conflict situations as well as an outline of the methodology. This was not intended to be exhaustive, but rather to situate the work within broader feminist and advocacy frameworks as well as to present the central issue this thesis is interested in and this thesis’s central argument.
Chapter Two builds on the framework outlined in the introduction and provides a critical analysis of relevant literature. First, it explores the history of civil society mobilisation, particularly the link between advocacy and human rights movements. Throughout this section I integrate interdisciplinary research from international
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relations and political science to best understand how advocacy organisations mobilise and what movement success looks like. Most notably, I discuss some of the mobilisation techniques in the work of Keck and Sikkink (1998) including the importance of stories in advocacy and the often reductive dichotomies through which these stories are framed. I also explore the way that language can be used as a mobilisation tool. The importance of language is premised on the idea that the words used in advocacy are not neutral, rather language can be gendered and racialised and represents dominant social and political ideologies (Jackson and Lawler 2005; Carpenter 2003). Following this, I discuss the intersection between criminology and genocide before focusing on the relationship between gender and conflict. I outline the enduring advocacy narrative of women as victims of sexual violence, which feminist scholars have been highlighting for decades (Davies and True 2015; Mlodoch 2012; Sjoberg 2013; Henry 2016; Marcus 1992). I also discuss the impact that gendered narratives have on the exclusion of men and boys and the strategic nature of advocacy decisions to focus on the vulnerability of women and girls. I then provide a more detailed outline of the Yazidi genocide and the particular crimes that were perpetrated against members of the Yazidi community. I also provide a legal analysis establishing that the atrocities were in fact genocide and are largely recognised as such by the international community. In engaging with these bodies of knowledge I locate my thesis at the intersection of criminology, gender studies and genocide. The literature review establishes how narratives have been used in advocacy, the power of advocacy, and the ways in which women and girls have been represented in past conflicts. This provides a platform to critique why narratives of vulnerability persist and what impacts this may have.
Having positioned this thesis within existing literature, Chapter Three details the theoretical foundation, methods and methodological process of this work. To begin this chapter, I discuss the use of framing and narrative theories as the theoretical framework for this thesis. I then further elaborate on feminist research ethic as well as detailing my choice to focus on the production of narratives in advocacy, as opposed
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to imposing research demands on survivors. I subsequently outline my data analysis and sampling techniques before concluding with a discussion on the ethical considerations and limitations of this thesis.
Chapter Four is the first of three analysis and discussion chapters. This chapter directly addresses the first research question regarding how civil society organisations frame genocidal crimes and how advocacy organisations frame women and girls in conflict. This chapter argues that the vulnerability of women and girls, as victims of sexual violence, is foregrounded in advocacy material. Alternate stories of resistance, stories like that of Ghazal, that opened this thesis, are silenced in favour of graphic depictions of sexual violence. This chapter also considers the roles that race and ethnic identity play in advocacy narrative construction. The idea that brown bodies are inherently more disempowered feeds into the pre-existing gendered narratives of victimhood. In establishing the dominant framing of women and girls in conflict this chapter identifies the persistence of narratives of sexual violence in advocacy based on gendered and racialised tropes of violence.
Chapter Five builds on this in discussing the consequences of the dominant focus on narratives of sexual violence and the role survivors play in setting the advocacy agenda. Despite decades of research and advocacy pushing for narratives that highlight the diversity of women’s experiences in conflict, we are still seeing the consequences of this sustained focus. Representations of women’s experiences in conflict are heavily reliant on testimony from survivors as an advocacy tool. As such, concerns emerge around re-traumatisation, false expectations and informed consent. This chapter also considers the role that advocacy organisations play as gatekeepers, contributing to the stifling of diverse narrative representations. It is evident through the interviews I conducted that the wishes and desires of Yazidi survivors are not always represented in advocacy material.
Chapter Six is the final results chapter. In this chapter I discuss the political influences that lead to the dominance of narratives of sexual violence. While the previous
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chapters have established that narratives of the Yazidi genocide reproduce gendered tropes of violence and that such narratives can be potentially problematic, this chapter considers how organisation’s choose narratives, the factors that come into these decisions, and why these factors converge to a point that produces graphic narratives of sexual violence. In this chapter I discuss a number of variables including the role of organisations as narrative storytellers, the political traction in narratives of sexual violence, the impact of an organisations mandate and audience, the role of donor funding and pressures and the relationship between advocacy and policy agendas.
1.7 Thesis Contribution
Genocide was recognised as a crime in 1948, and since this time the study of genocide has made limited use of criminological explanations instead, drawing upon legal, political, historical and psychological accounts (Alvarez 1997). Despite the expansion of criminology within the field of social science in the 1950s, the Holocaust did not act as a catalyst for the study of mass atrocities (Hagan and Rymond-Richmond 2008). The strongest consensus within the discipline of criminology regarding genocide is the lack of theoretical and practical interest on the part of scholars (Brannigan 2014; Pruitt 2014, 2015; Yacoubian 2000; Woolford 2006). Criminology also broadly conceptualises genocide as a form of state crime which limits its application to the Yazidi genocide, perpetrated by a non-state actor (Feierstein 2015). This thesis contributes to and extends the disciplinary focus of criminology to consider the roles of advocacy, critical feminist conflict studies and non-state actor perpetrated genocide.
Beyond adding to existing literature in the field of genocide studies, this thesis also contributes to understanding the way that civil society organisations frame and narrate stories of conflict. While there is an existing body of literature that discusses ethical concerns of journalists engaging with Yazidi women and girls, (Foster and Minwalla 2018) as well as the way these stories are reported, (Minwalla, Foster and McGrail 2020) the media and civil society organisations play different roles. Civil society organisations have historically played an essential role in getting issues on the agenda and continue
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to play an important role in generating funding and assistance to survivors of conflict (Carpenter 2007, 2014). As such, critiquing how survivors of conflict are represented, and the impacts of this, emerges as an important addition to existing work. There is also a very limited body of research that discusses if the stories of survivors are represented in a way that aligns with their wishes, this work seeks to re-centre survivors as central agents in their owns stories (Helms 2003, 2014; Simic 2018).
I argue that examining the framing of advocacy material is a productive way of conceptualising the gendered dimensions of international security and presents a unique point of analysis of genocidal crimes. My work seeks to inform an advocacy perspective that considers the gendered dimensions of conflict while also taking into consideration the agency and dignity of survivors. Through my research I suggest that focusing on narratives of resistance could be a counterpoint to detailed recounts of sexual violence. The long-standing focus on narratives of sexual violence does not address the root cause of conflict related sexual violence. I argue that re-framing advocacy to tell stories of resistance, the power and the strength of women and girls is one way to break down gendered tropes and to get programming, aid and intervention to address the underlying inequality that leads to sexual violence in conflict.
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2 Chapter Two: Background and Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
From slavery abolitionist movements to the Save Darfur campaign, the power and influence of civil society advocacy is well known. The complex social and political dynamics that influence advocacy agendas have also been well researched. Yet, in the current social and political environment where acts of sexual violence are deservedly garnering wider support, it is important to consider whether this has had an impact on narratives of violence in advocacy. If the goal of advocacy is to mobilise collective action, generate funding and support, we must also consider the gendered dynamics of how advocacy is undertaken to achieve these goals.
The purpose of this chapter is twofold. First, to provide a review of relevant literature and situate this thesis in existing scholarship. Second, to provide background information and a socio-political analysis of the Yazidi genocide. This chapter will first provide an overview of existing scholarship on civil society advocacy and representations of sexual violence. Subsequently, this chapter will draw on literature surrounding civil society advocacy with a specific focus on the strategic techniques used in civil society mobilisation. Following this, the literature regarding the importance of language in narrative construction will be discussed. Relevant scholarship on the link between genocide and criminology will also be reviewed, alongside an analysis of gender and genocide. This will be followed by literature on the genocide against the Yazidi people, before concluding with a legal analysis on the determination of genocide. This thesis builds on existing bodies of knowledge in genocide, criminology and gender studies in order to critique the framing of advocacy narratives and the impacts these may have on understandings of the role of women and girls in conflict.
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2.2 Representing Narratives of Sexual Violence in Advocacy
While the literature review will provide an overview of the research that has been conducted in the areas of civil society advocacy, language, gender and genocide, there is rarely an intersection between studies of genocide and feminist scholarship (Snow 2018). As such, the contribution of this work is evident through its focus on analysing the intersection between advocacy, feminist scholarship, and representations of conflict. Some studies have been conducted that focus on the way that civil society organisations represent conflicts, and in particular, the role of women and girls. Most notably, Helms (2003, 2014) analyses the way women as peacebuilders represent themselves through ethnographic research. While this work provides invaluable insights into the way that Bosnian women activists portray themselves, the focus of this thesis on the way survivor run and led groups, as well as larger human rights organisations, represent conflict provides a different point of analysis and an avenue to critique and analyse what gendered and racialised tropes may impact Western constructions of conflict. It is also important to note the focus on ethno-nationalist victimhood in the work of Helms (2003, 2014) cannot wholly speak to the experiences of a different people, during a different conflict, at a different time. Similarly, while there is a body of research that discusses the role of civil society advocacy and sexual violence, much of this focuses on dichotomies of victimisation, most notably regarding Bosnian and Serbian divisions and the impact that this may have on hierarchies of violence (eg Simic 2018).
Charman (2018) also provides a unique analysis of the importance of language and framing in sexual violence. However, the focus of this research is on crimes of sexual violence perpetrated against men. Yet, Charman (2018) does highlight the importance of advocacy on influencing our understanding of abuse and conflict. This research provides an avenue to examine the way framing and language surrounding the crimes of the Yazidi genocide may have significant impacts on our understandings of, and response to, conflict.
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As noted previously, on page 18, there is a body of research that investigates the way that Western media organisation represent the stories of Yazidi women and girls. Buffon and Allison (2016) demonstrate that Western media outlets foreground the hypervisibility of women’s injured bodies in a manner the reproduces gendered and racialised tropes of violence. This bring forward questions regarding, whether advocacy organisations, who have such power in addressing and responding to conflict, reproduce similar tropes in their advocacy and if so, what the consequences of this for survivors are and our responses to addressing sexual violence in conflict more broadly.
While existing work provides an invaluable insight into the dynamics of advocacy representations and the Yazidi genocide, this study contributes a unique analysis of a conflict perpetrated by a non-state actor in a time where there has been increased attention to conflict related sexual violence. This provide a unique space to suggest that, despite advances in international law and human rights norms around sexual violence in conflict, the way women and girls are represented in civil society advocacy has not changed and the consequences of these representations on survivors persist. The following sections will provide an overview of scholarship in the areas of advocacy, language, gender, and genocide in order to situate this work in existing literature.
2.3 Civil Society Advocacy
The 1980s and 1990s saw a proliferation in civil society organisations with humanitarian agendas with advocacy movements emerging to pressure the industrialised world on a number of diverse issues (Busby 2007; Kaldor 2007). With the growth of new media and communications in the 21st century, non-state actors have become increasingly important in shaping policy instruments and international legal frameworks (Rangelov and Theros 2009b). This section focuses on the influence of civil society organisations and their strategic mobilisation tactics.
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A plethora of conceptions of civil society groups are adopted within scholarly discussion dependent on historical junctures and disciplinary trajectories such as; “transnational advocacy networks”, “transnational civil society” and “global social movements” (Busby 2007; Keck and Sikkink 1998; Klotz 2002; Rangelov 2013). The aforementioned nomenclatures reflect the diversity of language, across time, within international relations literature when discussing similar constituencies. As such, there is no agreed definition of ‘global civil society.’ Rather than propose a strict definition, similar to Rangelov (2013), I suggest civil society organisations be conceived as a diverse set of actors and groups encompassing but not limited to diaspora communities, NGOs, networks and think tanks who engage in debate surrounding a given issue. This broad conceptualisation allows for the inclusion of all relevant groups who have impacted advocacy efforts in the case of the Yazidi genocide, irrespective of how they label themselves.
2.3.1 Civil Society Advocacy and Human Rights The notion that states are legally responsible for the protection of the human rights of their citizens dates back to the French Revolution and the US Bill of Rights (Keck and Sikkink 1998). However, since the eighteenth century there have been lobby movements advocating for slavery abolition, one of the oldest human rights abuses, with the first antislavery society formed by the Quakers in England in 1783 (Ahmed and Potter 2006). Yet, the idea that the human rights of citizens of any country should be a concern for international relations and foreign policy is a concept that prior to the 1970s was considered radical (Keck and Sikkink 1998). This could be due to a shift from the past focus on inter-state wars and individual state responsibility to collective action which could oppose national economic and political agendas (Heinze 2007; Lippman 2007). As Charnovitz (2006, 348) suggests, it was often NGOs that pushed for the transformation of typically domestic concerns to causes for international attention and acted as a “solvent against the strictures of sovereignty.” According to Keck and Sikkink (1998, 81) transnational advocacy networks play a pivotal role in placing human rights on the international agenda. This can be demonstrated through a number of examples,
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most notably the civil society movement which led to the ban of anti-personnel (AP) land mines (Price 1998), the advocacy surrounding the ban on nuclear weaponry and halting their use in the Vietnam War (Tannenwald 2005, 2006), as well as the activism behind both the anti-apartheid and slavery abolitionist movements (Klotz 2002). Women’s rights movements and advances in gender equality also have a strong history in advocacy movements. From the recognition that ‘women’s rights are human rights ‘during the World Conference on Human Rights in 1993, to the recognition of rape as a war crime by the ICTY and ICTR, women’s rights groups have managed to substantially change the face of international law (Wiseberg 2003).
Despite the diverse social and political climates in which successful civil society movements emerge there are a number of factors which remain consistent. Both the anti-apartheid and abolitionist movements shared similarities, including the mobilisation and advocacy of common goals and focus on race. Both movements also sought to influence substantial changes within social, economic and political discourses while shifting from being solely morally inspired movements (Klotz 2002). The advocacy surrounding the ban of nuclear weaponry, as well as both the anti- apartheid and abolitionist movements, also comprised similar constituencies with each movement involving a strong religious influence (Klotz 2002; Tannenwald 2005). The Quakers as well as Unitarians, Methodists and Baptists were heavily involved in both the anti-apartheid and abolitionist movements, allowing for a repertoire of transnational protest outside formal political institutions (Klotz 2002). The anti- apartheid movement also utilised religion as a focal point for opposition, most notably through figureheads such as Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Klotz 2002). However, it is worth noting that there is no singular civil society agenda on any one issue. Not all those arguing for slavery abolition shared the same sentiments, with groups such as the American Colonization Society, arguing for free slaves to be ‘returned’ to Africa. (Klotz 2002; Seeley 2016). Rangelov (2009, 139) cautions against the conceptualisation of civil society as presenting a unitary discourse, noting that political strife and ideological conflict are as prevalent in international advocacy as in
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domestic politics. Civil society groups engaged with global genocide debates are also not exempt from the complexities of international advocacy with institutions such as The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) receiving support from some civil society groups as well as condemnation from groups such as the International Committee for the Defence of Slobodan Milosevic (Rangelov 2013). While civils society organisations may have diverse mandates they play an essential role in placing human rights issues on domestic and international agendas (Risse-Kappen, Ropp and Sikkink 1999). Given the power of civil society organisations, the narratives they produce emerge as a productive way of critiquing the gendered dynamics of conflict. However, it is important to consider that human rights organisations are not beyond reproach. As Ahmed and Potter (2006) suggest, an emerging criticism of human rights NGOs is the promotion of Western human rights ideals. Similarly, in the space of gendered human rights advocacy, consideration must be given to the which voices are promoted and silenced and if we are singularly seeing Western feminist ideals in NGO advocacy (Ahmed and Potter 2006). This provides an avenue for this thesis to address gaps in existing knowledge by examining the way that crimes of genocide are represented and framed by considering gendered and racialised tropes of violence.
2.3.2 Civil Society Advocacy and Movement Mobilisation ‘Success’ The relationship between civil society group advocacy and campaign ‘success’ is not wholly dependent on constituent protest, with some arguing that the presence of civil society groups and subsequent media focus can explain divergent outcomes in a particular crisis. One comparison found:
there was a striking difference between hegemonic awareness and genocidal success in 1975 (the year East Timor’s first vote for independence) when few NGO personnel were on the ground to witness and report abuses, and in 1999 when human rights NGOs had established a more comprehensive micro (in East
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Timor) and macro (global) monitoring network” (Steele and Amoureux 2006, 419).
However, the simplistic conceptualisation that pressure by civil society groups leads to an international response is not always accurate. Latin American civil society groups could not halt systematic human rights violations in Guatemala in the 1970s and 1980s nor endemic abuses in Colombia during the 1990s (Keck and Sikkink 1998). Even in cases where advocacy has been ‘successful’ the relationship is much more complex than simply bringing a particular issue to public attention (Klotz 2002).
While optimistic observers may view civil society as an open forum marked by altruism, others view it as a “Darwinian marketplace where legions of groups vie for scarce attention, sympathy and money” (Bob 2002, 38). While some may not agree with the Darwinian dynamics described by Bob (2002), there is a general consensus that public and media attention, sympathy and funding are finite commodities and as such, civil society groups are forced to act strategically in pursing politically savvy and pragmatic strategies (Ron, Ramos and Rodgers 2005). One such strategy, termed by Keck and Sikkink (1998) as ‘information politics’ is the ability to generate credible, politically usable information and implement it in the most impactful way. This can be achieved through the use of the stories of those affected as well as framing the issue as a simplistic dichotomy of right and wrong. Such a conceptualisation allows for the current state of affairs to be attributed to a particular party or parties and for the situation to be seen as neither accidental nor neutral. The credible nature of the information presented is also of paramount importance. However, to motivate action the information must also be dramatic. It is the combination of credibility and drama that is essential to inspiring public action and subsequent political impact. Amnesty International has engaged with these tactics with respect to their reporting of human rights abuses. While they note their commitment to exposing human rights abuses in all circumstances, the extent of the human rights abuses are not the sole factor influencing their reporting (Ron, Ramos and Rodgers 2005). According to Amnesty
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International’s former Secretary General “it is the severity of the human rights violations in a country that trigger our reaction” but so do “windows of opportunity” in order to “influence the agenda” (Sane 1998, 1). While civil society groups aim to advocate for change in order to be effective, information must be deployed in a strategic manner. Given the increased attention to crimes of sexual violence internationally, as well the reductive dichotomous tropes often used to characterise conflict, such concepts may be relevant in critiquing the narratives used by civil society organisations surrounding the Yazidi genocide.
Another means by which this can be achieved is grafting (Carpenter 2007). Grafting acknowledges that not all issues engender an appropriately rapid response and as such, some issues need to be embedded within a specific framework in order to motivate action. The process of grafting is argued to be conscious and strategic, with the central argument being that new issues must resonate with pre-existing frames (Carpenter 2007). A relevant example of such a process is the advocacy to delegitimise the use of AP land mines. The use of AP land mines was framed to align with already established norms. Reference was made to the higher rate of injury and mortality of AP land mines in comparison to other ‘taboo’ weapons including the combined impact of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. By placing AP land mines in the same category as delegitimised practices of warfare, such as chemical and biological weapons, a ban on AP land mines was made possible (Price 1998). The process of grafting emerges as a relevant advocacy tool to generate interest to issues that may otherwise not garner enough traction.
The ’success’ of civil society movements surrounding campaigns of genocide differs significantly depending on the conflict and the socio-political context in which it occurred. While many lamented the absence of civil society mobilisation and the avoidance of genocide recognition in Rwanda, tens of thousands rallied in support of intervention in Darfur, in part because of the widespread identification of the conflict as genocide (de Waal 2007). While the debate of whether or not Darfur was a genocide
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may have detracted from meaningful action, it is unlikely Darfur would have gained such widespread support without the power of the genocide frame (de Waal 2007). While I will explore the importance of framing in advocacy movements in Chapter Three, this is also an important facet of advocacy mobilisation in conflict situations. For example, the Bush administration labelled Darfur a genocide through a morally unambiguous framing of “saving” Darfur by Western powers, (de Waal 2007). While there is no hierarchy of international crimes in any legal sense, it remains important to recognise the ability of the genocide label to mobilise international advocacy efforts given the widespread identification of the atrocities perpetrated by IS as genocide. This is of particular significance given the relative speed at which the atrocities perpetrated against the Yazidi people were labelled a genocide. While no on factor can be said to consistently lead to the ‘success’ of a movement it is important to consider variables that may increase this possibility.
2.3.3 Agenda Setting While the literature outlined above provides an explanation of civil society mobilisation tactics it does not explain why civil society organisations mobilise around some issues but not others. Carpenter (2007) notes that there is limited research on transnational advocacy network mobilisation. While the role of civil society actors is significant, the process by which advocacy networks construct problems receives limited attention. The selective nature of the adoption of particular issues by advocacy networks is undeniable, particularly in the human rights field. For example, major civil society organisations have, for a long time, focused primarily on civil and political rights to the detriment of economic rights (Lake and Wong 2009). While there is a wide body of knowledge regarding why some advocacy movements form but not others, and once formed, under what conditions these prosper or fail, the reason why advocacy organisations privilege certain issues for attention and not others remains unanswered (Carpenter 2007). Carpenter (2007) argues that current explanations regarding agenda setting, such as issue attributes (the nature of the victims, the nature of harm caused, the nature of the perpetrators), grafting and political entrepreneurs, while relevant, are
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not sufficient to provide an explanation for agenda setting. Literature suggests that it is not sufficient for a particular matter to be ‘constructed’ as an issue by entrepreneurs, it also needs to garner support from organisations central to advocacy networks (Keck and Sikkink 1998). Advocacy gatekeepers subsequently pick and choose between a range of issues, promoting some and silencing others (Joachim 2007; Carpenter et al. 2014). How gatekeepers make this distinction between an issue which could be considered worthwhile and one that is not was analysed by Carpenter et al. (2014) through focus groups with human security practitioners. The results demonstrated five sets of factors emphasised by participants regarding how powerful organisations select issues for attention. These factors included: adopted attributes, entrepreneur attributes, the broader political context, issues attributes and intra-network relations (Carpenter et al. 2014).
2.4 Language
Language also plays an important role in civil society advocacy as a mobilisation tool. In combination with the previously outlined literature on civil society advocacy, the use of language can be seen as an additional tool for shifting the way a narrative is framed. Language is commonly used as a mechanism for promoting a particular interpretation of an act or event. As such, language is one mechanism through which narratives can be examined. Civil society groups not only shape the policy instruments and legal frameworks involved in genocide advocacy but also provide a reference point for language used in the public domain (Rangelov 2013). Language use within the sphere of international relations represents a culmination of dominant ideologies from social, political and academic discourses and is not simply words devoid of meaning (Fierke 2002; Gifkins 2016). Jackson and Lawler (2005) note that neutrality in language is not possible as words have histories and acquired meaning through discursive settings.
Language is also commonly used by civil society groups as a tool for mobilising public action. For example, prior to 1976 the practice of female circumcision occurred in many African, a few Asian and some Middle Eastern countries (UNICEF 2016). The framing of
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the practice as female circumcision, clitoridectomy or infibulation presents a rather gender neutral and depoliticised construction and provides a linguistic association and justification with male circumcision (Keck and Sikkink 1998). In order to create a successful campaign to outlaw this practice it was reframed as an issue of violence against women and was subsequently referred to as female genital mutilation (Toubia et al. 2000). Through civil society groups altering the language they use a new frame is adopted and subsequently public mobilisation arises (Keck and Sikkink 1998). Following this linguistic shift the issue of female genital mutilation became relevant to the UN agenda and became an issue for political concern in many countries, including France and the UK (Sochart 1988, 509; The New York Times 1993). Jackson and Lawler (2005) also suggest that the type of language used has an impact on narrative construction. Specifically, the use of emotive language is a tool for the construction of a particular reality, having consequences for both social and political structures (Jackson and Lawler 2005). Essentially, it is a form of persuasion that adds a layer of moral weight to a discussion.
The language used by those involved in international advocacy and diplomacy is also affected by the use of gendered frames adopted during a conflict. Following the Racak massacre, a mass killing of Kosovo Albanians perpetrated by the Serbian security forces in January 1999, the President of the Security Council employed gendered language to call for stronger action on Kosovo. Despite the fact 37 of the 45 killed were men, statements did not reflect such sentiment (Carpenter 2003), evidenced in the following extract: “the report of the KVM [Kosovo Verification Mission] states that the victims were civilians, including women and at least one child” (UN 1999, 1). A similar use of gendered language is seen regarding comments on the Rwandan genocide, a conflict in which the majority of direct deaths were men (Carpenter 2003), with US Colonel Scott Feil writing on a piece around the early use of force: “Do we, the members of the international community, really require that more innocent women and children be slaughtered by the thousands to cause a change in our priorities and level of concern” (Feil 1998, 1). Given the gendered nature of reactions to conflict such frames continue
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to be perpetuated within a variety of discourses and make implicit statements about the increased vulnerability of women. Carpenter (2016) argues that the use of gendered language and rhetoric allows for the established frame to resonate with the global media and international donors. This argument reinforces the strategic narrative focus on women and sexual violence as a means for international attention and financial aid proposed by Autesserre (2012). Even when a conflict is characterised predominantly by the death of men, as occurred in Srebrenica in Bosnia, the language used in framing the conflict, through the discourse of civilian protection, still appeals primarily to the protection of women and children (Carpenter 2016). As such, the entrenchment of gendered language can be seen to have proliferated agenda-setting and civil mobilisation efforts. Despite the fact that civil society organisations have the ability to reframe the gendered language used by states and those involved in international diplomacy, such gender essentialisms seem to be actively pursued (Carpenter 2016). The discussion surrounding the importance of language for global civil society mobilisation, including the use of gendered language, provides an avenue for the focus on language as one aspect of examining the narrative. It is important to consider the impact that language can have on prioritising and silencing gendered experiences of conflict.
2.5 Genocide
Academic and advocate Raphael Lemkin is credited with coining the term genocide in 1944 and lobbying successfully for the creation of the Genocide Convention (1948), and can be viewed as the pioneer of civil advocacy for genocide recognition (Cooper 2008, 84). Having grown up in Poland in the early 1900s Lemkin not only became aware of pogroms that occurred close to his hometown but became particularly interested in the Armenian genocide given its religious and national motivations (Frieze 2013). In particular, it was the assassination of Mahmet Talaat, a former Ottoman leader, by an Armenian genocide survivor that spurred Lemkin’s questions regarding why the perpetrators of the Armenian genocide could live unpunished (O’Brien 2018). The
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absence of a crime to punish perpetrators like Talaat made Lemkin question why the killing of a million people was less of a crime than the murder of one. Lemkin went on to become a public prosecutor and with the rise of Hitler in the 1930s Lemkin continued to publish on his conceptualisation of the crime of barbarity, which would later be known as genocide (O’Brien 2019).
In 1944 Lemkin coined the term ‘genocide’ derived from the Greek ‘genos’ (family or offspring) and the Latin word ‘çide’ (killing) (O’Brien 2018). However, the drafting of this concept into international law involved international advocacy efforts. Lemkin systematically consulted with delegates from UN nations to discuss his proposal for the crime of genocide. Lemkin made connections with media agencies and a number of civil society groups including; the Women’s Peace Movement, the World Jewish Congress, the Consultative Council of Jewish Organisations, the International Council of Women and various Christian groups. All these groups became instrumental in the campaign for the genocide label (Cooper 2008). While there is a strong history linking campaigns for genocide recognition and civil society advocacy, the same cannot for the relation to the study of criminology and genocide.
This section focuses on the crime of genocide, most notably the intersection between gender and genocidal acts. First, I outline the relationship between the field of criminology and the study of genocide. Specifically, I discuss the contribution that victimology makes to this field. I then discuss the gendered dynamics of conflict with a specific focus on sexual violence in conflict. I also discuss the recent increase in attention to acts of sexual violence and the impact this may have on fixing the victimisation of women and girls along gendered and racialised terrains. Following this, I critique the ways in which women’s bodies have become sites of violence and how rape has come to be seen as the universal experience of all women in conflict. Thereafter, I also discuss the role that the gendered dynamics of genocide has had on the roles and representations of men and boys in conflict.
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2.5.1 Genocide and Criminology Despite the broad conceptualisation of genocide as “the crime of all crimes,” the study of genocide has made limited use of criminological explanations of crime (Alvarez 1997). The strongest consensus within the discipline of criminology regarding genocide is the lack of theoretical and practical interest on the part of scholars (Brannigan 2014, 12; Pruitt 2014, 1, 2015, 1; Yacoubian 2000, 7; Woolford 2006, 88). Woolford (2006, 88) also asserts that when criminological theory is applied to crimes of genocide it is more an attempt to demonstrate the broad applicability of theories of crime. The broad conceptualisation of genocide as a state crime by criminologists also prevents more critical discussion. Defining genocide as a state crime can promote bias toward the state as the only entity with the capacity and capability to commit genocide (Harff 2003, 58). This is of particular relevance given the recent UN determination of the crimes perpetrated by IS as genocide (OHCHR 2016).
Aside from theories of offender motivations, criminology also has a strong disciplinary focus on crime victimisation. I suggest that criminology does have a contribution to make to the study of genocide given its focus not singularly on those who perpetrate acts of violence but also those who are survivors of such violence. The theoretical underpinnings of criminology allow for a meaningful contribution to, and insight into, genocidal crimes, avenues for accountability and survivor focused justice processes. Highlighting the voices of those considered ‘legitimate’ victims has become an important part of policy in political and advocacy arenas (McEvoy and McConnachie 2013). Constructions of ‘supranational victimisation’ has emerged in recent criminological literature as a consideration in the study of mass atrocity crimes (Kauzlarich 2008). van Wijk (2013) argues that Nils Christie’s renowned conceptualisation of the ‘ideal victim’ overlaps with the characteristics of the ideal victim in mass atrocity crimes. According to the conceptualisation of the ideal victim proposed by Christie (1986), the position of women and girls as weak is central to ensuring a sympathetic response, women and girls must not possess sufficient strength to threaten others or their status as a victim is challenged. The understandings
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and dynamics of victimhood embedded in victimology, and the relative recency of its engagement with genocide studies provides a unique framework for this research (Rafter and Walklate 2012). While criminology provides a foundation for the study of gendered representations of genocide through the lens of victimology, in order to develop a stronger theoretical foundation my work borrows from a number of other disciplines including; gender studies, international relations and political science.
2.5.2 Gender and Genocide When survivors tell their stories of genocide many of them begin similarly, with stories of the arrests of male relatives and community leaders. This does not necessarily mean this is the first act of violence, but rather, survivors and those collecting the stories, assume this is where a genocide narrative should begin, with the experiences of men at its foundation (Marczak 2017, 117). If one is to analyse genocide historiography an embedded assumption emerges regarding the dichotomy of women’s experiences. Women’s stories are viewed as either particular, whereby women are assumed to fit in the same category as men, or as divergent with their experiences so distinct and separate from men’s they are not included in the core narrative of the genocide (Marczak 2017). The manner in which genocide has been traditionally defined, in terms of a body count, also marginalises women’s experiences of genocide. The reductive conceptualisation of acts of genocide has, in the past, erased the differentiated experiences of women and girls. This ‘narrowing’ results in the conceptualisation of genocide as a one-dimensional issue (Snow 2018). However, following the insights of Brownmiller’s (1975) book ‘Against our Will’ and the parallel feminist activist movements of the 1970s, there was an increase in discussions of women in conflict (Jones 2014, 141). This social shift also gave way to a number of national and international initiatives focused on women. Most notably, the UN Decade for Women (1975-1985) and the associated 1979 Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (Jones 2008). The strength of this movement could be seen in the focus on instances of mass sexual violence against Tutsi women in Rwanda and the wide coverage of sexual violence that occurred in the Balkans (Jones 2014).
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This power of this movement subsequently led to the recognition of rape as a crime of genocide in 1998 under Article 2 (b) of the Genocide Convention in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) case against Akayesu (Van Schaack 2008; "The Prosecutor Versus Jean-Paul Akayesu" 1998).
The aetiology of wartime rape has also transformed in recent decades. Early psychoanalytic theories focused on rape as a sexual act with a strong foundation in clinical and biological models (McPhail 2016). This then broadly shifted to the mainstream liberal feminist position of rape as a means to reinforce gender roles. However, this position was not without critique particularly with respect to its failure to address the complexities of race, class and poverty (McPhail 2016). More recently Henry (2016) argues for intersectionality in understanding conflict related sexual violence. Henry (2016) suggests that such violence is an amalgamation of social and structural forces and complex webs of power, which together help integrate notions of individual culpability, structural conditions and gender inequality to theorise wartime sexual violence. The narrative of wartime rape has transformed from constructions as an unfortunate by-product of war and a product of man’s uncontrollable sexual urges, to an act of genocide itself, a form of torture used to bring about the destruction of a group. It is the activism of feminist scholars and civil society groups that have led to a shift in these constructions.
While the newfound awareness regarding the role of women in conflict has shed light on previously silenced crimes, it has also fixed women’s roles on gendered and racialised lines. There is a gendered invisibility in conflict. If women are not seen as inherently passive victims, their voices, actions and experiences are excluded from the dominant narrative (Brown 2018). This narrative of passive female victimisation can be seen regarding representations of Kurdish women following the Anfal operations in North Iraq in 1988. The construction of women as passive victims in the Anfal campaign, akin to many other civil society movements, had a strategic purpose in legitimising Kurdish claims to authority, in doing so, the framing of women as weak
35 and helpless become a metaphor for the Kurdish nation (Mlodoch 2012). The appropriation of the suffering of women to present a narrative of the violation of a nation as a whole is not uncommon. However, embedded within this narrative is the symbolic notion that men failed to protect ‘their women’ (McEvoy and McConnachie 2013, 496). Yet, the crucial contribution these women made to Kurdish society following the Anfal campaign is ignored. Images of women holding pictures of their lost family members frequently appear on mainstream media, yet their story and their voices are excluded from the wider public debate (Mlodoch 2012). While there have been advancements in women’s rights and civil society efforts to hear the testimonies of Anfal survivors there is still dissonance between the Anfal narrative and the experiences of women. Yet, this construction of ideal victims extends beyond gendered dimensions with ethnic identity playing a significant role.
