It was an eerie place for a camp. Inside were about seven hundred Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans, and Pakistanis, a third of whom were children. There were around a hundred Yazidis. These refugees made up 10 percent of the population of the small island. The camp was surrounded by a double fence topped with whorls of razor wire like a prison. “It’s to stop those from outside coming in,” explained Yiannis. “Maybe somebody wants to steal children or young women or buy organs or sell drugs.” Some of the answers, of course, must come from the perpetrators. And it is mainly – but not only – men who descend to this depravity, although we read about a women’s development minister who facilitated rape in Rwanda. And, increasingly, men are also targeted; reports reveal Syrian prisons daubed with the blood of countless victims of torture, including sexual abuse. Lamb turns to the accused she can find. But prisoners in Iraqi jails, the young Islamic State fighters awaiting trial, are, perhaps understandably, selective in their memory. Imdama knygą, supratau apie ką ji, tad lyg ir neturėjo šokiruoti. Esu skaičius nemažai knygų apie karą, genocidą, prievartą. Bet smurto ir teroro mastai šitoje knygoje tokie dideli, kad siaubas pranoko visus baisiausius mano įsivaizdavimus. Perskaičius tiesiog žiūriu į vieną tašką ir nerandu žodžių visam tam apibūdinti.

Our Bodies, Their Battlefield - Baillie Gifford Prize Our Bodies, Their Battlefield - Baillie Gifford Prize

Avastasin raamatu nädal aega tagasi Viru keskuse Rahva Raamatust ja teadsin koheselt, et pean selle endale ostma. Tänaseks ongi teos läbi loetud ja ma olen lihtsalt pahviks löödud. Teadsin, et konfliktides kannatavad väga palju just tsiviilidest naised ja lapsed, kuid nende lood ei jõua väga palju avalikkuse ette. Christina Lamb has worked in war and combat zones for over thirty years. In Our Bodies, Their Battlefield she gives voice to the women of conflicts, exposing how in today’s warfare, rape is used by armies, terrorists and militias as a weapon to humiliate, oppress and carry out ethnic cleansing.Casting her subjects as survivors rather than victims, Lamb gives life to individual stories without neglecting the larger picture ... [ Our Bodies, Their Battlefields] casts vital light on a subject that has been long, and shamefully, ignored." A few months later, she writes, fly-bys and US drones spotted a large group of girls, but it was concluded “they were beyond rescue in practical terms”. A powerful, wrenching account that travels around the globe giving voice to those who have experienced almost unimaginable horrors... Far from an easy book to read, it casts vital light on a subject that has been long, and shamefully, ignored." Unfortunately it’s very easy to use rape or sexual violence as a weapon of war. It’s very effective, and it’s very cheap: it doesn’t cost anything. In the last few years, I’ve just seen much more horrific brutality against women than I had seen in all the previous years and decades I had been reporting. That seemed really odd to me, that in the 21st century, this is a war crime and yet it seems to be happening more and more. It was the Yazidis that really impacted me, because those girls had been taken very young, and had been traded in latter day slave markets with ISIS fighters who had come and chosen them.

Our Bodies, Their Battlefield: What War Does to Women

Labai baisiai skamba, bet šiomis dienomis tai nėra jau naujiena, nes Ukrainoje vyksta identiškai panašios situacijos, kai masiškai prievartaujama po keliasdešimt kartų tą pačią moterį, kai tai daroma su vaikais, kūdikiais, kai tai daroma iki mirties, po mirties, ar nužudoma auka po visko, stebint šeimos nariui. After all this we find we are still not free,” she said. She held out her left wrist. Raised red scars crisscross the pale skin like angry worms. “I tried to kill myself with a knife.” She shrugged. The last time had been just two weeks earlier. Pati kraupiausia ir labiausiai sukrėtusi knyga, kurią skaičiau. Tai ne siaubo romanas, ne grožinis kūrinys. Tai tikri įvykiai, kurie vyksta mūsų Žemėje ir padaryti mūsų, žmonių. Tiesiog, neįmanoma ramiai skaityti protu nesuvokiamus dalykus, kai pažiūrėjus pro langą - karšta vasara, gali stebėti vienas kitą vaikančius paukščius, kai guli po medžiu, besisupdama hamake, įsikandus smilgą, tačiau atvertus knygą, iš jos veržiasi siaubas ir baimė.No one should have to live through the things the women in this book have had to endure. It makes me both devastated and appalled that our governments don’t think these things are important enough to tell us or even important enough to intervene, as they could have done on numerous occasions. Why do you think that you have witnessed more brutality against women in recent years compared to the rest of your career?