United Nations Radio

Rape and other forms of sexual violence are some of the ugly realities of conflict.

Sexual violence

UNIFEM this week held a two-day colloquium to support implementation of Security Council Resolution 1820, the first UN resolution to acknowledge the use of sexual violence in conflict as a deliberate tactic of war. Dianne Penn has the story.

NARR: Sexual violence in conflict takes many forms: from highly systematic rape camps, such as those in Bosnia during the Balkan wars in the 1990s, to rampant attacks on women and girls by soldiers and militia disgruntled by poor conditions, low pay, and other triggers and excuses. Former UN humanitarian commander, Jan Egeland, has heard first hand from women in places like the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Darfur, northern Uganda, and Cote d'Ivoire.

EGELAND: We met women that had been gang raped by militia groups for weeks. They were physically and mentally destroyed. And they were not one, or two, or five. They were thousands.

NARR: Mr. Egeland characterized sexual violence in conflict as "one of the biggest conspiracies of silence of history." Because while it occurs in practically all conflicts, it is often not part of subsequent peace agreements. Anne-Marie Goetz, Chief Advisor, Governance, Peace and Security Section, at UNIFEM:

GOETZ : Out of 300 peace accords addressing conflict situations in 45 countries since the end of the Cold War just 18 in the last 20 years. And that's been for 10 conflict-related situations.

NARR: Leymah Gbowee is a peace activist from Liberia, where she reports 90 per cent of women suffered sexual or physical violence during the war. But sexual violence was not raised during the peace talks-even though women participated in them. As ensuring that the process went smoothly was a chief concern, she says women didn't want to rock the boat.

GBOWEE : The second reason was because of the language. No one could find the politically correct language to describe sexual violence so as not to offend the perpetrators who were the main negotiators at the table.

NARR: Participants at the UNIFEM colloquium are recommending that addressing sexual violence should be part of the peace process from the very beginning, starting with pre-ceasefire negotiations between armed groups. They also want conflict-related sexual violence to be given the same priority as other international crimes. And that victims should benefit from reparations programmes for the war wounded, and other post-conflict recovery programmes. Once again, Leymah Gbowee from Liberia:

GBOWEE 2: This recognition that rape is a heinous crime and that victims of rape are also victims of war crimes has emboldened women on the ground to speak out about their issues. The second thing is that it has changed the dynamics of the peace table. Just acknowledging that women of victims, and that rape is war crime also means that those victims also have a right at the peace table. So there is not going to be a thing of you cannot sit at this table anymore because you don't have a legitimate reason. Resolution 1820 legitimizes the women's status for sitting at the table.

PRES: Leymah Gbowee is Executive Director, of Women Peace and Security Network, Africa. For UN Radio, I'm Dianne Penn.

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