Following an analysis of the coverage of the Yazidi genocide by Western media Buffon and Allison (2016) argue that Western media outlets reproduce gendered and cultural tropes that speak to both power relations as well as orientalist and patriarchal essentialisms. Foster and Minwalla (2018) deconstruct this further in their findings of a paradoxical narrative of victimisation and resistance in journalistic reporting on crimes of sexual violence perpetrated by IS. Yazidi women were found to view themselves as neither entirely victims of media practices nor agents in charge of their own stories. Yet on some level, Yazidi women were pressured into complicity with national and international media institutions that profit from sensationalising violence against women in the Global South in a manner that renders them passive victims by product of their gender and ethnic identity.
Kapur (2002) argues that our focus on female victimisation has regressed discussions of women in conflict to one embedded in protectionist and conservative discourses. This narrative also builds on constructions of women in the Global South as inherently victimised and disempowered. During times of conflict, gendered dichotomies become more pronounced. While men are commonly viewed as political actors and warriors,
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women become identified through their role within the patriarchal gender regime (Helms 2003). Women are mothers, nurturers and victims of war. Such gendered essentialisms are exemplified during the Bosnian War. The dominant construction of women in Bosnia, particularly Bosnian Muslim women, is one of passive victimisation with the suffering of women commonly legitimised through their relationship with men (Helms 2003). These gendered constructions not only relate to the passive nature of women but also broader socio-political issues. The Bosnian war was argued to have been decided on by men, with women positioned as against such violence, therefore a pervasive narrative emerges of women as apolitical and incapable of hatred and nationalism (Helms 2003). While women are undoubtedly victims of conflict, positioning women singularly as victims is harmful (Simic 2012). Simic (2018) refers to an argument that Western feminists have often fixated on rape as the universal experience of all women, and in doing so ignoring the intersections of marginalisation and diversity of victims and their experiences. Such simplistic conceptualisations of complex conflicts can be detrimental to post-conflict transnational justice by creating ethnic and criminal hierarchies of victimhood that marginalise certain populations and hinder pursuits of justice (Simic 2018). Featuring within this predominant construction of women as victims is the notion that women’s sexuality is commonly seen as the basis for oppression. The next section considers how female bodies have been intrinsically linked with sexual violence in conceptualisations of conflict. Thereafter I will discuss the impact of gendered tropes of victimisation on the roles and experiences of men and boys in conflict situations.
2.5.3 Women’s Bodies as Sites of Violence While much scholarly literature has fixated on women’s bodies as the inevitable target of violence, debate continues within feminist scholarship regarding the classification of acts of sexual violence and rape as genocide (Henry 2014). Some argue that a focus on rape as an instrument of genocide creates a hierarchy of sexual violence and discrepancy between “everyday rape” and that which occurs during war (Meger 2016a, 150). However, both positions invariably place women as victims, or potential victims,
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of rape in war with this having significant impacts on women’s sexual and political agency. Marcus (1992, 386) argues that because of schema created between women and sexual victimisation, women are continually viewed as ‘already raped’ and ‘already rapeable.’ This results in the inversion of the ‘typical’ rape narrative, where women’s stories of sexual violence are questioned. Instead, all women are seen as victims and those who deny sexual violence are not believed. With reference to the Bosnian war, Engle (2005) argues that on some level all Bosnian women are framed as victims of rape. The narrative is again enveloped by gendered essentialisms with women as powerless victims incapable of fighting in war. Such a conceptualisation is argued to inadvertently deny women the power to have a voice in preventing and resolving conflict (Engle 2005). It appears that the genocides in Srebrenica and Rwanda and the subsequent focus of literature on rape during war, have brought a new challenge regarding the intersections of gender, identity and sexual violence during war and marked a shift from the classical feminist focus on women’s agency to a focus on women’s victimisation (Zarkov 2006). However, given the social construction of victimhood we must also consider how this intersects with race and ethnic identity. As Simic (2018) suggests, while women’s bodies are targeted irrespective of ethnic identity, responses to, and treatment of, survivors invariably differs along ethnic lines. This is something that will be explored in more detail in Chapter Four.
The focus on sexual violence as the universal experience of women in conflict also has implications at the level of international institutions. Following an analysis of Security Council resolutions on the experiences of women in wartime and peace, Scully (2009) highlights the consequences of an exclusive focus on sexual violence against women and children. Scully (2009) critiques the dominant conceptualisation of women as requiring protection in the context of post-conflict growth, arguing that a narrow focus on sexual violence against women and the inherent vulnerability of such framing may hinder the pursuit of human rights objectives in post-conflict reconstruction. While it appears that some UN Security Council resolutions do attempt to integrate rhetoric of women as powerbrokers and leaders in post-conflict society, this is undermined by
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language labelling women as vulnerable. While women can be vulnerable and resistive the concern is the need for women to first be rendered as vulnerable victims before they are given a place as leaders and powerbrokers. Consideration must be given to how the constructions of women as vulnerable and passive impacts their ability to engage in post-conflict political spaces (Scully 2009). The positioning of women as needing protection combined with silence surrounding forms of violence against men found in Scully’s (2009, 120) analysis of Security Council resolutions, invariably frames men as the “default citizen of the post-conflict state.” Similarly, representations of conflict in advocacy perpetuate these same gendered tropes.
In an analysis of civil society initiatives, by and for Bosnian women, Helms (2014) found that while some civil society organisations denounced representations of women singularly as victims, other organisations strategically embraced such gendered essentialisms, despite the risk of such representations reinforcing women’s position within domestic roles and subsequently excluding their voices from formal political activities. A narrative of innocence and victimhood was argued to be “the only valuable thing they had” (Helms 2014, 235). However, this narrative of victimisation was argued to appeal only to certain audiences, at certain times. While claims to victimhood may have been strategically beneficial in framing the conflict to international donors, conservative gender and ethnic norms and stereotypes were not challenged and women become limited in their engagement in already patriarchal post-conflict and political spheres (Helms 2014). The challenge emerges regarding how to highlight the gendered issues both during war and in post-conflict reconstruction without singularly portraying women as passive victims of sexual violence. However, complicating this process further is the conceptualisation of a dichotomy of either victimisation or agency.
Zarkov (2006) argues that highlighting acts of agency or victimisation are only two possible options in representing the experiences of women in conflict. As Mardorossian (2002, 711) suggests “we need to resist the facile opposition between
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passivity and agency that has motivated popular and academic discussions of violence against women.” Instead of presenting these frames as mutually exclusive, Zarkov (2006) advises the consideration of how agency and victimisation are prioritised in representations of women during conflict and how this may impact on certain experiences or crimes becoming obscured or denied. Scully (2009, 122) advocates for greater attention to the complexities and multiple meanings regarding rape and sexual violence in conflict. In doing so, the vulnerability of men and boys during war could also be discussed. This would allow for sexual violence to not be seen as something that renders someone a passive victim, but rather a violation of human rights irrespective of the individual to which it occurred. The prioritisation of this narrative would break down the dichotomy of victim or agent and allow both men and women to become participants in a post-conflict political arena.
2.5.4 Men and Boys The construction of women as vulnerable not only frames women singularly as passive victims and denies the breadth of their experiences, but it also leads to the exclusion of narratives regarding the vulnerability of men and boys in conflict. Men and boys as gendered victims of conflict are often excluded from narratives of sexual violence. During the genocides in Rwanda and the Balkans, there were targeted acts of sexual violence against men and boys including castration, mutilation and rape. However, these stories were excluded from the dominant narrative (Jones 2014). While able- bodied men may be perceived to be the least physically vulnerable group they can be far more vulnerable to violence in conflict given the influence of socially constructed gender roles (Carpenter 2003). The lack of discussion regarding male victims of sexual violence is not only a consequence of constructions of masculinity and heterosexuality but also significant stigma relating to the sexual violation of the male body within many social contexts (Sivakumaran 2007; Zarkov 2006; Zalewski 2018). The visibility of such narratives is vital to disrupting the link between femininity and victimisation, particularly in advocacy where civil society organisations have significant influence
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regarding our broader understanding of conflict related sexual violence and victimisation.
Buchanan (2002) notes that two dominant international human rights groups, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, were remiss in reporting acts of violence against men and boys during the conflict in the Balkans. Despite the presence of a number of reports by both these groups little information has been provided relating to the killing, disappearance, torture, incarceration and arrest of civilian men. It appears that gender essentialisms have permeated the dominant narrative of civil society, in doing so, such a frame not only silences stories of male victimisation but reinforces the narrative of pervasive female victimisation. In instances where crimes of violence against men are documented and reported by civil society groups, the language used in this process appears to be inherently gendered. Charman (2018) analysed 131 conflict specific reports released by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch between 2000 and 2016. Charman’s (2018) analysis demonstrated that, with few exceptions, both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch framed sexual violence against men in armed conflict as a form of non-gendered torture. In contrast, sexual violence against women is predominantly framed as just that, sexual violence. Acts against men that may be constructed as having a sexual nature, for instance enforced nudity or electricity to the genitals, are predominantly framed as acts of torture and linked, not with other forms of sexual violence but acts of non-sexual torture such as beatings or the use of stress positions. The sexual and gendered dimensions of offences against men and boys are silenced. As rape and sexual violence against women is considered a crime of genocide and an assumed by-product of conflict, it immediately becomes part of the dominant narrative. Sexual violence against men has not been part of this narrative and has not featured predominantly in international law. The association of language that implicitly highlights victimisation does not align with broader social discourses of masculine identities; victims are rendered ‘female’ by their victimisation and considered incapable of protecting themselves. The clearly gendered nature of rhetoric used in civil society advocacy only
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further highlights the harms of conceptualising women as victims and the silencing of crimes of sexual violence against men and boys (Zalewski 2018).
2.6 The Gendered Nature of the Yazidi Genocide
The following section outlines the crimes that were perpetrated against all members of the Yazidi community from August 2014. As crimes of genocide are often inherently gendered, this section will discuss these crimes with reference to the age and gender of specific victim groups. To begin with, I will discuss the crimes perpetrated against Yazidi men and boys over the age of twelve which was predominantly characterised by acts of mass murder. Following this, I will outline the treatment of Yazidi boys aged under twelve with a specific focus on their use as child soldiers. Thereafter, I will discuss the crimes perpetrated against Yazidi women and girls. Most notably I discuss crimes of sexual violence, forcible transfer and mass murder. Following this I provide a legal analysis of the crimes I have discussed in order to make the argument that such crimes do amount to an act of genocide intended to destroy the Yazidi people. Thereafter, I discuss relevant international politics surrounding the genocide as well as processes towards justice and accountability. An understanding of the information available regarding the crimes perpetrated against all members of the Yazidi community is essential in suggesting that advocacy representations are often limited to a simple story and do not narrate the complexities of conflict.
2.6.1 Treatment of Yazidi Men and Boys Twelve and Over Following the capture of Yazidi families, IS fighters separated the men and boys from the women and girls. After this segregation IS fighters summarily executed men and older boys; most were killed by gunshots to the head, others had their throats cut (OHCHR 2016). Reports differ regarding the age of boys who were executed; in one case, all boys over the age of ten were killed (UNAMI 2014), while other reports suggest all boys and men over twelve were killed (OHCHR 2016). In all cases the goal appeared to be to separate those who had not yet reached puberty, and were subsequently seen as malleable, from those who had. One separation in particular was based on the
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presence of armpit hair on Yazidi boys (OHCHR 2016). There were reports of mass executions of up to 700 Yazidi men in the village of Kocho and 80 men in Qani (UNAMI 2014; Human Rights Council 2015). Family members were often forced to watch the killings while others heard the gunshots from afar (OHCHR 2016). On a number of occasions, IS soldiers gave men and older boys the option to convert to Islam to avoid execution, yet even if this offer was taken this did not guarantee their safety, with some still executed and others exploited through forced labour. Those forced into labour by IS were required to attend mosque for prayers and were not allowed to leave the village to which they had been assigned (Yazda 2017). Despite these conversions, IS fighters regularly referred to Yazidis as “kuffar”, or infidels (OHCHR 2016, 9).
2.6.2 Treatment of Yazidi Boys Seven to Twelve IS allowed Yazidi boys who had not yet reached puberty to stay with their mothers or a sibling until they reached approximately seven years of age (OHCHR 2016). Once they reached the age of seven they were removed to be trained in military camps in Mosul, Tel Afar and Baaj in Iraq to be ‘cubs of the caliphate’ (OHCHR 2016) The young Yazidi boys were taught IS’s extremist ideologies and brainwashed to hate Yazidism. IS soldiers gave the boys Islamic names and taught them to use AK47s, hand grenades and rocket propelled grenades. The Yazidi boys were forced to watch propaganda videos of suicide missions and beheadings. Those who performed poorly in military exercises or failed to memorise Qur’anic verses were beaten. While the use of Yazidi boys as child soldiers increased recruitment it also had a more targeted goal of destroying the religious identity of Yazidi boys and “recasting them as followers of Islam as interpreted by IS” (OHCHR 2016, 19). Following such treatment a propaganda video released by IS shows two Yazidi brothers explaining that the Yazidi faith was one of devil worship and ignorance before carrying out a suicide attack (Mostafa 2017). Despite IS maintaining a strong puritanical prohibition on homosexuality and publicly executing those they suspected of being gay, there is some evidence that both young girls and boys were victims of sexual violence (Ahram 2015; United Nations Iraq 2014).
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Autesserre (2012, 216) asserts that the foregrounding of sexual violence perpetrated against women and girls can lead to a lack of attention on sexual abuse against boys.
2.6.3 Treatment of Women and Girls
2.6.3.1 Separation and Forcible Transfer
Following IS capture, Yazidi women and girls were forcibly transferred to cities in Iraq before being moved to Syria. From these primary holding sites, IS separated women and girls into different groups based on their marital status. Some women became aware of the dangers of being classed as an unmarried woman and pretended their younger siblings or nieces and nephews were their own children (OHCHR 2016, 10). Older women were also separated from the main group and, after presumably refusing to convert to Islam, many were killed. IS executed over 80 older women in the city of Solagh, using an empty pool as a mass grave (Yazda 2016). Younger women and girls were regularly forcibly transferred between different holding sites. Each site held hundreds if not thousands of Yazidi women and girls; they were severely overcrowded and adequate medical care, food and water was not provided with women and girls forced to drink water from the toilet (OHCHR 2016). Some women were transferred to as many as 10 different locations over a four-month period. While some transfers occurred for strategic reasons, the underlying motive for the repeated forcible transfer was so IS could retain control by instilling fear, insecurity and disorientation (Dakhil, Zammit Borda and Murray 2017).
2.6.3.2 Sexual Slavery and Rape
The calculated abduction, sexual enslavement and rape of Yazidi women was a core genocidal strategy of IS (OHCHR 2016). The emergence of IS within a socio-political climate deeply entrenched in violence led to the development of a hyper-masculine group based on Sunni fundamentalism. For IS, sexual violence was a means to sustain ethno-sectarian hierarchies, to subordinate and degrade those IS deems kuffar (infidels) (Ahram 2015). The sex trafficking system used by IS was highly regulated with an encrypted application called Telegram, used to hold online auctions where photos
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were circulated of Yazidi women and girls, alongside their age, marital status, current location and price (OHCHR 2016; Yazda 2017). Once IS had sold a Yazidi women or girl, the fighter had complete rights of ownership, with women registered as ‘slaves’ in a contract, sanctioned by the IS court (Yazda 2017). This entitled the purchaser to resell or gift his ‘slave’ as he wished. However, it was not just IS fighters who purchased Yazidi women and girls, with reports of women being purchased by men from Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Kazakhstan (OHCHR 2016).
Once purchased by IS fighters, Yazidi women and girls were subjected to physical abuse, verbal abuse and brutal sexual violence (Yazda 2015). Rape, torture and sexual violence are not simply condoned by IS, but actively encouraged (Human Rights Watch 2015). IS has in the past, released a pamphlet outlining the requirements of relations between IS members and Yazidi captives. The pamphlet condoned sex with a Yazidi women and girls who had been abducted, quoting a passage from the Qu’ran to support this claim. The pamphlet also condoned the rape of prepubescent girls and the sale of women as captives, as they “are merely property” (Chertoff 2017, 1062). Propaganda material issued by IS justified these acts as permissible as Yazidi women were concubines and the rightful spoils of war (Ahram 2015). During their capture, many Yazidi women were forced to take birth control tablets or receive contraceptive injections, whereas other Yazidi women and girls were given no birth control and subject to forced abortions. Other women did fall pregnant and gave birth while they were held by IS fighters yet the whereabouts of these infants remains unclear. It was also commonplace for Yazidi women to be used as domestic servants being forced to cook, wash and clean in the homes of their captors (OHCHR 2016).
The rationale for the use of rampant sexual violence by IS was twofold. First, it was used as a means to destroy the Yazidi religion. Rape and sexual violence are not singularly offences against the individual but also a means of destroying a collective group by desecrating relations between men and women of that collective (Dakhil,
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Zammit Borda and Murray 2017). Due to the high value the Yazidi religion places on endogamy, reintegration following rape is difficult and associated with high levels of stigma. Second, and vicariously, as a propaganda tool for recruitment and funding. The rape and sexual enslavement of Yazidi women and girls was also used as a means of recruitment. While IS had an approximate net worth of $2 billon USD the sale of Yazidi women served as another source of funding in their pursuit of a caliphate (Melchior 2017).
The verbal abuse Yazidi women received while held by IS also acted as another avenue for the projection of power through a rhetoric of dehumanisation. During the Rwandan genocide, the word kubohoza (to liberate) was used by Hutu men to describe their rape of Tutsi women. This rhetoric linked rape with notions of social control and dominance. Similar semantics of dehumanisation were seen in the language used by IS. Women are referred to as sabaya (spoils of war) followed by their name, as well as insults specifically directed at their faith, saying they are “devil-worshippers”, “dirty kuffar” and that they “worshipped stones” (Callimachi 2015; OHCHR 2016; Yazda 2017). Yazidi women were also referred to as animals to denote their lack of agency and autonomy with one IS fighter stating, “You are like a sheep. I have bought you” (OHCHR 2016, 13). As of March 2019 estimates suggest there are still 3,083 missing Yazidis, including 1,427 women and girls (United Nations 2019). The crimes perpetrated against all members of the Yazidi community were violent, brutal, and abhorrent. While an understanding of these crimes is important in order to critique the promotion and silencing of certain narratives, I also acknowledge that this is only one telling of the experiences of the Yazidi people. Chapter Four will shed further light on the complexities of the experiences of Yazidi women and girls, most notably their acts of resistance.
2.6.4 Legal Analysis While much advocacy has focused on genocide recognition, this section allows for the irrevocable understanding that the atrocities perpetrated by IS meet the criteria to be
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considered genocide. Article II of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide (1948) defines genocide as, “acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, religious or racial group,” as such:
(a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
2.6.4.1 The Yazidis as a Protected Group
The Yazidis are commonly referred to as an ethno-religious group and as such may constitute a protected group under Article II of the Genocide Convention. An ethnic group is defined in the ICTR trial of the Prosecutor v Akayesu as a group “whose members share a common language or culture” ("The Prosecutor Versus Jean-Paul Akayesu" 1998, papa 513). While there is no doubt that IS has deliberately singled out the Yazidis for persecution, whether the Yazidis constitute a separate ethnic group or not is debated within the community itself. Barring those residing in Armenia and Sinjar mountains, most Yazidis define themselves as ethnically Kurdish and followers of the Yazidi religion (OHCHR 2016, 20).
There is little, if any doubt that the Yazidis constitute a religious group under Article II of the Genocide Convention. According to the findings of the Prosecutor v Akayesu a religious group is “one whose members share the same religion, denomination or mode of worship” ("The Prosecutor Versus Jean-Paul Akayesu" 1998, para 515). Lippman (1998, 456) proposed a similar definition arguing a religious group is one “united by a single spiritual ideal.” However, the determination of what constitutes a national, religious, ethnic or racial group is suggested to be the subjective view of the perpetrators (O’Brien 2018). IS continually refers to Yazidis as “dirty kuffar” and the use
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of forced religious conversions also suggests IS was of the view Yazidis belong to a separate religious community (OHCHR 2016). Given the targeted nature of the attacks on Yazidi people, and the determination by IS that the Yazidi people constitute a distinct religious group, it is clear they meet the criteria of a protected group under the Genocide Convention.
2.6.4.2 Elements of Genocide
Under Article II of the Genocide Convention, any of the five acts enumerated in subsection (a) to (e), if committed with the intent to destroy, constitute genocide. Each of these five acts will be examined in the following section to argue that IS perpetrated genocide against the Yazidi people.
(a) Killing members of the group
Following the attack on Mount Sinjar an estimated 3,100 Yazidis were killed (Cetorelli et al. 2017). Nearly half were executed, being either shot, beheaded or burnt alive, while the rest died on Mount Sinjar of starvation, dehydration or their injuries sustained during the siege (Cetorelli et al. 2017). Yazda has documented at least thirty-three mass grave sites with most containing more than ten bodies, some closer to 100. Of these, nineteen have been confirmed by Yazda but many continue to be discovered as previously held IS territory is reclaimed. There have been reports of mass graves in Kocho and Tel Afar expected to contain between 400-500 bodies distributed across a number of sites (Yazda 2016). Mass killings of boys and men over the age of ten as well as mass killings of older Yazidi women have been well documented (OHCHR 2016; UNAMI 2014; Yazda 2016). It is worth noting that young women and children were not exempt from these killings with their bodies recovered from a number of mass graves sites (Yazda 2016). Iraqi parliamentary forces have also discovered two mass graves with one containing the bodies of around 40 children in the village of Kabusi, south of Sinjar (Al Arabiya 2017). The attacks on members of the Yazidi community, with the clear intent to kill, alongside the premeditated and organised nature of these crimes,
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clearly aligns with relevant case law as evidence of genocide (“Prosecutor v Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan”; “Prosecutor v Ratko Mladic”; “Prosecutor v Akayesu.”).
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
The ICTR case against Akayesu established that rape and sexual violence may amount to genocide given the mental and physical harm associated with such acts (Van Schaack 2008; "The Prosecutor Versus Jean-Paul Akayesu" 1998). There is overwhelming evidence of systematic rape, sexual violence and sexual enslavement of Yazidi women and girls with survivors displaying serious physical and psychological wounds. There are many reports of suicide and attempted suicide both in IS captivity and following their escape in refugee camps. (Amnesty International 2017; OHCHR 2016). One report notes that all Yazidi women and girls held in IS captivity exhibited symptoms of acute emotional distress (Human Rights Watch 2015). While it is clear that the rape and sexual enslavement of Yazidi women and girls was a part of the genocidal campaign by IS it is equally a gendered crime committed against women. However, Yazidi boys were not exempt from serious physical or psychological harm given their violent separation from family, forced conversion and military style training as part of their process of indoctrination into IS (OHCHR 2016; Prosecutor v Mladic). Acts such as torture, non-fatal physical violence, enslavement, starvation, forced displacement, persecution, beatings and surviving genocidal massacres also constitute causing serious bodily or mental harm and were perpetrated against the Yazidi community (Attorney-General v Eichmann 1961; Prosecutor v Akayesu 1999; Prosecutor v Blagojecvic 2005; Prosecutor v Karadzic 2016; Prosecutor v Mladic 2017).
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
This act of genocide includes actions which ultimately seek the physical destruction of the group without immediately killing members of the group. The International Criminal Court (ICC) asserts that “conditions of life” may include acts such as the “deliberate deprivation of resources indispensable for survival, such as good or
49 medical services, or systematic expulsion from their homes” (International Criminal Court 2011, 3). The conditions of life inflicted on the Yazidi people both following the IS siege, and in captivity, deprived the Yazidis of resources indispensable for survival and led to the deaths of many from dehydration, starvation and inadequate medical care (OHCHR 2016). When this measure of the Genocide Convention was proposed, the intention was to reflect some of the specific manifestations of Nazi genocide policy, for example, forced labour and forced transfer. Forced labour and extreme physical exertion has been recognised as a measure to bring about the destruction of a group (Jessberger 2009). IS employed such tactics for men and boys who were forcibly converted and subject to forced labour, and imposed bans on any Yazidi religious practices, punishing with physical violence for non-compliance (OHCHR 2016).
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
Measures intended to prevent birth include “sexual mutilation, the practice of sterilization, forced birth control, separation of the sexes and prohibition of marriages ("The Prosecutor Versus Jean-Paul Akayesu" 1998, para 507). Following the capture of Yazidis, IS forcibly separated the men and women, with this separation continuing for the length of their capture. Yazidi men were commonly massacred with the only way to avoid such a fate being to ‘convert’ to Islam (OHCHR 2016). Yazidi religious tradition stipulates that both parents must be Yazidi to have a child of Yazidi faith. By committing mass murders of Yazidi men, separating men from women and forcing men and women to convert to Islam, IS had imposed measures intended to prevent births. IS also forced Yazidi women and girls to take birth control with evidence of both contraception injections and the use of the contraceptive pills to prevent births (Dakhil, Zammit Borda and Murray 2017; OHCHR 2016). There are also reports of an IS doctor performing abortions on two Yazidi women, who were two and three months pregnant respectively (Human Rights Council 2015, 10).
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group
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The crime of forcible transfer of children is predicated on the destruction of cultural identity with the intention of destroying a group’s existence, and was initially one of the five categories of cultural genocide in Lemkin’s original conceptualisation of the term (Jessberger 2009). The transfer of children ensures that the “language, traditions and culture of their group become or remain alien to the children” (Jessberger 2009, 103; Prosecutor v Akayesu 1999). Both Yazidi boys and girls are forcibly transferred but in radically different ways. Young boys aged seven and over are transferred to IS training bases in Iraq and Syria and trained as child soldiers and fully indoctrinated into IS ideology. Girls as young as six were sold into sexual slavery. They were banned from practicing their religion and at times forced to convert to Islam.
2.6.4.3 Intent to Destroy
For a crime to constitute genocide one or more of the individual acts described in Article 2 subsections (a)-(e) must be committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a protected group. It is worth noting that that the génocidaire need not achieve the elimination of the entire group, but rather it is sufficient the perpetrator intends to eliminate part of the group (Jessberger 2009). Crimes must be perpetrated against members of the protected group and also need to be perpetrated as part of a wider plan to target the group as a whole (“Prosecutor v Stakic” 2016). Based on jurisprudence established in the ICTY trial chamber ("Prosecutor V. Radovan Karadzic" 2016), intent to destroy can be seen through the calculated nature of the siege on Sinjar City and surrounding villages, as well as the systematic and organised nature of the sex slavery network, the extensive planning and the brutal nature of the killings. Statements made by IS have also proven invaluable in determining intent. In issue 4 of Dabiq, the English translation of the IS propaganda magazine, a religious ‘justification’ is provided for the policy of killing, sexual slavery and forced conversions of Yazidis (Chertoff 2017). The intent to destroy can also be deduced from the physical targeting of the groups property as well as the use of derogatory language towards members of the targeted group, thus demonstrating the targeted nature of the crimes towards
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the Yazidi people ("Prosecutor V. Radislav Krstic" 2001). During the Siege on the 3rd of August 2014 Yazidi shrines and temples in Sinjar and Nineveh Plain regions were systematically destroyed. Houses marked as belonging to Yazidis were also looted and destroyed as were their schools and other institutions (Yazda 2017). The use of derogatory language also occurred towards all members of the Yazidi community. Yazidi women were referred to as kufaar (infidels) and sabaya (spoils of war); this language used towards women and girls is particularly dehumanising and emanates notions of ownership. Given the conduct and public statements made by IS there is a strong indication that IS intended to destroy the Yazidis in whole or in part.
However, despite this seemingly clear evidence of genocide crimes, embedded in the study of genocide is the assumption that states are the only actors capable of committing an act of genocide. Lemkin himself noted, in an article on the Soviet genocide in Ukraine, that the only entity with the finances and resources capable of the systematic killing of Ukrainian political elites, church officials and farmers was the state (Lemkin 1953, 234; Whiteside 2015). This assumption has remained consistent over the years with most academic scholarship on genocide and mass atrocities focused on the state as the sole actor. This bias, although historically justified, has been argued to have permeated foreign policy and civil society advocacy (Whiteside 2015, 244). In order to address the impact of narratives in civil society advocacy around the Yazidi genocide, an analysis of the engagement of the international community with this conflict is necessary.
2.6.4.4 International Politics Surrounding the Yazidi Genocide
Individual countries as well as the UN have been historically reluctant to label an act as genocide (Staub 2012). Terms such as ethnic cleansing or genocidal acts have become common euphemisms for genocide, used in order to negate the mandated obligation to intervene in genocide (Blum et al. 2008, 822). The continued diplomatic contention regarding the application of the genocide label is exemplified with respect to the 1915 Armenian genocide. This dispute perpetuates a normalcy to debates over
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claims of genocide, in doing so creating a discourse of denial and divisive politics which becomes synonymous with the application of the genocide label (Ringrose 2020).
However, the Yazidi genocide is not only unique in that it was perpetrated by a non- state group but also the relative speed at which a determination of genocide was made by the international community. Former US President, Barack Obama made reference to acts against the Yazidi people that “would constitute genocide” only four days after the genocide began (The White House 2014). While the use of such language may have had a strategic purpose given subsequent military action by the US, such rhetoric
continues within political and legal discourses. On the 18th of November 2014 the Council of Ministers in Iraq adopted a decision to recognise the crimes perpetrated by IS against Yazidis, Christians, Shabak and other minorities as genocide (Republic of Iraq 2018; Yazda 2020). Also in November 2014 the Kurdistan Regional Government recognised the genocide by IS and referred to the Responsibility to Protect mandate and the obligations of individual states to prevent and punish acts of genocide (Department of Foreign Relations: Kurdistan Regional Government 2014). From 2016 many others state parliaments began referring to the acts perpetrated by IS as genocide including: the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in 2016, the European Parliament in February 2016, the US Administration in March 2016, the US House of Commons in April 2016, the Australia House of Representatives in May 2016, the Canadian Government and Parliament in June 2016, the French Assembly as well as the French Senate and the Hungarian Parliament in December 2016, The Scottish Parliament in March 2017, the Austrian Parliament in June 2017, the Dutch government in December 2017, the Armenian Parliament in January 2018, the Australian Parliament in February 2018 and the Portuguese Parliament in November 2019 (Omtzigt and Ochab 2018, 2; Yazda 2020).
Despite this extensive list of countries and organisations who have referred to the atrocities by IS as genocide in their respective parliaments, as of August 2020, the only government who have denounced these crimes as genocide are the US, Canada and
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the Netherlands. While the recognition of these acts by national parliaments are important, they do not have the same legal force or accountability as executive government recognitions. Some governments, for example the UK, argue that it is role of the international judicial system to recognise an atrocity as genocide (Omtzigt and Ochab 2018). However, given that the ratio between the use of the label genocide and its semantic avoidance measures the will for emergency response, such a position allows states to rely on the international judicial system without taking steps to ensure that it is even on the agenda, thus allowing genocide to continue without adequate intervention (Blum et al. 2008). Put simply, mandated under the Genocide Convention is the obligation to prevent and punish, however, such a responsibility cannot be fulfilled if countries wait upon the decisions of international courts to intervene in ongoing acts of genocide (Omtzigt and Ochab 2018).
2.6.4.5 Accountability
Despite the fact that a determination of genocide has not yet been made within the international judicial system, steps have been taken in an attempt to hold perpetrators of the Yazidi genocide accountable. In June 2016 the Independent International Commission on the Syrian Arab Republic released a report noting that IS had committed the crime of genocide as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Yazidis in the Syrian Arab Republic (OHCHR 2016). In doing so they become the first body to refer to the atrocities as genocide. In noting that the Commission had collected sufficient evidence to help in future prosecutions, the report went on to call on the UN Security Council to refer to situation to the ICC or establish an ad hoc tribunal (OHCHR 2016). However, both these avenues have legal and political complications.
The ICC may exercise jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed on or after 1 July 2002 and where:
The crimes were committed by a State Party national, or in the territory of a State Party, or in a State that has accepted the jurisdiction of the Court; or
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The crimes were referred to the ICC Prosecutor by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) pursuant to a resolution adopted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter (International Criminal Court 2018).
Given that neither Syria nor Iraq are parties to the Rome Statute, the avenues for jurisdiction are limited. As outlined above, the UN Security Council can refer a situation to the ICC, however such a process is dependent on agreement by all five permanent members. In May 2014, prior to the Yazidi genocide, a draft Resolution was proposed by France referring Syria to the ICC predominantly due to systematic human rights violations, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by the Assad regime during the Syrian Civil War (UN 2014). While this resolution was co-sponsored by 65 member states, it was vetoed by Russia and China (UN 2014). Given the independence of the ICC a referral by the Security Council would allow for the prosecution of any actor within the given jurisdiction, this would have included acts committed by allied forces or governments. While the situation in Syria has changed since 2014, the rationale behind the veto of Russia and China remains and as such a successful referral of the situation to the ICC remains unlikely.
In the absence of a referral by the Security Council, the Prosecutor may initiate their own investigation with reference to the genocide by IS committed in Syria and Iraq. However, in April 2015 the Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, noted that while it is clear that widespread atrocities had been committed by IS and that genocide had been alleged “the jurisdictional basis for opening a preliminary examination into this situation is too narrow at this stage” (International Criminal Court 2015). However, even in the absence of territorial jurisdiction, personal jurisdiction can be exercised over alleged perpetrators who belong to nations who are party to the Rome Statute (UN General Assembly 1998). As of June 2014 it was estimated that between 27,000 and 31,000 people, from 86 countries have travelled to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State and other violent extremist groups (The Soufan Group 2015, 4). Based on official recorded data, individuals from 50 countries have travelled to Syria and Iraq and joined IS as
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foreign fighters (The National Bureau of Economic Research 2016; The Soufan Group 2015). Of these 50 states, 31 are currently party to the Rome Statue, as such allowing for extraterritorial prosecution by the ICC. Yet, in order for the ICC to prosecute based on personal jurisdiction the fighter must be alive, the state must not be investigating or prosecuting the individual in domestic courts and the Office of the Prosecutor must have sufficient evidence to link the foreign fighter with a particular crime (Omtzigt and Ochab 2018, 9). As such, given the context in which the Yazidi genocide occurred the likelihood of this occurring is low. The role of the ICC is also in prosecuting those individuals most responsible for certain crimes, for example those within the IS leadership, yet these individuals are primarily from Syria and Iraq and as such cannot be prosecuted by the ICC (International Criminal Court 2015). While the complexities of international prosecution of IS fighters has become apparent the international community is still taking steps to ensure evidence is recorded and available should prosecution occur in the future.
