Sexual violence during the armed conflict of Ukraine: A hierarchy of harms?

• In Event: Sexual Violence in Various contexts

Abstract

Both sexual victimisation and war are traumatic, life-changing and contested, especially for those who lose: on the battlefield or in the courtroom. The conflict in Ukraine has ravaged the country, displaced millions and caused over 25,000 deaths. By March 2024, 283 conflict-related cases of sexual violence have been recorded and are under investigation. However, sexual violence is not limited to conflict. This paper examines sexual harm in Ukraine during peacetime ‘domestic’ settings and during armed-conflict.  The discussion considers the impact of what Sellers (2002) termed the ‘legal hierarchy of rape’ under international humanitarian law, juxtaposed with domestic laws, and the re-presentation and treatment of the victim. Applying recorded crime and conviction data, we argue that the so-called ‘iconic rape victim’ of war is just as unlikely to find justice at court than her or his domestic counterpart. The authors consider how sexual harm can be addressed in a meaningful way when we juxtapose four paradigms: prevalence of sexual harm; the re-presentation of sexual violence in armed-conflict and domestic settings; the application of legislation in war and peace; and whether ‘hierarchies’ of sexual harms exist. Despite important aspirations of laws, in practice it appears to be successfully applied to perpetrators of sexual violence, whilst barely acknowledging its victims.

Sellers PV (2002) Sexual Violence and Peremptory Norms: the legal value of rape. Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law 34(3): 287–304.

Authors

• Colleen T Moore, Anglia Ruskin University

• Anna S. Politova, Mariupol State University

• Liubov M. Kniazkova, Mariupol State University