'We are going to rape you and taste Tutsi women': Rape during the 1994 Rwandan genocide

Abstract

Over the past decades, scholars have paid greater attention to sexual violence, in both theorization and empirical analysis. One area that has been largely ignored, however, is sexual violence during times of armed conflict. This paper examines the nature and dynamics of sexual violence as it occurred during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Drawing upon testimonies given to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), descriptions of rapes - both singular and mass - were qualitatively analysed. In general, three broad types of assaults were identified: opportunistic assaults, which seemed to be a product of the disorder inherent within the conflict; episodes of sexual enslavement; and genocidal rapes, which were framed by the broader genocidal endeavours occurring at the time.