On the 21st of December 2016, the United Nations General Assembly passed resolution 71/248; in doing so the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism to assist in the investigation and prosecution of persons responsible for the most serious crimes under international law committed in the Syrian Arab Republic since March 2011 (IIIM) was established (UN General Assembly 2016). While the IIIM is neither a prosecutor’s office nor a court, its mandate is to collect, preserve and analyse evidence of international humanitarian law abuses and human rights violations committed in Syria. The goal of the IIIM is to use this evidence to “assist criminal proceedings in national, regional or international courts or tribunals that have or may in the future have jurisdiction over these crimes” (International Impartial and Indepednent Mechanism 2016, 1). While the genocide perpetrated by IS is only a small part of this broader inquiry, in pursuing this mandate there is some process of accountability for victims and survivors of international crimes perpetrated in Syria.
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In August 2017 Iraq made a formal request to the UN Security Council for assistance in prosecuting IS members (UN 2017b). Following the receipt of this letter, UN Security Council Resolution 2379 was adopted unanimously on 21 September 2017 (UN 2017a). The resolution established an Investigative Team headed by a Special Advisor in order to support domestic efforts in holding IS accountable for all acts of terrorism and violations of international humanitarian law, including those amounting to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. In both the letter and the Resolution it is clearly stipulated that all work must be conducted in a manner consistent with national laws and that the investigative team will operate with full respect for the sovereignty of Iraq. While international experts will have a place on the investigative team they are to work on equal footing alongside Iraqi judges and other experts (UN 2017c). However, a recent report released by Human Rights Watch has highlighted numerous conflicts between the current practices of the Iraqi criminal justice system in prosecuting IS fighters and relevant UN mandates (Human Rights Watch 2017). To begin with, a number of international crimes, including crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide are not criminalised under Iraqi law. Instead, those suspected of being IS fighters are charged and prosecuted under counterterrorism laws. While the counterterrorism laws do cover a variety of offences including torture, kidnapping and unlawful detainment, they do not include offences of rape and sexual slavery. A number of the offences under the counterterrorism legislation also carry the penalty of life imprisonment or death (Human Rights Watch 2017). According to Amnesty International, Iraq remains one of the most prolific users of the death penalty in the world, fourth only to China, Iran and Saudi Arabia (Amnesty International 2018). While the Kurdish Region of Iraq banned the death penalty in 2008, it is still used in exceptional circumstances, including terror convictions. Human Rights Watch asserts that at least 92 executions of suspected IS members have taken place, however, during an interview with Human Rights Watch, one Iraqi court judge is reported as saying he has handed down at least 200 death sentences (Human Rights Watch 2017, 52). It is unclear how the investigative team and the Iraqi courts will work together on this
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matter given the UN opposition to the use of the death penalty (Omtzigt and Ochab 2018, 11). Conditions within the Iraqi prison system also contravene a number of UN conventions. For example, as of August 2017 the KRG and Iraqi governments are said to be holding approximately 1000 individuals under the age of eighteen (Human Rights Watch 2017, 43). However, these children are held in the same facility and the same room as adults. Relatives are also commonly not notified of the detention of a child or their transfer to death row when they turn nineteen. Both these practices are a direct violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (UN General Assembly 1989; UN Specialised Conferences 1955).
While Iraqi victims are afforded the right to participate in all trials through means including providing testimony, the Iraq and KRG governments have, most commonly, been putting IS suspects on trial based on confession and written witness statements (Human Rights Watch 2017). As charges related to counterterrorism need only prove affiliation with IS to allow for prosecution, victim testimonies have become redundant as a means to provide information on individual culpability. It appears that measures are also not being taken to inform victims about relevant trials, as a result, victims interviewed by Amnesty International feel that little justice is being done (Human Rights Watch 2017, 54). The lack of victim participation also extends to the Yazidi community. Despite that both the UN and the Iraqi Parliament have noted that IS has committed genocide against the Yazidi people, neither Human Rights Watch nor Yazda are aware of a single trial by the KRG or Iraqi government of an IS member for specific crimes committed against a Yazidi individual (Human Rights Watch 2017, 57).
From the perspective of the broader international community the importance of recognising and prosecuting IS members for the crimes they have committed is seen as essential for accountability, reducing impunity and acknowledging that genocide has occurred. We must also consider what ‘justice’ may mean beyond Western legal structures. The extent to which survivors are involved in advocating around avenues
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for justice and accountability is something that will be considered in Chapter Five of this thesis.
2.7 Conclusion
This chapter has positioned this research within bodies of criminological, feminist and political science scholarship. The intersection of these bodies of knowledge helps address questions around the reproduction of gendered insecurities in advocacy. While researchers have focused on the gendered dynamics of advocacy representations (Helms 2014; Autesserre 2012; Carpenter 2007), more research is needed to examine the continuation of such trends in a socio-political climate more attentive to sexual violence in conflict.
While some research has discussed the complexities of advocacy, as well as the gendered nature of these representations, this research extends existing knowledge by engaging with a diverse array of civil society organisations. As Rangelov and Theros (2009a) suggest advocacy organisations do not share a single agenda. As such, this research analyses representations from a variety of advocacy organisations including diaspora community organisations and larger international human rights groups.
The use of the Yazidi genocide as a case study for this research also provides a point of difference. As evidence through my socio-legal analysis, in comparison to other atrocities the crimes perpetrated against the Yazidi people were declared genocide by international institutions and states with relative speed. The Yazidi genocide was also perpetrated by a non-state actor and as such this also may impact on advocacy narratives and the politics embedded in these constructions.
While increased attention to the gendered nature of conflict is essential, the continued focus on the victimhood of one group ignores the intersections of marginalisation and focuses on sexual violence as the universal experience of women in conflict. The dominant conflict narrative of sexual violence and victimisation reinforces women’s sexuality as the basis for oppression. Through a critical feminist analysis, my work
59 moves beyond conceptualising women in conflict through a dichotomy of agency and victimisation and argues instead for a focus on which narratives are prioritised, and what is silenced, and how this may impact our ability to directly target the complex and intersectional causes of conflict related sexual violence.
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3 Chapter Three: Methodology
3.1 Introduction
The purpose of this chapter is to outline the methodological framework employed for this project. This section details the research methodology and theory employed to address the research aims, objectives and research questions. First, this section will outline both framing and narratives theories and discuss the intersection of these within advocacy and feminist frameworks. Second, the feminist research ethic which has informed this thesis will be discussed. Third, this chapter details the research methods used in this thesis including the data collection techniques used for both the document analysis and semi-structured interviews. Fourth, the sampling process will be outlined alongside data analysis techniques. Finally, relevant ethical considerations and limitations of the research process will be reviewed.
3.2 Framing Theory
During the September 2006 Save Darfur rally, Amnesty International ambassador Mira Sorvino made a plea for intervention in the conflict evidenced in the following extract:
How could we let this occur? The lack of food, malnutrition, humanitarian access cut off…. Over two million victims of violence, and women continue to be raped as they forage for food…. Please think of these mothers and children…. Please forgive the analogy, but the government is like the head of a family, … the government in Khartoum like a sick, sociopathic parent…. It is time for us to stop treating the government as normal in its sovereignty … as if it’s their people and their problem…. What do we have to be afraid of? We said “never again” to the Holocaust, … Rwanda…. Why is this any different? Why is the plight of these mothers and children any different? (Hicks 2012, 263)
Sorvino framed the conflict in Darfur in terms of its impact on women and children by rationalising intervention through gendered rhetoric. Embedded in a strong patriarchal 61 metaphor, this speech aimed to mobilise action through its resonance with previously established schemas of genocide and sexual violence. Women and children became the vehicle through which the issue was framed.
The term ‘framing’ is derived from Goffman’s “schemata of interpretation” that allows individuals to “locate, perceive, identify and label” occurrences within their space and the world at large (Goffman 1974, 21; Benford and Snow 2000). Entman (1993, 52) extends this definition by noting framing is to “select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation.” The impact of these frames is subsequently dependent on their resonance with previously held schemas or scripts (Hicks 2012). The way issues are framed in terms of whose voice is empowered by the representation of problems is commonly considered by feminist scholars. Framing is directly linked to power, while the experiences of women and girls may be discussed, we must also consider whose voices are presented, whose are silenced, and any parties that are included and excluded in these discussions (Ackerly and True 2020).
Framing is a central component of politics and the policy process given its ability to shape public opinion (Merry 2016). Political elites commonly engage in framing processes, with one of the most notable examples being the declaration of war on terror by President George W. Bush following the September 11 attacks. While other avenues for framing were available, and other enemies may have been identified, the ‘War on Terror’ frame and the necessity of military intervention in Afghanistan was considered vital in perpetuating an emotionally compelling and unambiguous frame to the public (Connor 2012; Entman 2003). The attribution of blame present in the framing of 9/11 is replicated in other studies. Haider-Markel and Joslyn (2001) noted that framing impacted on individual’s causal attributions regarding mass shootings. The ability of frames to attribute blame, interpret and dramatise issues, makes their
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use by civil society organisations, as a means of mobilisation, imperative to advocacy success (Payne 2001).
Relevant events or acts are framed to promote a particular interpretation of meaning so as to “mobilise potential adherents and constituents, to garner bystander support, and to demobilise antagonists” (Snow and Benford 1988, 198). The strategic use of rhetoric in the framing process also gives ‘weak actors’ a strategy or pathway to exert influence and pressure states to consider a new policy or political position (Busby 2007). The Save Darfur movement exemplifies how an advocacy movement engaged with strategic framing to make the atrocities committed in, what some refer to as a ‘strategically unimportant region in Africa,’ the strongest social movement since anti- apartheid and one of the foremost foreign policy issues of the time. While other factors were favourable to movement mobilisation, such as the domestic political climate of the time. The ability to frame the conflict in terms of evil ‘Arab’ tribal militias and innocent ‘African’ victims, with Western military and aid intervention as the saviour and hero of the story, led to the development of a frame conducive to pressuring government bodies. This pressure led to the first designation of an ongoing conflict as genocide by the US.
The success of a particular frame, or what is termed frame resonance, is suggested to relate to a number of independent variables. The conceptualisation by Klandermans (1984) that consensus and action mobilisation are sufficient for the success of a social movement campaign is challenged by Snow and Benford (1988) for not considering the interactive and dynamic relationship among other elements of participant mobilisation and action. Snow and Benford (1988) suggest that three core framing tasks are essential in achieving frame resonance including: diagnostic framing, prognostic framing and motivational framing. The success of a movement depends on the degree to which these three frames are utilised. Diagnostic framing identifies the problem and focuses attention on a particular issue by attributing blame or causality.
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By defining the situation as unjust and amenable to change through collective action, mobilisation can arise (McAdam 1999).
One type of diagnostic framing, known as the injustice frame, refers to the focus of movements on the identification of the victim and the subsequent amplification of this victimisation (Benford and Snow 2000). The magnification of the victimised party or parties through an injustice frame allows for an increased dramatic impact which has been associated with increased frame resonance (Anheier, Neidhardt and Vortkamp 1998; Payne 2001). As noted by Moore (1978, 88);
…this human capacity to ignore and accept suffering is essential to human survival. Therefore, any political movement against oppression has to develop a new diagnosis and remedy for existing forms of suffering, a diagnosis and remedy by which this suffering stands morally condemned.
However, it is not sufficient to identify a victimised party and note that the status quo is amenable to change through mobilisation; rather such a frame needs to permeate the wider public discourse (Tarrow 1998).
The process of prognostic framing refers to the identification of solutions to a particular problem while also identifying strategies, resources, tactics and targets (Joachim 2007; Snow and Benford 1988). Prognostic framing is also one of the fundamental ways in which groups differ. While problem identification may be shared by civil society groups mobilising around a particular issue, the solution to this problem may not be universal among these groups (Benford and Snow 2000). Diagnostic and prognostic framing occur independently, however, it is common to identify a link between the causes and solutions embedded within a group’s framing process (Snow and Benford 1988). While prognostic and diagnostic framing are necessary to mobilise action, they are not sufficient to garner wide levels of support. Motivational framing offers a reason why people should take action and can be portrayed in normative or moral terms. NGOs commonly frame calls for developmental aid by appealing to norms of social justice. In doing so they graft their goal onto pre-existing international 64 norms and standards such as UN declarations and conventions (Joachim 2007). The manner in which an issue is framed is also strategic in terms of the desired audience of advocacy groups. For example, the framing of Amazon land rights as either a deforestation issue, social justice or regional development frame appeals to different groups and allies (Keck and Sikkink 1998).
A number of issues may arise during the framing process that inadvertently stifle the effectiveness of a frame. Firstly, if the problem is framed in a manner that denotes a sense of hopelessness and tragedy that cannot be counteracted by mobilisation efforts a sense of fatalism arises. This excessive dramatisation impairs, as opposed to heightens, the likelihood of mobilisation action. Secondly, an overemphasis on diagnostic framing to the detriment of prognostic considerations, can result in unclear guidelines for action. While there may be consensus on the cause of the problem, what should be done may appear ambiguous. Finally, the language and rhetoric used in public debate when framing an issue needs to be done in a manner that renders it accessible for public consumption so as not to alienate possible constituents (Snow and Benford 1988).
There is a longstanding argument by sociological theorists that people do not respond directly to the world around them but rather to meanings we attach to other objects, people and phenomena. The genocide frame can simplify a complex conflict by invoking notions of evil, and employing Benford and Snow’s (2000) injustice frame, thus allowing people to identify the victim and the perpetrator and respond to these labels accordingly (Coley 2013). Luban (2006, 311) notes that when the public sees an atrocity framed as murder, motivation to intervene is lost. Framing a conflict as genocide implores international action whereas ‘mere’ murder promotes the discourse as being ‘their’ problem (Luban 2006, 311). A conflict can also be framed through analogies. Framing the conflict in the Balkans by invoking Holocaust analogies propelled the first American-European diplomatic and military interventions against Serbia (Coley 2013). The use of a Holocaust-inspired narrative allowed for the clear
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identification of victims and victimisers, in doing so promoting the frame of ‘never again’ as a means to motivate intervention. While frames are essential to the social world in constructing problems, narratives function as the device through which beliefs and actions promote certain elements of a story while levelling others. The use of framing emerges as an important aspect of critiquing advocacy representations. The way an issue is framed is not only relevant to advocacy politics and power dynamics, but also to representations of conflict and the roles that women and girls are seen to occupy.
3.3 Narrative Theory
Narratives are a powerful way to shape beliefs and actions and a vital asset in generating collective action (Jones and McBeth 2010; Mayer 2014). Yet what constitutes a narrative varies. A post-structuralist view of narratives is most relevant to this thesis and extends beyond language to the meaning behind certain texts. In referring to the work of Nair (2002) and Mayer (2014), O’Brien (2019) contends that stories are largely constructed by the beholder. The traditional Bengali story noted in the works of Nair (2002), Mayer (2014) and O’Brien (2019) demonstrates how little words are needed to construct a narrative:
A tiger. A hunter. A tiger.
While the text does not contain a nuanced plot line or complex character development it is the meaning behind the text that is relevant, a story is constructed by the reader. Indeed this is one of the advantages of narratives from an advocacy perspective, they are able to explain potentially complex events without referencing specific principles, laws or criteria (Kaplan 1986). While narratives in advocacy may be explicitly represented in terms of the testimony of survivors, calls to action can also be implicit, and a story can be constructed from just a few words (O'Brien 2019, 5).
While little is needed to construct a narrative, many narratives do share common traits including character constructions: the victim, the hero and the villain. Narratives are
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framed in such a way that we typically pity or sympathise with the victim, we admire the hero and we loathe the villain (Jones and McBeth 2010). Frames impact what events we notice and what events we do not as well as how these will be interpreted by a wider audience. While frames and narratives do not cause action themselves, they make advocacy mobilisation possible. The process of framing also allows us to understand the dominance of particular narratives through the causal attribution of blame and perceptions of victims and victimisers.
While the story may be different, these characters largely remain the same. However, beyond character construction and plot lines, consideration must also be given to external pressures on narrative building. For example, who is constructing the narrative? What is their goal? Who is their audience? Throughout this thesis I will draw on not only what is within the narrative, but variables that act on narrative construction to allow for a comprehensive understanding of how civil society groups construct narratives surrounding the Yazidi genocide.
3.3.1 Simple Storylines To achieve narrative resonance and provide a story capable of saturating the collective conscience of the international community, the plot must be simple. The use of a simple storyline is of paramount importance in achieving and maintaining public salience (Autesserre 2012). While there are practical considerations with respect to page restrictions for news articles, and time limits for television and radio broadcasts, the simple storyline is a central tactic for advocacy agencies to mobilise constituents. Fundraising and advocacy efforts are most successful when a simple narrative is put forward, with frame resonance increasing when the story includes a well-defined characterisation of good and evil (Autesserre 2012; Jones and McBeth 2010). Given the complexity of many international conflicts the use of a simple narrative can direct action and highlight salient issues, while also avoiding the alienation of the wider community. A simple narrative also has the ability to mobilise the higher levels of international law and diplomacy. For example, the dominant narrative in the
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Democratic Republic of the Congo appealed to the illegal exploitation of natural resources as the cause of violence which led to the development of two expert panels created by the UN to discuss this issue. The European Union, Germany, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the US and the World Bank also began to pay attention to the issue and began to reform the mining sector to prevent the use of Congolese conflict minerals by establishing projects and reforming legislation (Autesserre 2012). By framing the issue through a simple cause and effect scenario the wider community, nation states and international legal organisations were able to mobilise around a complex issue through simplistic framing.
An uncomplicated storyline builds upon issues already amenable to public consumption leading to a straightforward solution. For the public to identify with an indirect experience the narrative must also be relatable through a process of symbolic extension and psychological identification (Mayer 2014). The narrative used when discussing the conflict in the Congo maintained prominence partly due to the ability to graft the issue onto pre-existing norms of the economic dimensions of violence. However, a simple narrative not only promotes one cause of the violence but also one solution (Connor 2012). A narrow focus on one issue can inadvertently exacerbate that very issue by not considering explanations other than those given in the dominant narrative. During the Save Darfur Campaign the application of the genocide frame led to a simplified conceptualisation of victims and victimisers. This dichotomy obscured the political and economic complexities of the conflict while also ignoring ethnic identities and the history of British colonisation (Hicks 2012).
3.3.2 Gendered Narratives It is common for simple narratives to frame conflicts and problems through gendered tropes of innocence and vulnerability. The construction of women and girls as vulnerable is a feature of many narratives and often seen as the grounds for intervention. Their victimisation and helplessness is amplified in order to increase their
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perceived weakness in comparison to the offender through gendered discourses of innocence and vulnerability (Carpenter 2003). According to the conceptualisation of the ideal victim proposed by Christie (1986), the position of women and girls as weak is central to ensuring a sympathetic response, women and girls must not possess sufficient strength to threaten others or their status as a victim is challenged. This has been a feature of a number of narratives in which Muslim men are constructed as the perpetrators and women are the group who requires saving, with one of the most notable examples the narrative of “saving” Afghan women from the Taliban (Abu- Lughod 2002; Hicks 2012). While the International Committee of the Red Cross notes that special attention should only be warranted on the basis of vulnerability, women are often automatically placed in the same category as young children and the elderly (Caverzasio 2001). The proliferation of the post-Cold War narrative in which the vulnerability of women and children has become the dominant international discourse on civilian protection has embedded gendered norms within the advocacy mobilisation network (Carpenter 2003). As noted by Keck and Sikkink (1998), civil society organisations have an increased likelihood of narrative resonance when the conflict is framed in terms of harm to “vulnerable populations.”
The victimisation of women and girls is often discussed through a narrative of sexual violence. While such acts may be central to the genocidal strategy of a particular party, by discussing women in terms of sexual violence the female body becomes intrinsically linked with victimisation, ignoring or exacerbating other issues within a conflict and denying the breadth of the experiences of women and girls, a notion which will be discussed in a subsequent section. A narrative with a focus on sexual violence has strategic value for civil society groups given the ability of such a frame to attract significant financial aid and international attention (Autesserre 2012). However, the focus on one victimised group can lead to the neglect of others, with alternate forms of victimisation excluded from the dominant narrative. During field research conducted by Carpenter (2016, 92) a humanitarian field worker made a comment about the sexual slavery of boys under the Taliban before noting “especially in conflict
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situations in certain countries, one simply does not talk about the abuse of young men.” Not only does a focus on sexual violence against women ignore offences against men and boys, it also overlooks non-sexual offences against girls and women, including the use of child soldiers (Autesserre 2012). Instead of opposing gender essentialisms these continue to be reproduced within humanitarian and civil society discourses. In order to maintain the narrative of blameless victimised women in Darfur, some acts of rape and sexual violence were excluded from the dominant narrative, including rapes occurring inside refugee camps and those committed by UN soldiers (Hicks 2012, 230). Following the declining mortality rate in Darfur, the narrative of Sharia facilitated sexual violence became an even more prominent call for intervention. The rhetorical power of linking the vulnerability and subjective weakness of women and linking rape with Islam, created an environment whereby the West, in particular the US, could continue to establish their moral authority in saving women from Muslim men.
The use of framing and narrative theory as the theoretical framework for this thesis provides a foundation for analysing how civil society organisations mobilise constituent support by highlighting or minimising some aspects of a conflict. The gendered and racialised considerations of framing and narrative construction also align with the feminist research ethic adopted for this research.
3.4 My Feminist Research Ethic
Many disciplines relevant to the study of conflict, violence and war often have an abstractive focus on states as opposed to individual identities. However, feminist scholars have long insisted that gender is not something that can added to existing understandings of world politics but rather is essential to its functioning. This project is informed by a feminist research ethic. In borrowing from Cynthia Enloe’s Bananas Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics, I argue that we need to think seriously and pay attention to gendered politics in international spaces (Enloe 2014). My feminist research ethic does not use the terms “gender” and “women”
70 interchangeably, as now appears common in international security discourses, but rather continually argues for complication of narratives of the roles of men and women in conflict (Tripp 2013). Discussing events of mass violence and genocide through a gendered lens facilitates a view separate from traditional masculinised interpretations of conflict. In “paying attention” to women in political spaces I am not suggesting they are never discussed or noticed, but rather that their role is pre-determined. When women are paid attention to in international politics it is oftentimes in the role of victims and those who required rescuing (Zalewski 2015). Throughout my work I consciously work to resist the simple narrative.
In critiquing the dichotomous understandings of the way gendered bodies “perform” in international relations and political silence, I argue that we need to do more than pay superficial attention to gendered issues, but rather we need to listen and understand silenced voices. Having a feminist methodology means the focus is on what it means to know as opposed to “just knowing.” As Ackerly and True (2020) suggest, a feminist project is feminist by what it seeks to address and how it seeks to address this, there is no one “feminist method.” Through my theoretical position of narration and my feminist research ethic I argue for the need not just to pay attention to the voices and narratives of women but the consequences of not actively listening to women’s voices. While feminist research involves studying those voices often excluded from wider representations, the goal is to understand these silences and oppressions and critique what sustains them.
The study of civil society advocacy and the way this represents gendered narratives also provides an interesting point for the interrogation and critique of power. The study of power and its effects are about challenging what reliable ways of knowing are from the view-points of different groups and individuals. The two sources of data used in this research allow me to engage with and critique constructions of power. What is represented in advocacy data represents a source of power in and of itself. Who is telling the story, what are they paying attention to and whose story are they telling are
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all vital questions I asked throughout this research. Through my interview process I am also able to uncover some rationalisations for silences in advocacy data, to listen to the stories of those who feel they are represented and those who are not.
An essential part of my feminist research ethic that is deeply entwined with my research focus relates to who I am asking questions of. I am asking how institutions, both small and large frame and tell stories of gendered violence. I am analysing and tracing the production and contestation of power. I have made the conscious decision not to impose demands on survivors to re-narrate trauma (Krystalli 2019). From the beginning of this project I have questioned if replicating narratives of violence in my thesis is feeding into the commodification of violence for consumption. In this work I suggest that relevant research can be delineated from those who work closely with survivors. This not only provides an opportunity to engage with power politics in international spaces and the idea of advocacy organisations as narrative gatekeepers, but also ensures that as a researcher I do not become part of the problem I seek to critique. This has been an issue for other feminist scholars who have actively decided against doing field research because of issues with saturation from other researchers, government organisations and NGOs (Ackerly and True 2020).
3.5 Methodological Approach
As suggested earlier, there is no one method that makes a project feminist. Rather, a methodological approach should reflect the feminist research ethic adopted for that particular project (Ackerly and True 2020). Feminist research can be either quantitative or qualitative, the methods for this thesis were chosen in order to best address the questions it sought to answer (Letherby 2007). Given the focus of this project on narrative representations, the importance of language and the attention to stories that are untold, a qualitative methodological approach is most relevant. A qualitative methodological approach was considered more suitable to analyse the narratives used by civil society organisations, given its flexibility, subjectivity and in-depth analytical deconstruction of complex social phenomenon (Renzetti 1997).
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3.5.1 Data Collection In engaging with a feminist ethic this project is premised on understanding and paying attention to gendered dynamics in political spaces, in this case, representations in civil society advocacy. Given this position, this research has been conducted with the goal of analysing narrative constructions in advocacy and addressing the framing and representation of genocidal crimes and particularly the positioning of Yazidi women and girls. In order to address the questions and understand whose voices are silenced and whose are centred I undertook an analysis of publicly available advocacy documents. While these were able to shed light on the gendered dynamics of public representations, another source of data was needed to provide a rationale for the production of certain narratives and question if these representations align with the wishes of survivors. As such, I also conducted 12 semi-structured interviews in order to address these questions as well as the implications and unintended consequences of gendered narratives of genocide and the ethics of storytelling.
3.5.1.1 Documents
The document data for this thesis was collected from the websites of twelve civil society organisations that advocate around the Yazidi genocide. These organisations include: Action Yazidis, Amnesty International, the Free Yezidi Foundation, Genocide Watch, It’s On U, The Liberation of Christian and Yazidi Children of Iraq, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Yazda, the Yazidi American Women’s organisation, Yazidi Human Rights Organisation International and Yazidis International. For more information on each of these organisations, refer to Appendix One. The organisations were chosen with the purpose of representing the diversity in advocacy groups. I chose to include large multinational human rights groups, groups that advocate around genocide specifically and also Yazidi run and led organisations. The data included press releases, speeches, reports and statements. It was common for advocacy organisations to release news articles published by outlets such as The New York Times and other media groups as a press release or statement, however I
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chose to exclude these from the dataset given the different set of variables that impact the framing of media articles.
In order to collect relevant data a keyword search was conducted within each organisation’s webpage search tool. As ‘Yazidi’ is not an English word it can be spelt differently including, ‘Yazidi’ ‘Ezidi’ or ‘Yezidi.’ In order to find documents all relevant documents a Boolean search was conducted on each webpage. At times it was also necessary to manually search through all documents under relevant subheadings when a search tool was not available. The data collection was limited in scope from the beginning of the genocide, on August 3rd 2014 through until the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2379 on the 21st of September 2017. The resolution established an Investigative Team headed by a Special Advisor in order to support domestic efforts in holding IS accountable for all acts of terrorism and violations of international humanitarian law, including those amounting to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide (UN 2017c). This was considered an appropriate point to end the data collection process given the focus of much advocacy on establishing investigation mechanisms as well as the impact that this may have on the narratives organisation’s produce.
The data attained through this search was subsequently limited through the use of selection criteria. Namely, the discussion of the Yazidi people in relation to the crimes perpetrated by IS on August 3, 2014. Only advocacy materials printed in English were used for this research. However, such a data limitation is considered justifiable as this research is specifically looking at civil society organisations acting in the Global North. Civil society groups actively target advocacy pieces towards English speaking nations, legislators and decision-makers, in order to advocate for genocide recognition. Given the goal of many organisations is international attention and change, at times pursued through an entity such as the UN, appealing to Western countries, such as the US and the UK, is essential to altering the status quo. After engaging with the selection criteria, the total amount of relevant documents analysed for this thesis was 308. Upon the
74 completion of the coding process the documents that were coded for relevant themes and discourse amounted to 206 documents. The remaining 106 documents were predominantly links to documents published by media organisations or a brief sentence mentioning the Yazidi people in relation to another topic or issue not relevant to this thesis.
3.5.1.2 Interviews
In addition to the document data I conducted twelve semi-structured interviews, three of which were conducted over the phone or through skype, while the remining nine were face-to-face interviews. Given the nature of the topics being discussed face-to- face interviews were the most appropriate to allow for the development of natural rapport with interview participants and were used wherever possible. Building rapport is crucial for researchers to be seen as approachable as well as allowing for the generation of meaningful data (Bryman 2001; Lichtman 2014).
A semi structured interview format was considered the most appropriate for this study. This was done to maintain consistency in questioning while allowing for flexibility dependent upon interviewee responses (Olsen 2012). By using a semi-structured approach I could more easily adapt to participant responses and seek clarification or elaboration on particular arguments (Opdenakker 2006). Semi-structured interviews also allow for participant driven responses that may or may not conform to expectations (Ackerly and True 2020). Using an interview also algins with the feminist research ethic adopted for this thesis. Importantly, the use of a semi-structured interview allowed for an equal power platform between the participants and the researcher (O’Keeffe 2017). This is significant given the focus of this work on centring the voices of survivors.
The interview schedule was arranged to allow for a few ‘warm up’ questions, to let the participant feel comfortable before asking more detailed and possibly emotive and political questions (Ackerly and True 2020). For the full interview schedule please refer to Appendix Three. Through this process I was not only able to collect interview data
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relevant to gendered conflict representations and survivor rights but also unexpected themes related to advocacy politics and the ethics of storytelling. All but one interview was audio-recorded allowing for me to engage more authentically with the interview process as opposed to time spent writing during the interview process (Rapley 2004). Recording an interview can also increase the length of an interview as well as improve the quality of the interview data (McGonagle, Brown and Schoeni 2015).
3.5.1.3 Sampling and Recruitment
No sampling method was used for the document analysis. Instead the entire population of documents became part of the dataset. With respect to the interview process a purposive sampling technique was used due to the need to select potential participants on the basis of particular characteristics (Morse 2004): namely, their role in a civil society organisation advocating around the Yazidi genocide. Participants were selected on the basis of their professional expertise and the profile of organisations that advocate around both genocide more broadly and specifically around the Yazidi genocide. Their affiliations were drawn from publicly available sources such as the organisations’ website, publications and presentations regarding the topic. Groups were contacted through the email address available on their webpage or through other means such as Facebook messenger where a webpage was not available. Where previous connections had been made, particular representatives were contacted via their publicly available email address. Participants were also approached based on referral from existing participants. A large number of the interview participants were located in the US and as such I travelled to New York, Washington. DC and Lincoln Nebraska to conduct the interviews. Given that feminist research often studies hidden phenomena, snowball sampling is often used to gain access to relevant populations through participant recommendations. This became an important part of the sampling process as recommendations and referrals led to a number of interviews during the recruitment process. While some participants did choose to remain anonymous, those who can be identified are listed in Appendix Two. In order to maintain the anonymity
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of the interviews who request to remain anonymous I will not refer to them by name or position in this thesis.
3.5.2 Interview Reflections Conducting the interviews for this project was a much more complex and challenging task that I initially envisioned. To begin with, the process of recruitment was time consuming and many emails went unanswered. From trying to find contact information for some organisations, to considering who to speak to from a given organisation was a process that required much consideration. The logistics of international field work further complicated this process. The interviews themselves were however invaluable, not only in terms of my project but my personal growth as a researcher. I learnt how to engage with different stakeholders and I learnt to be adaptive.
Throughout the interview process I also became more aware of the issue of vicarious trauma when researching particular topics. From my own experiences, as well as conversations with colleagues, I believe vicarious trauma is something that requires further consideration, particularly among PhD students. One of the most valuable experiences related to this followed a workshop by Professor Anthony Collins on vicarious trauma among people researching and supporting survivors of violence. This promoted discussion and helped develop a strong and supportive cohort of PhD students that was invaluable throughout my interview process and my PhD journey.
I also did not anticipate the extent to which advocates would have such divergent and differing positions on a given issue. In interviewing those involved in advocacy I gained far more critical insight into the politics of this space. I believe this has been essential in framing my research. As I conducted some interviews in person as well as over the phone, I became increasingly aware of the substantial increase in the quality and depth of data I received when I was able to speak to people in person. The process of transcribing my own interviews was also incredibly beneficial, as well as immensely laborious, as it allowed me to critically analyse the responses that each interviewee
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gave me. The interviews I conducted allowed me to develop a better understanding about the ways advocacy organisations frame the roles of women and girls and the consideration that is given to the impacts this may have. I believe the interviews were essential in generating rich and detailed data.
3.6 Data Analysis: Discourse Analysis
A discourse analysis was chosen for this project due to its ability to look beyond the linguistic attributes of data by analysing the rhetorical or augmentative organisation of texts as well as its common empirical use for analysing linguistic features in political text (Fairclough and Fairclough 2013). While some narrative studies engage with a content analysis technique, (McBeth, Shanahan and Jones 2005; Merry 2016) such a method would not allow the research to derive detailed analytic data. While it may be advantageous in its ability to quantify the use of specific storylines and characters within a qualitative text, it does not enable the contextual meaning of a qualitative source to be analysed (McNabb 2015). Whereas a discourse analysis is not simply descriptive, but also normative, providing a systematic examination of the links between social phenomenon and the properties of linguistic texts (Fairclough 2013).
