How Did Rape Become a Weapon of War?

Rape and sexual abuse are not just a by-product of war but are used as a deliberate military strategy, says Amnesty.

“Women are seen as the reproducers and carers of the community… Therefore if one group wants to control another they often do it by impregnating women of the other community because they see it as a way of destroying the opposing community." —Gita Sahgal, Amnesty International

“Such attacks are an assault on the integrity of individual women as well as their communities. They are a form of public desecration; they are often a deliberate attempt to humiliate enemy men for failing to protect ‘their’ women.”