An Article Review of Akila Radhakrishnan and Kristina Kallas “the Cruelest Weapon”

ARTICLE REVIEW

Arun Benny

Northern Lights College

September 28, 2016

Connie Kaweesi

WGST 100

ARTICLE REVIEW

An article review of Akila Radhakrishnan and Kristina Kallas “The Cruelest Weapon”.

Through the article “The Cruelest Weapon” Radhakrishnan and Kallas tries to uncover the problems faced by the women and girls raped in war and they point out the disadvantages of the “Helms Amendment” (Radhakrishnan & Kallas,2014, p.33) in providing care for the raped women in the warzone areas. The thesis of the article points out the importance of avoiding unwarranted ban on funding war-related abortions especially in the conflict zones by the U.S. government (Radhakrishnan & Kallas,2014, p.30).

The article starts by the narration of an incident about a girl named Eva who was kidnapped, enslaved, gang raped and impregnated by the armed rebels for more than two years in the Democratic Republic of the Congo which is known as the “rape capital of the world” (p.30). Authors tries to uncover the problems that may affect such girls, according to them “Women and girls raped in war are far more likely to die due to pregnancy and child birth complications” (p.30). They also condemn about the U.S. government unchanged policy on abortion in the war prominent areas.

This article also examines the current trends in the warzone areas, were there is an increase in the sexual violence against women and girls which aims to demoralize, destroy and also to change the complete ethnic composition of the communities. According to the U.N. special rapporteur in Rwanda estimated about 2.5 to 5 lakh women were raped in just 100 days as part of the genocide of the Tutsi population in 1994(p.30). Almost the same incidents were reported in Bosnia and Syria were women became impregnated and confined to avoid the chances of abortions. Authors concludes the fact that the primary reason behind the human displacement in the war-zone area is the fear of rape.

Writers try to give more importance to the “Geneva Conventions “(p.30) which can be used to provide abortion services were the domestic laws are restrictive, they encourage the delivery of these services beyond the sexual discrimination or other biological differences. Even though the U.N. secretary general urged the world countries to take the necessary steps for the safe abortion services for the molested girls and women in the war, still the U.S. government is not ready to implement it. Writers notes that the” Helms Amendment” (p.33) is the reason behind it. Helms was the person who started the ban against using the U.S. fund to provide abortion services for women and girls abroad (p.32). Later this was included in the Foreign Assistance Act of U.S. in 1973.Authors criticizes the Bush government for treating the Helms Amendment incorrectly by imposing a complete ban on abortion services for women in the warzone areas. Even though Obama government can change the situation, they also hesitate to implement the policies.

In addition to that they point out the fact that even other agencies such as U.N can provide services without the U.S. support, but they hesitate to do so and follows the ban rules of U.S in abortion related services. It is interesting that even the U.S stands as an international leader for the care of sexually molested people, they still continue to implement the Helms Amendment that restrict abortion services for the sexually molested women in warzone areas.

Writers also points out the problems of denied abortions. The most important thing other than the social stigma and fear affected by the women and children in the war prominent area is the health risks related to abortion and childbirth services (p.33). Authors give importance to the report submitted by Sudan to USAID which conveys the fact that war and rape in the country causes certain diseases among the vulnerable population and later it increases the risk of death and serious harm to women from pregnancy and childbirth (p.33). Haiti’s Jocie philistin who is a survivor of rape emphasizes that when women and girls are denied the abortion services they often try the unsafe and illegal methods that create serious health problems (p.33). Writers also conveys the fact that young girls who are immature to give birth creates physical risks of pregnancy and survivors of these groups usually face long-term” social, economic and physiological trauma” (p.33).