Sexual violence during armed conflict and other situations of violence is a crime that has huge impact on its victims, perpetrators and society as a whole. The Islamic response to this problem has been comprehensive since classical times. It begins with precautions, monitoring and punishment of the criminals in a befitting manner. Islam focuses on moral training of those who are supposed to fight battles so that they observe the rules and regulations even without external supervision. This, however, does not lessen the command responsibility of those in charge.

In this short video, Ziaullah Rahmani, the ICRC’s Regional Advisor for Islamic Law & Jurisprudence, and Hafiz Ahmad Waqas, a Researcher at the Shariah Academy in Islamabad, discuss the recently published Urdu book “An Islamic Response to Sexual Violence during Armed Conflict and Other Situations of Violence”, which they edited based on a series of papers presented at a conference organized last year by the Shariah Academy and the ICRC. In the course of the discussion, they explain the need for this project, introduce the academics who were involved, and tackle some of the questions that emerged during the conference and the conclusions reached.