Rwanda Genocide Research

The Rwanda Genocide delegated a shift in the way society viewed rape during times of war. Women who fell victim to sexual assault have lived with the physical and psychological traumas of these experiences for centuries. In this paper I will argue against rape being used as a weapon of war, the long term effects it has had on women and the process it took for rape to be recognized as a criminal act during the Rwandan genocide. Here is a brief history of how the Rwandan Genocide began. The genocide in Rwanda took place over the span of three months from April till July of 1994 (Buss, 2007). The war began because "a plane carrying Rwandan president Habyarimana was shot down " (Buss, 2007). After the shooting there was a war between the Tutsi
Second, perpetrators may use sexual violence as a tool of cultural and community destruction. [Lastly], is the infliction of forced pregnancy as an instrument of genocidal violence (Rogers, 2016). I agree with both statements that rape has a long term effect on the individual and should have been seen as an act of genocide. On top of these effects, one large effect of rape is the transmission of HIV and AIDS. "It is estimated that tens of thousands of women may have been infected with HIV as a result of genocidal rape" (Gard, 2013). Numbers unfortunately cannot be accurate due to the amount of individuals who do not report acts of rape that have been conducted. This is just an example of one effect rape has had on women. In the same article Gard reports
The argument he is making is trying to prove that rape was used with intent to destroy a group; genocide. Similarly Buss stated a similar finding that "rape as genocide requires that the act of rape was committed with intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnical, racial or religious group" (2007). Recognizing rape as an act of genocide is relevant in making the act more punishable criminally,