Social reality is argued to be bought to life through discourses. Therefore, when conducting a discourse analysis, the task is to investigate the relationship between reality and discourse. If we wish to understand a particular discourse and its impact, the social environment from which this discourse has emerged is also a critical point of understanding. Fairclough and Wodak (1997, 277) note that:
Discourse is not produced without context and cannot be understood without taking context into consideration…. Discourses are always connected to other discourses which were produced earlier, as well as those which are produced synchronically and subsequently.
It is the connection between discourses and social reality that makes this analysis method appropriate for the current research, the documents to be analysed are
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connected to discourses, which emerge at a particular social and historical juncture. Currie (2006, 309) asserts that “narratives are distinguished not merely by what they represent but also how they represent it.” The use of discourse analysis is also guided by my feminist research ethic. This allows the research to move beyond constructions of identity and differences in text to “interpreting the textual meanings of identity in terms of actual practices” (Ackerly and True 2020, 199).
This project is concerned with what narratives civil society organisations tell in their advocacy around the Yazidi genocide and also how these narratives are represented. The term narrative can be used to describe both biographic stories as well as broader public thematic accounts. For the purposes of this research the focus is on the language and themes present in an organisations advocacy that inform a particular narrative interpretation. In doing so, the goal is to question the framing, or thematic narratives, that are used.
Discourse analysis is not without its limitations. The nature of discourse analysis itself aims to undermine the objectivity of particular linguistic texts and as such one cannot argue that one’s own discourse is wholly objective (Mogashoa 2014; Tonkiss 2004). A discourse analysis has a less standardised technique then many other forms of qualitative research. While this allows for a wider scope of versatility in the research approach it has also left the technique open to criticism for lacking methodological rigor (Phillips and Hardy 2002). Although a method such as content analysis may be considered more objective, some argue that assertions made through discourse analysis are heavily grounded in data and as such not open to multiple interpretations (Tonkiss 2004).
3.6.1 Document Data As the first point of analysis I focused on the 308 advocacy documents sourced from the twelve aforementioned civil society groups. Before I began the coding process, I developed relevant nodes based on the literature review I had conducted. These largely included coding for discussion on specific crimes that may constitute genocide
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under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, as well as acts of resistance and an organisation’s recommendations or strategic objectives. Throughout the coding process, other relevant discursive themes emerged particularly in relation to acts of sexual violence including the description of women through their experiences of victimisation, inversion of the rape narrative and women as wives and mothers. When a particular theme emerged, the data was coded for the relevant discourse as well as the relevant organisation who engaged with this particular rhetoric. The absence of particular discourses, silences and other salient themes within the data were also noted, as what remains unstated is often as significant as what is stated. As Ackerly and True (2020) suggest, a feminist research ethic also requires an understanding of what data is hidden as well as well as what can easily be seen. Other broader features were also analysed such as, which civil society group published the piece and when, and how this timing might align with major events or developments regarding the Yazidi genocide. For example, this included considerations of UN Security Council determinations and further conflict or independent state trials of IS fighters. The document data subsequently informed the questions that were asked during the interview process.
3.6.2 Interview Data Upon completion of the interviews, I transcribed all the interview recordings. I Initially reviewed the data, writing down any ideas that emerge during this process with a particular focus on gendered narratives and silences in the text. Similar to the document analysis, I had pre-existing themes which were primarily sourced from the questions I asked during the interview process while other relevant themes also emerged during the initial readings and coding process.
3.7 Analysis and Coding
Coding is an essential practice to discover textual regularities in data. Given the discourse analysis technique used in this thesis the coding phase entails the identification of relevant themes delineated from language use (Starks and Trinidad
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2007). The organisation of data into key themes or categories enabled a more systematic approach to the analytic process. Coding in this manner provided a foundation for the critical interrogation of data (Tonkiss 2004). This project coded the data both inductively and deductively. Inductive coding refers to the process whereby dominant or common themes and concepts are identified within the raw data and codes assigned in order to condense the data into analytic categories. In contrast, deductive coding involves testing whether the data is consistent with a pre-conceived hypothesis or theory (Thomas 2006). It is during this phase of coding that I aimed to ascertain if common themes regarding sexualised, gendered and racial narratives appear in the advocacy of the Yazidi genocide as they have in the works of other authors (Abu-Lughod 2002; Alexander 2002; Autesserre 2012; Benkhedda 2016; Carpenter 2003; Hicks 2012; Khoja-Moolji 2017; O'Brien 2013; Poynting 2012; Richards 2017).
Throughout the coding process the narratives used by civil society organisations were analysed in order to identify how narratives were constructed and how the broader social discourses feed into the construction of these narratives. In analysing the data, key themes identified in the coding process were reviewed and attention was paid to textual variation and silences within a particular theme. An analysis of variation has the ability to highlight discrepancies regarding the way particular organisations use narratives in advocacy. This process enabled the evolution of the particular narratives adopted by civil society organisations to be tracked over time. Of particular interest was character constructions and framing and the use of simple storylines as well as racialised and sexualised dichotomies. This allowed me to see how the narratives were constructed and how this resonates with the broader social discourse.
To assist with coding, the computer program NVivo was used. Phillips and Hardy (2002) assert that using a computerised program can be advantageous when dealing with a large dataset. However, I remined conscious throughout the coding process that it is important to remember that using such a program does not improve the level of
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analysis, rather it is a management program. Computer-based coding programs have also been criticised for encouraging researches to ‘over code’ the data, resulting in a loss of conceptual understanding of the underlying discourse and inability to see the ‘big picture’ (John and Johnson 2000; Pacer 2014). This is of particular significance given the use of a discourse analysis, with the meaning behind text being of paramount importance. Through researcher immersion with the data and a number of readings prior to using NVivo, this limitation was overcome.
3.8 Ethical Considerations
Given the nature of the research I conducted as well as the different methodologies I used, it is essential to consider various ethical issues. The document collection and analysis part of this project had no foreseeable ethical issue. All documents that were analysed were available publicly on the internet, through the websites of the relevant civil society organisations, and therefore their use raises no ethical dilemmas with respect to confidentiality or anonymity. With respect to the interview process, a low risk ethics application was lodged and approved through the QUT Ethics Committee [1800000735]. The participants for this research are those who work within civil society and engage with these issues on a regular basis within their professional capacity. While some individuals who work within these groups had personal or familiar experiences associated with the Yazidi genocide, questions were asked around the formal activities of the CSO or NGO. The purpose of this research was not to discuss direct or indirect victimisation as a result of genocidal crimes. As such, this research was considered low risk given the only foreseeable risk was one of discomfort. Precautions were put in place as to whether or not participants wished to be identified and information relating to relevant services will be provided to mitigate any potential issues.
The Yazidi group was represented respectfully and sensitively throughout the research process given the nature of the research. It has been made clear where findings are reported, that the opinions of any given Yazidi CSO may not be representative of the
82 entire community. Given the preparation work that was done prior to these interviews taking place I am aware of the complexities of the conflict and the subsequent harms it has caused. Ways in which participants were represented respectfully and sensitively have been built into the research design. For example; the interview was able to be stopped at any time, I checked in on participants as the interview progressed, participants were able to withdraw their consent up to eight weeks after the interview, and participants were given the opportunity to review transcripts and redact information. Ethical issues were critically considered throughout this research process. Representing the stories of the Yazidi genocide ethically and with respect was an essential part of my research design and analysis.
3.9 Limitations
Despite the merits of this research and the use of the most relevant methodological and theoretical frameworks, there are some limitations that require consideration. Firstly, while only English civil society advocacy materials was used, as has been previously outlined, this is justified given the focus of these organisations on engaging with English speaking countries in the Global North. Secondly, the sampling methods for this study may limit the generalisability of this research. While the framing and narratives employed by a number of relevant civil society groups will be investigated, the ability to analyse data from all relevant advocacy groups is beyond the scope of this research. As such, an argument cannot be made that any results are relevant to civil society advocacy as a whole. However, the diverse use of different groups provides a strong cross-section of relevant organisations from which some conclusions can be drawn regarding narratives and framing in civil society advocacy. The use of the Yazidi genocide as the case study for this thesis may also limit the generalisability of this research, not only to other genocides but other global human rights issues that civil society organisations may engage with. Despite these limitations, this research offers critical insight into how the stories of women and girls are represented, the consequences of these representations and the politics of advocacy.
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3.10 Conclusion
The purpose of this chapter was to present the theory, methodology and methods used to address this project’s research questions and aim. This study contributes to existing bodies of knowledge through the combined use of narrative and framing theories in investigating the consequences of gendering advocacy. This chapter first presented the theoretical framework used throughout this thesis, being the combined use of framing and narrative theories, before discussing the feminist research ethic that has underpinned this research. I then discussed my methodological approach and the document analysis and interview techniques used to gain a nuanced understanding of advocacy representations and agendas as well as to understand survivor engagement with advocacy narratives. Following this, I outlined the discourse analysis I conducted. The use of a discourse analysis allowed for a critique of the power and politics embedded in language use as well as the ability to consider the privileging and silencing of voices in advocacy narratives. In concluding this chapter, I discussed relevant ethical consideration and limitations. The following chapters present the findings of my research using the methods outlined in this chapter.
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4 Chapter Four: Narratives of the Yazidi Genocide: Vulnerable, Victimised and Violated
4.1 Introduction
There is an archetypal construction of the ideal victim of conflict mediated by gendered social and political discourses. The previous chapters have demonstrated the gendered nature of conflict, but also the harms of appealing to single stories to represent complex conflicts. The next three chapters deconstruct narratives of the Yazidi genocide in civil society advocacy to ascertain why narratives of sexual violence persist in advocacy and the impact of this on addressing sexual violence in conflict. In particular, this chapter addresses the first research question regarding how civil society organisations frame women and girls in the context of genocidal crimes.
In this chapter I argue that while conflict and genocide are gendered, civil society advocacy replicates these gendered tropes in a way that ‘fixes’ women’s victimisation along gendered and racialised lines. The experiences of women whose stories may disrupt this master narrative are silenced to prioritise those which depict women’s vulnerability, victimisation and violation. The use of language plays an important role in reinforcing a particular narrative through the consistent use of terminology, language and characters. To address these arguments, I draw on both my document and interview data and suggest that analysing the framing of narratives in advocacy material is a productive way of conceptualising the gendered dimensions of conflict and presents a unique point of analysis of genocidal crimes.
To begin this chapter, I discuss how the dominant advocacy narrative of women as victims, particularly victims of sexual violence, leads to a truncated representation of women’s experiences of conflict. I argue that in appealing to the vulnerability of women, this narrative foregrounds the graphic detail of sexual violence and silences experiences that may contravene this single story including the diversity of experiences
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of women and men in conflict and acts of resistance. Following this, I discuss the role that racial and orientalist tropes may play in the production of narratives of victimhood and vulnerability. I then demonstrate the role that language has in supporting and reinforcing these narratives through repetition and symbols of innocence and vulnerability. Through a critical feminist lens, I argue for the complication of narratives and articulate the potentially problematic consequences of a single story.
4.2 Narratives of Sexual Violence
This section considers how the victimisation of women and girls is framed in advocacy narratives. First, I demonstrate the focus on crimes perpetrated against Yazidi women and girls in advocacy. Second, I discuss how the construction of women and girls as the ideal victims of conflict appeals to gendered tropes and how this leads to reductive narratives of women’s experiences of conflict. Finally, I analyse the fixation on women’s bodies as the inevitable targets of violence. I demonstrate that sexual violence is narrated as the universal experience of women.
4.2.1 Women’s Victimisation A clear narrative emerged from the advocacy data with a dominant focus on the victimisation of Yazidi women and girls. In analysing the genocidal crimes that were referenced in the 206 advocacy documents, 50% made reference to crimes of sexual violence amounting to a total of 104 documents in the dataset. For contextual comparison, 33% (sixty-eight documents) referred to acts of murder and killing committed by IS, and acts of forced labour were discussed in only 2% (five) of advocacy documents. This snapshot illustrates the dominant focus in the dataset on crimes of sexual violence perpetrated against Yazidi women and girls. It represents a clear shift from the quantification of genocide in terms of death tolls to one that clearly foregrounds specific genocidal crimes. The focus on sexual violence in the advocacy dataset was largely consistent across the different organisations sampled for this research. However, the language used in descriptions of acts of sexual violence varied considerably depending on the type of organisation and its audience. These are both
86 factors that will be discussed throughout this chapter given the role language plays in narrative construction.
During my interviews with advocacy practitioners the framing of women’s visibility through their experiences of sexual violence was reinforced. One advocacy practitioner from an international human rights organisation noted the focal point of advocacy has been on “the female victims of IS’s maniacal and prurient sex crimes.” The Executive Director of the Yazidi led Free Yezidi Foundation echoed such sentiment: “everyone is talking about the sexual abuse against women and girls.” The framing of the genocidal crimes clearly informs a narrative, in its most simple form, of Yazidi women and girls as victims of brutal sexual violence. In recognising that conflict and genocide does have disproportionate and diverse impacts on women, the hypervisibility of sexual violence against Yazidi women creates a clear characterisation of victimhood. While the dominant focus on acts of sexual violence in advocacy was clear, the necessity to pay attention to crimes of sexual violence was also articulated. One advocacy practitioner who has worked closely with survivors noted:
I think it is fantastic they were focusing on the issue of women because that is something often kind of ignored in conflicts but I think also how we define victims is very stereotypical, and that is something we are trying to counteract with our advocacy.
In noting the importance of paying attention to the experiences of women and girls, this advocate also highlighted the importance of avoiding stereotypical constructions of victimisation. The silence surrounding the experiences of women and girls in past conflicts appears to inform the opinions of advocacy practitioners and legitimises the salience of such narratives. Yet it is clear there is concern by some advocates around the way in which these narratives are portrayed. While some advocates did note the importance of paying attention to crimes of sexual violence, they also point out the narrow scope through which victimhood is defined. This will be explored in more detail
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in the following section regarding the framing of victimhood predominately through graphic stories of sexual violence.
The increased focus on crimes of sexual violence brings forward a new feminist challenge regarding the complexities of recognising the diverse vulnerabilities of women in conflict without framing women singularly as victims. While there has been a much needed shift in the international community towards addressing issues of conflict related sexual violence, and many advocates commended this shift, the framing of advocacy narratives still portrays women predominantly as victims of sexual violence. Despite the recognition of sexual violence as an act of genocide and the renewed “survivor centred” approach to conflict related sexual violence, such narratives are not new. The same gendered tropes that dominated representations of Bosnian women are seemingly repeated in advocacy around the Yazidi genocide (Helms 2003). In the next section I discuss how the continued focus on crimes of sexual violence manifests in written advocacy data. In doing so I also deconstruct how such practices may silence experiences beyond sexual violence including acts of resistance and the experiences of Yazidi men and children.
4.2.2 The Ideal Victim Advocacy narratives surrounding the genocide perpetrated by IS are told in a gendered way that leads to a fixation on women’s victimisation. It is not just the explicit labelling of victimhood that is considered here, but rather how the framing of victimhood appeals to essentialised and gendered tropes. The construction of characters within a narrative is an essential storytelling mechanism. While there may be many nuanced characters in a narrative, they generally fall into four prototypes: the victim, the survivor, the villain or the hero (Mayer 2014, 62). Victims in the narrative “suffer misfortune from falling action” they are not the cause of action (Mayer 2014, 62). In analysing the advocacy data Yazidi women and girls were predominantly constructed as victims in narratives of genocide. The two extracts of advocacy materials
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below narrate women as the subjects of action; their vulnerability is emphasised in contrast to the power of the offender.
In both these extracts, attempts are made by these women to escape, yet the narrative, as presented in advocacy materials, focuses on the details of the sexual violence perpetrated against the victim.
Jamila described how fighters forced her and the other girls and women in Mosul to remove their clothes and “pose” for photographs before “selling” them on. She tried to escape twice but was caught both times. As punishment, she was tied to a bed by her hands and legs and gang-raped as well as being beaten with cables and deprived of food (Amnesty International 2016).
This extract has been taken from a 2016 Amnesty International press release. Written below a subheading entitled “horrors endured in IS captivity” the focus on gang rape and physical violence eclipses any discussion of attempted escape. Appearing alongside this extract in the press release are many other personal narratives of the crimes perpetrated by IS. All five stories are those of young women detailing the violence perpetrated against them or their families, stories from rape and torture to the periodic starving and repeated beating of a three-month-old baby. A similar narrative can also be seen in the following extract taken from a 2014 Human Rights Watch press release under the subtitle “suicide attempts”:
Leila said she saw two girls try to kill themselves by slashing their wrists with broken glass. She also tried to commit suicide when her Libyan captors forced her to take a bath, which she knew was typically a prelude to rape:
I went into the bathroom, turned on the water, stood on a chair to take the wire connecting the light to electrocute myself but there was no electricity. After they realized what I was doing, they beat me with a long piece of wood and with their fists. My eyes were swollen shut and my arms turned blue. They handcuffed me to the sink, and cut my clothes with a knife and washed me.
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They took me out of the bathroom, brought in [my friend] and raped her in the room in front of me.
Leila said she was later raped (Human Rights Watch, 2014).
The descriptive acts of violence depicted in this extract centre the victimisation of Yazidi women and girls. Their construction as weak actors is an essential part of building a narrative embedded in protectionist discourses. According to the renowned conceptualisation of the ‘ideal victim’ proposed by Nils Christie (1986), the position of women and girls as weak is central to ensuring a sympathetic response, women and girls must not possess sufficient strength to threaten others or their status as a victim is challenged. This construction of the ideal victim also overlaps with characteristics of the ideal victim of mass atrocities crimes (van Wijk 2013) and I argue this feeds into the construction of narratives of Yazidi women. van Wijk (2013) suggests that like the construction of the ideal victim proposed by Christie (1986), those who are weak are more likely to be seen as victims. However, van Wijk (2013, 174) also asserts that in order to be seen as victims by the wider international community victims must ‘sell’ their case, “only when potential givers in the Western world know of victims’ existence can the victim status be granted.” This is of particular relevance given the consistent positioning of Yazidi women and girls as vulnerable and weak alongside the dominance of these narratives in public advocacy. Their victimisation is foregrounded to ensure the reader interprets a narrative of women who are the victims of action and those who require saving.
Moeller (1999) also proposes that mothers and children make ideal victims, while in contrast there is limited interest in the victimhood of men. It was common to see the stories of girls as victims of sexual violence appear in advocacy material, yet the stories of Yazidi boys did not appear as frequently. The following extract was cited in a report released by Yazda and the Free Yezidi Foundation, while the text itself has been taken from a report issued by UNHCR the purpose of its replication in advocacy highlights the role of age as a marker of vulnerability:
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Investigators from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reported meeting with victims as young as 11 years of age. The mission also obtained credible reports about the rape of young girls, including a 9-year-old and 6year-old: “The former was raped for three days by an ISIL fighter in Tel Qaseb, Ninewa governorate. A witness stated that she could clearly hear the girl being assaulted and screaming out her name for help. The girl told the witness that she was blindfolded, handcuffed, beaten and repeatedly raped. Eventually, her “owner” sold her to another ISIL fighter from the Syrian Arab Republic. In the same house, a 6-year-old girl was raped by another ISIL fighter. A witness heard the child screaming. She was reportedly sold to an ISIL fighter in the Syrian Arab Republic.”
The detail discussed in this extract has been used to illustrate the brutality of the violence on those perceived to be the most vulnerable and those who require saving. The reader is told of the repeated rape and assault on two children with the screams of those children read as a metaphor for inaction. Yazidi girls become the voiceless bodies through which violence is enacted. While the inattention to crimes perpetrated against Yazidi boys is something I will explore later in this chapter, the role of gender in constructing narratives of vulnerability and victimhood among women and girls is a salient and dominant theme in advocacy.
At times, some extracts inform a narrative in which women are made vulnerable, not just through their own femininity, but through their relationship to men and children. The text below appeared in a 2015 press release by Amnesty International and while it depicts scenes of brutal violence the experiences of the subject are related back to her relationship to male family members:
There were bodies everywhere. Tens and tens of bodies. Some by the rubbish dump, others in a field. I cannot forget the sight, heads exploded, contorted bodies, pools of blood. The children saw it too. The screams still ring in my head.
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It was unimaginable,” said Nadia, whose husband, son and son-in-law were among those killed during the attack (Amnesty International, 2015).
The suffering of the subject, Nadia, is legitimised not only through her own act of witnessing violence but through maternal links to the suffering of children and family. Women’s victimhood is not limited to their own experiences but through extensions to gendered roles. The way in which motherhood is described also differed depending on the organisation. The extract below has been taken from a letter from the Yazidi Human Rights Organisation addressed to the US Foreign Affairs Committee and denotes how the role of Yazidi women as mothers is not only part of constructions of victimhood but also a core feature of the violence perpetrated by IS:
I met mothers, whose children were torn from them by ISIS. These same mothers came to plead for the return of their children, only to be informed, that they – the mothers! – had been fed the flesh of their own children by ISIS, children murdered, then fed to their own mothers!
This extract not only highlights the brutality of the crimes perpetrated by IS but also how the victimisation of women is extended through their relationship to their children. Despite the presence of extracts that focus on the roles of women as mothers, this was only one characterisation through which a woman’s victimhood could be legitimised and it was not the dominant framing in the data. It was more common for women’s victimisation to be defined in relation to acts of sexual violence. In the context of international crimes, the legitimate victim is constructed through the passivity and innocence inherent in the essentialised traits of women as vulnerable and incapable of resistance. It is the assumptions that are inherent in this labelling of victimhood that are of concern in advocacy. Victimhood becomes fixed within discourses of femininity and innocence which cannot be deconstructed and thus women are seen in a perpetual state of suffering (Helms, 2014).
While these extracts create a clear characterisation of victimhood, explicit narratives and testimony are not the only way a narrative can be formed. In building on the work 92 of Nair (2002) and Mayer (2014), O’Brien (2019, 5) contends only a few words are needed to create a narrative, as what constitutes a narrative is all about subjective interpretation. Details of characters or the description of actions is not necessary if the reader determines the text tells a story informed largely by their assumptions and worldview (O’Brien 2019,5). Thus, even the title of an advocacy piece published by Amnesty International (2015) “Raped by ISIS and Trying to Face the Future” conveys a narrative that is informed by the essentialist perceptions of the role of women in conflict and can create a narrative that reinforces women’s victimisation.
Even when advocacy narratives do not provide a large amount of detail, the language that is used provides that reader with enough information to imagine the stories themselves. For example, in an advocacy piece released by the Yazidi Human Rights Organisation International in December 2015 they write: “we Yezidis are considered “Infidels” in the eyes of Muslims, and so they are encouraged to kill, rape, enslave, and convert us.” Even when graphic detail is not provided, the reader can construct a narrative themselves from the information they have been given. Gendered essentialisms regarding a women’s position in conflict limits women’s role to that of either a victim or bystander (Brown 2018). Brown (2018) notes that women’s roles as agents are silenced through a perception within both the international community and a body of scholarship on “inherent pacifism.”
Not only has it become clear through this section that civil society organisations focus predominantly on crimes of sexual violence, but the role of women and girls in conflict is fixed on their victimhood. Parallels can be drawn between advocacy narratives that emerged in Bosnia and Herzegovina and those seen surrounding the Yazidi genocide with regards to roles that women can fulfil in conflict spaces, predominantly as wives and mothers (Helms 2003). This is important to consider given the ways in which constructions of victimhood can limit the spaces for the participation of women and girls in post-conflict reconstruction (Simic 2018; Scully 2009).
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4.2.3 Sexual Violence as the Universal Experience of Women While it is clear women are characterised as victims, this victimhood is largely limited in advocacy discourses to discussions of rape and sexual violence. The fixation on women’s bodies as the inevitable target of sexual violence during conflict has been critiqued in scholarship in recent years on a number of grounds including; the failure to highlight the diversity of experiences of women in conflict, the focus on women’s bodies as the basis for oppression and the reduction of women to passive victims (Henry 2014). As noted in Chapter Two, because of the continued association of the experiences of women in conflict and sexual victimisation, women are viewed as ‘already raped’ and ‘already rape-able’ (Marcus 1992, 386). The implications of this association can be seen in the advocacy data not only with the dominant focus on narratives of sexual violence but the denial or silencing of alternate storylines. There were instances in which women’s acts of resistance and denial of sexual violence were met with an inversion of the “typical” rape narrative where women’s stories are not believed. For example, a brief released by Human Rights Watch in 2014 declared:
None of those interviewed by Human Rights Watch said they had been raped. Most claimed they had fought off their armed captors and that others were raped. “They were hitting us and slapping us to make us surrender,” said 17- year-old Adlee. “As much as we could, we didn’t let them touch our bodies.” Yazidi activists told me that the stigma surrounding rape in their community, as well as a fear of reprisal for disclosing sexual violence, makes it likely that some were raped but are afraid to admit it (Human Rights Watch 2014).
While Adlee foregrounds her resistance these claims are overshadowed by references to shame and stigma surrounding sexual violence. Adlee, the young woman who powerfully tells of her physical resistance to sexual violence, has the legitimacy of her own story questioned through the proposition that women were simply “afraid to admit” their experiences. The conservative nature of the Yazidi religion does place value upon constructs of “honour” and a woman’s virginity, and there are significant
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issues around reintegration of women back into the community following rape. However, perpetuating a narrative that actively denies a women’s agency over their own story is problematic.
When interviewed for this research, Jeremy Barker, a senior program officer and director from the Religious Freedom Institute’s Middle East Action Team illustrates the harms of narrating a story that focuses on women as recipients of action instead of actors:
I think that is a major danger for the international community, outside groups or individuals to be cognisant of, the way we are describing their stories and what it tells for the dignity of the person. Then also the agency that the individuals have as actors themselves in the situation, rather than solely a narrative of them as victims of their circumstances and beneficiaries of assistance and as static players. I think that happens, and to talk about them as a passive recipient or a player in the story, rather than telling stories in such a way that it shows the active level of agency that they have to be involved in, and contribute to, their own situation. So, I think those are two common mistakes that can be made by outside groups in talking about those situations. Another would be the danger of overemphasising the brutality of the ones who commit the violence and solely telling that story that just reasserts the impact that this has on the community and emphasising when that’s a part of the story but that’s not the end of that. So whether the primary character in view is the perpetrator or the victim, and which one you are talking about, being cognisant of what the purpose of any communication or advocacy campaign is whether an anti-ISIS or a pro-Yazidi, you could get at the same issue but two different approaches.
Barker highlights the necessity to be cognisant of individual autonomy and agency in narratives so as not to further victimise survivors of conflict through advocacy narratives. Barker also warns against paying too much attention to the details of
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violence. As I will discuss in the next section, prioritising narratives of horror not only feeds into essentialised tropes of victimhood but also silences other narratives and experiences. While arguments around individual agency in narratives and the ethics of testimony is something discussed in more detail in the next chapter, it is important to articulate the complexities of victim narratives in advocacy. While it is essential to shed light on acts of sexual violence and the extent and severity of such acts more consideration needs to be given to the consequences of these narratives and the implications for survivors as well as broader constructions of conflict and the diversity of experiences. The broader narrative of the Yazidi genocide tells a story that not only positions women as recipients of violence, it also fixates on sexual violence as the universal experience of women in conflict. In the next section I will discuss how the production of this narrative silences the breadth and diversity of the experiences of women in conflict and argue that an intersectional understanding of the conflict is not clear when consulting advocacy material.
4.3 Beyond a Single Story
The brutality of the crimes perpetrated by IS was a prominent theme in the data. I heard from one of my interviewees, Laila Khoudeida, the Director of Women’s Affairs from Yazda that, “Yazidi women were sold in sex markets, gang raped, they were traded for as little as a packet of cigarettes.” Dr Greg Stanton the founder of Genocide Watch, who has actively been involved in advocacy and research around genocides across the world noted “it is very clearly genocide and of course women’s experiences are one of the most graphic cases of rape as a weapon of genocide that I think anybody is aware of.” Yet I argue that the almost exclusive focus on these graphic narratives of sexual violence does have broader consequences. One of my interviewees shared anonymously:
I think the focus of journalists and NGOs has really been on the gory details of what women have been through and that has taken the focus. Where there are a lot of other experiences that they have had that have been sidelined in favour 96
of presenting what can be almost pornographic descriptions of rape and sexual violence, the number of times they have been sold and resold and very visual images of horror. The difficulty is that because in the first 6 months of the genocide it became so obvious that ISIS was using sexual violence and trafficking as a genocidal tool it was really important to raise awareness of that and to make people understand that this was not about the opportunism, this was not about “men being men” in the context of war, this was actually specifically about destroying the Yazidi community. So I think it came from that place of needing to understand academically and in reality what that meant. I think the problem has been that it has developed over time to really exclude a whole range of other experiences of genocide and what it does is it essentialises women, it makes them to be seen as victims of only sexual crimes and I think that is a danger, that is a risk.
While critiquing the focus of international advocacy organisations on graphic details of sexual violence, the interviewee notes the importance of this focus on framing acts of sexual violence as genocide as opposed to rape as an “incidental” part of conflict. The long held position that sexual violence in conflict was an inevitable by-product of war has been theorised as one of the reasons for the relative silence surrounding such acts until recently (Meger 2016b).7 Despite the importance of the recognition of sexual violence during conflict as more than “men being men” this interviewee notes how this shift in focus has led to the silencing of other experiences.
Echoing these observations, Dr Simon Adams, the Executive Director of the Global Centre for R2P, noted in an interview I conducted that “while [other aspects of the genocide are] easy to understand once you start getting into the detail, looking at the
7 In discussing rape as an act of genocide and particularly as a core genocide strategy of IS I do want to be cautious of the prioritisation of such experiences of “genocidal rape” as worse than “everyday rape” and the problems of hierarchical constructions.
97 situation for women and girls it becomes very complicated, some were slaves, some were subjected to sexual slavery and I don’t think those shadings and the experience came out at all.” Similar thoughts were echoed in a number of other interviews I conducted including an advocate from a gender focused international human rights organisation:
Women and girls were killed in gendered ways. It’s not only sexual and gender- based violence that is gendered, killing is gendered as well. There is an example of women who are unfit for slavery and there was a correlation that they were beyond child bearing age and they were old and useless. They didn’t fit within the gendered perspective of the perpetrators as well.
Dr Adams and the anonymous interviewee argue that gendered experiences of conflict extend beyond acts of sexual violence and maintain that these experiences are not recognised in the advocacy space. Given the role advocacy organisations play in guiding international policy and standards, the silencing of alternate storylines may hamper efforts to address the complexities and root causes of sexual violence in conflict (Carpenter et al. 2014). In order to get aid and programming to address the social and structural issues that reinforce gender inequality, women and girls must be framed as more than vulnerable victims of sexual violence.
A similar theme emerged when analysing the advocacy material of a broad range of civil society organisations, particularly with respect to discussions on gendered killing. While the mass murder of older women who were beyond childbearing age was a core part of the genocidal strategy of IS, it was referenced in only eight advocacy documents. This can be contrasted with the 104 documents that discussed acts of sexual violence.
When I asked Susan Hutchinson, the founder of Prosecute; Don’t Perpetrate, to describe women’s experiences during the genocide her response was “diverse, creatively abusive but almost unimaginable.” We went on to discuss the lack of representation of this diversity in advocacy when Hutchinson noted: 98
I think we are talking about a relatively small population size and you know obviously not everyone was a sex slave so there is that level of it. So it is like okay, I could have been held in captivity, physically abused, sold several times, sexually abused, forced to take contraceptives, forced not to take contraceptives, forced abortions all the way through to I fled to Germany with my family and have my whole body intact without being physically abused.
Again, the diversity of experiences noted by Hutchinson were not reflected in the advocacy material. Despite suggestions of the prominent use of contraceptives, forced abortion and forced pregnancy made in reports released by the UN, these experiences were not widely discussed in press releases, statements and reports by civil society organisations (UN Human Rights Council 2016).
While it appears that the diversity of gendered experiences of conflict are not recognised in advocacy material, one interviewee noted the silencing surrounding a variety of genocidal crimes.
The other aspects of the genocide I feel have been really pushed below the surface now. So I feel for example the killings, the massacres, the cultural destruction, really the Yazidi genocide has been synonymous with sex trafficking women and I think this is a mistake because it was a systematic genocide that employed a number of important genocidal strategies, the dehumanisation of the population, all of those other aspects of the genocide, witnessing family members being killed, forcible displacement, forced conversion, brain washing, I fear those aspects of the genocide are becoming overshadowed by the focus on sexual violence. That is not to say that we shouldn’t look at it, it is just the balance is off.
This interviewee points to a range of acts perpetrated by IS that could amount to genocide including forced displacement, forced conversion and cultural genocide. This interviewee also suggests that these crimes are silenced because of the focus on sexual violence. My analysis of advocacy documents related to the Yazidi genocide reinforces 99
this argument. The link drawn between the Yazidi genocide and acts of sexual violence excludes other experiences of genocide. As suggested by one interviewee, the destruction of cultural landmarks and places of worship was a core genocidal strategy of IS but not a core advocacy tactic to raise awareness of the genocide. The bodies of victimised and violated women are seemingly a stronger advocacy strategy. Acts such as forcible transfer, forced conversion and brain washing may amount to genocide under Articles B, C and E of the Genocide Convention, yet despite the ability of these crimes to destroy the Yazidi population, and their equal legal severity, they are not sufficiently discussed in advocacy material. It has become clear that the dominant framing of women and girls as gendered victims of conflict has not changed. Despite the push for a “survivor centred” approach to conflict relate sexual violence much of the advocacy around the Yazidi genocide is still focused on reductive tropes of gendered victimhood. This is of significance given the role that advocacy organisations play in directly addressing conflict situations as well as post-conflict reconstruction and programming.
