Contributions Made and Challenges Posed by the <i>Rape as a Weapon of War</i> Narrative to Prevent Gender-based Atrocity Crimes

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze the contributions and difficulties derived from the concept of sexual violence as a weapon to prevent gender-based atrocity crimes. In spite of the visibility of this narrative regarding the incidence and dynamics of sexual violence in armed conflict contexts, the efforts to improve prevention have been limited due to problems linked to the securitization of discourse, the emergence of hierarchies in the forms of harm, the privilege of legalistic and militaristic approaches, and the presence of blind spots in this narrative. This research adopted a qualitative approach from a hermeneutic perspective, with a non-experimental research design. The literature review and content analysis were the main research techniques.