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 10 March 2010
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Sexual violence against children is a grave violation

10/03/2010

Sexual violence against children is one of the six grave violations that are committed against children during times of war, according to the Secretary-General's Special Representative for children and armed conflict.

Radhika Coomaraswamy

Radhika Coomaraswamy

Radhika Coomaraswamy, spoke in Geneva on Wednesday where the Human Rights Council discussed manifestations of sexual violence against boys and girls.

She says that war time rape, whether against children or women, is one of the horrific manifestations of conflict and all necessary measures should be taken to ensure that such violence does not take place.

She points out that sexual violence against women and children during conflict may take place because the perpetrators have decided to use rape as a tactic or instrument of war.

"By raping women and children, they hope to punish and intimidate the whole civilian population. Ignoring international humanitarian law that calls for the separation of civilians from combatants, these perpetrators use rape to terrorize the target population and to displace and humiliate them."

Rhadika Coomaraswamy says there is no longer a debate that sexual violence against women and children is a terrible crime and numerous international judgments have cemented this understanding.

She adds that the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court, clearly states that sexual violence is a war crime and a crime against humanity.

Dianne Penn, UN Radio.

(duration: 1'31")

Sound bites

Rhadika Coomaraswamy Cut 1

"By raping women and children, they hope to punish and intimidate the whole civilian population. Ignoring international humanitarian law that calls for the separation of civilians from combatants, these perpetrators use rape to terrorize the target population and to displace and humiliate them."
Duration: 00:00:20

Rhadika Coomaraswamy Cut 2

"Sexual violence against children is one of the six grave violations that are committed against children during times of war. Recently, the United Nations Security Council requested the Secretary-General to include in his annual report on children and armed conflict a list of parties that commit sexual violence against children in conflict areas along with those who recruit and use children and those who kill and main children with impunity."
Duration: 00:00:30

Rhadika Coomaraswamy Cut 3

"War time rape, whether against children or women, is one of the horrific manifestations of conflict and we must take all necessary measures to ensure that such violence does not take place. Sexual violence against women and children during conflict may take place because the perpetrators have decided to use rape as a tactic or instrument of war."
Duration: 00:00:25

Rhadika Coomaraswamy Cut 4

"There is nothing more terrifying than the rape of children. It strikes fear and horror in the hearts of people, thus achieving the objective of Machiavellian planners. We saw this in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. There is also a belief among some fighters that these sorts of action harden guerrillas and make them better fighters, a notion of war and masculinity that challenges the very premise of international norms and standards. The LRA in Uganda and RUF in Sierra Leone are particularly notorious for this type of activity."
Duration: 00:00:37

Rhadika Coomaraswamy Cut 5

"Sexual violence may also take place because of the symbolic value attached to that violence. This is particularly true in ethnic and tribal wars. The attack on the so-called sexual purity of women and children is a communication to the side that if they cannot protect their families and assault and a shame in honour of the community. This often fuels retaliation, leading to cycles of horrendous violence. Indian and Pakistani feminists, writing on the sexual violence during the partition of India and Pakistan, have highlighted this aspect in their writings."
Duration: 00:00:36

Rhadika Coomaraswamy Cut 6

"Sexual violence may take place because war often creates a climate of impunity. There may not be any orders from above to commit violence but individual soldiers or civilians, believing that they will never be punished, accepting that there is no functioning system of law, take matters into their own hands and commit sexual violence on women and children. This impunity often leaves victims without redress or justice."
Duration: 00:00:27

Rhadika Coomaraswamy Cut 7

"In fighting impunity for sexual violence against women and children, we have come a long way. Before the 1990s it was hard to imagine, but there was even a debate whether sexual violence, which is not mentioned as a grave breach of the Geneva Convention, was really a war crime or a crime against humanity. All that discussion came to an end with the adoption of the Rome Statute which clearly spelt out all aspects of sexual violence to be a war crime and a crime against humanity and also the jurisprudence of the international tribunals of Rwanda and former Yugoslavia, which accepted that the prohibition against sexual violence as a basis in international customary law."
Duration: 00:00:39