War and trauma

© Photo: Christian Jungeblodt

“The young woman has been staring straight ahead for hours. She is not aware of what is happening behind her. She does not notice a woman putting down a dish of food. This has been going on since the soldiers were there….She has completely retreated from the world. Nothing is of any significance any longer.” (A survivor)

The war is over – the pain remains

While the political war lords are count their dead, shrug their shoulders when asked to estimate the extent of collateral damage, and continue on with the day` s agenda, a survivor has been left psychologically wounded – often a life long. This is the experience of women and girls as survivors of sexualised violence in military disputes: The war is over at some time or another, the psychological pain remains, and due to the strong social taboo about sexualised violence, they are forced to deny their terrible experiences. Often for a lifetime. (see also: Speech by Monika Hauser at the IPPNW Congress 2003 ).

Experts call these invisible wounds a psychological trauma, a deep injury to the soul and the personality. The results of a traumatic experience are on many levels: often physical, but also psychosomatic complaints plague the daily life of these women and girls. Most women react functionally, i.e. they maintain an outer framework which serves to keep themselves and their families alive, but the wound continues to fester within their innermost selves and in their bodies.

Sexualised violence in areas of war and crisis

Women and girls are subject to sexualised violence and torture in every war. Rape contributes to the increase in power of the respective warring party. It is employed as a strategic weapon for purposes of war and also to demoralise the population. It was thus used as a strategic means of driving away the population in Bosnia-Herzegowina in 1992, in Kosova during the military disputes from the late 80`s on and also in Ruanda among other places. Sexualised violence against women and girls has and still does serve as a means of social repression e.g. in Chile, Argentina, Turkey, Afghanistan,, and is even brought into the country by the stationing of peace troops. (As occurred in Somalia, Cambodia, Mosambique, Sierra Leone, Macedonia.

Survivors of sexualised violence

War rape, however, has only recently been recognised and xxx as a war crime – provided that the perpetrators can be caught (see Documentation of the Foca trial). Exact figures will never be available: many women and girls did not survive the attack; they died after being raped, humiliated, and tortured or they were killed intentionally. No small number committed suicide, because they felt unable to go on living with these invisible injuries.

The women and girls involved are generally subject to serious trauma. The things that a woman, a girl has to suffer during hours and days of sexual exploitation, humiliation and torture is more than the human psyche can come to terms with. Further insult occurs through the fact that these women become outcasts of society and are stigmatised. What is left is a person with very heavy physical and psychological injuries, which are often followed by a host of symptoms. Some women manage to stabilise themselves, others still consider themselves to be crazy after many years because memory has managed to forget some things but the body has stored these unspeakable injuries in its cells, so to speak. A multitude of fears, depressions, back flashes, and psychological inertia are the normal reaction after having a traumatic experience. However, they make the re-entry of affected women and girls to a “normal life” more difficult and often require support through psychotherapy if they last for a longer period of time.

Results of war violence for women

It is especially the women who have to deal with the social and economic consequences – both during a war and in its aftermath. Many have been widowed , and often enough they do not even receive information concerning the whereabouts of their (deceased) spouses. The results are catastrophic: without, husbands, they are considered to be unprotected and have to rely of the help of strangers, even in refugee camps, where they are again subjected to pressure and sometimes even to prostitution. Many women are physically and psychologically not even capable of caring for their children. Just the suspicion of having experienced sexual violence robs young, unmarried women of the chance of a relationship. Or they might be forced into an arranged marriage to dispel any lingering suspicion. Some will never be able to have children while others are no longer capable of a sexual relationship for the rest of their lives. Some are pregnant – with the child of the rapist.

10 years after the war in Bosnia: Any memory or confrontation with the psychological trauma suffered can cause the victim to become re-traumatised, which means a new psychological shock.

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