In recent months I have brought you a number of posts regarding gender-based violence, including the use of rape as a weapon on war. While the subjects of of gender-based violence and rape warfare are nothing new, their voice has continually been silenced by impunity and rarely a massive topic of world leaders. However this month the UN has taken measure to target the use of rape as war crime.
Earlier this month, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro called for international action to bring gender-based violence to an end. Migro stressed that the end to gender-based violence will allow women who have been impeded women, the opportunity aid in the peace building process, stating that women are a, ‘a powerful weapon in the fight for peace, development and human rights’ (UN).
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice on led the debate on war crimes against women and girls, including the atrocities of rape and mutilation, which have become all too common strategic tools of combat. The discussions led the United Nations Security Council to pass the U.S.-sponsored resolution on June 19th, declaring that rapes can constitute war crimes. A similar effort to pass a resolution last was blocked by China, Russia and South Africa, all of which argued that sexual violence did not warrant the attention of international peacekeepers.
The countries at particular focus with the renewed vigor of the international community are countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan, where rebels continue to strategically use rape as a weapon of war.The resolution comes at a critical time when the use of rape as a weapon of war rages on in Sudan, and continued reports from UN peacekeepers in Darfur have warned that systematic rapes of women and children continue to plague the region. Thousands of women and girls have been raped, and aid groups are state that the practice continually being used as a strategic form of ethnic cleansing (CNN).
Ines Alberdi, executive director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) writes in a letter to The New York Times;
A resolution is set to address this challenge. Often called "a war within the war," sexual violence occurs in private spaces rarely patrolled by police or peacekeepers, often at times when security actors are scarce.
The letter was in response to the June 15th article, “The Weapon of Rape," by Nicholas D. Kristof, where he stated;
World leaders fight terrorism all the time, with summit meetings and sound bites and security initiatives. But they have studiously ignored one of the most common and brutal varieties of terrorism in the world today.
It appears that world leaders have finally begun to hear the silenced cries of women and girls across the globe, across the centuries, who have been the countless victims of the use of rape as a weapon of war. While all the steps taken this week are a great step in the right direction, the long running impunity of rape as a weapon of war leaves many skeptical about the reality of the resolutions effect.
More news on the recent international effort to end gender-based violence:
Rice leads UN debate on war crimes against women
Ban leads call for greater efforts to end "silent war' of sexual violence in conflict
