23 Feb 2012

UN / SEXUAL VIOLENCE WRAP

UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Margot Wallström said today that conflict-related sexual violence is a global risk, age-old and universal and that listing mechanisms – naming and shaming those who carry out such violence – has yielded tangible results, since those who condone violence can no longer hide beneath a mantle of impunity. UNTV / FILE

Posted at: February 23, 2012 5:55 pm

Duration: 03:11

Available in: SD

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STORY: UN / SEXUAL VIOLENCE WRAP 
TRT: 3.11
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 22-23 FEBRUARY 2012, NEW YORK CITY / FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior UN building

23 FEBRUARY 2012, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Margot Wallström, Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, United Nations:
"In contemporary wars, it has become more dangerous to be a woman fetching water or collecting firewood, than to be a fighter on the frontline. Wars have entered the marketplaces where women trade; they follow children en route to school; and haunt the prison cells where political activists are detained. Accordingly, the Council has embraced a view of security that includes the physical integrity and perspectives of women."
4. Cutaway, Council members
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Margot Wallström, Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, United Nations:
 "The list is an important tool. It reminds those who commit, command or condone sexual violence that they can no longer sleep easily at night under the cover of impunity and anonymity. The practice of listing shows that this is not just a war of words. Yes, preventive diplomacy is important. And yes, zero tolerance policies matter. But ultimately, rape must carry consequences."
6. Cutaway, Council members
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Margot Wallström, Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, United Nations:
"The point is to better understand conflict-related sexual violence and its consequences; to give rape a history, in order to deny it a future."

FILE – MONUSCO - 2 OCTOBER 2010, KAMPALA VILLAGE, WALIKALE TERRITORY, NORTH KIVU PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

8. Wide shot, Wallström walks on bridge entering Kampala village
9. Wide shot, reverse view of Wallström entering Kampala

22 FEBRUARY 2012, NEW YORK CITY

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Margot Wallström, Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, United Nations:
"In the DRC we are concerned we still get so many reports from the field about sexual violence being used by both the security forces and armed groups."

FILE - 1 FEBRUARY 2008, NORTH KIVU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

11. Wide shot, FARDC colour guard 
12. Med shot, FARDC soldiers' boots marching

22 FEBRUARY 2012, NEW YORK CITY

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Margot Wallström, Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, United Nations:
"For the first time, we have also seen commanders of the FARDC being convicted for this type of crime."

FILE - 4 MAY 2011, DUEKOUE, COTE D'IVOIRE

14. Med shot, UN chopper flying

FILE - 1 MAY 2011, NIAMBLY, COTE D'IVOIRE

15. Med shot, woman and man walking shot through a shattered sign

FILE - 3 MAY 2011, DUEKOUE, COTE D'IVOIRE

16. Wide shot, busy street life 
17. Wide shot, people lined waiting for distribution
18. Med shot, people waiting in line

22 FEBRUARY 2012, NEW YORK CITY

19. SOUNDBITE (English) Margot Wallström, Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, United Nations:
"In Côte D'Ivoire, this is an example of where in the context of the presidential elections that it was used to punish the political opponents and it was used by both sides with devastating effects."

FILE – MONUSCO - 2 OCTOBER 2010, KAMPALA VILLAGE, WALIKALE TERRITORY, NORTH KIVU PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

20. Med shot, Wallström listening to woman telling story in hut
21, Med shot, grandmother telling story of her ordeals

22 FEBRUARY 2012, NEW YORK CITY

22. SOUNDBITE (English) Margot Wallström, Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, United Nations:
"We must encourage the survivors to speak about what they've been through and also to tell the long-term very serious consequences of this and what a heavy impediment this to restore peace and development."

FILE – MONUSCO - 2 OCTOBER 2010, KAMPALA VILLAGE, WALIKALE TERRITORY, NORTH KIVU PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

23. Close shot, woman's face 
24. Med shot, Wallström wiping her eyes

STORYLINE:

UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Margot Wallström said today that conflict-related sexual violence is a global risk, age-old and universal, during a presentation to the Security Council of her annual report, which for the time even lists some of the military forces, militia and other armed groups that are suspected of being among the worst offenders.

She stressed that in today's wars, it was "more dangerous to be a woman fetching water or collecting firewood, than to be a fighter on the frontline." Warfare takes place in the marketplaces where women trade, follows children to school, and haunts the prison cells where political activists are detained.

She said that the Council has "embraced a view of security that includes the physical integrity and perspectives of women," with its recent focus on conflict-related sexual violence.

Naming and shaming those who carry out such violence provided an important new tool, she said, emphasizing that "it reminds those who commit, command or condone sexual violence that they can no longer sleep easily at night under the cover of impunity and anonymity."

Listing mechanisms indicated it "is not just a war of words," and while preventive diplomacy was important and zero tolerance policies mattered, "ultimately, rape must carry consequences," she said.

Wallstrom emphasized that by naming the groups who are known to have committed rape and other sexual crimes during conflict, the point was to "better understand conflict-related sexual violence and its consequences; to give rape a history, in order to deny it a future."

The country with the most parties named – the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – has a notorious reputation for sexual violence.

The Special Representative said her office remained particularly concerned because "we still get so many reports from the field about sexual violence being used by both the security forces and armed groups."

Still, the country has been working to prevent and punish the practice, particularly by its own armed forces.

Wallström noted that "for the first time, we have also seen commanders of the FARDC being convicted for this type of crime."

The list of perpetrators also includes several factions that participated in the post-election violence in Côte D'Ivoire in late 2010 and the first half of 2011.

The Special Representative underlined that sexual violence was used "to punish the political opponents … by both sides with devastating effects."

She said it was critical that the stigmas that long prevented action by the Council, the international community and national governments to prevent and addressed the impact of sexual violence, survivors must be encouraged to speak about the crime and "to tell the long-term very serious consequences of this and what a heavy impediment this to restore peace and development."

The groups listed in the report include the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in the Central African Republic (CAR) and in South Sudan, armed militia groups and former armed forces in Côte d'Ivoire, and the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The report provides examples of how sexual violence has threatened security and impeded peacebuilding in post-conflict situations, such as in Chad, CAR, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and how it has been used in the context of elections, political strife and civil unrest in Egypt, Guinea, Kenya and Syria, among others.