CRSV: “The Troubles”

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 Troubles, or the ethnnonationalist conflict in Northern Ireland, lasted for about thirty years from the late 1960s to 1998, when it ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 (Mitchell, 2013). Categorised as a “low-level war” or “irregular war,” the conflict was essentially political and nationalistic, informed by several historic events and shaped by ethnic and sectarian concerns. The key issue was the status of Northern Ireland. While on the one hand, unionists and loyalists – mainly Ulster Protestants – wanted Northern Ireland to remain within the United Kingdom, on the other hand, Irish nationalists and republicans wanted Northern Ireland to leave the United Kingdom and instead, join a united Ireland (Mitchell, 2013). The conflict started during a campaign by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association, which called for the end of discrimination against the Catholic-nationalist minority by the Protestant-unionist government and local authorities (McGarry & O’Leary, 1995). The government tried to suppress the protests. Ulster loyalists also opposed the campaign, considering it a front for republican political activity (Keogh, 1994). In August 1969, a series of riots unfolded, and British troops were brought into what became one of their longest operations. Peace walls were also built in certain areas to keep the two communities apart. Some Catholics initially welcomed the British as a neutral force, but they turned out to be seen as hostile following Bloody Sunday in 1972. The Troubles involved a range of riots, mass protests, and acts of civil disobedience. Over 3,500 people were killed, of which 52% were civilians, 32% were members of the British security forces, and 16% were members of paramilitary groups (McEvoy, 2008). The Northern Ireland peace process led to ceasefires and talks among the main political parties, and concluded with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which restored self-government to Northern Ireland based on a power-sharing arrangement (Elliott, 2007). It included the acceptance of the principle of consent, commitment to civil and political rights, parity of esteem, police reform, paramilitary disarmament, and the early release of paramilitary prisoners.

 Prevalence of Sexual Violence

In general, the Northern Ireland conflict has not been associated with reports of sexual violence. However, British security forces were known to have used the region as a testing ground for practices emulated in other conflicts (Cadwallader, 2013). Despite this, little work was done to determine whether sexual violence was also part of the arsenal of British state forces in the North (O’Keefe, 2017). A couple of studies, however, show that republican women were targeted by the state with sexual violence in the form of strip searches. Republican women were also arrested and imprisoned and subjected to sexual violence in prison (Symington, 2021). State-perpetrated sexual violence also included abusive threats and slurs (O’Keefe, 2017).

Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence

Sexual violence was used as a means to control and intimidate women for their political affiliation. It was also used as a means to humiliate women by targeting them with threats and strip searches in order to shame their political activism and by extension, their families. It was used as a means to police subversive women who challenged the authority of the state (O’Keefe, 2017). It was also used as a way to punish republican women for transgressing such gender norms and exerting political agency (O’Keefe, 2017).

References

Cadwallader, A. (2013). Lethal allies: British collusion in Ireland. Mercier Press Ltd.

Elliott, M. (2007). The Long Road to Peace in Northern Ireland: Peace Lectures from the Institute of Irish Studies at Liverpool University (2 ed.).

Keogh, D. (1994). Northern Ireland and the Politics of Reconciliation. Cambridge University Press. 

McEvoy, J. (2008). The politics of Northern Ireland. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 

McGarry, J. & O'Leary, B. (1995). Explaining Northern Ireland. Wiley-Blackwell.

Mitchell, C. (2013). Religion, Identity and Politics in Northern Ireland. Ashgate Publishing. 

O'Keefe, T. (2017, May). Policing unruly women: The state and sexual violence during the Northern Irish Troubles. In Women's studies international forum (Vol. 62, pp. 69-77). Pergamon.

Symington, A. (2021). State Instituted Sexual Violence: How the Northern Irish State Weaponised Gender to Enforce Authority During the Troubles, 1968-1998. The UC Santa Barbara Undergraduate Journal of History, 1(1).