WUNRN
UN News Centre -
UN Secretary-General
Calls for Additional Steps to Fight Sexual Violence in Conflict & Enhance
Protection
8 December 2010 – Faced with
rampant sexual violence in conflicts around the world, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling for additional steps to enhance
protection, including increased pressure on perpetrators through sanctions and other
targeted measures.
“Tragically, laudable progress made at the level of policy has been overshadowed by the surge of sexual violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and its continuing prevalence elsewhere,” he says in a report to the Security Council mandated by resolution 1888 adopted in September 2009 to eliminate the scourge.
“While
the Council has created historic momentum, additional measures must be put in
place to deliver tangible protection outcomes,” he adds, citing among these the
need to call on parties to a conflict to make specific and time-bound
commitments to ceasing all acts of sexual violence, access for the United
Nations to verify the fulfilment of such commitments, and support for UN
efforts to establish monitoring and reporting arrangements.
“Given
the fact that sexual violence spans history, the burden of proof in wartime
should be on those who claim that rape is not occurring,” he writes.
“Therefore, sexual violence prevention should be considered as a matter of
course in contingency plans.”
Mr.
Ban notes that resolution 1888 calls for the development of joint Government-UN
comprehensive strategies to combat sexual violence, and cites the “vital” need
for swift delivery of services in conflict and emergency settings, as occurred
during the post-election violence in Kenya in 2008, when reported cases of rape
doubled and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)
drew lessons to be better prepared to help.
He
stresses that under international law sexual violence is not synonymous with
rape as it encompasses sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy,
enforced sterilization and any other abuses of comparable gravity, which may
include indecent assault, trafficking, inappropriate medical examinations and
strip searches.
“The
disaggregation of sexual violence offences into the categories listed above
permits a more focused approach to prevention,” he writes. “Sexual slavery or
enforced prostitution, for example, may differ in terms of its logic from the
execution of a specific policy of forced pregnancy during a campaign of ‘ethnic
cleansing’ designed to achieve a military or political end, or rape concurrent
with looting to terrorize the population.”
Depending
on the circumstances, sexual violence can constitute a war crime, a crime
against humanity, an act of torture or a constituent act of genocide.
“Sexual
violence calls for sustained attention, action and cooperation commensurate
with the scale of the challenge,” he concludes. “Its enduring and ruinous
consequences run counter to the aims of the United Nations system. Peace,
justice and security are interdependent: there can be no peace without the
peace of mind that enables women to undertake their daily tasks, no justice
without a national capacity to deliver justice, and no security without women’s
security.”