4.4 Acts of Resistance
Alongside the silencing of other crimes that occurred during the Yazidi genocide, the dominant focus on crimes of sexual violence and women’s victimhood has produced a narrative that silences the powerful acts of resistance of Yazidi women and girls. One advocate I spoke to noted:
Their captivity was not only about sexual violence, it was also about not being able to practice their culture and religious, it was about the terror of being separated from their children and it was also about the agency that they had and the ways that they really tried to survive and help each other. This is what you see often when women are held together is that they devise these ways of survival that are really innovative and they help each other a lot. So you have women who helped other women who were in labour, women who stopped to bury a dead child and all the other women will come and help them do that[….]. 100
Things like trying to teach their kids in secret how to pray, or to continue speaking Kurdish in secret. Those sorts of things are lost, and so those are the sorts of things too that add a bit of nuance to the whole victim narrative because the women were victims undoubtedly, but they weren’t only victims, and so I think what has gone missing is a picture of the whole process in a way.
In contesting the single story, this advocate spoke to the diversity of the experiences of Yazidi women in resisting IS. As well as the acts noted by the advocate above, Yazidi women have engaged in many acts of resistance including: running away despite fear of death, faking disability and mental illness to avoid sexual violence, insulting their captors; spitting in their face, continuing to practice their religion and self-inflicting wounds to make themselves less attractive (Minwalla 2017). Given the historical persecution of Yazidis some of these acts of resistance have been passed down through generations, including rubbing ash or mud on their faces, as perpetrators often preferred lighter skinned women (Minwalla 2017). Yet discussions of these acts of resistance are limited in the advocacy press releases, reports and statements. Occasionally stories of escape are mentioned. For example, this extract appears in a statement released by Human Rights Watch in 2015:
Nadia, 23, said she was separated from the men in her family when ISIS fighters abducted them in her village near Sinjar in August. She tried to convince the ISIS fighters that she was married to escape being raped, because she had heard that ISIS fighters preferred virgins. However, after they took her to Syria, one of the men said that he would marry her. “The other girls with me said it’s forbidden to marry married women,” Nadia said. “He replied, ‘But not if they are Yazidi women.’
While the audience is told about Nadia’s attempts at deceiving her captors to avoid sexual violence the story concludes in a manner that renders Nadia a victim of another’s action. This victimhood is embedded not only in gendered tropes but also through the ethnic identity of Yazidi women, something I will explore later in this
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chapter. Silencing these acts of resistance further isolates women’s experiences of genocide and informs a master narrative of women in need of protection, as victims and not actors. One advocate who has worked with Yazidi survivors added:
[…]women were memorising numbers on their mobile phones or the ways they would jump into action when you are under threat of death, packing up valuables within minutes, putting all the clothes that you own on your own back, all of those things are particularly gendered as well. They are things that women tend to do, men don’t tend to pack up the food for the journey, that tends to be women’s business or to try to sew valuables into the lining of their jackets those are things that women in many genocides have done and similarly in the Yazidi case. You will rarely read about those in the mainstream press or NGO reports.
This extract reaffirms not only the powerful acts of resistance of Yazidi women and girls engage, but the silencing of this in advocacy. Yet in discussing acts of resistance I do not wish to reinforce the complication that agency is the opposite of victimisation, these acts are not exclusive of each other. As Henry asks (2014, 103), “is bearing witness not also an act of resistance?” Simply presenting a more nuanced and complex narrative is an easy discussion to have in the abstract space of academia outside of the complexities and politics of the advocacy world. This argument will be given further consideration in Chapter Six when the implications of certain narratives are considered within the complex advocacy world. While the consequences of an exclusive focus on victimisation are clear in silencing the diverse experiences of women and girls, presenting a narrative the only highlights women’s resistance could have similar consequences in silencing the extent and harm of genocide. I suggest that by paying further attention to these acts of resistance we can disrupt the master narrative of women’s victimisation. By focusing on narratives of resistance the role of women in conflict would no longer be defined by acts inflicted on their bodies. This in turn allows for the development of a more nuanced storyline, one that may allow for more of a
102 focus on systemic issues of gender inequality and the social and structural forces that provide an environment for sexual violence in conflict to continue (Henry 2016).
4.5 Men and Boys
The link that has been drawn between genocidal crimes and gender roles also has repercussions for men and boys. The association between sexual violence and femininity means that as part of a broader conflict narrative men’s experiences of such acts may be silenced. Much of the scholarship surrounding conflict related sexual violence is premised on the problematic assumption that women and girls are the only victims of such offences (Leiby 2018). The increased attention to crimes of sexual violence in conflict has mostly not extended to the victimisation of men and boys. The experiences of men and boys have largely been silenced in narratives of sexual violence (Zalewski 2018).
While there is very limited evidence of IS perpetrating acts of sexual violence against Yazidi men and boys, one reference was found in my advocacy dataset from a Human Rights Watch statement:
Navi Pillay, the then-United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated in August that her office had received reports from two families that Islamic State members had raped two boys (Human Rights Watch, 2014).
While reference is made here to reports of sexual violence against Yazidi boys, no advocates I spoke to were aware of such acts. Consideration must also be given to variables such as the conservative nature of the Yazidi community and the silence around acts of sexual violence perpetrated against men and boys. Rape and sexual violence against women is codified in International Humanitarian Law and civil society advocacy as a ‘common’ outcome of conflict, as a result it immediately becomes part of the dominant narrative. Sexual violence against men has not been part of this narrative and has not featured predominantly in international law. As Charman (2018,
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204) notes sexual violence against men is commonly constructed in civil society advocacy as an act of torture, as opposed to one of sexual violence.
Beyond considering these acts did not occur widely it is also worth considering how gendered discourses of victimhood and femininity also impact our understanding of how men and boys experience conflict (Jones, 2014). A study conducted by Del Zotto and Jones (2002) found that among more than 4000 reports issued by NGOs and Intergovernmental organisations (IGO)s only 3% made reference to men and boys as victims of sexual violence in conflict. Similarly, as noted above, only one passing reference has been made to sexual violence perpetrated against Yazidi boys in four years’ worth of advocacy data from twelve different advocacy organisations. Yet, studies do suggest that in conflicts where sexual violence is prevalent, such violence is also perpetrated against men and boys (Meger 2018; Wynne 2007; Zalewski 2018).
The hypervisibility of women’s injured bodies is contrasted with the invisibility of the gendered experiences of men and boys in the Yazidi genocide. While the mass murder of Yazidi men was widely discussed, possibly due its association as the archetypal crime of genocide, other experiences did not receive such sustained attention. We must consider the consequences of conflating gendered violence with singularly violence against women and girls in order to both represent and respond to the complexities of sexual violence in conflict (Meger 2018).
Article 2(c) of the Genocide Convention states that “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part” may amount to genocide. According to the ICC “conditions of life” may include acts such as the “deliberate deprivation of resources indispensable for survival, such as food or medical services, or systematic expulsion from their homes” (International Criminal Court 2011, 3). Forced labour and extreme physical exertion also fall under this definition and have been recognised as a measure to bring about the destruction of a group (Jessberger 2009). The crime of forced labour is also gendered, one that disproportionately targets men. In the Yazidi case IS employs such tactics for men and
104 boys who were forced to convert to Islam with forced labour also including bans on any religious practices as well as physical violence for non-compliance (OHCHR 2016). However, these experiences are largely silenced and only discussed in one of the 308 advocacy documents. Other references to forced labour referred to the domestic labour Yazidi women and girls were forced to do for their IS captors.
Pari Ibrahim from the Free Yezidi Foundation also voiced her concern regarding the silencing of the experience of Yazidi boys in advocacy, when I asked her if she felt any stories were not sufficiently discussed in advocacy she noted:
Yeah I think a lot is only based on women[…] there is at no point any will to highlight the plight of these little kids that were used as child soldiers or a lot of Yazidi kids, this is what I have heard, I cannot confirm now but at this point a year ago I was in Iraq and Yazidi kids were in jail because they were kidnapped by ISIS eventually they had to fight with ISIS and they were caught and now they are in jail. […] No one is talking about it. Everyone is only talking about the sexual abuse against the women let’s also see what happened to the kids.
In discussions around what is featured and silenced in advocacy narratives of the Yazidi genocide a similar argument was made by another advocate who stated:
…they [ older boys] are missing from the narrative obviously as well. There is a bit about Yazidi boys having been indoctrinated and brainwashed and how traumatised they are when they are recovered and sent back to their families and some of them don’t want to go back to their families they want to stay with ISIS and they don’t remember how to speak Kurdish, they don’t remember who their parents are or where they came from. I think we just have to remember these are real people, each child is a real person and their individual circumstances are beyond anything we could imagine.
Both advocates make reference to silences in advocacy surrounding the experiences of men and boys. We must consider the impact of this silence on efforts to address
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these crimes moving forward. While motherhood and childhood are often seen as indicators of the ideal victim (Moeller 1999), consideration also needs to be given to the framing of young people in conflict. While considerations to the relationship between age and gender are not new, they remain underexplored. However, research does suggest that gender roles intersect with our understandings of how conflict impacts young people (Pruitt, Berents and Munro 2018). Similar to the way that gendered narratives present dichotomies of victimisation for women and perpetration for men, representations of youth also fall into the same victim or perpetrator dichotomy. The framing of young people as innocent victims implores inherently feminised traits and links with constructions of vulnerability and passive victimisation. On the other hand, if young people engage in behaviour that contradicts this construction the framing becomes masculinised and links are drawn to the idea of rebellion and “bad boys” (Burman 1994; Pruitt, Berents and Munro 2018). We must consider what is made visible in advocacy and how this feeds into constructions surrounding youth and gender.
The invisibility of discussion around crimes perpetrated against Yazidi boys may be influenced by the need to present narratives of only those considered the most vulnerable and those most likely to resonate with various audiences and donors, despite the diverse vulnerabilities that all young people face in conflict. The silencing of the experiences of Yazidi boys and men feeds into a type of frame known as an injustice frame, where we see a magnification of only the parties victimisation who is considered the most vulnerable (Benford and Snow 2000), often this is young women and girls. However, as Pruitt, Berents and Munro (2018, 647) suggest, instead of viewing young boys and men as something to be feared and a “recipe for violence” consideration should be given to the ways in which young men are constructed. The silencing of some experiences of violence does not allow for a nuanced understanding of and response to, the diverse experiences of conflict.
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4.6 Race and Ethnic Identity
Attention must also be given the role of orientalist tropes that may impact on this narrative construction. The dominant narrative of the Yazidi genocide is clearly one that foregrounds women’s experiences of sexual violence. However gendered narratives are also racialised, as a consequence of orientalism, racism and eurocentrism there is a dichotomous construction of women dependent on their racial or ethnic background in which they are viewed as either empowered and liberated or singularly as victims (Zarkov 2006). Gender and racialised tropes cannot be disentangled and thus it is impossible to determine the individual impact of certain essentialisms, yet it must be considered in the broader space of advocacy.
The dominant narrative of the Yazidi genocide is one that foregrounds sexual violence against women through gendered and racialised discourses of protecting women. As one advocate noted:
So that excessive focus on conflict related sexual violence can lead to women only being seen through that lens, they will always be seen as rape victims and it reinforces the patriarchal narrative of ‘our women’, men as protectors of ‘our women’ and men as decision makers and potentially can have an impact on how women can play a role in the community after that.
Mohanty’s construction of third world women as those who “lead an essentially truncated life based on her feminine gender (read: sexually con-strained) and being "third world" (read: ignorant, poor, uneducated, tradition-bound, domestic, family- oriented, victimized, etc.)” is one that is not exempt from advocacy narratives. The insular and conservative nature of the Yazidi ethnoreligious group has produced a social structure that subjugates the rights of women and girls (Foster and Minwalla 2018). A strong emphasis is placed upon a woman’s virginity and the gendered roles of marriage and motherhood. Notions of a woman’s “honour” and the stigma faced by Yazidi women upon re-entering their communities was noted frequently in
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advocacy documents. As a consequence, there has been a strong focus in advocacy on the stigma faced by women attempting to re-enter their communities following abduction, rape and sexual assault. Akin to the way that Helms (2014) argues advocacy in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) linked victimhood with Muslim women, a similar link exists in advocacy around the Yazidi genocide. The idea that “third world women” are more disempowered feeds into the pre-existing gendered narratives of victimhood.
The audience of advocacy material also need to be considered in discussions of gendered and racialised narratives. Meger (2016b) notes how the use of narratives of violence in advocacy has become a further space for the commodification of violence and the subsequent consumption of stories of mass rape by largely Western audiences. Most of the organisations I spoke with, both broader human rights organisations and Yazidi run and led groups noted their focus on actors and institutions in the Global North. We must consider why narratives of women, and particularly girls in conflict in the Global South gain such traction in advocacy spaces. Berents (2016) argues that constructions of girlhood in the Global South are fixed in a perpetual state of danger and are framed as at risk largely by adult (men) who fail to share the liberal and enlightened values of the Global North and this therefore requires intervention. Such acts of intervention are embedded within neo-colonial power relations and reinforce the need for the “adult north” to save the vulnerable victim. Many organisations also noted how the focus of some civil society groups acting towards policy and government action, as opposed to broader public awareness, impacted the way in which advocacy is done, a concept I will explore in more detail in Chapter Seven.
The narrative created around Afghani women provides a comparable example to the Yazidi case. In order to tell a story that would be relevant to those in the West the omnipresent narrative of “white men saving brown women from brown men” emerges (Spivak 1993, 92). The conflict in Afghanistan was told through a gendered discourse that foregrounded women’s victimhood in a manner that required the intervention and protection from a Western “hero.” In order to create a narrative premised on the
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gendered victimhood of women the story was told through a lens in which women required “saving” (Shepherd 2006). In producing this narrative that would be relevant to a largely Western audience the helplessness of Afghan women was emphasised and responses of agency were silenced for “what good is it to flaunt images of Afghan women marching militantly with fists in the air, carrying banners about freedom, democracy and secular government? Those women wouldn’t need saving as much as the burqa clad women seems to” (Kolhatkar 2002, 1). The perceived necessity to cast women in an increased space of vulnerability in order to appeal to those in the Global North is a critique I consider relevant to this work. The silence around the powerful acts of resistance of Yazidi women, alongside the amplification of their victimhood through graphic narratives of sexual violence positions them as victims not only of their gender but of their ethnic identity. While narratives are a product of complex gendered and racialised discourses the language used in constructing advocacy narratives also plays an important role in framing experiences of conflict.
4.7 Language as a Narrative Strategy
Narratives are shaped not only through plots, characters and belief systems but through language (Jones and McBeth 2010). In postpositivist social sciences language is more than a neutral structure, an analysis of discursive connections can shed light on the way actors shape meaning (Hajer 1993). Language can be seen as another lens through which gendered and racialised framing in advocacy can be understood and critiqued. In this section I will discuss the role of language in legitimising women’s voices through their experiences of sexual violence, the use of repetition in advocacy material and the language of victimhood.
The dominant focus in press releases, statements and reports of advocacy organisations on narratives of sexual violence has led to women becoming defined through these experiences. In a 2016 statement Amnesty International discusses the neglect of Yazidi survivors by the international community using a 20-year-old Yazidi woman as an example in the following statement:
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Jamila*, a 20-year-old woman from Sinjar city who was abducted on 3 August 2014, told Amnesty International that she was raped repeatedly by at least 10 different men after being “sold” from one fighter to another. She was eventually released in December 2015 after her family paid a huge sum to her captor (Amnesty International 2016).
Jamila becomes defined through her experiences of violence. The number of men who have raped her and the number of times she has been sold legitimise her voice in advocacy. There does not appear to be a space for narratives of women’s experiences beyond sexual violence. A 2015 Human Rights Watch paper follows a similar theme in describing a Yazidi girl’s experience of sexual violence in the following extract, “Jalila, the 12 year old raped by four ISIS fighters, said she ‘can’t sleep at night because I remember how they were raping me’” (Human Rights Watch, 2015). The phrasing of these extracts, and the quantification of rape as a notion of severity legitimises women’s narratives only by virtue of their victimisation.
The same quantification of suffering can be seen in the re-telling of Nadia Murad’s story. A 2016 press release from Yazda discusses the representation of Yazidi survivor Nadia Murad by barrister Amal Clooney and details Nadia’s story as follows:
Nadia Murad is a 21-year-old victim of IS’ crimes in Iraq and one of the thousands of Yazidi women who were abducted and enslaved by IS. She was brutally raped by more than 12 IS members over a period of three months. After her escape, Nadia spoke out about her experiences to draw attention to the ongoing genocide (Yazda, 2016).
The suffering and victimhood embedded in the stories of these Yazidi survivors is clear, yet it is the linguistic framing and quantification of victimhood as a tool for mobilising action that should be questioned. The use of biographic details presented in these descriptions of victimisation is used to further legitimise victimhood (O'Brien 2019). O’Brien (2019) notes that in narratives surrounding human trafficking, victimhood is denoted through reference to biographic details which typically include their gender, 110 age and nationality or ethnicity. As evident in the extracts above, it is the depiction of the age of a woman, alongside the quantification of her victimhood, that legitimises her experience through gendered and racialised tropes of violence.
4.7.1 Repetition Throughout the data analysis, a trend emerged regarding the repetition of particular stories across an organisation’s advocacy material. One example can be seen in a narrative cited by Human Rights Watch in three separate statements between April and July 2015:
Wafa 12 years old: “An older fighter assured Wafa that she would not be harmed because she was “like my daughter,” but one morning Wafa woke up to find her legs covered in blood. He had drugged and raped her.”
The second example, also from Human Rights Watch advocacy material was also cited three times in separate advocacy documents between April 2016- April 2017:
Jamila was 14 years old when she was held captive and repeatedly raped by three Islamic State fighters over a period of months. One, she said, “told me he had fed my parents to dogs.”
While in most cases the repetition of stories is exact, in the first extract, the story of Wafa, one re-telling deviates slightly. This occurs in an interview between two Senior Researchers from the Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch:
One 12-year-old girl really stood out to me. Her shy disposition reminded me of my 12-year old cousin. The man who abducted her told her not to worry, that he’d treat her as he’d treat his own daughter. Then he drugged her and she woke up to see blood between her legs.
The main components of the story are repeated but there is also familiar link to a young family member from a Human Rights Watch advocate. While there is a clear attempt to evoke sentiment on part of the reader that these girls could be “our girls”
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this not only perpetrates complex and problematic conceptualisations of the need to “save” these vulnerable girls of the Global South but also the removal of the complex realities of lived conflict experiences (Berents 2016). The experiences of Yazidi girls cannot be understood in isolation from broader geopolitical, historical and social circumstances. The stories of Wafa and Jamila may be used in an attempt to universalise the experience of victims. Both narratives evoke links to traditional family structures of parents as protectors, Wafa’s captor says he will treat her like his daughter then drugs and rapes her and Jamila’s parents are reportedly fed to the dogs. Repetition is a strategic decision used in attempts to create a broader sense of narrative cohesion. The audience’s sympathy is extended from one victim group to the entire community through the assumptions of universal and shared experiences. The bodies of girls become the site for repeated expressions of collective victimhood (Berents 2016).
These two repeated narratives share a number of similarities. They discuss graphic instances of victimhood which would likely shock a reader and both extracts tell the story of girls held in captivity and rendered victims through the actions of others. Wouter (2017) notes that one of the reasons for the use of repetition may be its strong emotional impact. Wouter specifically refers to Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech where such a phrase implores an emotive basis of commitment and enthusiasm. Repetition also has a role in creating or reinforcing narrative given that repetition affirms that certain statements are not random. The repetition of the same story reaffirms the strategic nature of constructing Yazidi women as victims.
4.7.2 The Language of Victimhood Beyond the repetition of specific narratives, the language used in discussing the experiences of Yazidi women and girls also plays a role in framing. In its most simple form, language can frame an individual as either a victim or survivor of the same lived experience. In speaking with representatives of civil society organisations the
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moderating impacts of language use became clear. A representative of a human rights organisation noted:
We use the victim framing because that is the legal framing. Under various instruments of law that’s just the terminology we use. These instruments were written in the 1940s and so in order to avail the rights contained in those instruments they need to be considered victims…. If [the terminology] says that victims of violence of and armed conflict are entitled to non-discriminatory medical care, I can’t go and advocate for a policy that says survivors of armed conflict are entitled to rights under International Humanitarian law because it’s not what the law says.
Irrespective of the willingness of advocates to move beyond ‘victim language’ they are restricted by external variables, in this case the wording of laws and statutes. This extract also provides a further example of the way in which the audience of an organisation impacts narrative construction. If an organisation is advocating for policy reform their language must align with relevant legal instruments. Yet those advocating towards wider public awareness may not be bound by the same restrictions.
When discussing the framing of narratives in advocacy, concerns were raised particularly regarding the term ‘sex slave’. Dr Simon Adams, the Executive Director of the Global Centre for R2P noted:
I think sometimes there are distortions in the way that the international community transmitted that experience [of sexual violence in conflict]. So one that always really bothered me, deeply, was around the use of the term sexual slavery because sexual slavery is a specific kind of crime and slavery is a different kind of crime under international law but sometimes it felt to me that the use of the word ‘sexual slavery’ was used almost in a way that was slightly salacious.
A similar concern was also raised by another advocate who noted:
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Also the other issue is the use of terminology, so it became clear over the last couple of years perhaps that ‘sex slaves’ was not a term that survivors wanted to use. Originally sex slaves was supposed to be a more progressive term than forced prostitution or something like that and a more accurate portrayal but there have been a number of Yazidi women who have asked not to use that term yet many of the headlines will still say ‘former sex slave’ and so that is how they are defined, how they perpetually will be defined.
Both civil society representatives discuss the salacious way in which language has been used to frame the crimes perpetrated against Yazidi women and girls. The language used in referring to individuals as sex slaves fails to capture the complexities of the experiences of Yazidi women and girls. It was common for organisations to refer to Yazidi women as sex slaves in advocacy material with one document released by Human Rights Watch in 2016 entitled “What will happen to the Yezidi sex slaves in Mosul?” Language can be used in advocacy as a means to attract attention to a particular cause and in particular sexual violence can be seen as a ‘buzzword’ to attract donor funding and resources (Autesserre 2012). While the external factors impacting advocacy will be explored in a Chapter Seven, language has a role in framing and generating a narrative that renders women as quintessential victims and hides the diversity of experiences.
4.8 Conclusion
This chapter has explored the ways in which narratives of sexual violence persist in advocacy regarding the position of women and girls in conflict. It is clear that the violence inflicted on the bodies of Yazidi women and girls is the dominant narrative of the Yazidi genocide. While there is a need to bring attention to this element of the genocide, the framing of victimhood appeals to essentialised gendered and racialised tropes of the ‘ideal victim.’
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This chapter also critiqued the focus on a single story, sexual violence was seen as the universal experience of all Yazidi women and girls. A number of advocates highlighted their concern regarding the silencing of acts of resistance and the experiences of Yazidi women and girls beyond sexual victimisation. While the exclusive focus on sexual violence does silence a range of complex and diverse experiences, the hypervisibility of women’s injured bodies is also contrasted with the invisibility of the gendered experiences of men and boys in the Yazidi genocide. The conflation of gendered violence with violence against women does not provide a space to represent and respond to the complexities of conflict. Gendered narratives of genocide can also not be disentangled from the impact of racialised tropes of violence. Throughout this chapter I considered not only the ways in which brown bodies are seen as more disempowered, but the positioning of advocacy towards those in the Global North.
Through the use of a discourse analysis I was not only able to examine the framing of narratives but the use of language embedded in these constructions. Language was seemingly another mechanism to highlight the victimisation of Yazidi women and girls. I analysed the repetition of particularly graphic depictions of sexual violence as well as the ways in which women were legitimised through the number of times they were raped and sold. I argue that narratives of sexual violence have not substantially changed, women were, and still are, defined and confined through violence enacted on their bodies.
Throughout this thesis I suggest that, in promoting the hypervisibility of crimes of sexual violence the intersections of marginalisation and the diversity of experiences are ignored. Despite progress towards the recognition of the complexities of sexual violence in conflict, and advancements towards accountability and justice for survivors, the stories of women and girls in conflict have not substantially changed. I suggest we must not just centre the victimisation of women and girls but foreground narratives of resistance as a mechanism to enable programming, aid and intervention to address the social and structural conditions that lead to sexual violence in conflict.
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5 Chapter Five: The Power of Narrative Testimony and the Ethics of Storytelling
5.1 Introduction
This thesis has so far established that advocacy organisations predominantly frame women and girls as victims of sexual violence. The dominant advocacy narrative does not allow for the complexities of conflict to be discussed and appeals to reductive gendered and racialised tropes. In particular, the previous chapter highlighted the fixation on graphic narratives of sexual violence as a tool to garner constituent support and wider public attention. It demonstrated how the narrative characterisation of Yazidi women as vulnerable, violated and victimised was a core element of advocacy. In this chapter the focus shifts to the role of survivors in advocacy, the benefits and consequences of involvement and the extent to which advocacy reflects the view of Yazidi survivors. I argue that while testimonies of conflict survivors may play a key role in mobilising action, consideration must be given to the extent to which women become sexualised, romanticised and racialised tools for the projection of advocacy agendas and political goals. I also argue that there are significant concerns for the wellbeing of survivors that are not being adequately considered during individualised narrative construction in advocacy.
To begin this chapter, I will discuss the power of individual testimony as an advocacy tool. I examine the role that the personalisation of suffering plays in advocacy and why it has become such a common tool for advocacy mobilisation. This chapter then discusses some of the impacts of a dominant narrative of sexual violence in conflict. While the personalisation of advocacy is a valuable advocacy tool, it does raise a number of concerns surrounding the wellbeing and wishes of survivors. The discussion then moves to the use of survivors as an advocacy tool, with a focus on the role that advocacy figureheads can play in mobilisation. I also discus some of the impacts of the personalisation of advocacy and the effects of the focus on sexual violence on survivors
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including; re-traumatisation, false expectations and informed consent. I then move to discuss the extent to which survivors are given a voice in advocacy and in conversations surrounding justice and accountability measures. Finally, I discuss the responsibility of regulating these advocacy narratives before concluding and highlighting the importance of more survivor-centred advocacy agendas.
5.2 The Power of Individual Testimony
The genre of ‘life writing’ has grown substantially in the last few decades. The so called “memoir boom” has moved through European and English-speaking countries. There has also been significant growth in personal narratives from around the world including Northern and Eastern Europe, the Philippines, North Africa, Latin America and post-Maoist China (Schaffer and Smith 2004). While there may be a rise in personal narratives as a genre, more broadly the use of such framing has long occurred within the human rights advocacy space. As Schaffer and Smith (2004) argue, collective action movements from refugee rights to women’s rights, indigenous rights and rights for people with a disability have used testimonial narratives as a mobilisation technique. Meger (2016a) argues that the use of individual narratives and atrocity stories by NGOs has long been used to mobilise political will and funding, and Patel (2012) notes that, dating back to abolitionist movements, eye-witness accounts have been used as a mechanism to stir public consciousness. As such it is no surprise that such accounts feature in advocacy that has emerged from the Yazidi genocide.
This section considers the role that individual testimony plays as an advocacy tool and its power in narrative construction. Throughout this section I will discuss the use of survivor testimony in advocacy surrounding the Yazidi genocide as well as the rationale provided by advocates for the use of such narratives. I will discuss testimony as an advocacy mobilisation technique followed by a discussion on the use of testimony as a counterpoint to the quantification of suffering. This section provides a base for considering the tension between advocates achieving their goals and the potential consequences of centring crimes of sexual violence.
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5.2.1 The Personalisation of Suffering in Advocacy As demonstrated in the previous chapter, the dominant narrative of the press releases, reports and statements of twelve advocacy organisations was sexual violence. A similar theme is also present with respect to the use of individual testimony. Individual testimony was largely used to illustrate the brutality of the crimes perpetrated by IS as can be illustrated in the extract below published in a 2015 Human Rights Watch statement:
Jalila, age 12:
The men would come and select us. When they came, they would tell us to stand up and then examine our bodies. They would tell us to show our hair and sometimes they beat the girls if they refused. They wore dishdashas [ankle length garments], and had long beards and hair.
She said that the ISIS fighter who selected her slapped her and dragged her out of the house when she resisted. “I told him not to touch me and begged him to let me go,” she said. “I told him to take me to my mother. I was a young girl, and I asked him, ‘What do you want from me?’ He spent three days having sex with me.”
The testimony provided by Jalila illustrates the brutal sexual and physical violence that Yazidi women were subjected to. Many of the most graphic narrations of violence noted in Chapter Four are recounts of personal testimony, stories of violent abuse to form a narrative construction of the violation of the most vulnerable. In creating this narrative of vulnerability and violation, links can be seen to core features of advocacy framing processes noted by Snow and Benford (1988), particularly diagnostic framing. As discussed in Chapter Two, one type of diagnostic framing is the injustice frame, a frame that refers to the personification and amplification of victimisation. The amplification of this victimisation allows for a more dramatic impact of materials and increased frame resonance. The role of an injustice frames also extends beyond
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individual victimisation and plays a role in amplifying the victimisation perpetrated against the entire community. The narration of graphic testimony becomes more than a personal narrative, rather the bodies of women and girls become symbolic of the violation of an entire community. Given the focus of individual testimony on denoting the most graphic accounts of sexual violence, alongside gendered, sexualised and racialised discourses noted in the previous chapter, the use of individual testimony may serve to amplify narratives of victimisation.
The personification of the Yazidi genocide was further achieved through advocacy organisations’ practice of first outlining the harms perpetrated by IS before including testimony from an individual who had experienced or witnessed these crimes. For example, the following extract has been taken from a 2016 Amnesty International statement entitled “Iraq: Yezidi (sic) survivors of horrific abuse in IS captivity neglected by international community.”
A 42-year-old woman from Sinjar region, who spent 22 months in captivity with her four children, said they are still traumatised. She described how one especially brutal IS fighter broke her six-year-old son’s teeth and laughed at him, and beat her 10-year-old daughter so much she urinated on herself. “He would beat my children up and lock them up in a room. They would cry inside and I would sit outside the door crying. I begged him to kill us but he said he didn’t want to go to hell because of us,” she said (Amnesty International 2016).
Given the wide public audience of Amnesty International, it appeals to the perceived vulnerabilities of motherhood and childhood may act as a means of targeted marketing, with narrative testimony adding authenticity to these experiences. Testimony plays a central role in disseminating evidence through a frame which carries weight and moral significance. Narrating testimony is also often associated with discourses of authenticity (Jones 2017; Mustafa 2018). The way in which organisations first present a narration of events before including testimonial narration provides this sense of authenticity. NGOs are known to use narrations of testimony as a mobilisation
119 tool. For example, Schaffer and Smith (2004) note NGOs not only enlist stories from survivors as a means of gaining international attention but also target specific audiences to attract readers. Schaffer and Smith (2004) go on to argue that NGOs market stories through a process of commodification. Testimonial narratives are marketed to audiences to illicit empathy and political responsiveness, as a way to “sell” their story. The stories are “sensationalized, sentimentalised charged with affect-target privileged readers in anticipation that they will identify with, contribute to and become advocates for the cause (Schaffer and Smith 2004, 14).”
However, throughout the interview process many advocates noted the positive role that the use of narratives and personal testimony plays in advocacy. Despite the varying constituencies and audiences of the organisations I spoke with, many agreed that the personalisation of suffering and the subsequent ability of those in both public and political spheres to identify with survivors played a key role in mobilisation success.
Dr Greg Stanton, the founder of Genocide Watch also spoke to the point of greater engagement with personal stories:
I mean the whole personalisation of suffering is something I think people understand. I know I was trained by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in civil rights work back in the 1960s in this country [USA] and one of the things that Martin Luther King always said was always personalise injustice. People understand that, they won’t understand statistics, personalise it.
Stanton highlights the role that personalisation plays in audience engagement with advocacy. For the public to identify with an indirect experience the narrative must also be relatable through a process of symbolic extension and psychological identification. For example, Alexander (2002, 9) argues that the presentation of Jewish holocaust survivors as a collective and the associated absence of biographical sketches and personalised interviews lead to a wider de-personalisation of their experiences. As a result, it became difficult for the public to universalise the trauma that would have 120 been experienced and thus non-Jewish survivors were prioritised in post-war immigration quotas in the US.
Stanton goes on to note the role of personal testimony as a more effective advocacy technique than the quantification of suffering:
….because getting those personal stories is way more effective then saying ‘oh there were thousands of Yazidi women were raped by ISIS and all of them need help’ honestly I don’t know how, most people will say oh that is just horrible but they aren’t going to move to act.
Dr Simon Adams, the Executive Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), also highlights the role that qualifying experiences of atrocity plays as opposed to the quantification of death tolls.
I often find that these discussions are happening in the abstract. So it’s like X number of people are displaced or dying in this particular country and there’s sexual and gender based violence and X number of people are disappeared but it all becomes kind of a mass of numbers so in some way what you are trying to do is humanise it because I think that does make it easier for ambassadors, for anybody, to respond as human beings when you are able to say this is what’s happening we know this is happening because we talked to these people and here is a specific example of something.
Beyond creating a means for wider identification with survivors, Adams suggests that testimony is a mechanism to engender a more empathetic response. The use of individual testimony can also play a role in demonstrating the extent of harm for asylum programs. When speaking with one Yazidi advocacy group I was told:
Sometimes you need to show or provide some information to say look, this is an (asylum) applicant and when you look at this and when you hear this account, again not to anything that could be too traumatic to the person….[]but some basic details that make it obvious this is someone who suffered harm, who was
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a victim and who lost several family members and should have a right to be reunified with their family in Germany and the ongoing risk as well.
While individual testimony plays a role in narrative construction this goes beyond generating public sympathy and has a tangible role aiding in asylum applications. Similarly, Meger (2016) notes that some organisations, particularly larger human rights-based groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch use first hand accounts of personal testimony as a means to mobilise political will and funding. Similarly, throughout my data analysis process, I did find that most testimonial accounts in advocacy documents did come from larger organisations, particularly Human Rights Watch. While many advocates did speak to the advantages of personalised advocacy and the use of the stories of survivors, the way in which these are used is also clearly mediated by the mandate and audience of an organisation.
