Iraq's Yazidis and ISIS: the causes and consequences of sexual violence in conflict
Preventing sexual violence in conflict is not possible without tackling the underlying structural factors that foster this form of violence
Abstract
Preventing sexual violence in conflict is not possible without tackling the underlying structural factors that foster this form of violence. Militant radical groups such as ISIS use specific gender norms in connection to perceived religious/sectarian identities in order to morally justify and organise violence. ISIS reinforced gender norms that perpetuate patriarchy and men’s control over women to organise the lives and behaviours of its recruits and the people under its control. ISIS’s attacks on the Yazidis showed again that gender (and gendered violence) is a key component of the politics of violence and cannot be reduced simply to an outcome of conflict.
This work is part of the Conflict Research Programme managed by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and funded by the UK Department for International Development
Citation
Kaya, Zeynep (2019) Iraq’s Yazidis and ISIS: the causes and consequences of sexual violence in conflict. LSE Middle East Centre, London, UK.
Link
Iraq’s Yazidis and ISIS: the causes and consequences of sexual violence in conflict (PDF, 3.2MB)