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The Lieber Code
Written during the Civil War, it contained three articles that talked about the protection of women against rape during this war. -
Nanking Massacre
Japanese women and children were raped during the 1937 occupation of Nanking. The massacre occurred over a period of six weeks starting on December 13, 1937, the day that the Japanese captured Nanjing. -
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Article 5: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. -
1949 Geneva Convention
Following World War II the Geneva Convention released a statement saying “Women shall be especially protected against rape, enforced prostitution, or any form of indecent assault.” -
Bangladesh War for Independence
An estimated 200,000 to 400,000 women were genocidally raped during the battle for Bangladeshi independence. -
Medecins Sanss Frontières
Medecins Sans Frontieres says it first came across rape as a weapon in the 1990s. -
Serbian soldiers attacking Bosnia Village in Brcko District
It ranks among the worst rape atrocities in modern European history: the genocidal rape of Bosnian Muslims by Serbs during the Balkan conflict. There is an estimate from 20,000 to 50,000 of women and Gil that had been sexually abused during the genocide. -
United Nations Recognizes Rape as a War Crime
A United Nations tribunal announced the indictment of eight Bosnian Serb military and police officers in connection with rapes of Muslim women in the Bosnian war, marking the first time sexual assault has been treated separately as a crime of war. -
Amnesty International Report
Amnesty International releases a report titled, "Lives Blown Apart: Crimes Against Women in Times of Conflict". The report shows some of the ways which conflict affects women and evaluating the role women play in rebuilding society. -
Silent War: Rape in Syria as a Weapon
"Every free citizen or any citizen engaged in the revolution has had one of the women of his family sent to detention ... His sister, his daughter, his wife. The message is, 'Either you surrender or we keep your wife or your daughter'. The regime used rape to humiliate the Syrian men," explains one woman who served in the army of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for eight years before defecting.
