Rape as a War Tactic in the Rwandan Genocide

In this essay, the author

• Explains that the normalcy of horrible images like this one had cast a depressing gloom over rwanda during the genocide.
• Explains that the rwandan genocide occurred due to the extreme divide between two main groups prevalent in rwanda, the hutu and the tutsi.
• Explains that the rwandan patriotic front (rpf) was organized by english-speaking children of tutsi refugees on october 1, 1990 and invaded the country from the north.

• Explains that the normalcy of horrible images like this one had cast a depressing gloom over rwanda during the genocide.
• Explains that the rwandan genocide occurred due to the extreme divide between two main groups prevalent in rwanda, the hutu and the tutsi.
• Explains that the rwandan patriotic front (rpf) was organized by english-speaking children of tutsi refugees on october 1, 1990 and invaded the country from the north.
• Explains that the genocide began on april 6, 1994, when hutu extremists shot down president habyarimana's plane and killed everyone on board. the interhamwe, which was the group of extremes, set up roadblocks and began killing anyone and everyone identified as a tutsi.
• Explains that in the rwandan genocide, rape was used against women as a torturous war tactic to eliminate the tutsi people.
• Explains that opportunistic rapes arise out of the general chaos and confusion of a military engagement.
• Explains that rapes occurred recurrently during the rwandan genocide. an interhamwe soldier named rafiki personally sought out one tutsi woman who rejected his sexual advances before the war and brought her back to his house.
• Explains that genocidal rapes were the most common during the rwandan genocide. dehumanization and embarrassment were used to establish dominance over victims.
• Describes how alfred musema and his troops raped a pregnant woman, sliced her throat, and killed the rest of the women. genocidal rape was another tactic used to eliminate the tutsis.
• Describes the sublets of the definition of genocide, including causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of a group, imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group and forcibly transferring children
• Explains that rape destroys a woman's morale, her family, and her entire community. in patriarchal society, women are deemed socially unacceptable and un-marriageable.
• Explains that many of the women interviewed in a study by makamana and bryskiewicz remain unmarried and shamed from their community.
• Explains that forced pregnancy was an outcome of rapes in cases where the victims were not murdered. violence is used as a form of power to establish dominance over someone that is not seen as human.
• Explains that rape shaming and pregnancy destroyed the population of tutsi women by essentially destroying their community.
• Explains that the rwandan tribunal recognized the intersectionality of rape in the akayesu case. the hutu extremist interhamwe forces were targeting tutsi women.
• Explains that rape was an effective gendered war tactic in the rwandan genocide.
• Cites desforges, alison, and petra brysiewicz. the lived experience of genocide rape survivors in rwanda.
• Cites russel-brown, sherrie, sharlach, lisa, and weitsman, patricia.