There have been several instances in recent years of systematic rape as a weapon of war.

The allegations include widespread beatings, systematic rape, and even murder.

Military offensives have been accompanied by systematic rape, torture and the use of forced labour, human rights groups say.

The systematic rapes in the former Yugoslavia have aroused the world.

Serbian soldiers themselves have described the systematic rape of Muslim women.

Many of the young women held for systematic rape by Japanese soldiers felt too shamed to ever marry or return to their families and villages.

Initially their focus was the systematic rape of Bosnian women in wartime.

Likewise, systematic rapes are often employed as a form of ethnic cleansing.

Organisations tell us that, for example, the armed forces have also started using systematic rape as a weapon against ethnic minorities.

Women in areas of military conflicts are victims of systematic rape for political purposes.