CRSV: Georgia-Abkhazia
This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.
Background of the Conflict
The War in Abkhazia was fought between 1992 and 1993, among the Georgian and Russian government forces, Abkhaz separatist forces, and North Caucasian fighters. Ethnic Georgians living in Abkhazia fought on the side of the Georgian government forces for the most part, whereas ethnic Armenians and Russians in Abkhazia supported the Abkhazians (Krag & Funch, 1994). The separatist movement received support from North Caucus and Cossack fighters and the Russian federation forces within and around Abkhazia (Kyrlov, 2008). Amidst this conflict, there was a civil war in Georgia, between supporters of the ousted president and the post-coup government, and the Georgian-Ossetian Conflict of 1989. During the War in Abkhazia, several human rights violations and atrocities were reported on all sides. This peaked in the aftermath of the capture of Sukhumi (the capital and largest city of Abkhazia), by Abkhazia in September 1993, which was followed by a large-scale campaign of ethnic cleansing against the ethnic Georgian community. This war affected post-Soviet Georgia, which suffered significant financial, human, and psychological damage. The fighting and sporadic conflict have devastated Abkhazia.
The war involved serious human rights violations on both sides, with extensive ethnic cleansing, harassment of Abkhaz, Georgians and other ethnic groups, hostage-taking and indiscriminate shelling of civilian populations. As a result of the war the majority of Abkhazia’s Georgian population was displaced to other regions of Georgia (Minority Rights, n.d.).
Prevalence of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence and rape were prevalent on both sides. Between 55 and 60% of those internally displaced were women (Buck, 2000). Studies show that soldiers from both sides used sexual violence (Buck, 2000). According to Human Rights Watch (1995), several women were subject to sexual violence and that Georgians had used rape and sexual violence as a form of “sexual terror,” effectively, a means of warfare. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (Dale, 1997), sexual violence was used by Abkhaz soldiers to target women and girls, as well as dead bodies.
Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence
Sexual violence was used as a war tactic by both sides (Buck, 2000; Human Rights Watch, 1995; Dale, 1997). It was also used as a means to carry out a campaign of ethnic erasure, where reproductive rights were directly targeted. It was used as a means of intimidation and humiliation during house searches and in the course of military activities, in order to demonstrate power (Duarte et al., 2006). Furthermore, sexual violence was rampant and constantly deployed to target women who were internally displaced, to intimidate them by challenging their freedom of movement. In camps for internally displaced women, they were under the threat of sexual violence and other forms of intimidation, deployed as a power tactic by local personnel and displaced men (Duarte et al., 2006). It was also used as a means of torture.
References
Buck, T. (2000) “Aftermath: Effects Of Conflict on Internally Displaced Women in Georgia”, Working Paper no. 310, Washington, U.S. Agency for International Development, 5.
Catherine Dale. The Dynamics and Challenges of Ethnic Cleansing: The Georgia-Abkhazia Case, 1 August 1997, by Catherine. Dale, Oxford Press, Refugee Survey Quarterly.1997.
Duarte, M., Japaridze, S., Chitnava, K., & Aldashvili, I. (2006). Violence Against Women in Georgia: Report submitted on the occasion of the 36th session of the UN Committee on the elimination of discrimination against women.
Helen Krag and Lars Funch. The North Caucasus: Minorities at a Crossroads. (Manchester, December 1994)
Human Rights Watch (1995) Georgia/Abkhazia: Violations of the Laws of War and Russia’s Role in the Conflict, 5.
Krylov, A. (2008). The Security of the Caspian Sea Region-The Georgian-Abkhazian Conflict. Abkhaz World, 15.
Minority Rights (n.d.). Abkhaz in Georgia https://minorityrights.org/communities/abkhaz/
