Violences sexuelles en période de guerre: Théories, méthodes et pistes de recherche

Over the past decades, wartime sexual violence has attracted significant attention
from the media, from political and humanitarian actors, as well as from
researchers. It has been the object of numerous national and international
political initiatives, such as multiple UN Security Council resolutions. This
increased attention, however, has not helped to eradicate them and has even
failed to generate movement in that direction. This Cahier attempts to present an
overview of sexual violence patterns in times of war and to assess their importance
in contemporary conflicts by reviewing their diversity, their complexity, but also
their omnipresence during violent conflicts. The main theories relating to the
perpetrators’ motives and the effects of this violence at the individual and
collective levels are presented, as well as the dominant methodological
approaches and the ethical challenges they raise. Finally, this essay proposes some
avenues for research based on the concept of intersectionality, as well as on a
non-binary approach in order to challenge the way victims and perpetrators of
sexual violence have been framed so far.