Into the Theoretical Jungle; Exploring Sexual Assault during the Syrian War

Syria has seen generations of conflicts, inequalities of wealth, rising inflation, droughts and loss of thousands of people. My generation has always remained as observers of this intensely war torn region for perhaps our entire lives. And it is these casual mentions in my household regarding the conditions of Syria that have ingrained a sense of curiosity and empathy in me for the state on the verge of becoming a forgotten crisis. Sexual assaults during wars are not uncommon, and this blog focuses on that aspect of the Syrian crisis. As a woman especially, I feel obliged to bring this issue to light through the three different perspectives of a liberalist, a realist and a constructivist. Internationally, the general state of Syria has caused quite a stir in the media, especially after the civil war that erupted in Syria and killed over three hundred thousand people in the country. In another alarming number released by Global Citizen, out of 450 interviewees, there had been women who had been gang raped with no consequences for the perpetrators, leaving a legacy of trauma and pain. 

“Syrian women—and men as well—have been systematically subjected to several

kinds of wartime sexual violence, including rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution,

forced impregnation, enforced sterilization, sexual torture, sexual terrorism, sexual

mutilation, and forced nudity.” 

-Hilmi M. Zawati

The endless rapes of women and children during the Syrian civil war present the referent object as the Syrian women and children themselves, the threat object as the Syrian government and the militia of other foreign actors that are trying to bring in changes in the country and the securitising actors as perhaps international institutions like the United Nations.

Before I begin with the analysis, I think it is important to understand anarchy. Anarchy in the international system signals to the fact that states are self-interested entities. The story of anarchy is as old as time, we have seen it time and again. The continual survival of the state hinges on the self-preserving nature of states themselves. This is also why states are naturally apprehensive of alliances in the global order, there is always a factor of the security dilemma which states control by internal and external self-strengthening tactics. 

When we look at this issue through a realist perspective, there would be no focus on the suffering of certain communities and individuals within the state because the entire focus lies on state security as a whole. Since realism assumes that states are the primary actors and only work to support their national interests, it justifies the suppression of the citizens that are acting ‘against’ the state as a form to punish them for the same. There is also the presence of the assumption that the world is anarchic; there is no international authoritarian body that can manage this issue, simultaneously invalidating the involvement of the UN and other such actors. Realism justifies the steps taken by the President, Bashar al-Assad as an attempt to take control of Syria again in the ‘competitive’ nature of the global order. The existential threat here as viewed by this particular group would not be the different groups of people facing issues (sexual assault, for example), rather the focus would be on the threat to the state and its sovereignty by the participation of US, UK, France, Saudi Arabia and Qatar wanting to change the regime in the country, as well as the presence of Al Qaeda and ISI as foreign instruments. 

A liberalist on the other hand, with a more positive outlook regarding International Relations would definitely take the sufferings of the women and children in Syria. Liberalism is rooted in the efficient enforcement of various rights provided to individuals and their wellbeing by a democracy in particular. It believes that any other political system, apart from a democracy, cannot provide a good life for its citizens, condemning the Ba’ath Party for its authoritarian regime in the country. In this particular case, where the Syrian military along with outside forces has been using weapons as a means to suppress its own people and without any checks. The very involvement of international institutions in the war suggests that there have been attempts to restrain the violent tendencies of the state of Syria.

Constructivism understands anarchy ‘as states see it’, insinuating that this explanatory theory has been intersubjectively agreed upon. The issue of the Syrian crisis has been extrapolated internationally because certain domestic actors along with the state raised their concerns about the issue. This also brings us to the aspect of mutually constituted identities, in this particular case, the identities of the Syrian women that are jeopardized. Syrian women and their issues are only as valid as their mutual constitution to each other. This is where the interplay of anarchy also comes through. The unique aspect of constructivism is that anarchy is what the actors make of it to be, thus in some respects the conjunction of Syrian women which is a domestic issue, the state and foreign policy makes for a constructivist standpoint. 

In conclusion, it can be said that the experiences of Syrian women get subsumed within larger national issues. These three theoretical paradigms attempt to solve and explain international security as best as they understand it. It becomes difficult to address security issues holistically because no theory can adequately explain every dimension of every issue. Yet, there is a dire requirement that such minority groups in conflict areas be paid attention to, lest the casualties keep increasing. 

References

1. Zawati, Hilmi. (2014). 'Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War in the Ongoing Syrian Conflict:' Testimony of Hilmi M. Zawati Before the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development of the House of Commons, the Parliament of Canada, Ottawa. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284078728_%27Sexual_Violence_as_a_Weapon_of_War_in_the_Ongoing_Syrian_Conflict%27_Testimony_of_Hilmi_M_Zawati_Before_the_Subcommittee_on_International_Human_Rights_of_the_Standing_Committee_on_Foreign_Affairs_and_I

2. Hopf, Ted. “The Promise of Constructivism in International Relations Theory.” International Security, vol. 23, no. 1, 1998, pp. 171–200, https://doi.org/10.2307/2539267. Accessed 1 May 2022.

3. Ikenberry, John, “The end of liberal international order?”, International Affairs, Volume 94, Issue 1, January 2018, Pages 7–23, https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iix241

4. Selby, Daniele. 2018. “In Syria's Civil War, Rape Has Been Used As a Weapon Against Men, Women, and Children.” Global Citizen. https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/syria-civil-war-refugee-un-rape-sexual-violence/.