Sexual violence as a weapon of war

States use sexual violence as a weapon.

Not only in war against external enemies, but also against revolutionary movements within.

Their aim is particularly to break the will of those affected.

Our response to this must be offensive resistance. – A comment from Ivan Barker.

In war, what already existed and prevailed in society is taken to the extreme.

This is also the case with patriarchal and especially sexual violence.

It includes rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced marriage and other serious assaults.

It becomes a weapon of war by being used strategically to suppress and create fear among the enemy army and population.

It is intended to destroy communities because it not only harms those affected individually, but is also intended to isolate them socially.

The effects of sexual violence can be felt across generations.

Violence against Palestinians and Kurds Due to the destructive consequences of sexual violence on the families and communities of those affected, it is also a particularly frequently used tool by states waging war against oppressed nations.

Because their goal is, among other things, the destruction of national connections, which can go as far as genocide.

For example, according to a study, Israel has been using sexual violence against Palestinians since 1948, although violence has increased since 1967, particularly against prisoners.

Since October 2023, the investigation has reported systematic sexual torture in Israeli prisons against Palestinian prisoners.

A special feature is that numerous Palestinian men are also affected and that Israeli soldiers of all genders carry out the violence.

The Israeli army is also said to train and use dogs to rape prisoners.

In Turkey and Kurdistan, sexual violence is used particularly against revolutionary and Kurdish women.

For example, sexual violence and rape were reported following the arrests of female activists protesting against the NATO summit in Ankara.

In the parts of Kurdistan occupied by Turkey, many of the accused are also men who are part of state institutions, i.e. police officers or soldiers.

At the same time, numerous proceedings for the perpetrators end with acquittals, cases being dropped or judgments with no consequences.

Here too, violence is part of the war policy against the Kurds.

Sexualized torture has a long history - resistance to it and repression are intended to break solidarity. State violence and gender-specific repression do not stop at those who show solidarity with the struggles of the oppressed.

In the past few months alone, two women from Germany have made their experiences of rape in Israeli and Turkish captivity public: Anna Liedtke reported last year at an international conference in solidarity with political prisoners that she had been raped by Israeli soldiers in Israeli custody when she defended herself against nude examinations.

She was captured on charges of “illegal entry into Israel” and taken from Ketziot Prison to the Givon deportation prison.

She had previously been aboard the flotilla that was trying to bring food and other aid supplies to Gaza.

Paula Maier described in August that she was raped by a security officer while in custody in deportation detention in Turkey.

She traveled to Northern Kurdistan in January as part of a delegation to report from the field and show solidarity for Rojava, which was under attack by both Syrian forces and Turkey at the time.

Both viewed the violence they experienced as a political attack not only on themselves, but on struggling women around the world.

Sexual violence in prisons is perpetrated on many political prisoners around the world.

The aim is to intimidate women like her into giving up and having their will broken.

In addition, solidarity with the national liberation struggles should be limited.

But neither the Israeli nor the Turkish state could achieve this goal.

Instead of giving up, Anna and Paula went public and exposed those responsible for the violence.

In solidarity with them and the liberation struggles of the Palestinians and Kurds who supported them, actions followed in several cities in Europe.

Paula Maier in an interview: “Sexualized violence aims to humiliate us women and silence us” International resistance to sexualized violence It is not just states like Turkey or Israel that use sexualized violence as a weapon.

In Germany, too, they are soldiers or police officers, among other things, in order to break resistance or because they think that their position of power will allow them to get away with it without punishment.

Likewise, sexual violence is used against participants during political demonstrations in order to deter them from their political activity.

The aim of sexual violence is to make those affected feel ashamed, isolate and remain alone with their experiences.

This must be resisted.

Openness, community and solidarity are necessary means for this - especially for the numerous women who cannot go public with their experiences or who have not survived these experiences.

Their stories must not be forgotten, but must also be a motivation to fight against this violence.

How this fight can be successful is shown, for example, by the experiences of revolutionary women in Turkey, who were able to push back this method by publishing numerous cases of rape in custody in the 2000s.

Or the achievements of the women in Rojava, who are taking their fate into their own hands with their own courts and defense units.

Whether in Turkey and Kurdistan, Israel and Palestine or Germany: The resistance and fight against sexual violence as a weapon must be led united by everyone who is committed to a better world.

This text appeared in the September 2026 print edition no. 114 of our newspaper.

The entire issue can be found here.

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