Abandoned Victims of the Genocidal Rape of 1971

Two weapons were frequently used historically to suppress any nation throughout the history of the world. One is the massacre and the other is rape. During the liberation war of 1971, the Pakistanis violated the law of the war committing almost all the possible war crimes, genocide, and rape of Bangladeshi women with the help of local collaborators. Especially mass rape and sexual violence against Bengali women were well planned and they wanted to create a new nation through the systematic destruction of the Bengalis so that Bengali nationalism could never rise again. As a result of genocidal rape many Bangladeshi women got pregnant and gave birth to war babies between 1971 and 1972. From the very birth, these war babies are victimized along with their distressed mothers. Unlike other victims of war, the national and international laws pay very little attention to these unaddressed secondary victims of war. They are denied their socio-legal rights because of having no paternal identity and a traumatized history of their birth. Society, family, and even their mother do not welcome their existence and are ostracized by the community throughout their life. To remove all the socio-legal barriers of war babies, states need to take affirmative action upholding their rights and ensure inclusivity giving them proper recognition.