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Tactic or Tragedy? An analysis of UN discourse on sexual violence with regard to the “rape as a weapon of war” framing

Öst, Isabella LU (2025) FKVK02 20251
Department of Political Science
Abstract
Throughout history, rape and sexual violence has been regarded as a “spoil of war”, an unfortunate consequence of conflict. It was not until the 1990s that this notion was challenged by the emergence of the “rape as a weapon of war” framing of sexual violence, through which there was a global outcry to stop systematic violence against women in conflict. After having been recognised judicially through the ICTY , ICTR, and the ICC, the weapon of war framing was politically solidified through the UNSCR 1820 in 2008 which recognised systematic sexual violence as a tactic of war. By means of discourse analysis, the present study aims to examine whether this
solidification of the weapon of war framing of sexual violence in conflict has affected... (More)
Throughout history, rape and sexual violence has been regarded as a “spoil of war”, an unfortunate consequence of conflict. It was not until the 1990s that this notion was challenged by the emergence of the “rape as a weapon of war” framing of sexual violence, through which there was a global outcry to stop systematic violence against women in conflict. After having been recognised judicially through the ICTY , ICTR, and the ICC, the weapon of war framing was politically solidified through the UNSCR 1820 in 2008 which recognised systematic sexual violence as a tactic of war. By means of discourse analysis, the present study aims to examine whether this
solidification of the weapon of war framing of sexual violence in conflict has affected subsequent UN discourse on such violence. Through the comparison of UN resolutions on the issue of sexual violence or violence against women adopted before and after 2008, it is found that between the years of 2003 and 2013, there has been modernisation of UN discourse on gendered violence and that the strategic aspect of sexual violence has become continuously recognised through subsequent UNSC resolutions. The actual impact of UNSCR 1820, however, is difficult to determine. (Less)
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author
Öst, Isabella LU
supervisor
organization
course
FKVK02 20251
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
UN, resolutions, discourse, sexual violence, “weapon of war”
language
English
id
9191117
date added to LUP
2025-08-08 11:24:18
date last changed
2025-08-08 11:24:18
@misc{9191117,
  abstract     = {{Throughout history, rape and sexual violence has been regarded as a “spoil of war”, an unfortunate consequence of conflict. It was not until the 1990s that this notion was challenged by the emergence of the “rape as a weapon of war” framing of sexual violence, through which there was a global outcry to stop systematic violence against women in conflict. After having been recognised judicially through the ICTY , ICTR, and the ICC, the weapon of war framing was politically solidified through the UNSCR 1820 in 2008 which recognised systematic sexual violence as a tactic of war. By means of discourse analysis, the present study aims to examine whether this
solidification of the weapon of war framing of sexual violence in conflict has affected subsequent UN discourse on such violence. Through the comparison of UN resolutions on the issue of sexual violence or violence against women adopted before and after 2008, it is found that between the years of 2003 and 2013, there has been modernisation of UN discourse on gendered violence and that the strategic aspect of sexual violence has become continuously recognised through subsequent UNSC resolutions. The actual impact of UNSCR 1820, however, is difficult to determine.}},
  author       = {{Öst, Isabella}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Tactic or Tragedy? An analysis of UN discourse on sexual violence with regard to the “rape as a weapon of war” framing}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}