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37 Geo. J. Int'l L. 193 (2005-2006)
The Systematic Use of Rape as a Tool of War in Darfur: A Blueprint for International War Crimes Prosecutions

handle is hein.journals/geojintl37 and id is 201 raw text is: THE SYSTEMATIC USE OF RAPE AS A TOOL OF WAR IN DARFUR: A BLUEPRINT FOR INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIMES PROSECUTIONS JUSTIN WAGNER* They grabbed my donkey and my straw and said, 'Black girl, you are too dark. You are like a dog. We want to make a light baby.... They said, 'You get out of this area and leave the child when it's made. -Sawela Suliman, a 22-year-old rape victim from West Darfur1 The conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan has displaced nearly 2 million civilians and left another 150,000 to 300,000 dead. However, such numbers hardly do justice to the horrors that the civilian popula- tion in the area has been forced to endure at the hands of the Sudanese military and government-sponsored militias. Indeed, the atrocities committed in Darfur represent the most systematic attack on a civilian population since the genocides in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. After an exhaustive investigation into the conflict, a United Nation's (UN) Commission concluded that Sudanese government forces and militias conducted indiscriminate attacks, including killing of civil- ians, torture, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, rape and other forms of sexual violence, pillaging and forced displace- ment.2 The women of Darfur have borne a large share of the pain and trauma unleashed by the fighting. With so many men killed, impris- oned or off to war, women in the Darfur region constitute large majorities of the population in refugee camps and in those villages that remain. To the shock of the international community, Sudanese govern- ment forces and government-sponsored militias have systematically used rape as an instrument of war against defenseless civilian popula- tions in Darfur. Independent investigations of these crimes routinely * Justin Wagner is a Juris Doctorate Candidate at the Georgetown University Law Center. Special credit is due to Professor Wendy Williams and Erin Barclay for their expertise and guidance on this Article. 1. Emily Wax, 'We Want to Make a Light Baby: Arab Militiamen in Sudan Said to Use Rape as Weapon of Ethnic Cleansing, WASH. PosT,June 30, 2004, at Al. 2. Press Release, United Nations, UN Commission Finds Sudanese Government Responsible for Crimes in Darfur (Feb. 1, 2005), www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=13199&Cr= sudan&Crl =.

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