Rape and other forms of sexualised violence against women in war are serious human rights violations. The UN Human Rights Convention of 1996 acknowledged also at international level that rape and other forms of sexualised violence against women in war are extreme forms of violence and torture and thus constitute serious violations of human rights. Only recently, the Security Council of the United Nations in Resolution 1820 described the use of sexualised violence as a war tactic for the first time and declared that sexualised violence can be a threat to world peace and international security.

However, gender-specific violence – usually directed against women – is not an exclusive phenomenon of warlike conflicts. Also in times of peace, violence and lack of rights in family and society are part of daily life for women in many countries. The war just shows with radical clarity the final consequences of misogynist attitudes.