Conflict Affects Women in Unique Ways
The Helper and the Witness Guest post by Kelly Hunter In 2018 the Nobel Peace Prize was shared by two very different individuals: Denis Mukwege, a 63-year-old Congolese doctor who founded the Panzi Hospital, and Nadia Murad, a 24-year-old Iraqi Yazidi human rights activist, who at age 19 was kidnapped by ISIS. What cause united these unique individuals from disparate parts of the globe? The Nobel committee recognized their advocacy for victims of wartime sexual violence, defined by scholars as “rape; sexual slavery and forced marriage; forced prostitution, pregnancy, and sterilization; sexual mutilation; and sexual torture” (Elizabeth Jean Wood, 2018). Dr. Mukwege has dedicated his career as a gynecologist to physically healing victims of conflict-related sexual violence in Africa and Ms. Murad, a survivor of such violence has founded an organization to raise funds and awareness to support other women brutalized by this increasingly common war crime/crime against humanity. The Nobel committee’s recognition reflects what scholars and international organizations have long realized:...