Mass rape in wartime Japan and Bosnia-Herzegovina: "comfort women" and genocidial rape

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on two particular case studies regarding the practice of mass rape during wartime. The first section centers around the case of the so-called “comfort women”, women of various nationalities abducted by the Japanese military and reduced in sexual slavery in “comfort stations” across Asia during the Second World War. The purpose in this instance was to lower the amount of rapes committed on civilians by Japanese soldiers, contain the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and avoid spies. On the other hand, the practice of mass rapes during the aggression on Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992-1995) was a part of the policy of genocide that Serbian authorities carried against non-Serbs, in particular Bosnian Muslims. In both cases, this dissertation will focus on the concept on “double violence”, where the second violence is represented by the lack of justice and recognition, often accompanied by historical revisionism.