Introduction to Permanent Exhibition 

Chapter 3. Empowering the present, advancing toward the future  

As long as wars continue in our world, violence against women will not disappear.

We broaden our perspective globally and examine the pain endured by women in other parts of the world today. 

Violence Against Women During Conflict 

Violence against women during wartime is nothing new. Women’s bodies have become battlefields themselves, and rape is often used as a weapon of war. In modern conflicts, acts of violence such as mass rape, rape camps, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, and forced pregnancies or sterilization have been carried out in more organized and strategic ways. All units of war—whether armed forces, military units, and militia groups at all levels have been committing these acts of violence against women.

An Unfinished War: The Wars of the 2000s 

At the dawn of the new millennium, the sounds of war echoed through Afghanistan and Iraq. The suffering of women continued not only during the war itself but even after the U.S. declared its end. The acts of sexual torture in prison camps and rape of local women by occupying forces, including the American troops, shocked the world. Police and military forces also committed acts of sexual violence against women involved in human rights activism. Even today, women live their daily lives under constant threats to their safety and survival.

Africa: Continuing Conflict and Sexual Violence 

Over the past 30 years, Africa has experienced more conflicts than any other regions of the world and, correspondingly, has seen the most widespread wartime sexual violence. In Rwanda, countless women who were raped during the civil war suffered with unwanted pregnancies and AIDS, which was passed onto many of their children as well. Sexual violence as a weapon of war was used not only in Rwanda but also in Darfur, Congo, and various other areas. In countries such as Burundi, Chad, the Congo, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Sudan, women have been subjected to rape and have suffered traumatic fistulas, which are severe injuries to their genital organs caused by sexual violence. In the Eastern region of Congo, where rape continues at alarming rates, women are even raped publicly in front of their family and community members. Statistics show that in the Democratic Republic of Congo, at least 48 women are raped every hour, amounting to over 1,100 victims who are raped daily. The UN has tragically labeled the Democratic Republic of Congocountry as the “rape capital of the world.”