5.3 The Use of Survivors as an Advocacy Tool
Despite the history of silence that shrouds sexual violence in conflict, this thesis has demonstrated the narrative is shifting to one that centres crimes perpetrated against women and girls. While the prioritisation of crimes of sexual violence in advocacy may be well-intentioned, limited consideration has been given to the pressure placed on survivors in pursuit of this narrative. While this thesis sheds a light on continuing survivor exploitation, the use of survivors as a means to garner international attention is not a new concept.
Arshaluys (Aurora) Mardiganian, was born in Ottoman Turkey in 1901. She was a survivor of genocide who managed to escape and ended up in the US. Her story was turned into one of the first books on the Armenian Genocide “Ravished Armenia: The story of Aurora Mardiganian: The Christian Girl who Survived the Great Massacres” (Near East Foundation 2015). The book was subsequently adapted by Aurora’s legal guardians into a full-length silent film which she was persuaded to act in. Aurora re- lived genocide, on paper and on screen. While the film raised more than $30 million
122 for relief efforts, Aurora expressed a desire to commit suicide and developed what we now know as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (Marczak 2019; Near East Foundation 2015). Advocating for survivors and advocating in the best wishes of survivors are two very different constructs both of which I aim to explore in this section. Throughout this section I will first discuss the powerful role that survivors can and do play in advocacy, following this I will discuss some of the consequences of the use of survivor testimony and survivor champions in advocacy; most notably re- traumatisation, false expectations and informed consent.
5.3.1 Advocacy Figureheads Campaign figureheads have long been an essential part of advocacy mobilisation, from religions icons such as Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his role in the anti- apartheid movement, to the appointment of Angelina Jolie as a UN Goodwill Ambassador (Klotz 2002; Volcic and Erjavec 2015). Nadia Murad has undoubtedly become the “face” of the Yazidi genocide as one of the first survivors to engage with mass Western media and NGOs with many considering her voice vital to advocacy surrounding the genocide (Mustafa 2018).
Dr Simon Adams who has worked directly with Murad and Yazda, spoke about the essential role she has played in gaining international attention:
I mean, it is a powerful voice it is speaking from a place of direct experience and so, you know one of the things that I remember when I first met Nadia was […]I remember meeting her and I remember she didn’t have any English at the time and I don’t speak Kurdish so we were speaking through a translator, another one of the founders actually of Yazda, and I started giving this kind of ridiculous speech almost to her, you know I’m so sorry for the suffering of your people and I can’t imagine what you’ve gone through and all this stuff and I remember she cut me off and started talking really quickly to the translator in Kurdish and then they started talking backwards and forwards and he turned to me in this
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really sheepish way and said Nadia thanks you for your speech but she wants to know what we can do together.
Adams went on to note:
So then it was, alright so what are we going to do, what will help, how do we elevate this issue and at that stage at the very early stage I remember one of our things was let’s get Nadia in front of as many places as we can where she can tell her story and get her to tell her story and that was not an easy emotional thing for her, you know. It was intense for her and intense for anybody who was witnessing it.
Adams highlights the difficulties in navigating communication between the person who has experienced the atrocities and those who are trying to advocate on their behalf. Adams also speaks to the power of the storyteller and the authenticity that comes with narrating direct experience. Similarly, when I asked Laila Khoudeida the director of women’s affairs at Yazda to describe something that Yazda would describe as a success she responded:
Nadia Murad. I would say that Nadia Murad was one of our most successful projects because we were able to get the governments to listen to a survivor of modern-day genocide. Nadia was able to deliver a speech that, if you watch the Security Council meeting everyone was shocked, people were crying, they didn’t know even how to react because of what she told them about her experience and so I think that was a very effective way of getting people to listen. So I would say her campaign was one of our most successful projects.
As Khoudeida suggests there is power in a survivor narrating their own story. It is not uncommon for survivor narratives to gain international traction. The heart-wrenching trafficking scripts evoked by Somaly Mam, whose story was later suggested to be fabricated, lead to many high-profile meetings, from the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon to Angelia Jolie. As Hoefinger (2016, 4) suggests, “through a combination of
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storytelling, networking, and performance, Mam became a million-dollar enterprise in her quest to ‘free the slaves.’” Similarly, Hesford (2011) suggests that the broadcasting of survivor testimonies in the trial of Adolf Eichmann changed the way survivor stories of human rights violations are represented due to the symbolic power attached to the act of bearing witness.
While advocacy narratives are not singularly based around Nadia’s story, a number of advocates have made it clear that her story was vital in generating attention from relevant stakeholders. However, consideration must also be given to what bodies and stories are made visible in discussions of violence and conflict (Berents 2019). The use of one individual or advocacy figurehead to represent and symbolise complex situations and conflicts has been a part of many advocacy movements. For example, in 2012, Malala Yousafzai, who was 15 at the time, was shot in the head by an emerging leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. While an activist for the education of women and girls prior to her attack, Malala became both a subject and an object of international human rights advocacy (Khoja-Moolji 2017). Khoja-Moolji (2017, 383) suggests that in the case of Malala her presentation moves through a “chain of vulnerability-suffering- empowerment established by and within contemporary human rights regimes.” The suggestion here is that in order to be perceived as empowered in liberalist discourses, brown women and girls must first be seen as vulnerable and victimised before they can be seen as empowered. As demonstrated in the previous chapter, in advocacy representations of Nadia’s story her victimisation is foregrounded and oftentimes quantified in terms of the number of times she was raped, over what period of time, and by how many men. This would seemingly centre her vulnerability and suffering before moving to her empowerment through modern human rights regimes. While Nadia may now be seen globally as a survivor of genocide it is her victimisation that becomes emblematic of Yazidi women and girls, rather than her empowerment.
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Other advocates I spoke with were more reserved in their comments on the use of survivors in public advocacy mobilisation. One advocate I spoke with who has worked closely with Yazidi survivors noted:
I think what has been successful for some organisations has been the use of champions and I say ‘the use’ quite deliberately because in some cases it has been quite secondarily exploitative, but it also draws particular attention to the cause, and so I know for example that the use of survivor celebrities so survivors who become celebrities for being a survivor, as well as “celebrity celebrities” who take on their case as being very effective in raising broader public awareness of the genocide than they would have had otherwise but it raises a whole lot of issues.
While this advocate does concede that “survivor celebrities” do have an impact on generating public support they also point out the potential for exploitation that can occur as a result. While advocacy figureheads may generate attention, it is important to consider the ways in which these discourses continue to perpetuate narratives of violence as opposed to engaging with structural and gender inequalities.
5.4 The Impact of Advocacy on Survivors
The following sections address concerns raised by advocates surrounding the potential mistreatment of survivors. Most notably, these fell into three categories: re- traumatisation, false expectations and informed consent. Following this, this section also analyses the impact of narratives of victimisation on the participation of women and girls in political and advocacy spaces. This is important to consider given the gendered and racialised power imbalances inherent in these representations with victims as spectacles and international institutions in the Global North as spectators (Hoefinger 2016).
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5.4.1 Re-traumatisation This section focuses on the concerns of some advocates regarding the potential for re-traumatisation when survivors are publicly sharing personal testimony as a part of broader advocacy efforts. Clinically, re-traumatisation can be defined as “one’s reaction to a traumatic exposure that is col[u]red, intensified, amplified or shaped by one’s reactions and adaptational style to previously traumatic experiences” (Danieli 2010, 195). While the event itself may not be inherently traumatic it may carry reminders that lead to the re-emergence of symptoms associated with that trauma (Danieli 2010). The process of re-traumatisation is multi-faceted with the focus of this section being on the pressure to re-narrate one’s experiences as well as the subsequent lack of adequate psychological care.
When I asked one human rights advocate to tell me how they would describe women’s experiences during the Yazidi genocide they responded:
It’s an example of the way that violence is an enacted-on women’s bodies, specifically as a means to attack an entire category of people. It is an example of the horrors that human beings think of to do to other human beings. It is an example of the devastation that is wrought on individuals and communities as a part of conflict. It is an example of the longevity of that damage. It is an example of how little we still know about treating the trauma of sexual violence. It has been an example of some countries stepping up and trying to get legal redress and provide support for those communities. It is an example of how the international community is keen for and in that keenness can disregard the safety and wellbeing of individuals. It is keen for this sort of voices of the survivor but doesn’t necessarily care for the survivor.
The comment made by this interviewee speaks to the complex nature of conflict and conflict related advocacy. As detailed in the previous chapter, the severity of the violence perpetrated against all Yazidi people, particularly women and girls, is clear. The continued trauma experienced by Yazidi survivors also remains a significant issue.
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However, in attempts to illustrate the severity of the genocide, particularly crimes of sexual violence, the perceived collective good of garnering international support and mobilising resources outweighs the cost to the wellbeing of individual survivors. This advocate went on to note that:
You know there on the cover of the Security Council report is Nadia Murad testifying in front of the Security Council, bringing the council to tears and what did that result in? Her coming to that space and sharing that trauma, we can talk about Nadia because she is in many ways has been made the face of that population. There are many people who are very concerned about her and her wellbeing.8
The comments made here note concern for the wellbeing of individual survivors. In this particular case specific reference is made to Nadia Murad. While advocacy may be well-intentioned, many advocates I spoke with shared concerns around the role that public and personal testimony plays in re-traumatisation but also call into question whether this sort of advocacy does actually result in tangible outcomes. While the issue of effectiveness of the use of public survivor testimony is something I will cover below, the argument of re-traumatisation requires further consideration.
Pari Ibrahim is a Yazidi woman and the founder of the Free Yezidi Foundation (FYF). FYF prides itself on being a “survivor-centred” advocacy organisation. When I asked Ibrahim about the use of narratives in advocacy she told me:
There are a lot of stories as in what women have seen and how horrible it is and I think we as an organisation are much more trying to focus on how can we help the person, how can we heal the person and make the person stronger. I don’t think a lot of organisations have that because of course it is much more impactful to just constantly ask a Yazidi survivor to retell her story but that is retraumatising so we are not doing that at all, [we] have not asked to do that,
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[we] will not do it because we do work a lot with psychologists and experts in this field they don’t recommend doing that. It is not good for survivors.
Ibrahim shared her concerns for the well-being of survivors due to the practices of other advocacy organisations as well as media groups.
I mean it has become a show, you know, it is disgusting to see and hear from our survivors ourselves. So we have a very good relationship with the survivors. Our communication is based on a lot of time spent on the wellbeing and making sure they feel good and not on, hey come and tell me your story and the moment I have your story I will leave you behind. […] They just want to have the story because the story is a hot topic and that’s it and then they send the survivor back into the car, back to the IDP camps. No one is talking about, ok maybe this girl that we just had a very horrible interview and needs psychological care or can we see what we can do for her, or is she okay, can she just go back in a taxi and just go back home to her tent.
Ibrahim points to the commodification of survivor’s stories as a means to an end, used to engage with the current salience of narratives of sexual violence in both advocacy and the media. Concerns are also raised regarding the lack of consideration to the psychological welfare of survivors.
Dr Gregory Stanton also echoed the concerns of Ibrahim by noting:
It used to bother me, it still bothers me a lot when you take one person after another after another after another to walk through refugee camps and talk to the same person again and again and again and get them to tell them their story again and again and again I think that is the definition of re- traumatisation. Most victims of genocide and crimes don’t want to talk about it because it is so painful to them. So yes, I think it is very important that be done very sensitively and only with people who are really ready to tell their stories.
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Ibrahim and Stanton both share concerns for the impacts that re-telling one’s story can have on experiences of trauma. It is not singularly the process of re-telling a story of genocide that can be traumatising but it is the lack of follow up and care for survivors who have told their stories that is concerning. Survivor stories seemingly become a commodity and the well-being of the survivor is not being adequately considered.
The current level of trauma experienced by Yazidi survivors is extensive. One study of displaced Yazidis in Turkey found that 42.9% of participants met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD and 39.5% met the criteria for major depression and of those who met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD 74.5% were women (Tekin et al. 2016). The trauma experienced by Yazidi survivors is also multi-faceted, in addition to the trauma of the 2014 genocide Yazidi survivors are also (re)experiencing transgenerational trauma given the historical persecution of this group. This level of trauma not only results in serious mental health issues but significant physical suffering as well (Kizilhan and Noll- Hussong 2017). While the exploitative practices of the media have been explored (Foster and Minwalla 2018; Minwalla, Foster and McGrail 2020), I argue that practices that can result in significant psychological trauma may also be occurring during survivors interactions with civil society organisations.
The process of re-telling a personal narrative of suffering can be traumatic. Questions asked during an interview process can serve as a trigger for trauma and has proven to act as an obstacle to recovery and de-stabilise progress (Rometsch-Ogioun El Sount et al. 2018). As such, some researchers are employing alternate methods, such as speaking to those who work directly with survivors to avoid re-traumatisation (Rometsch-Ogioun El Sount et al. 2018). However, some research does suggest that re-narrating one’s experiences of trauma can be a cathartic experience and serve an important purpose in memorialising and preserving memories of events. As Gallimore and Herndon (2019, 21) suggest “in oral cultures storytelling conveyed knowledge and transmitted wisdom long before formal education was introduced […] Stories are
130 wealth that no one can steal from the listener, even though the thief may have stolen the listener’s possessions, home and country.” Given the oral dissemination of the Yazidi religion, and their focus on storytelling, one cannot discount the therapeutic and cathartic function that storytelling may elicit. Mamon, McDonald, Lambert and Cameron (2017) also suggest that telling one’s experience of conflict and trauma can also assist in recovery from mental health issues. It is also important to acknowledge that while re-traumatisation is a possible outcome of telling a story of conflict and this is not the case for all survivors and that survivors can, and do, have the agency to choose to tell their own story. However, based on my interviews some civil society groups are engaging in potentially harmful practices. Aside from the wide body of literature which points to the harms of re-counting traumatic experiences this appears to often occur without any follow up or psychological care. While “taking back control” of one’s experience is an important part of post-traumatic recovery the use of individual testimony without adequate consideration of survivor’s well-being does not restore power, it revokes it.
5.4.2 False Expectations Due consideration also needs to be given to the impact of public personal testimony beyond immediate psychological harm. Repeated testimony collection can not only act as a trigger for existing trauma but can raise the expectations of survivors for justice and may set false expectations. One genocide advocate I spoke with discussed the direct relationship between narrative testimony and false expectations in stating:
So this is part of the issue with getting survivors to tell their stories is that often either something has been explicitly said to them or they feel implicitly that there is a promise in, if you tell your story publicly maybe something will change, maybe you will get the justice, maybe you will find your family and that is something that I think that is really really dangerous for survivors.
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Beyond implicit and explicit promises there is also concern for unmatched expectations in terms of the speed of justice in Western democracies. Laila Khoudeida the director of women’s affairs at Yazda pointed out the disconnect in stating:
I don’t think it [the expectations of survivors] matches their wishes because some of them have the assumption that if they go and speak with Congressman Fortenberry something immediately will happen for them or that their situation will change. Sometimes it is difficult for them to understand that this is a long process. It is not like because this is America when you speak with someone your situation will automatically change or they will react immediately because there is so much more to it. So no and I think it is a huge burden on them, I
think by the time they do it, by the 10th time they’ve gone out to speak they realise this is very hard work and it is not easy and it is going to require a lot more energy from me.
Pari Ibrahim, the Director of the Free Yezidi Foundation, also speaks directly to the false expectations explicitly set by some organisations in order to speak directly with survivors:
I have heard many things said by other organisations to our survivors and when they come to me and say like “Pari do you think this is true?” I will say where did you hear that, this is not true. So yeah exploitive treatment of our women and girls, it has become a show.
Irrespective of whether expectations are set implicitly or explicitly, the acquisition of survivor testimony through these means is potentially problematic. While an international protocol on the documentation and investigation of sexual violence in conflict is available for civil society groups and NGOs to engage with, these are only guidelines (United Kingdom: Foreign and Commonwealth Office 2014). However, they do state that during interviews or information gathering processes, great care must be
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taken to manage expectations and recognise that promises can be made affirmatory, or made through the absence of clarification (Ribeiro and Ponthoz 2017).
It is also important to be cognisant of power imbalances that are present between researchers and participants when working with Internally Displaced Persons and refugees (Pittaway, Bartolomei and Hugman 2010). Pittaway, Bartolomei and Hugman (2010) go on to note there is a perception that researchers have the power to impact change on individual and community levels and on this basis many refugees approach researchers in hope of seeking assistance for themselves of their family. Given the argument made by one advocate regarding the expectations that one’s family may be found or legal redress may be pushed, a similar dynamic likely exists between survivors and advocacy workers. It is possible that some survivors are providing traumatic testimony on the basis of false expectations that will never be met.
5.4.3 Informed Consent Another cause for concern regarding the use of personal testimony surrounds informed consent. In this work I conceptualise informed consent as more than signing a research ethics form. Rather, informed consent means that those who are participating in any form of research fully comprehend and understand both the purpose and potential risks of participating, so they have the power to make an informed decision (Wood 2006). One advocate I spoke with has been involved with a number of prominent human rights organisations and suggests informed consent is an issue for many organisations:
I think that there is a huge responsibility which is not always met for people who are bringing those voices into a policy forum to be guided by survivors but that’s not always the case, that’s not always clear. Informed consent continues to be a struggle with every organisation that I have ever known of that is working in either human rights work or humanitarian service provision. They struggle to get [informed consent] because some people genuinely do not mind being put at risk by advocacy materials by the research that you are doing.
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I know that I have been on research trips where I have had people who are engaged in what is under their state’s laws illegal, but it is a rights issue and they don’t care if they are exposed to risk. There are other people in the same context who absolutely want anonymity and so representing those wishes is a big responsibility as part of your advocacy work and that does get lost sometimes but there is not a monolithic rightness or wrongness or responsiveness or lack of responsiveness of civil society advocacy materials at large.
The issues surrounding informed consent cited here appeal directly to the work of Pittaway, Bartolomei and Hugman (2010). It is possible that those involved as participants in advocacy work may perceive civil society organisations as having power to influence political processes such as asylum applications or an ability to create safe passage for family members. Beyond concerns for the safety of those who provide testimony there are also issues surrounding understanding issues of consent.
In speaking to her work on Afghan women’s rights Shukria Dellawar noted:
In my experience sometimes, they have had the person who is a victim tell their story, sometimes they have to sign things or they have had someone sign it that can’t even read. So yes, you have their signature but she is not literate she cannot read what is on it so this is the kind of stuff that happens. I remember one incident I was in a shelter meeting a woman who was the subject of a story that had gone out and I learned she was illiterate, she didn’t even know.
The extracts above clearly outline the complexity of issues of informed consent. While there is concern for the position of risk some are placing themselves in, there is equal concern for an inability to provide informed consent on the basis of illiteracy and language difficulties. This is of particular concern with respect to the Yazidi case given many survivors came from rural areas of Sinjar where illiteracy is common (Rometsch- Ogioun El Sount et al. 2018). While these two advocates refer to broader issues,
134 concerns surrounding informed consent are also evident with respect to the Yazidi genocide. One advocate I spoke with noted:
There are a whole range of issues of the exploitation of survivors by the media, by NGOs, by the UN which are designed to advocate for these kinds of causes like justice but I think at the expense of individual survivors and also at the expense more broadly of ethics and morality, there is no informed consent. For example, I know that survivors have said to me “if I had known this would happen I wouldn’t have chosen to tell my story” or they feel guilty about having come out and they have said things like “I feel like I sold my life” or they have had no one explain to them what the risks are of having their faces shown in the media, so security and privacy risks.
This information clearly illustrates a lack of adequate communication regarding what informed consent entails between civil society organisation’s and survivors. While survivors may agree to the publication of their stories, the extent to which this narrative is circulated, the publicity and repercussions later in life are not known or understood (Pittaway, Bartolomei and Hugman 2010, 233). While the process of re-telling one’s story for advocacy can be a point of trauma in itself, seeing these reports can act as an additional source of stress. Maercker and Mehr (2006) argued that while reports may be perceived as accurate most survivors had a predominantly negative reaction to viewing the published content with feelings of sadness and fright.
While narrative testimony may play a role in attracting attention, its implications in terms of practical outcomes for survivors is debated. Pari Ibrahim, the founder of the Free Yezidi Foundation notes “I see the FYF as a very, very strong organisation because we never need any survivor to come retell her story so that we can get some more donations. We will get the word out.” Despite the earlier comments made by Yazda’s director of women’s affairs Laila Khoudeida on the power of Nadia Murad’s public testimony, Khoudeida also notes the limited tangible impact “on the ground:”
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Let’s use Nadia as an example, she has been going around the world telling her story and we’ve accomplished a lot through her voice but like I said, has on the ground much changed? No.
Khoudeida acknowledges that Murad’s voice while powerful, has not led to significant changes in Iraq for the Yazidi people despite the extensive personal sacrifice Murad has made in telling her story to the world. While there has been a push by many organisations to have the voices of survivors represented in public and policy spaces I argue that there has not been sufficient discussion on the consequences and realistic outcomes of such advocacy. On the 23rd of April 2019 UN Security Council resolution 2467 was adopted. In calling for justice and accountability for sexual violence in conflict the resolution also proposed a survivor-centred approach to the investigation, preventing and responding to such acts. Central to a survivor-centred approach is the right of survivors to be made aware of the serious and significant personal, psychological and physical safety costs of public testimony. Those working directly with survivors have a responsibility to put the well-being of survivors first in terms of the potential for re-traumatisation, to gain informed consent and not to set false expectations. Based on my interviews I argue that while some organisations are centring survivors in advocacy efforts, they are prioritising advocacy agendas over the well-being of survivors.
5.4.4 Narratives of Victimhood and the Impact on the Participation of Women and Girls So far, this section has considered some of the concerns raised by survivors that occur as a result of centring narratives of victimisation and sexual violence. In recognising these complexities, this section addresses some of the implications of dominant narratives of sexual violence on the long-term participation an involvement of women in conflict related political and advocacy spaces.
One advocate I spoke with, who wishes to remain anonymous, highlighted the complexity of the pressures on survivors and the impact this may have:
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I have heard the leadership of those NGOs diminishing the opinions of survivors. Look ultimately it is that underlying gender inequality as well so who is in control at the NGOs and whose agenda is it that they are pushing. Women are the face of the Yazidi genocide, but they are really not active in the post conflict development process.
This advocate spoke to the impacts of gender inequality as well as the organisational structure of advocacy groups and the impact this may have on the portrayal of survivors. The way advocacy has been framed focuses on narratives that discuss crimes, particularly those of sexual violence, perpetrated against Yazidi women and girls but as this advocate suggests, they are not actively involved in post-conflict development processes. The argument proposed by this advocate aligns with the suggestions of Scully (2009) in that the centring of crimes of sexual violence and the inherent focus on vulnerability seen in advocacy may impact human rights objects in post-conflict reconstruction. We must question the implications of aligning women and girls singularly with notions of victimhood and consider what impacts this may have in terms of their engagement as active agents in post-conflict society (Scully 2009). However, during the interviews I conducted some interviewees did suggest the focus on women and girls has also had some positive impacts. In an interview I conducted, Barker makes mention of the benefits of the focus on Yazidi women and girls with respect to cultural norms in Yazidi communities:
I think there has probably been more talk about Yazidi women in this conflict as a whole and so they have had a more prominent role in the community then is typical and is kind of counter-cultural to their community as a whole. I think it has enabled and forced the community to wrestle with what that looks like in terms of education and other forms of empowerment of women within this.
Barker suggested that as a result of the attention given to crimes of sexual violence, Yazidi women and girls have been given a larger voice and platform than would normally be allowed in the traditionally conservative and patriarchal culture. Yazidi
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religious leaders did make explicit proclamations that women and girls would be welcomed back into communities. However, it was not until 2019 that the Yazidi Supreme Spiritual Council allowed children born as a result of rape to Yazidi mothers to return to communities. Prior to this, Yazidi women faced exile from their own communities if they wished to keep their child (Chulov 2019). Foster and Minwalla (2018, 59) also suggest that there have been fewerpublic cases where women and girls are still rejected from their families and face significant stigma in communities and suggest “little attempt was made to work with the Yazidi community in a way that was transformative of more traditional patriarchal attitudes and beliefs about honour and shame.” While Barker suggests that women and girls have been given a stronger platform to advocate from, it is important to consider the normative environment in which this is being done and the extent to which Yazidi women and girls narratives are actually being represented in the way that aligns with their wishes.
Another interview I conducted with a representative from Yazda also spoke to some of the positive impacts of the focus on Yazidi women and girls in terms of leadership roles:
So I think for women in general, and I say this to my Yazidi friends, I tell them that before the genocide we had amazing women in the community, we had leaders in the community then that no one knew about. Then the genocide happened and you had Yazidi women rising everywhere. Those who are living outside of Iraq, Europe, the US, Germany, so you have those leaders who kind of came out of the shadow and are becoming very good advocates, they are becoming leaders, they are speaking about issues that matter to them as Yazidi women and then also issues that matter to them as a Yazidi person coming from a small minority group that has been faced with multiple, multiple historical persecutions and genocides […].
This advocate highlights the benefits that the focus on the Yazidi genocide has had in terms of centring the voices of Yazidi women as community leaders. It is suggested
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that the attention to the genocide, and particularly the atrocities perpetrated against women and girls, has provided a platform for Yazidi women to bring attention to issues that are important and relevant to them. While the framing of the conflict may provide an advocacy platform for women and girls we must consider the extent to which survivors are consulted in their own narrative construction, this is something I will analyse in the following section. I also question why, women must first be victims of sexual violence before they are given legitimacy and a voice by international advocacy organisations and institutions. There appears to be considerable disagreement regarding the impact of narratives of victimisation and the focus on sexual violence. At its worst it can impact the participation of women and girls in post conflict spaces, and at its best it can provide a platform for the leadership of Yazidi women and girls.
This section has outlined the power and complexities of narrative testimony in advocacy material. While the personalisation of advocacy has an important role in articulating the direct experiences of survivors, I argue that the process of attaining direct testimony has serious consequences that are not being adequately addressed by civil society groups in terms of re-traumatisation, false expectations and informed consent. We must also consider the influence of the dominance of narratives of sexual violence and the impact this may have. Outlining structural and gender inequalities is seemingly less appealing to relevant stakeholders than survivors narrating their own experiences of sexual violence. While the themes addressed here raise important ethical questions the role that survivors play in constructing these narratives is also vital. The next section seeks to outline the role survivors play in informing advocacy positions and avenues for justice and accountability.
5.5 Survivor Rights and Forms of Justice
Chapter Four argued that Yazidi women and girls, who are survivors of sexual violence have become symbolic of the genocide in advocacy framing and narratives. Earlier in this chapter the argument has also been made that survivor testimony plays a central role in advocacy framing and also highlighted potentially problematic ethical concerns.
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This section discusses the extent to which survivors are involved in advocacy processes. It also considers if the dominant framing of advocacy narratives, and the use of survivors in these narratives, is consistent with the wishes of the Yazidi community. This section considers the voice that survivors have in advocacy, if survivors feel they are listened to in the advocacy space and the wishes of survivors in terms of justice and accountability for IS perpetrators.
5.5.1 Survivor Engagement with Advocacy Given the aim of the international community to move towards a survivor-centred approach to conflict related sexual violence, consultation with survivors would be an essential part of this process. However, throughout this section I demonstrate the emergence of a transactional element to advocacy and suggest that advocacy agendas do not always align with the wishes of survivors. Several advocates I spoke with, who have worked directly with Yazidi survivors, articulated their concern regarding the lack of engagement survivors had with constructing their own narratives.
Jeremy Barker is the Senior Program Officer and Director of the Middle East Action Team for the Religious Freedom Institute. Based on his experience working and living in the Middle East I asked him to speak to the extent to which advocacy represents the narratives of survivors in a way that aligns with their wishes. While noting there would be a mixed level of success Barker pointed out that:
…I think there is tension between a community that, on one hand it was what happened to them that promoted the world to move and respond and yet they feel like in many ways they are still being left out or missed and not present at the table in resolving this and so that’s a major challenge(…)It’s a fringe minority group that has high emotional appeal and low strategic value and so I think that’s a major source of frustration for the community on the ground. When they hear talk of billions of dollars that have been spent to assist displaced minorities and people affected by conflict and for tens of thousands of them they are still living in brick house with a tarp from four and a half years ago and
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they certainly don’t see any of the billions of dollars that have been spent or allocated in large part because of them and their story being told is what moved them because I think there is a mismatch on that level that leads to lots of frustration and really emotional, visible frustration. I have seen situations modelled of a group of Yazidis doing a ceremonial burying of the UN flag in Sinjar in a mass grave and it was a sign of protest that the system, the UN system and the international community failed us (…) So I would say there is a mismatch between the feelings of the Yazidi community and those affected by genocide as feeling left out as primary acts in resolving the bigger situations…
Some Yazidi survivors feel their stories have been used by advocacy groups to raise awareness and money but they are not seeing the results of their own personal investment or the billions of dollars invested by the broader international community. Their stories can be used but they are not given a voice in resolving broader conflict issues. The ceremonial burying of the UN flag represents the distrust and lack of support some Yazidis feel, spurred on by the lack of participation they see they have been given in advocating for their own people.
Another advocate who has worked closely with Yazidi survivors also noted that “they [survivors] are not really involved in the policy side of it so that seems to be done at very different level within the organisation.” Beyond the clear lack of involvement Yazidi survivors have with policy decisions there also appears to be limited consideration of survivors wishes in terms of how they want their story told, and the control they have over their own narrative. One advocate stated:
Survivors should really be having a say about how their stories are being portrayed. I think there was still reluctance among the leadership of various organisations to do that. So I would often hear things like “oh no they don’t care about that they just want to tell their stories” or I would say well actually this particular person really doesn’t want to do this anymore, she does not want to tell her story anymore and they would say things like “oh but she changes
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her mind every day” or “but she has to because her people count on her” So there was a real sense of diminishing the survivors’ own wishes.
This extract speaks to the dismissal of a survivors wishes and removes their agency and control over their own story. The pressure placed on survivors to tell their story emerges as an important consideration that does not appear to always align with the objectives of advocacy organisations. Similarly, Pari Ibrahim notes the same lack of recognition for the views of survivors in stating:
They [survivors] feel used, they feel lied to because sometimes the girls say to the organisation or the journalist, I don’t want you to use my picture, next day the picture is everywhere, online and in newspapers. A lot of the girls feel very used, they are not happy about it at all. They don’t feel their story is being told the way they want to say it and with the support that they needed. And I think also the support that was promised, that is also a huge thing.
What becomes clear is a lack of engagement with the wishes and values of survivors. Not only are stories not accurately portrayed, but some survivors are pressured to continue to work with advocacy organisations despite their express desire to leave. Such practices may be potentially harmful and raise concerns for the wellbeing of survivors. A somewhat transactional element to advocacy emerges. There is a tension between survivors, who tell their stories to generate attention to the cause, and advocacy organisations who require these stories as a form of currency or commodity. However, there appears to be a mismatch in terms of what survivors are receiving in return. The commodification of stories will be discussed in more detail in Chapter Six.
5.5.2 What about the Yazidi community? In discussing the role of survivors in advocacy, consideration should also be given to pressures placed on Yazidi women and girls from within their own communities. Most notably, in speaking with some advocates, an argument emerged that some members of the Yazidi community are placing pressure on survivors to tell their stories. As Pari Ibrahim contended, “As a Yazidi woman, it is for me disgusting to see this behaviour 142 and it is a lot done by men, men from our community […].” In discussing the use of survivor narratives in advocacy, Ibrahim went on to state:
I think it’s a little bit more easy to bring girls around because family members are also pushing these girls to tell their story so even when a girl says I want to tell my story I think, as a Yazidi, probably 90% of all cases is pushed by the family members.
A theme emerges, aligned with other data presented in this chapter, surrounding the diverse and complex pressures placed on Yazidi women and girls. Alongside the pressure placed on survivors by some organisations, there is also pressure from within Yazidi communities. This pressure from communities may highlight the implicit presumption of a transactional element to the participation of women and girls in advocacy. As demonstrated earlier in the chapter, some communities may assume that having survivors engage with advocacy organisations may increase their chances of receiving aid, helping find other relatives or help with asylum applications. However, regardless of the rationale for this push by some Yazidi community members these concerns can be linked back to the dominance of narratives of sexual violence in advocacy. The focus on narratives of sexual violence and the attention that survivors of such acts bring to advocacy puts pressure on survivors to engage with some organisations, at times against their own wishes and desires. Similarly, advocating for measures of accountability and justice for those who were persecuted by IS also emerges issue with regards to representing the desires of Yazidi communities.
5.5.3 Avenues for Justice and Accountability Throughout my interview process it became clear that representing the desires of victims and survivors of the Yazidi genocide can also be a complex and conflicting process for some advocacy organisations. During my analysis of the advocacy material of twelve civil society groups, many similar avenues for justice and accountability emerged. While much of the calls for assistance in the document data centred around the need for humanitarian assistance there was also a strong focus on the codification
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and criminalisation of acts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Iraq as well as calls for international prosecution through avenues such as the ICC. Yet calls for justice and accountability are also inherently political with groups such as the Yazidi Human Rights Organisation International advocating for the establishment of a Yazidi autonomous region in North Iraq and seeking weaponry provisions for Yazidi and Assyrian groups (Yazidi Human Rights Organization International 2020).
The political nature of advocacy is also clear when discussing who uses the term genocide. In analysing four years’ worth of advocacy data, Amnesty International did not label the crimes perpetrated against the Yazidi people as genocide. The power of the genocide label lies beyond its legal implications, with its ability to acknowledge the atrocities that were perpetrated against a group of people, reduce the likelihood of transgenerational cultural trauma as well as decrease the possibility of communal violence and revenge attacks (Ringrose 2020). Throughout the interviews I conducted, the importance of this recognition was clear for both advocates and the Yazidi community. As such, the politics embedded in narrative construction, particularly among larger international advocacy groups, and the wishes of survivors does not always align. This is of significance given the role that larger human rights organisations often play as gatekeepers (Dondoli 2019). If a reputable organisation such as Amnesty International, is not framing the conflict as an act of genocide such rhetoric becomes less likely for other organisations, actors or governments to engage with. However, balancing the desires of survivor communities with an advocacy agenda can be a complex process.
