Sexual violence is an ancient and often unseen war crime. Is it inevitable?

The use of sexual violence as a weapon in conflict is as old as the Bible – Deuteronomy 21 states that a victor in battle who "hast a desire" for a "beautiful woman" among the captives can "bring her home to thine house."

And it is as timely as the current conflicts raging around the globe in 2024: In the Middle East, in Ukraine, in Ethiopia, in Haiti and in many other countries.

Yet despite its long history as part of conflicts, sexual violence is often not reported because of the trauma and shame it brings to survivors, their families and their wider communities.

There has also been reticence among various authorities to speak out. Only in modern times, in the 1990s when wars broke out in Rwanda and Yugoslavia, did the United Nations begin to recognize sexual violence as more than just an unfortunate byproduct of conflict but a category of war crime, leading to more prosecutions in international criminal tribunals for each war.

The specific term "conflict-related sexual violence," or CRSV, when the United Nations Security Council issued a resolution that launched the Women, Peace and Security Agenda.