Rape as a Weapon of War: Accountability for Sexual Violence in Conflict

The subject of this hearing is "Rape as a Weapon of War: Accountability for Sexual Violence in Conflict." This is the first-ever congressional hearing on sexual violence in conflict. It is a sad testament to our failure to take action to stop this horrific human rights abuse. Today we will discuss the systematic and deliberate use of rape as a weapon of war to humiliate, expel, and destroy communities. Tragically, mass rape has been a feature common to recent conflicts in Bosnia, Darfur, the Democratic Republic of Congo, East Timor, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone. It is not new or unique to these conflicts. In World War II, the Japanese Imperial Army raped an estimated 20,000 women, ranging from infants to the elderly, in the city of Nanking in China in a 1-month period.