Dr Simon Adams points to the complexities of balancing the wishes of survivor communities and advocacy values with respect to justice and accountability measures in noting:
I know a lot of Yazidis, a lot of Yazidi survivors, who I’ve met believe in the death penalty for ISIS perpetrators, I don’t. So how do I reconcile that? And is it possible to reconcile that while still honouring their narrative and their
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experience? Yeah I think it is and so what it is, is about saying we stand with you, we want to amplify the message of your experience, we want to make sure that all those things I said before happen but that doesn’t mean that we’re just a mouthpiece for you or anybody else as survivors. We are a human rights organisations guided by a particular set of principles and a particular adherence to international law.
While it is not possible for advocacy organisations to ever represent the wishes of all Yazidi people, there are also clearly limitations in terms of what groups will advocate for despite the desire of survivors. While those in the Global North have been largely pushing for prosecution of IS fighters,’ consideration also needs to be given to the fact that this may not be what all survivors want. Another advocate I spoke to suggested:
I think in terms of the whole justice advocacy aspect I am not sure that anyone has really asked the Yazidi community what they want. I feel like there are a lot of people pushing justice and the prosecution, the contact that I have had with ordinary Yazidi members of the community, and on Facebook seems to indicate to me, and I don’t want to speak on their behalf, but the things that I have seen seem to indicate that some of them seem to support the Australian government policy of revoking citizenship, some of them don’t support bringing them home to prosecute them here under Australian law even though I believe that is the right thing to do. I think they need to be held accountable under our law for what they have done. I think it is equally important to find out what the Yazidi survivors themselves want because I am not convinced that there is a groundswell of support for that among the Yazidi survivors here […]
The complexity of advocacy emerges in the extracts above. The difficulties of balancing advocacy agendas and the wishes of survivors is not a simple process, at some point advocacy organisations may make a strategic decision depending on their audience and agenda. The way that narratives change depending on the audience and goal of an organisation is something that will be explored in more detail in Chapter Six.
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However, we must also consider the diversity of Yazidi people. Yazidi communities, like any other religious or ethnic group are not homogeneous and as such differences will arise depending on advocacy consultation.
As well as these issues, the link between discourses of sexual violence, victimisation and femininity are also suggested to have impacts on legal remedies that survivors may seek (Zarkov 2006). Avenues for legal accountability and justice used predominantly in the Global North may not be best suited to all populations. In critiquing the assumption that the international legal system, most notably the ICTY, represents the interests of survivors in their adjudications, Mertus (2004) argues that these trials have rendered women not as agents of their own, but as victims, with little relevance other than their relations to men. The grand meta-narrative of the female victim was used as a tool by both the prosecution and the defence in the pursuit of a particular goal. While testifying in court provides an avenue for women to exert their agency, the act itself is transformed into one the reproduces women’s victimisation with both the defence and prosecution focused on detailed anatomical descriptions and the actions of the perpetrators. The dominant focus on acts of sexual violence during war and conflict is also argued to obscure other harms men and women may have suffered and in doing so silencing narratives that challenge this frame. The conservative nature of many Yazidi communities as well as the addition trauma that trials can cause suggests the need to redefine notions of justice outside of international institutions that may replicate tropes of victimisation.
5.6 Conclusion
This chapter has analysed some of the consequences that arise as a result of the focus of advocacy organisations on narratives of sexual violence. The personalisation of advocacy narratives that focus largely on sexual violence, and the use of advocacy figureheads, intersects with gendered and racialised tropes of vulnerability and passivity. While many have been moved by the stories of Yazidi women like Nadia Murad, her victimisation and that of other women becomes her route to, and the
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justification for, her empowerment. Throughout this thesis I ask why women must first be rendered vulnerable victims before we see them as empowered agents whose story we will listen to.
Throughout this chapter I demonstrate that, while narrative testimony may be a valuable resource to gain attention and action from international institutions and the general public, it can result in a number of potentially problematic ethical issues. I discussed the impact of re-traumatisation on survivors, particularly surrounding the pressure that many Yazidi women and girls face to speak to advocacy organisations and re-narrate trauma. I also highlighted the impact of false expectations in terms of the speed of legal remedies, as well as implicit or explicit promises in exchange for the testimony of survivors. Informed consent, or the lack thereof, was also raised by a number of advocates I spoke with relating to conflict related advocacy more broadly, and specific advocacy surrounding the Yazidi genocide. I suggest that a somewhat transactional element to advocacy emerges between survivors and civil society organisations.
Throughout this chapter I argue that the wishes of survivors are not always adequately represented in advocacy processes. However, what became clear was the complexity of balancing advocacy agendas and the diverse wishes of survivors. Consideration was also given to the role that larger advocacy organisations play as gatekeepers in framing the dominant narrative of an atrocity. I am not arguing for the silencing of Yazidi voices in advocacy. Rather, I suggest that the voices of Yazidi women and girls are not wholly represented. I suggest that the re-framing of advocacy narratives to focus on acts of resistance could provide the same benefits of personal testimony that many advocacy outlined in this chapter as well as act as a catalyst towards the financing of aid and interventions that can target the complex causes and consequences of sexual violence in conflict.
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6 Chapter Six: The role of Advocacy Agendas in Reproducing Narratives of Sexual Violence
6.1 Introduction
The focus of this thesis to this point has concerned the reproduction of gendered tropes of violence in advocacy. Chapter Four demonstrated that the dominant framing of women and girls in the context of genocidal crimes is largely constructed through narratives of vulnerability and depictions of sexual violence. Following this, Chapter Five outlined some of the potential impacts of this framing on survivors, as well as the extent to which survivors are involved in advocacy processes. The focus of this chapter concerns the political influences behind the dominant narratives of sexual violence. In examining the political factors that influence how advocacy groups perpetuate narratives we must consider how they chose the narrative, what factors influenced that decision, and why these particular factors lead us to a dominant narrative of sexual violence in conflict. Given the focus of this thesis on informing an advocacy perspective that considers the gendered dimensions of conflict, as well as the agency and dignity of survivors, an understanding of why the dominant framing of sexual violence in conflict persists is significant.
This chapter will first consider the role of advocacy organisations as gatekeepers. In this section I focus on the power of those who are telling the story. Second, I discuss the strategic nature of advocacy and the reliance on narratives on vulnerability. In this section I focus on the use of incontestable narratives and the traction of narratives of sexual violence. I suggest that narratives of sexual violence have power as a technique of advocacy mobilisation. Third, I discuss the impact that an organisation’s audience and mandate have on narrative construction. I suggest that both these variables have an impact on the way narratives are told and framed. Fourth, I discuss relevant external influences that may impact advocacy narratives. Most notably, I analyse the role that donor funding plays in shaping narratives and advocacy agendas. I then analyse the
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complex and intersectional relationship between policy windows, agenda setting and narrative construction in discussing the impact of these on the persistence of narratives of sexual violence. Finally, I outline the impact of external socio-political factors on advocacy narratives and agendas. Most notably, I discuss some of the complexities that surround the production of advocacy largely from institutions in the Global North.
6.2 The Role of Advocacy Organisations as Gatekeepers
Narratives of the Yazidi genocide and their focus on sexual violence plays a large role in framing interpretations of the conflict and wider perceptions of the actors involved. This section considers the role of advocacy organisations as powerful filters that mould and define the elements and characters of this dominant narrative. Throughout my analysis of the role that survivors play in advocacy, two key arguments emerged, one regarding the importance of personal narratives as an advocacy tool that I explored in Chapter Five, and another surrounding the key role that storytellers play. Throughout this section I demonstrate that narratives of sexual violence persist in advocacy not only because of the power of advocacy organisations as gatekeepers, but their authority and access to specific audiences.
Laila Khoudeida, an advocate from Yazda, spoke to the importance of who is retelling narratives in an interview I conducted:
For me personally whenever I go to speak with people I like to use personal stories. I think personal stories are very powerful. So I talk about my personal experience of how I got involved and initially how I was in contact with hostages and so I think that creates a connection, this is a person just like me, she is living in the US but she is so close to everything that is happening….You are bringing a personal connection to whatever they are hearing that sounds like a foreign subject or foreign issue that’s not related to them
Khoudeida speaks directly to the importance of a personal connection between an audience and a storyteller and suggests this plays a key role in narrative resonance. As
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O'Brien (2019, 18) suggests, the authority of a story and its subsequent reach is embedded in the politics of who is telling the story. The ability of the intended audience to trust the storyteller alongside their expertise or experience in the matter at hand is what leads to a credible and salient narrative (Hajer 2005; Mayer 2014; O'Brien 2019). The narration of personal testimony by someone who has had direct experience with survivors, alongside the expertise that comes with speaking from an advocacy platform, plays an essential role in the salience and power narratives of sexual violence.
The decision regarding what storylines are promoted and which ones are silenced is political (O'Brien 2019). This choice is wielded by those with power or “narrative agency”, in this case this power lies with advocacy organisations as the storyteller (Mayer 2014, 115). As I discuss previously in Chapter Five, my analysis uncovered that most testimonial accounts depicting narratives of sexual violence came from larger organisations, most notably Human Rights Watch. This is of significance given the role that typically larger human rights organisations play as gatekeepers. Gatekeeper NGOs are not only better funded and staffed, but also have significantly more influence and power regarding establishing or altering human rights norms (Dondoli 2019). As a result of these factors, gatekeeper NGOs are more visible to international organisations and governments and are perceived as more legitimate actors (Dondoli 2019). As gatekeepers, these organisations exert power of the narrative not only as storytellers choosing which types of narratives to share, but also as storytellers with authority and access to an audience. Given the extent to which graphic survivor testimony pervades in the advocacy of larger human rights organisations this may have an impact on the salience of problematic and reductive narratives adopted by wider audiences.
The victimhood embedded in these personal narratives also provides another space to demonstrate the power of advocacy organisations. While I have previously analysed the gendered dynamics of the ‘ideal victim’ and the sympathetic response such a
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construction generates, also central to the societal construction of an ideal victim is that victims be “powerful enough to make your case known” (Christie 1986, 21). In the advocacy surrounding the Yazidi genocide this power is not in the hands of survivors, but rather advocacy organisations as the storytellers. The role the storyteller plays and the power of advocacy organisations as narrative gatekeepers contributes to the persistence of narratives of sexual violence. The reproduction of gendered tropes also persists beyond the advocacy space as, due to the authority of the storyteller as a trusted source of information, the narrative is picked up and repeated in different forums, including the media and the cycle of vulnerability continues.
6.3 Advocacy Strategy and Narratives of Vulnerability
The dominant focus of civil society advocacy on narratives of sexual violence has been clearly articulated throughout Chapter Five of this thesis. Arguments were presented in relation to women’s victimisation, ideal victim typologies, what is silenced and what is promoted and the role of race and ethnic identity as well as language. However, the rationale for the dominance of narratives of sexual violence in advocacy needs to be explored in more detail. In this section I will discuss the use of narratives as an advocacy mobilisation tool and argue that the strategic manner in which these narratives as deployed contributes to the persistence of narratives of sexual violence in advocacy surrounding the Yazidi genocide.
6.3.1 The Strategy of Incontestable Narratives Narrative constructions that foreground the experiences of women and children are not unintentional but rather a strategic decision to shift the attention of an organisation’s audience to the sympathetic plight of certain victim groups. This section considers the role that framing and political considerations have in shaping advocacy narratives. Some advocates I spoke with referred to the strategic political focus on acts of sexual violence in advocacy, with one interviewee from an international human rights organisation noting the rarity of opposition to such narratives:
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I would be remis if I didn’t mention that you’re talking about persons who have been raped, typically as the result of systemic rape in a conflict situation, that is a highly sympathetic population of victims and so there is no potential political blowback for making policy adjustments for this population.
Shukria Dellawar is the Legislative Associate for the Prevention of Violent Conflict and the Coordinator of the Prevention and Protection Working group for the Friends Committee on National Legislation in the US. Dellawar has spent much of her career advocating for peace in Afghanistan as well as specifically around Afghan women’s rights and highlights the political dynamics of advocacy decision making. Dellawar argued that:
When it came to Afghan women all of the programming focused mostly on gender-based violence because that is what was getting splashed in the news, it is sensationalised, we are saving women from the Taliban and because we are engaged with a war with the Taliban, there is a political dynamic.
Constructing a narrative that remains difficult to contest provides strategic advantage particularly in the policy space. As suggested in the first extract above, it is unlikely that a policy maker would argue that predominantly young female victims of mass sexual violence are an unworthy cause for funding or aid. The dichotomous framing of an irrefutably vulnerable victim and undoubtedly evil enemy leads advocacy organisations to create a narrative that is conducive to political change. As Dellawar suggests, the sensationalised framing of “saving” women is embedded in political dynamics but is also a strong advocacy position. In the case of the Yazidi genocide, the role of IS as a global enemy and the increased perceived threat they pose to the Global North, alongside the framing of Yazidi women as vulnerable, creates an ideal advocacy platform. The resonance of physical trauma enacted upon a group deemed to be vulnerable by an identifiable perpetrator provides an uncomplicated narrative building on the already familiar concepts of sexual violence in conflict (Autesserre 2012; Busby 2007; Keck and Sikkink 1998). The framing of women and girls as
152 vulnerable victims of conflict becomes a strategic advocacy position to increase narrative resonance.
The politicisation of certain narratives also offers an insight into the strategy behind the dominance of particular narratives. Acts of violence can be politicised or silenced depending upon state agendas and the power dynamics of actors involved, with Lee- Koo (2011) arguing that consideration must be given to the ways in which the bodies of women and girls are promoted or silenced through the narratives of those in power. For example, while former US president George W. Bush claimed the US invasion of Iraq had “saved” many Iraqi women, silence shrouded the increase in gender based violence that followed (Lee-Koo 2011). I suggest a similar dynamic exists surrounding advocacy agendas. Those in a position of power, being advocacy organisations in this context, centre the narratives of women and girls given the “sympathetic” nature of this population and recent wider attention to acts of sexual violence in conflict. In discussing the experiences of Yazidi women and girls during the genocide Barker told me:
I think you have kind of various levels, in many ways that’s become, in one telling of it, the primary story within the Yazidi genocide is the way in which women in particular were targeted and attacked and abused and so I think that has played a very prominent role in garnering international attention to this
As Barker suggests, there is increased traction and attention when crimes perpetrated against women and girls are at the forefront of advocacy efforts. Similarly, this argument also provides a rationale for why crimes against men and boys have been largely silenced in advocacy, given their perceived lack of vulnerability and the conflation of gendered violence as violence only against women and girls as noted in Chapter Four. It is clear that political considerations and framing play a role in shaping advocacy narratives.
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6.3.2 Political Traction in Narratives of Sexual Violence Chapter Four established that women and girls are predominantly framed as vulnerable victims of sexual violence, while Chapter Five outlined some of the potential harms of such framing. While the previous section highlighted the role of framing narratives in generating attention, this section extends this argument by suggesting narratives of sexual violence have become a strategic tool for some advocacy organisations.
When speaking to advocacy practitioners, the rationale for the salience of these narratives emerged in arguments around the traction of narratives of vulnerability. Laila Khoudeida the Director of Women’s Affairs at Yazda pointed to the heightened vulnerability of women and children in conflict situations as the rationale for such narratives in advocacy:
I think whenever we bring children and women into the story people tend to listen more[…]Whenever there is war the most vulnerable people become the victims that are targeted, in this case it would be the women and the children.
As demonstrated in Chapter Three, the foregrounding of vulnerability in relation to women and children is seen throughout conflict narratives. This narrative extends from advocacy surrounding the Anfal campaign linking the vulnerability of women with the violation of a nation as a whole (Mlodoch 2012) to the conflation of “women and children” into a singular category representing extreme violation in the German admissions asylum programme (McGee 2018). While crimes of sexual violence have been historically silenced, they have now become a site for mobilisation with Helms (2014,235) noting that in the case of Bosnian women mobilising on the basis of vulnerability, innocence and victimhood was “the only valuable thing they had.” The links drawn here from advocacy around the Anfal campaign to the Bosnian genocide highlights the salience of narratives of vulnerability and sexual violence given the traction and attention they generate from desired audiences.
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A number of advocates interviewed for this research also discussed the role that particularly graphic narratives of sexual violence play in mobilisation. In discussing the dominance of narratives of SGBV in advocacy, one advocate noted:
I would say that it [graphic narratives of sexual violence] is a side effect of human or at least a global cultural fetishisation of violence and SGBV in particular, but violence generally and so that’s where our attention goes. I think it’s exacerbated by whatever it is you would describe as the current media picture but I don’t know if it really goes any deeper than human obsession with violence.
This advocate highlights the currency of narratives of sexual violence and the attention capital that such violence commands from some audiences. Similarly, Susan Hutchinson the Director of Prosecute; Don’t Perpetrate noted that “the weirdly voyeuristic, detailed, gruesome sexual violence slavery story gets a lot more traction. More traction than anything else.” Likewise, another interviewee linked “the fetishization of sex and gender-based violence and violence generally with consumption and capitalist culture.”
The rational for the traction of descriptive narrations of sexual violence varied among interviewees; from the global fetishisation of violence, to the influence of the media and capitalisation consumption. However, what is clear is that graphic and descriptive narratives of sexual violence dominate and motivate civil society mobilisation. Meger (2016) argues that reports on sexual violence seemingly compete to produce the most graphic and brutal portrayals of sexual violence. As I have demonstrated earlier, it is not uncommon for advocacy groups to use firsthand accounts of atrocities to mobilise political will and resources. A similar theme emerges surrounding the Yazidi genocide. While the use of narratives of sexual violence as a tool for donor funding will be addressed later in this chapter, critical consideration needs to be paid to subjects and audiences of these narratives. Narratives of sexual violence arguably become a commodity, the bodies of victimised and vulnerable brown women become something
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to consume by those in the Global North to attract attention to the vulnerabilities of those in the Global South (Meger 2016a).
While narratives of SGBV have dominated advocacy around the Yazidi genocide, this is not an isolated case. Shukria Dellawar suggested similar narrative features in advocacy around the conflict in Afghanistan. When asked her perceptions of what narratives gain traction a clear pattern emerged:
I mean I hate to say it but you know how the movie business says sex sells, violence gets the front page and gory stories tend to grab at us more and that is human nature. So that is human psychology, an advocate is always hoping to grab your heart, so they might have ten stories that they could talk about but one will be very controversial and really heart gripping and they want to put that in front of you, they want to move you to act, they want to move you to given them money to address this because it is horrible.
While noting that narratives of victimhood may be harmful in a normative sense given the perpetuation of the harmful perceptions of gender essentialisms, one advocate added they “don’t have an answer as to whether any other method would be better.” They went on to say:
I don’t have an answer as to distancing yourself from a victim narrative, whether that raises awareness in the way that often times that awareness needs to be raised, whether it moves their politicians in the way they need to be moved, whether you can get legislation or outrage the way that you need to get outrage. I kind of doubt it.…It’s somewhat of a dammed if you do dammed if you don’t situation […]
The argument presented here suggests that advocacy groups are aware of the dilemma regarding balancing the harm of perpetuating narratives that centre victimhood, particularly that of Yazidi women and girls, and the benefits of getting policymakers on board. This extract above not only exemplifies the traction of
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narration of narratives of victimisation, but also their strategic use in advocacy. This advocate went on to suggest:
[…] where you maybe you incrementally or moderately perpetuate harmful narratives of victimhood and the roles that places women and girls in, in this particular context but if in doing so you get legislation or state action does that displace the harm you did in the normative narrative? And once you get that victory or once you get outrage is that then the time to make your subtle adjustment in narrative? I think that’s the strategy choice Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other publicly facing organisations have made and think that’s obvious based on what you see from them and I think that I don’t feel sophisticated enough in the implications of these narratives to discuss the merits of that strategic decision but I do think it is a strategic decision they have made.
This advocate speaks not only to the ability for narratives of victimhood to be potentially problematic but also to the role that they do play in mobilisation. Arguments also emerge around the strategic nature of engagement with these narratives. While it has become clear that personal narratives are commodified, narratives of sexual violence also become a resource in and of themselves. As advocates I have spoken to suggest, personal narratives are a vital resource for organisations and they do serve a mobilising function. The concessions made here by a number of advocates regarding the harms of victim-centric narratives, yet a lack of alternate options, pose questions that I have considered throughout this thesis.
The commodification of personal narratives as a resource for mobilisation is evidence through the increasingly used practice of “story banking” (Trevisan et al. 2020). Story banking refers to the “systematic and on-going large-scale collection, digital archiving, and cataloguing of personal stories for future development and incorporation in advocacy initiatives (Trevisan et al. 2020, 150). The process of story banking is suggested to inform a new process of storytelling among particularly US advocacy
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organisations in which stories are banked and subsequently draw upon whenever they desire to bring attention to a particular act, policy, or event. The banking of narratives and their subsequent deployment when a compelling story is needed highlights their importance as part of an organisation’s mobilisation repertoire (Trevisan et al. 2020). However, not all stories are made equal. Organisations will preference stories that are deemed to be more powerful in mobilising support. Based on my interview data this would appear to be narratives of sexual violence.
This section demonstrates the power of narratives as a mobilisation technique. It is clear that narratives of sexual violence are used as a mechanism to gain traction from an organisation’s intended audience. This section has also demonstrated the commodification of narratives as a strategic advocacy tool. As such, narratives of sexual violence are collected and deployed in a strategic manner that directly contributes to the reproduction of the dominant construction of the Yazidi genocide as fixed on acts of sexual violence and the vulnerability of Yazidi women and girls.
6.4 Types of Organisation and Impact on Advocacy
While the previous section has demonstrated the role advocacy organisations narratives play as a mobilisation technique, this section considers how the mandate and audience of an organisation plays a role in narrative construction. The broad definition of civil society groups adopted for this thesis, including groups such as diaspora communities, NGOs, advocacy networks and think tanks has allowed for the inclusion of a diverse array of actors. While I acknowledge that different groups are advocating towards different goals, the audience of the group and the type of advocacy they engage in also has a significant impact on narratives and framing. As noted in Chapters Four and Five, the document analysis showed that the organisations that engaged with the use of the most graphic narratives of sexual violence and those that used the most individual testimony were larger human rights organisations, most notably Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. In this section I focus specifically on how this impacts narratives produced by larger organisations given their
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dominant use of personal narratives and particularly graphic narratives of sexual violence. In doing so, I first discuss how the mandate of an organisation may impact the narratives they produce. Second, I discuss the impact of an organisation’s audience on narrative construction as well as what an organisation seeks to address.
When speaking with advocates, some did note that larger human rights-based groups tended to produce more graphic narratives and in some cases were described as more “press like.”
One advocate I spoke with from an international human rights organisation noted:
If you belong to Amnesty’s newsletter, which I had to unsubscribe from because it was egregious, there’s something about a victim every single day. That’s not our narrative, I am a little sensitive that I am making us seem holier than thou but I think Amnesty is particularly egregious. I think that particularly on newsletter stuff it is where it is the worst.
While this advocate does highlight the “egregious” nature of the advocacy presented by Amnesty International, discussion also ensued regarding how the audience and mandate of an organisation may influence the framing of these more graphic narratives. This same advocate went on to note that:
Their [Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch] bread and butter is fact finding missions […] There is no legal determination in their reports. It is just factual reports and it focuses very much on the experiences of the subject of the violence, in other words the victims […] We are a step removed, we are talking to different people than Amnesty and Human Rights Watch so that opens up an opportunity for us to shift our narrative slightly and we don’t have to do the same thing.
Given the mandate of groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on ‘fact finding’ missions, this may impact the types of narratives produced by these organisations. In order to examine the extent and events that occurred during the
159 atrocities the crimes that have been perpetrated against a group must be outlined. As such, as the advocate above suggests, this leaves these groups more open to engaging with discourses of vulnerability and violation.
Another advocate spoke to this argument in stating:
For broader organisations like Human Rights Watch their mandate is slightly different. So their role is to cover human rights abuses and atrocities happening around the world and so that’s what those reports did, they describe in detail the murders, the violence and the torture.
The mandate of these larger organisations in presenting statements and reports on what has occurred in particular conflicts lends itself to the development of victim- centric narratives. As noted above, the detailed description of acts of violence are an important part of illustrating the harm that has occurred. The separation from presenting these facts, and instead presenting a policy or legal argument, allows some organisations to re-direct the narrative in a manner that may not be open to organisations with more of an exploratory focus.
The audience of an organisation also has an impact on what narratives are told and how they are constructed. In speaking to Jeremy Barker from the Religious Freedom Institute, we spoke about how their advocacy follows a common narrative arc in telling the story of the whole Yazidi community, yet they do not engage with individual narrative testimony. When I asked why this is the case Barker responded:
I think it has more been the audiences we have been speaking to that have been in advocacy with policy makers and so the emphasis wasn’t as much on the emotional impact of this but the kind of strategic and principled arguments and so I think that’s probably the main reason is just audience analysis of what aims we are going after.
Barker suggests the audience of an organisation impacts their engagement with particularly emotive storylines. Barker went on to note that humanising and
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personalising advocacy is a necessary but not sufficient component in mobilisation. While most advocacy groups engage with policymakers in the context of both private and public meetings, larger organisations also engage in mobilising individuals to participate in forms of collective action such as signing petitions and donating money. There is a need for these larger organisations to not only persuade policymakers but also the public. As demonstrated in the previous chapter, the role of this personalisation of suffering, in particular the publication of narrative testimony, is done far more by large transnational human rights-based groups in an effort to mobilise action through their mandate of fact-finding missions. I suggest that many organisations, particularly those which have a goal of mobilising public awareness, use narratives of horror as a mobilisation technique. Weitzer (2007) argues that stories of horror are often used to demonstrate the severity of a situation. In discussing the use of anecdotal stories of horror in anti-trafficking campaigns, Weitzer (2007) suggests that while these narratives often make large generalisations and perpetuate reductive tropes regarding gender and age as markers of vulnerability, they are often effective at mobilising target audiences. Similarly, I suggest that sharing testimonial narratives has become part of a wider tactic to raise awareness and support surrounding the Yazidi genocide.
The audience of an organisation also has an impact on what that group aims to address. In a conversation around what is missing in advocacy, one advocate I spoke with who wishes to remain anonymous, pointed out that “the ability of an advocate to speak about policy reparations is a direct result of the audience of the organisation […].” They then went on to note that:
I think a more developed conversation around really what is next and reparations could exist but again there is a distinction between my audience and Amnesty’s audience. Me wanting to talk about reparations to a policy maker is different to Amnesty establishing the facts that this occurred, and
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reparations is not necessarily relevant to the conversation of establishing the fact that this occurred.
The example provided, on reparations for Yazidi survivors, illustrates the direct relationship that an organisation’s audience has on the narrative that is produced and the advocacy agenda that can be addressed. As Schaffer and Smith (2004) argue, NGOs often market their use of narratives towards a specific audience. This process of orientating agendas and narratives towards a specific audience is also directly related to the process of framing. The definition of framing proposed by Goffman (1974) refers to the conscious and strategic choice of constructing a shared understanding in order to motivate collective action. In order to motivate action, the way an issue is framed must be comprehensible to a target audience and align with their values (Keck and Sikkink 1998). Thus, it seems that the focus on the details of violence and narrative testimony align more strategically with the audience of transnational human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. While the audience and mandate of an organisation may play a role in the construction and framing of narratives, consideration also needs to be given to external factors that may impact advocacy agendas.
6.5 The Role of Donors in Narrative Construction
Humanitarian crises and conflict situations are commonly understood and represented through a single narrative and an archetypal victim (Heaton 2014). Throughout this thesis I have demonstrated that advocacy foregrounds acts of sexual violence, with young Yazidi women and girls as the ideal victims of these atrocities. However, consideration needs to also be given to factors that act upon advocacy to provide a space conducive to the propagation of this narrative. This section will address the role that donors play in narrative construction. In this section I first address the use of narratives of sexual violence to secure donor funding. Thereafter, I argue that the focus of donors on funding programs that mainly address sexual violence in conflict results
162 in the obstruction of other crimes. Finally, I suggest that donors may have a responsibility in framing narratives of sexual violence.
Throughout the interview process, the role that donors may play in framing the events of a conflict emerged as a relevant theme. One advocate I spoke with who wishes to remain anonymous noted:
I think when we have seen this before in previous conflicts that those stories of horror are what often mobilises people to give money and mobilise people to try and help so those tales of sexual violence for example, I think they trigger particularly strong reactions because they are women, so they are “helpless.” So you have the image of the helpless women who needs rescuing in addition to that you have the rape and in addition to that you then have got that these women are often presented as beautiful.
The interviewee points to the construction of a narrative that foregrounds vulnerable and helpless women as a means of strategic funding mobilisation. While the experiences and stories of Yazidi women do describe very real acts of horrific abuse, as this advocate notes, these narratives have previously been the focal point for securing donor funding. As Autesserre (2012) argues, in the DRC sexual violence become the “buzzword” that acted as an impetus for NGO attention and project financing. While the narrative on sexual violence may be made public by NGOs, some argue that this is donor driven (Baaz and Stern 2013). Civil society groups and NGOs are quick to realise that funding will more likely be secured if the program or intervention they are suggesting addresses issues related to sexual violence. Organisations also become aware that the strongest response from both media groups and donors is elicited when narratives focus on emotive, personal and graphic narratives of violence (Heaton 2014). As one aid worker interviewed by Heaton argues “wartime rape is graphic and revolting, and the extra violent element makes it sellable” (Quoted in Heaton, 2014, p. 631).
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While narratives of sexual violence may elicit more donor funding, another concern regarding the complexities of donor driven advocacy is the extent to which the focus on narratives of sexual violence hinders funding access for survivors of other genocidal acts. Dellawar pointed out that “when we put focus on just ‘let’s just save these women’ the solution is just so minimised to one act.” As noted in Chapter Four, the prioritisation of narratives of sexual violence leads to the silencing of other genocidal crimes. A similar concern also exists with respect to donor funding. Heaton (2014, 632) notes how the budgets for donor funding in the eastern DRC for the 1.4 million internally displaced people was less than half of that provided for survivors of sexual violence. While immensely important, singularly funding programming which focus on “saving women” does not address the conditions that led to and reinforce structural violence. As one advocate notes, “the money moves from Afghanistan to Iraq then they will go to Syria.” Dellawar went on to note that:
A lot of the US Aid [for the conflict in Afghanistan] went basically to the organisations working on women’s rights, now you would think a lot of money should have also gone to economic empowerment, to getting women in peacebuilding, to getting women in prominent positions but that was so late in the game most the money went in this huge box for several years on gender violence and we haven‘t solved that, why haven’t we resolved it? Because we focused only on that without focusing on the rule of law which is critical to securing women, empowering women economically, education is a big sector but if haven’t addressed the rule of law they are still vulnerable.
While I wish to steer clear of rule of law debates, I will note that this legal ideal is an ‘essentially contested concept’ (Crawford 2017, 14). The context provided by Dellawar suggests a more substantive lens of the rule of law including concepts such as substantive equality (Witt, Suzor and Huggins 2019; Zalnieriute, Moses and Williams 2019). The point made here by Dellawar links together many concepts discussed throughout this thesis. While Chapter Four critiqued the construction of women as
164 vulnerable and victimised, this chapter highlights how such framing becomes crucial in gaining donor funding. However, this funding is directed towards a simple storyline, a reductive and selective narrative that cannot, and does not, address the complexities of genocide. I suggest that if we want funding to address long-term issues of structural violence then we must complicate the narrative.
Arguments also emerged from advocates I spoke with that the responsibility for regulating narratives and ethical storytelling lies not just with advocates. Dellawar pointed out that:
Donors have to take greater responsibility looking at the context and root causes and how to create programming that addresses long term solutions or whatever cause that is being advocated. Whether that is women or saving people from genocide and mass atrocities.
Dellawar went on to note that:
I mean this is where NGO staff have to take the care, you cannot prevent this sitting in Washington DC but I think donors […] should ask the more detailed questions, did the interpreter sit with this person? The paper should have an interpreter’s signature along with yes I sat with her I went through this, maybe not an interpreter working for the NGO, it has to be independent because all of these things become so minute but they are so important. Then if you pull that woman out of that shelter the world knows about her story is she aware of the backlash she is going to get?
A number of the points made by Dellawar share similarities with arguments made in the previous chapter in relation to the ethics of testimony. Dellawar suggests that in order to ethically engage with survivors and to produce a narrative that focuses on more than acts of sexual violence, actors on all levels of advocacy, including donors, should share responsibility for survivor welfare and reducing the focus on gendered tropes of violence. The argument of regulation by those providing the funding creates
165 an avenue for oversight and may help in addressing many of the concerns cited in Chapter Five. However, the feasibility of donor staff implementing such practices remains unclear.
While some advocates have expressed concern regarding the role donors play in narrative construction and oversight, not all groups are subject to donor directed agendas. Adams notes that:
I mean I would say from my own organisation’s point of view quite luckily we have a fairly diverse funding base so then the ability of any one donor to push you in a particular direction is diminished by the fact that you have many donors and we have a particular kind of relationship with our donors we very much value and emphasise our independence. Of course it can, there’s no question that it can but I think that my instinct is that the more dependent you are on a single source or income or a single donor the more likely you are to be swayed by the needs and desires of that particular donor.
While Adams points out the diversity of funding stream as a counter-measure to donor directed advocacy, it is possible that some smaller civil society groups would not have the same profile and funding diversity and may be more susceptible to donor directed agendas. Another advocate I spoke with who wishes to remain anonymous noted a similar argument in stating:
I know that our donors are okay with us making whatever argumentation we want to make to push our agenda forward in the way that we promised them we would and so I don’t necessarily think that we are incentivised under our donors or that our donors issues appeals pushing a particular narrative.
However, this advocate did go on to note:
I will say this the UN is not as bad which is interesting because they don’t have the same funding pressures. So here is how donors are responsible, Look at that! That is somewhat of an isolated example, the UN doesn’t have the same
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donorship pressures that Amnesty and Human Rights Watch do, Amnesty and HRW fetishise violence and sex and gender-based violence.
