Zainab Hawa Bangura - Worse than war
An adolescent girl is kidnapped from her village in Iraq and
will be sold or given away to fighters of the so-called Islamic State in Iraq
and the Levant (Isil) as a sex slave. In a detention centre in Syria, a man is
sexually assaulted to punish him for his political affiliations, real or
imagined. In South Sudan, a woman must make the choice between feeding her
family or being attacked by armed men when she tries to harvest crops. In
Bosnia, a woman passes the place where she was raped every day during the war
there 20 years ago. This is the reality for women, children and men facing the
threat of sexual violence in conflict around the world.
This past year was one of tremendous progress in the fight
against conflict-related sexual violence. In June 2014, the Global Summit to
End Sexual Violence in Conflict in London brought together thousands of
policymakers, researchers, civil society actors and survivors who made renewed
commitments to eradicate this human rights violation. Countries grappling with
conflict-related sexual violence delivered on some important commitments, with
the Democratic Republic of Congo appointing a presidential representative on
sexual violence in conflict and the recruitment of children, and Colombia
ensuring that survivors of sexual violence have a prominent place at the table
as it negotiates a peace agreement to end its decades-long civil war.
But unfortunately, last year’s successes were also met with
new and terrifying challenges. In April, the violent extremist group Boko Haram
made headlines with its abduction of 276 schoolgirls from their dorm in Nigeria
and their abuse of women and girls as a central belief of their doctrine. In
August 2014, the Isil began targeting Yazidi women in northern Iraq, capturing
them and forcing them into sexual slavery. The horrifying stories that began to
emerge from young women who managed to escape painted a picture of unimaginable
savagery and brutality, with some young women committing suicide rather than
live in Isil captivity.
These violent extremist groups are all the more frightening
because of the organisation and sophistication they use to subjugate and abuse
women in areas under their control. They exploit them as prizes to reward
fighters with and then publicise these crimes on social media to attract new
recruits. Their use of 21st-century technology amplifies their voices and helps
spread their medieval messaging to a global audience.
This year’s UN report on sexual violence in conflict
documents horrendous crimes like these happening in conflicts around the world. It chronicles the disturbing trend of sexual violence against
adolescent girls, including rape, sexual slavery and forced marriage. It records the use of sexual violence to persecute ethnic
and religious minorities and the targeting of people based on their actual or
perceived sexual orientation. It describes the heightened vulnerability of
displaced and refugee populations to sexual abuse. It details the stigma and
shame that keep women, men and children from coming forward when they have been
attacked and outlines the lack of services and support available for the
survivors who find the strength to speak out about what was done to them. The
report lists 45 armed groups credibly suspected of committing these crimes,
including state forces, opposition groups and violent extremist groups.
The report details the gruesome brutality that we face in
the fight to end rape used as a weapon of war, but it also serves as a roadmap
for solutions. By stressing the importance of building the capacity of civilian
and military justice systems, the report underscores the necessary broader
efforts required to strengthen institutional safeguards against impunity. For
example, in the past year military and police officers, a number of them
high-ranking, in countries covered by the report have been indicted, prosecuted
and convicted on charges of conflict-related sexual violence.
The report also highlights the need for sexual violence to
be an element included in ceasefire and peace negotiations, and for
perpetrators to be excluded from amnesty. It calls for more women peacekeepers
to be deployed to conflict settings and increased participation of women in all
peacekeeping and peacebuilding processes. Solutions include ensuring that the
urgent need for increased medical, psychosocial, legal and economic services
and support for survivors is met to help them rebuild their lives. National and
regional early warning systems that sound the alarm against escalating sexual
violence should be adopted to help prevent these atrocities before they occur.
The past year has shown that with political will and
sustained action we can turn the tide against sexual violence in conflict.
Despite this progress, the international community must renew its commitment
and apply increased pressure so as not to lose the ground we have gained and to
meet the demands of new and emerging threats.
The writer is a UN undersecretary general and the special
representative of the secretary general on sexual violence in conflict
