"It has probably become more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in an armed conflict."
Dear All:
A U.S.-sponsored resolution adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council called sexual violence "a tactic of war to humiliate, dominate, instill fear in, disperse and/or forcibly relocate civilian members of a community or ethnic group." It said the violence "can significantly exacerbate situations of armed conflict and may impede the restoration of international peace and security."
It called on parties to conflict to take immediate measures to protect civilians from sexual violence, said such crimes should be excluded from amnesty after conflicts, and warned that the council would consider special measures against parties that commit them when imposing or renewing sanctions.
The resolution also called on S-G Ban Ki moon to...tighten procedures for stopping abuses by U.N. peacekeepers, who have been accused of sexual offenses in several countries. Ban said he was "profoundly committed to a zero-tolerance policy" and would strengthen disciplinary procedures by holding not just individuals but their supervisors accountable.
fyi-janet
[1] Patrick Worsnip, "UN council urges action on sexual violence in warm," Reuters, June 19, 2008.
UNITED NATIONS, June 19 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council demanded on Thursday that warring governments and factions act to halt violence against women, saying rape was no longer just a by-product of war but a military tactic.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who chaired part of the session, told the council the world had now recognized that sexual violence during conflicts went beyond individual victims to affect nations' security and stability.
Echoed by a string of speakers, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the 15-nation council the problem had "reached unspeakable and pandemic proportions in some societies attempting to recover from conflict."
Maj. Gen. Patrick Cammaert, a former U.N. peacekeeping commander, told the meeting: "It has probably become more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in an armed conflict."
Speakers identified former Yugoslavia, Sudan's Darfur region, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Liberia as conflict regions where deliberate sexual violence had occurred on a mass scale.
U.N. officials have said the problem is currently worst in eastern Congo. But a recent survey of 2,000 women and girls in Liberia showed 75 percent had been raped during the West African country's civil war.
A U.S.-sponsored resolution adopted unanimously by the council called sexual violence "a tactic of war to humiliate, dominate, instill fear in, disperse and/or forcibly relocate civilian members of a community or ethnic group."
It said the violence "can significantly exacerbate situations of armed conflict and may impede the restoration of international peace and security."
It called on parties to conflict to take immediate measures to protect civilians from sexual violence, said such crimes should be excluded from amnesty after conflicts, and warned that the council would consider special measures against parties that commit them when imposing or renewing sanctions.
ABUSES BY PEACEKEEPERS
The resolution also called on Ban to submit a special report on the issue next year and tighten procedures for stopping abuses by U.N. peacekeepers, who have been accused of sexual offenses in several countries.
Ban said he was "profoundly committed to a zero-tolerance policy" and would strengthen disciplinary procedures by holding not just individuals but their supervisors accountable.
The United States, council president for June, chose sexual violence as the theme of the month's debate on a general issue. As well as Rice, several government ministers replaced ambassadors as their countries' representatives.
Opening the debate, Rice noted there had long been dispute about whether the theme was a security issue and hence something the Security Council was authorized to address.
"I am proud that today we respond to that lingering question with a resounding 'yes'," she said. "This world body now acknowledges that sexual violence in conflict zones is indeed a security concern.
"We affirm that sexual violence profoundly affects not only the health and safety of women but the economic and social stability of their nations."
Rice focused on Myanmar, where she said soldiers regularly raped women and girls as young as 8 years old. Myanmar's envoy, Than Swe, later called the allegations unfounded. "We categorically reject them," he told the council.
Backers of the resolution had said that if the Security Council defined sexual violence as a security matter the text would give peacekeepers the high-level support they needed.
The resolution had been negotiated for weeks between council members and with human rights and women's groups. Diplomats said China and Russia, which both voted in favor, had watered down some language, including on sanctions.
Chinese Deputy Ambassador Liu Zhenmin told the council it should focus on preventing conflicts in the first place and that sexual violence "should not be treated as a stand-alone issue, nor should attention be given to its symptoms only."
(Editing by Cynthia Osterman
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"This resolution sends a clear message throughout the UN system: rape is a crime that should be prevented and when it´s not, it should be systematically reported and effectively prosecuted," said Marianne Mollmann, women´s rights advocate at Human Rights Watch. "The resolution contains the building blocks for what could finally bridge the gap between good intentions and bad facts. " fyi-janet
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[2] "UN: Finally, a Step Toward Confronting Rape in War: Security Council Takes Action to Identify and Help End Sexual Violence," Human Rights Watch.
(New York, June 19, 2008) - The UN Security Council´s new resolution on sexual violence is a historic achievement for a body that has all too often ignored the plight of women and girls in conflict, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch applauds the council for setting out in the resolution a clear path to systematic information-gathering on sexual violence. Until now, the Security Council has asked for information on such violence only in selected cases.
"By finally recognizing that it needs to gather detailed information, the Security Council took a major step toward confronting the grim reality of sexual violence in conflict," said Marianne Mollmann, women´s rights advocate at Human Rights Watch. "And that reality means that every day many women and girls will be raped."
The resolution was initiated by the United States and adopted on June 19, by unanimous vote, after a debate presided over by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the United Nations. Key provisions include a call for concrete benchmarks to measure the effectiveness of policies to prevent sexual violence; the possibility of sanctions against perpetrators of sexual violence; and a directive to the secretary-general of the United Nations to gather information on the prevalence of sexual violence in conflict. The resolution also calls for UN peacekeeping forces to better prepare themselves to protect civilians against sexual violence, and underscores the vital importance of women participating in preventing conflict, maintaining peace and security, and building peace post-conflict. It also calls for better implementation of the UN´s "zero tolerance" policy on sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeeping forces.
"This resolution sends a clear message throughout the UN system: rape is a crime that should be prevented and when it´s not, it should be systematically reported and effectively prosecuted," said Mollmann. "The resolution contains the building blocks for what could finally bridge the gap between good intentions and bad facts. But to have a genuine impact, the Security Council and the United Nations as a whole need to take concrete action."
This pair of articles comes from Janet M Eaton via Laura Savinkoff at the Boundary Peace Initiative.Recommend this Post
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