While donor pressures clearly do not apply to all advocacy organisations some advocates do suggest that pressures to align with specific agendas may contribution to the fetishisation of sex and gender-based violence. The role that donors play must be considered as a factor that acts upon advocacy narrative construction and the pressures on providing narrative testimony. The need to fund programs for Yazidi women who are survivors of sexual violence and genocide is irrefutable. My critique lies in the pressures created through the predominant funding of such programs and the resultant publication of graphic narratives of sexual violence and ethical complications of storytelling.
6.6 The Role of Policy in Framing Narrative
The purpose of advocacy is to influence the agenda, to bring a particular issue to the attention of policymakers. However, Kingdon (1995) suggests that “policy windows” are only open for a short amount of time and the ability to influence the political agenda relies on wider political and public sentiment, or what Dudley (2013, 114) refers to as a “change in the political stream.” A key mechanism that enables issues to capitalise on these windows is the construction of narratives (Dudley 2013). Arguably, the current level of attention to acts of sex and gender-based violence in conflict may be one of these “policy windows.” While advocates may have the goal of developing complex and nuanced narratives to represent these issues, the necessity to act before the window closes may result in simple storylines and stereotypical characters culminating in the reductive tropes of gendered violence highlighted throughout this thesis.
When I introduced this project to an interviewee, they suggested that the reductive and simple conflict narratives seen in advocacy were not a result of any organisational agendas but rather a necessity to conform to policy dynamics.
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So this is one of the reasons when we were talking to begin with, to introduce the project, when I asked if civil society is the lens and your entry point into this because the civil society organisations that I have worked for and that I have worked with are constantly fighting to complicate the message that gets to policy makers. What you receive in response is often “that’s great, that is really important, but could you give me a one-line rationale for XYZ.” So I was just at a meeting in an unnamed country where there was real pushback on this from civil society who once again were trying to make it clear that women don’t have one singular identity, this is about intersectionality this is about the multiplicity of experiences, you know when we are talking about sexual violence and conflict that violence is often part of a continuum of violence and lack of care and response that has been taking place in a particular society. The need for medical and psychosocial services and response to that particular violation needs to be part of a continuum of care that is a building up of infrastructure that supports women, girls, men and boys across the board and that the lived experience of that particular violation is in the context of a much more complicated story and set of needs and rights for an individual. So I think that, but you know that’s not necessarily what policy makers want to hear. It is much easier and straightforward for them when a particular issue is an avenue, like when they are trying to address a particular issue within the context of policy process they perceive a need to focus on particular violations.
The comments made by this advocate speak to the complex and intersecting nature of ‘doing’ advocacy. The extract suggests the desire of advocates to complicate narratives, to represent the diversity and intersectionality of experiences. Yet when the purpose is to implement a specific policy agenda the narrative is simplified. Adams noted a similar dynamic when I asked about the complexities of representing the diversity of experiences in advocacy:
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I mean I am as guilty as anyone else. Often if you are meeting with a foreign minister, or even an ambassador who is on the security council is a better example, he or she is not going to give me an hour to sit down and talk about the intricacies and the intensity of the situation and all the shadings and subtitles and here is 57 advocacy points that you should think about. I’ve got to hit them quickly and hit them hard and give them some very specific asks. Here’s what you and your government can do to help make this situation better. So in doing that of course there’s a natural tendency to simplify or to say yeah ok there are all these other aspects to the situation but we are going to concentrate on this one because that’s our way into dealing with it but I just think that’s not just true of the area I work in I think if you’re doing advocacy on climate change it is exactly the same. Let’s pick out the part of climate change that is going to be most immediate and understandable to the person we are trying to do advocacy with and give them a potential solution to it.
The very nature of international politics and policy lends itself to presenting a simple narrative. As Adams suggests this is not a unique feature of conflict related advocacy but rather the nature of advocacy itself. While those involved with CSOs are well versed in the complexities of conflict situations there are significant political and logistical hurdles involved in articulating these experiences. As noted in Chapter Two of my thesis, a simple storyline is an essential mechanism through which narrative resonance can be achieved. The use of a simple storyline is argued to not only increase funding, but also to allow the public, nation states, policy makers and international political organisations to mobilise and find consensus around complex issue (Autesserre 2012).
Earlier in this chapter, advocates suggested that those whose agenda and audience relate to policy matters have greater leeway in presenting a more nuanced narrative. However, my research suggests that policy makers and international political staff are the limiting factor in representing the complexity and diversity of conflict narratives. The contradicting nature of the statements provided by different advocates is
169 emblematic of the complexity of advocacy and competing agendas. However, external to the policy space, pressure to present certain narratives and narrative testimony may come from survivor communities.
6.7 External Socio-political Dynamics
Beyond the role of donors and policy makers in constructing narrative agendas we must also consider the role that broader socio-political dynamics play in these spaces. It is easy to forget when researching a conflict that these situations are on-going, there is no static “post-conflict” space in a country that has been involved in war for decades. As such, the information sourced from “on the ground” research is not singularly a product of the genocide but of past and existing concerns of safety, security and space. Jeremy Barker from the Religious Freedom Institute spoke to some of these complexities given the geo-political climate and territory contestation in Northern Iraq:
I think it shows the necessity for having diverse information streams and being able to cross check reporting and narrative and it complicates various policy asks or situations on the questions of security or governments. […] Questions on whether various areas will be controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government or the Government of Iraq and who are the security providers in various areas, elected officials and the perceptions of various minorities towards that in many ways based off their feelings of protection or non-protection and levels of trust that have been impacted throughout this crisis and all of those different perspectives intertwine to complicate what policy recommendations you can take or what the ideal long term government or security questions are and those are things that don’t necessarily map solely by religious community or others there are certainly varied view points within the Yazidi community about the positives or negatives of many of those groups. So I think those worries when we see the implication of sources of information, desires of the community of wanting to both bring your strategic advice of what we think is
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in the best interest but also wanting to be faithful in representing the views of the people that you are working with.
Barker speaks to some of the complexities of sourcing information from politically and geographically contested areas. Most notably he speaks to the need to have diverse sources of information to ensure the material that is being generated best represents the view of the people you are advocating for. While Yazidi people, and most notably Yazidi women and girls, are often represented through a single identity of vulnerable victims of sexual violence, it is important to be cognisant of the extent to which broader socio-political dynamics may impact the information that is gathered by advocacy groups and the information that is disclosed.
As noted earlier, the Yazidi genocide occurred in the independently Kurdish region of northern Iraq. The KRG controlled the area of Sinjar and reportedly retreated as IS advanced. There is well-documented tension between Kurdish and Yazidi people living in these areas. The complexities of this conflict situation are again revealed when considering the religious, political and security situation in these areas. Not only would these directly feed into the information survivors may feel safe in disclosing but also on the recommendations groups are making in constructing their goals and agendas. Most notably, the Yazidi Human Rights Organisation International explicitly advocates for the development of an independent state for Yazidis, Chaldo-Assyrians and other minorities in northern Iraq as well as arms and weapons procurement from allies. Unlike many other organisations the Yazidi Human Rights Organisation International are not a-political, and publicly supported US President Donald Trump’s election. All of these factors may influence the narrative that organisations project. As Barker suggests, the need for diverse streams of information is essential in developing a comprehensive understanding of the complexities and diversity of conflict narratives.
Aside from geo-political complications, the question of where advocacy is ‘done’ is also relevant. While both my interviews and document analysis involved a cross- section of organisations, including those which are Yazidi run and led, many of the
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organisations are advocating from positions of privilege in the Global North on a conflict which exists in the Global South. One advocate I spoke with who wishes to remain anonymous noted:
I think that is one of the challenges of working in New York that which is sort of emblematic of policy making. It is very easily completely removed from the realities of what’s actually happening in communities affected by conflict. I think the challenge is that there’s one of the things that happens in a policy environment like this is that messages become very reductive and so you get a trope, particularly around WPS, where all women have one particular perspective. It is very difficult to represent the diversity and complexity of the lived reality of communities that are affected by conflict and instead by the time you sort of get up into New York, again I am saying New York, it could be Geneva, it would be Brussels right. That multilateral space that policy space, you got a truncated and reductive vison or representation of what is in every case that I know of a complex and evolving conflict situation.
The metaphor provided by this interviewee on advocating from “New York” provides an example of another avenue through which complex conflict narratives become reductive tropes around the role women play in conflict situations. This advocate speaks to the difficulties of those broadly positioned in the Global North mobilising and generating policy recommendations from outside conflict zones as well as the difficulties in advocating around a continuing conflict. Schaffer and Smith (2004) suggest there is a tendency for some advocates to speak on behalf of survivors who are unable or unwilling to share their story and frame these narratives within a human rights framework. Schaffer and Smith (2004) go on to suggest that specifically in cases of sexual violence “activist framing may enfold the narrative within the individualist, humanist, and secular frameworks of Western rights, overwriting the customs and beliefs of victims.”
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Throughout this section considerations have been given to external factors acting on the production and framing of narratives in advocacy. As these factors are delineated, the complexity of conflict-based advocacy emerges. While Chapter 5 illustrated the dominant advocacy narrative of sexual violence, this chapter has shed light on factors that act upon this framing and illustrated the dilemmas of international advocacy.
6.8 Conclusion
This chapter has demonstrated the impact that political influences have on narratives of sexual violence. To begin, I highlighted the role of advocacy organisations as gatekeepers and their power as narrative storytellers and suggested that both these factors contribute to the persistence of narratives of sexual violence. I then demonstrated the use of incontestable narratives by advocacy organisations and suggested that this is a strategic decision to increase audience mobilisation. Thereafter I demonstrated the political traction in narratives of sexual violence and suggested that not only are personal narratives commodified, but they are a resource in and of themselves. I also highlighted the ways in which the mandate and audience of an organisation play a role in narrative construction. In this section I focused specifically on how this impacts narratives produced by larger organisations given their dominant use of personal narratives and particularly graphic narratives of sexual violence. Following this I outlined the role that donors have on advocacy agendas and narratives. While donor pressures clearly do not apply to all advocacy organisations some advocates do suggest that pressures to align with specific agendas may contribute to the fetishization of sex and gender-based violence. Next, I argued how advocacy organisations addressing policy agendas may influence the reproduction of narratives of gendered violence. However, differing opinions given by advocates I spoke with illustrated the complexity of advocacy and competing agendas. The final section of this chapter discussed the influence that external socio-political dynamics play in advocacy spaces. Most notably I outlined the influence of doing advocacy largely from a position of power in the Global North.
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Chapter Four and Five outlined the dominance of narratives of sexual violence as well as the consequences of such framing. This chapter has argued that the persistence of narratives of sexual violence is moderated by the politics and processes of advocacy. I argue that the continuation of reductive gendered tropes of violence, and the implications of this, are mediated by a complex amalgamation of factors including; the authority of advocates as storytellers, the strategic and political nature of advocacy, the commodification of narratives as a strategic advocacy tool the audience and mandate of an organisation and external socio-political factors. While there is not one single factor that leads to the dominance of narratives of sexual violence in advocacy, I suggest that the use of such narratives is often a strategic choice influenced by political and social constructs.
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7 Chapter Seven: Conclusion
Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanise. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity (Adichie 2009).
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This thesis has explored the persistence of gendered narratives of genocide in civil society advocacy. I have demonstrated that, despite progress made at state and institutional levels regarding understandings of, and responses to, sexual violence in conflict, advocacy narratives continue to be dominated by reductive tropes of sex and gender-based violence. Throughout this thesis I have argued for the extension of contemporary feminist scholarship to consider the role of narratives in advocacy. In doing so, this provides an avenue to critique the gendered representations of the roles of men and women in conflict in order to understand why narratives of sexual violence persist in advocacy, and the significant ramifications of this for both hose harmed by conflict, and the ongoing use of narratives in advocacy.
This chapter will first draw the arguments of this thesis together by summarising the previous chapters. Second, an argument will be presented regarding the contribution of this thesis to feminist scholarship as well as the decision made in this research to not interview survivors. Third, I will address the limitations of this research with reference to the focus on institutions acting on the Global North. Following this an argument is presented regarding the dangers of the single story in advocacy. In this section I highlight the contribution of this thesis to the problem of the single story. Finally, I conclude this thesis by suggesting a way forward with a focus on narratives of resistance.
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7.1 Deconstructing the Narrative
Through this research, I have sought to understand why dominant narratives of sexual violence persist in advocacy surrounding genocide, through a detailed analysis of advocacy materials, and in-depth interviews with those directly involved in advocacy efforts. This research was informed by a growing body of literature relating to civil society advocacy, genocide and the gendered nature of conflict. Through engaging with this scholarship this thesis has contributed to the intersectional relationship between these fields of study. This research has also been largely theoretically underpinned by my feminist research ethic in which I suggest in order to understand and respond to the complexities of sexual violence in conflict we must pay attention to the ways stories are told, who is telling the story, as well as the stories that remain untold and the roles that are predetermined. Alongside my use of framing and narrative theories I have been able to demonstrate the complexities of advocacy and the power of stories. This thesis asks the central question, why do gendered narratives of genocide persist in advocacy? In order to answer this question this thesis considers the following three sub questions:
1. How do civil society organisations frame women and girls in the context of genocidal crimes? 2. What are the potential impacts of a dominant narrative of sexual violence in conflict? 3. What factors contribute to the persistence of narratives of sexual violence?
In this section I draw together the main implications of my three analysis chapters, in answering these research questions.
Chapter Four, my first analysis chapter, responds directly to my first research question regarding how civil society organisations frame women and girls in the context of genocidal crimes. My findings clearly demonstrate that the dominant framing used by civil society organisations centred the experiences of sexual violence perpetrated by IS
176 against Yazidi women and girls. A reductive and linear trajectory of the experiences of women and girls emerges embedded in gendered and racialised tropes. The progression of their stories moves from innocence to vulnerability and ends in victimhood. Not only is the focus on the victimisation of women and girls quantifiably larger in the advocacy documents I analysed, but many advocates I spoke to also noted the focus of advocacy on the victimisation of Yazidi women and girls.
In aligning my findings with narrative theory, I suggest that the framing of Yazidi women and girls matches the characterisation of victimhood proposed by Mayer (2014) and Christie (1986) regarding the centrality of vulnerability and inaction in characterisations of ideal victimhood. While the crimes perpetrated against Yazidi women and girls are the focus of advocacy, the complexities of their lived experiences are silenced. The diversity of crimes perpetrated against them are reduced to predominantly the most graphic depictions of sexual violence. All women and girls are suggested to be “already raped and already rape-able” (Marcus 1992, 386).
The implications of this framing are not only relevant to the foregrounding of narratives of sexual violence, but also the denial and silencing of alternate storylines. I suggest this is of significance as it not only positions all Yazidi women as recipients of violence but fixates on sexual violence as the universal experience of all women in conflict. In doing so, the hypervisibility of crimes of sexual violence leads to the silencing of the experiences of men and boys and other members of the Yazidi community. I suggest that the conflation of gendered violence singularly with the experiences of women and girls does not provide a space to understand the complexities of conflict.
Given the essential role advocacy organisations play in agenda setting, the singular focus on experiences of sexual violence presents only one solution to a complex and socially constructed problem. Despite progress towards the recognition of the complexities of sexual violence in conflict, and advancements towards accountability and justice for survivors, the stories of women and girls in conflict have not
177 substantially changed. If we have the goal of addressing sexual violence in conflict we must also address the way women and girls are represented in advocacy, given the power of these organisations in framing representations of, and responses to, conflict.
While Chapter Four demonstrates the focus of advocacy narratives on crimes of sexual violence, Chapter Five considers the potential impacts of the sustained focus on these crimes, in seeking to answer the research question, what are the potential impacts of a dominant narrative of sexual violence in conflict? Throughout my analysis of advocacy documents, it became clear that many organisations use personal narrations of trauma as a focal point for advocacy. A number of advocates I spoke with highlighted some advantages regarding the use of personal testimony in advocacy including the sense of authenticity it provides to narratives and its role in symbolic extension. As such, some advocates suggest testimony becomes a powerful tool for mobilisation. However, while the use of survivor testimony as a mobilisation tool may be beneficial, much of this chapter is dedicated to discussing the impact of such practices on survivors.
Throughout this chapter I discuss the role of advocacy figureheads in movement mobilisation and most notably highlight the process of providing legitimacy to certain voices. In building on my document analysis and interviews, I suggest that for women to be given a voice their victimisation is foregrounded and oftentimes quantified - how many times they were raped and by how many men. In order to be seen as empowered, women and girls must first be victims through what Khoja-Moolji (2017, 383) terms the “chain of vulnerability- suffering- empowerment.” Throughout this chapter I also highlight the potential mistreatment of survivors that has come as a result of the dominance of narratives of sexual violence and the perceived necessity to narrate this trauma. I demonstrate that survivors are often pressured to retell their stories and that some advocacy organisations are engaging in potentially problematic practices. Another concern raised by a number of advocates I spoke to related to setting false expectations in exchange for survivor testimony. While these may be
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explicitly or implicitly proposed, my research suggests that some survivors may be providing testimony on the basis of expectations that have not, and will not be met. I also suggest that informed consent continues to be an issue with suggestions made by advocates in my interviews that there was a lack of transparency regarding the potential consequences of providing testimony. I also consider the impact that narrations of victimhood may have on the participation of women and girls in political and advocacy spaces. While there was disagreement regarding the extent to which the visibility of the crimes perpetrated against Yazidi women and girls has been beneficial, it was evident that at its worst it can impact the participation of women and girls in post conflict spaces, and at its best it can provide a platform for the leadership of Yazidi women and girls.
Chapter Five also addresses the extent to which survivors are considered and consulted in advocacy processes. As I have argued earlier, advocating for survivors and advocating in the best wishes of survivors are two very different constructs. A number of advocates I spoke with noted the lack of engagement between some advocacy organisations and the wishes of the Yazidi community. Of particular concern is the inaccurate portrayal of survivor narratives and the pressure placed on survivors to continue working with advocacy organisations despite their express desire to leave. However, I also consider the complexities of balancing advocacy and agendas and the diverse wishes of survivor groups, particularly with respect to avenues for justice and accountability. In concluding this chapter, I suggest that while the stories of Yazidi women and girls may be represented in advocacy, their voices may not be. More broadly this thesis reiterates the necessity of survivor-centred approaches to conflict related sexual violence. This could be achieved through centring the rights of survivors to be made aware of the serious and significant personal, psychological, and physical safety costs of public testimony. However, I question how we can meet the objectives of Resolution 2467 (2019) and its focus on survivor-centred approaches to justice and accountability when there are still serious concerns regarding the commodification and inherent harms of reproducing narratives of sexual violence.
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Chapter Six, my final analysis chapter, focuses on the political influences that impact the dominance of narratives of sexual violence. While the preceding chapters have demonstrated how women and girls are framed and why this matters, Chapter Six demonstrates why the dominant framing of sexual violence in conflict persists to directly answer the research question - What factors contribute to the persistence of narratives of sexual violence? An essential part of this thesis revolves around how narratives are represented. As such, it is important to consider who has the power in framing these representations. In analysing the role of advocacy organisations as narrative gatekeepers, I argue that the choice regarding what stories to promote, and which ones to silence is inherently political and is driven by those telling the story, in this case advocacy organisations. I also point to the strategy of incontestable narratives as a driving force behind the selection of certain narratives by advocacy groups. The vulnerability inherent in representing the stories of predominantly young female victims of mass sexual violence provides a sympathetic base from which advocacy organisations are well placed to seek funding and support. From my analysis it becomes clear that not only are narratives commodified, but they are a resource in and of themselves. This chapter also considers the role that an organisation’s audience and mandate play in narrative construction with a particular focus on large advocacy groups. I suggest that organisations with a focus on mobilising public awareness, alongside other objectives, use narratives of horror as a mobilisation technique. Given the dominance of graphic personal testimony used by large advocacy organisations seen in my data I argue that sharing such testimonies has become a wider awareness raising tactic for advocacy surrounding the Yazid genocide.
This chapter also identifies factors that act upon advocacy to provide a space conducive to the propagation of narratives of sexual violence. Most notably, the role that donors play emerged a relevant theme. In interviews I conducted, advocates pointed to the role of narrations of sexual violence as a focal point for securing donor funding. However, beyond the role of donor driven advocacy I also argue that the focus of donor agendas on addressing sexual violence in conflict may limit funding
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access for victims and survivors of other genocidal crimes. While donor pressures do not extend to all advocacy organisations as some do have diverse funding steams, it must still be taken into consideration as a relevant factor that acts upon advocacy narrative construction. This chapter also considers the role of policy in narrative framing, particularly the impact of policy windows. I suggest that while advocates may intend to narrate the complexities of conflict and the intersections of marginalisation, the necessity to act when responses to sexual violence are in the collective conscious of policy makers leads to the production of a simple story and reduce tropes of gendered violence. I also urge consideration be given to factors external to policy decisions. For example, the geo-political complexities of research in conflict zones as well as the production of advocacy material predominantly from organisations in the Global North.
Together, these three analysis chapters demonstrate the importance of considering the content, consequences and context of advocacy narratives to achieve a more complete sense of the way we tell stories of women and girls in conflict. In order to understand the persistence of narratives of sexual violence my three analysis chapters have demonstrate how advocacy organisations frame women and girls, the consequences of this framing and the factors that mediate these narratives. In doing so, these chapters demonstrate that, while advocacy can be a complex amalgamation of agendas and pressures, the narratives that are presented are often reductive and harmful. I argue that while we have seen greater recognition of, and responses to, acts of sexual violence in conflict in recent decades, the roles we allow women to occupy in narrating their own stories have not changed.
7.2 Interrogating Power in Advocacy Narratives: Choices and
Limitations
While this thesis has made contributions to the understanding of narrative production surrounding the Yazidi genocide, I also suggest it extends contemporary feminist
181 scholarship surrounding conflict related sexual violence, the power and politics of advocacy and the ethics of storytelling. Throughout this thesis I analyse the power of advocacy narratives. In building on the work of Enloe (2011) I suggest that we often do not pay attention to the way narratives are told, and how characters are constructed in advocacy, rather we focus on the information they produce. I argue we must pay attention not only to the crimes perpetrated against women and girls but the way these crimes are constructed and narrated.
Throughout this thesis the approach I have taken to my research has largely involved tracing and interrogating power. I made the conscious choice not to impose pressure on survivors to re-narrate their trauma. Instead, I focused on how advocacy organisations, small and large, frame and tell stories of genocide. In doing so I was not only able to demonstrate the dominant framing of advocacy material but also the structural conditions that lead to the continued focus on narratives of sexual violence. I do, however, wish to reiterate the admiration I have for the work that advocates do under very difficult conditions.
While one of the strengths of this thesis lies in the diversity of civil society organisations I engaged with, it is important to acknowledge that I only engaged with data that was published in English. As such, the conclusions drawn throughout this thesis cannot be extrapolated to all advocacy organisations. Similarly, throughout my interviews, I also engaged with only those I could interview in English, which has limited the data I could generate. As a result of this, most the advocacy material and advocates I spoke with are working from platforms in the Global North with audiences also largely in the Global North. This is certainly valuable research, as much of the advocacy to address conflict and its extensive harms is directed towards audiences in the Global North, particularly policy makers in international forums such as the United Nations. However, future research could analyse the production of narratives both produced by, and targeted towards the public and institutions in the Global South would be extremely valuable.
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Throughout this thesis I also only considered narratives produced in relation to the Yazidi genocide. Future work could work expand this research to other conflict situations in order to better understand the impact of differing socio-political contexts. Most notably, future work that considers a conflict that received less international attention could be beneficial. This would allow for a greater understanding of how narratives function in different socio-political conditions.
7.3 Avoiding the Danger of the Single Story
This thesis has built on the idea that sexual violence is not simply a part of conflict, in suggesting that such acts are a by-product of broader gender inequalities as well as social and structural forces (Davies and True 2015; Henry 2016). As I demonstrated in Chapter Six, advocacy organisations have the power to construct a narrative around what is addressed, what is funded and broader public discourses in conflict situations. The perpetuation of gendered tropes by civil society organisations reaffirms structural gender inequalities.
Given the reproduction of gendered tropes of violence I highlighted in Chapter Four, I argue that the advocacy that has emerged around the Yazidi genocide shares the same narrative arc as in Bosnia and Herzegovina 25 years ago. The representations of the Yazidi genocide explored in this thesis tell us that women’s bodies are sites of violence, that women do not resist, that women’s identities are limited to singularly that of wives and that women are inherently innocent and vulnerable. This means that efforts to address sexual violence in conflict, funding and programming also fall into these same tropes.
While addressing the effects of violence is important and we must provide support to survivors of SGBV, we must avoid telling a single story that can result in the harms outlined in Chapter Five (Adichie 2009). As Henry (2016, 52) suggests “prevention interventions, or legal responses need to focus on changing deeply embedded beliefs and values that are both socially constituted and individually (but not uniformly)
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absorbed.” I argue that re-framing advocacy to tell stories of resistance as well as the power and the strength of women and girls, is one way in to break down gendered tropes and to get programming, aid and intervention to address the complex dynamics of social and structural inequalities that lead to sexual violence in conflict.
7.4 The Way Forward: Narratives of Resistance
Narratives have the capacity to either reinforce or critique the intersections between gender and violence and the social conditions in which they exist. However, what is made clear by this research, particularly demonstrated in Chapter Six, is the complex factors that lead to the reliance on narratives of sexual violence as a mobilisation tool. I propose narratives of resistance may be a counterpoint to narratives of victimisation, and they may play a role in re-narrating a story that focuses on the strength and resistance of women and girls in conflict. In discussing acts of resistance, I wish to avoid the narrow construction of physical resistance. Instead, I suggest that acts of resistance can take many forms. As I have illustrated in Chapter Four, Yazidi women and girls resisted in many ways, such as continuing to teach children to speak Kurdish in secret, continuing to pray despite forced indoctrination, feigning disability and illness to avoid capture, as well as many other diverse acts of physical and psychological resistance. As advocates I have spoken to suggest, Yazidi women resisted IS in creative and powerful ways, from daring escapes, to spitting in their face, or continuing to pray. These acts speak to the diversity of the experiences of Yazidi women and girls and show that in the face of genocide they resisted.
Narratives of resistance provide a space to recognise the agency of women even in the face of victimisation. As Ceremele (2010,1 1170) asserts “telling resistance stories makes women’s resistance visible.” In narrating stories of resistance and not singularly those of victimhood, some suggest that this could challenge gender expectations (Cermele 2010). In telling these narratives of resistance we see a deviation from typical representations of sexual violence in conflict and the roles that we perceive women
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and girls can occupy. Furthermore, Hollander and Rodgers (2014) suggest that narrating stories of resistance could play a role in deconstructing gender inequality.
Through a critical feminist analysis my work moves beyond conceptualising women in conflict through a dichotomy of agency and victimisation and critiques what stories are told, how they are told and why they matter. If all stories have a moral why should the story of all women and girls in conflict read the same? A single story becomes the only story; one villain, one victim and one solution. Narratives of resistance help us contest the single story, they can be a powerful advocacy tool and offer a different vision for the world.
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Appendix One: Document Analysis Organisations
Organisation Type of Geographical Mandate Organisation Location
Action Yazidis NGO- Run by Yazidi Unclear Testimony collection from survivors for the (Now Back To and non-Yazidi staff purpose of evidence gathering and Life- Action survivor support (Back To Life 2020). Yazidis)
Amnesty Transnational International Advocate against international human International Human Rights Offices rights issues (Amnesty International 2020). Organisation
Free Yezidi Yazidi focused and Headquarters in The Foundation is engaged with Foundation founded Amsterdam, humanitarian services for Yezidi survivors New York and and for Yezidi women and children, with a Iraq special focus on trauma recovery and psychological services, economic empowerment, community reintegration, and education (Free Yezidi Foundation 2020)
Genocide Atrocity focused Washington D.C Genocide Watch exists to predict, prevent, Watch NGO stop, and punish genocide and other forms of mass murder. We seek to raise awareness and influence public policy concerning potential and actual genocide. Our purpose is to build an international movement to prevent and stop genocide (Genocide Watch 2020).
Human Rights Transnational International “Human rights Watch investigates and Watch Human Rights offices reports on abuses happening in all corners Organisation of the world. We are roughly 450 people of 70-plus nationalities who are country experts, lawyers, journalists, and others who work to protect the most at risk, from vulnerable minorities and civilians in wartime, to refugees an children in need. We direct our advocacy towards governments, armed groups and businesses, pushing them to change of enforce their laws, policies and practices” (Human Rights Watch 2020, 1).
It’s On U Focus on Yazidi Unclear Yazidi genocide recognition and genocide- Founded investigation (It’s On U 2020). by non-Yazidi members.
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The Liberation Yazidi focused but Quebec, Canada This foundation, started by Jewish man, of Christian and not run by Yazidis works on liberating women and children Yazidi Children held by ISIS in Iraq and Syria (The of Iraq Liberation of Christian and Yazidi Children of Iraq 2019).
United States Focus on Holocaust Washington DC “Working with partner institutions and Holocaust and genocide producing publications and programs, we Memorial education and support researchers and faculty worldwide, Museum research especially young scholars, to create the next generation of professors, authors, and researchers to ensure the continued growth and vitality of Holocaust studies” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 2019, 1).
Yazda Multi-national Branches in US, “The main mission of Yazda is to support Yazidi global Germany, Iraq, the survivors of the Yazidi genocide and to organisation. Sweden and the ensure the future safety of the Yazidis and Established by UK other ethno-religious minority groups in Yazidi diaspora Iraq and Syria. Yazda is supporting the communities in the Yazidi and other communities in three US main areas including humanitarian, advocacy, and community development” (Yazda 2019, 1).
Yazidi American Founded by Yazidi Michigan, USA “The Yazidi-American Women Organisation Women’s women living in the is a non-profit and non-political Organisation US organisation that is founded with the missing to build, to restore and to empower the Yazidis and other minorities that have been suffering through an ongoing genocide since August 3rd 2014 at the hands of ISIS. YAW’s vison is to help those communities to become free, independent and self-sustainable through resources, education and skills” (Yazidi American Women Organization 2019, 1).
Yazidi Human Yazidi focused and Unclear “Our mission is to defend and protection Rights founded human rights in all aspects, to work hard Organisation and provide the world with the most International trusted information regarding the Yezidis people (Ezidis) around the globe; to educate people to learn the truth account the innocent Yezidis (Ezidis), to give lectures and presentations about human rights and to help teach classes to the Yezidi’s children about human rights, also to work NGOS and also work with governments of the country and international communities and report any abuses and violations against humanity
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and human rights” (Yazidi Human Rights. 2020, 1).
Yazidis Focus on Yazidi Lincoln, “Dedicated to educating the public on who International Genocide Nebraska Yezidis are, the crisis they are facing, and implement different projects to preserve Yezidi faith/culture and at the same time empower the community worldwide through selfless work” (Yezidis International 2020, 1).
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Appendix Two: Interview Organisations
Individual Organisation and Mandate Interviewee Role
Shukria Friends Committee on National Legislation Legislative Associate for the Dellawar Prevention of Violent Lobbies Congress and the administration to advance Conflict and the Coordinator peace, justice, opportunity and environmental of the Prevention and stewardship Protection Working Group.
Pari Ibrahim Free Yezidi Foundation Executive Director
The Foundation is engaged with humanitarian services for Yezidi survivors and for Yezidi women and children, with a special focus on trauma recovery and psychological services, economic empowerment, community reintegration, and education.
Dr Gregory Genocide Watch Founder and President H. Stanton Genocide Watch exists to predict, prevent, stop, and punish genocide and other forms of mass murder. We seek to raise awareness and influence public policy concerning potential and actual genocide. Our purpose is to build an international movement to prevent and stop genocide
Susan Prosecute; Don’t Perpetrate Director Hutchinson Focus on ending impunity for sexual violence in armed conflict- Focus on Yazidi genocide and prosecution of foreign fighters in Australia
Dr Simon Global Centre For The Responsibility To Protect Executive Director Adams Mobilising the international community to act in situations where populations are at risk of mass atrocity crimes- Exist to uphold the norm of the Responsibility to Protect.
Jeremy Religious Freedom Institute Senior Program Officer and Barker Director, Middle East Action The Religious Freedom Institute (RFI) is committed to Team achieving broad acceptance of religious liberty as a fundamental human right, a source of individual and social flourishing, the cornerstone of a successful society, and a driver of national and international security.
Laila Yazda Director of Women’s Affairs Khoudeida and Co-founder Supporting and protecting survivors. Investigation genocide. Collecting testimony
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Appendix Three: Interview Schedule
1. Can you tell me a bit about the history of your organisation?
a. How did this organisation get started?
2. How did you get involved with this organisation?
3. What kind of stories or narratives do you use in your advocacy work?
a. What informs decisions about the advocacy material that is used by your organisation? E.g. are there stories or narratives you will not use
4. Where does this material that is used in your advocacy (for example photographs) come from?
5. What is the goal of your advocacy in relation to the Yazidi genocide?
a. What would your organisation like to see with respect to prosecution?
b. Do you think the particular solution you have sought has impacted on the advocacy material that has been presented?
c. Who is the intended audience of your advocacy material?
6. How would your organisation describe women’s experiences during the Yazidi genocide?
a. Do you see this representation in other civil society advocacy around the Yazidi genocide?
7. Does your organisation discuss advocacy positions with survivors?
8. In your professional experience with survivors and working in this area have their stories been represented in a way that aligns with their wishes?
9. In your professional opinion, do you think there are certain stories or events that are missing or not discussed sufficiently in civil society advocacy around the Yazidi genocide?
a. Have certain narratives dominated civil society advocacy?
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10. What do you think of narratives and stories produced by other Yazidi civil society organisations?
a. Accuracy? Is this how the story should be represented based on your experience working with survivors?
11. In your professional opinion, do you find certain stories gain more traction among your intended audience?
12. Do you think that your advocacy work has been successful in achieving its goals?
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