JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Through the ages, sexual violence has been a savage feature of armed conflict, often systematically inflicted by combatants on girls and women in what the world today defines as a war crime. It happened in the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and in modern times, too: Mass rape occurred in World War II, as it did during the Balkan wars and the Rwandan genocide in the 1990s. The atrocities unfold as victorious fighters sweep into seized territory, using sexual violence out of a sense of impunity or entitlement or as a way to terrorize and punish communities. International humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions, seeks to prevent warring sides from engaging in such abuses.
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