Kjønnsbasert vold i krig: Hvordan få god kunnskap og på hvilken måte?

The author examines the challenges of gathering data on sexual violence in war, noting that it is often used as a political tool to demoralize enemies and reinforce masculinity. The text highlights historical examples from Nanking, Berlin, Rwanda, and Bosnia to illustrate the systemic nature of these crimes. It argues that current data collection is hindered by victim stigma, lack of uniform definitions, and poor baseline data. To move from 'overview to insight,' the author suggests that researchers must analyze how sexual violence interacts with national and gender identities, noting that victims who view themselves as 'ethnic victims' often find more social support than those who view themselves as 'female victims.'

• Sexual violence in war has evolved from being viewed as an unfortunate consequence of soldierly violence to being recognized as a deliberate part of the political strategy of war, where the female body is used as a battlefield to express revenge and spread fear.
• Historical evidence shows widespread systemic sexual violence across various conflicts: Japanese forces used a 'comfort women' system of sexual slavery in Asia (affecting approximately 200,000 women, 80% of whom were Korean); Soviet forces in Berlin (1945) committed mass rapes with a prevalence estimated between 6% and 1 million victims; and the 1994 Rwandan genocide involved systematic sexual violence against Tutsi women.
• Data collection on gender-based violence faces four primary challenges: victims' reluctance to speak due to shame or trauma, the lack of a uniform definition of 'sexualized violence' across organizations, the absence of pre-conflict baseline data for comparison, and the risk of creating 'hierarchies of rape' where only politically significant cases are prioritized.
• The psychological and social recovery of victims in Bosnia depends heavily on how they categorize their trauma: those who define themselves as 'ethnic victims' often receive more family support because the violence is viewed as a political act rather than a result of personal behavior, whereas those who see themselves as 'female victims' often face greater stigma and fear of abandonment.
• International legal frameworks have progressed through the ad hoc tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Rwanda (ICTR), and the permanent International Criminal Court (ICC), which have helped establish that rape can be a component of genocide and a breach of international humanitarian law.

APA

Skjelsbæk, I. (n.d.). Kjønnsbasert vold i krig: Hvordan få god kunnskap og på hvilken måte? Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/6ef80b15-928b-4bb4-8b81-947120c0f9d9/Kjonnsbasert vold i krig Hvordan få god kunnskap og på hvilken måte.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Skjelsbæk, Inger. Kjønnsbasert vold i krig: Hvordan få god kunnskap og på hvilken måte? Peace Research Institute Oslo, n.d. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/6ef80b15-928b-4bb4-8b81-947120c0f9d9/Kjonnsbasert vold i krig Hvordan få god kunnskap og på hvilken måte.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Skjelsbæk |first1=Inger |title=Kjønnsbasert vold i krig: Hvordan få god kunnskap og på hvilken måte? |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/6ef80b15-928b-4bb4-8b81-947120c0f9d9/Kjonnsbasert vold i krig Hvordan få god kunnskap og på hvilken måte.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{skjelsbkndkjnnsbasert, author = {Skjelsbæk, Inger}, title = {{Kjønnsbasert vold i krig: Hvordan få god kunnskap og på hvilken måte?}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/6ef80b15-928b-4bb4-8b81-947120c0f9d9/Kjonnsbasert vold i krig Hvordan få god kunnskap og på hvilken måte.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }