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33-Page, March 13, 2014
REPORT OF THE UN SECRETARY GENERAL
TO THE SECURITY COUNCIL ON CONFLICT-RELATED SEXUAL VIOLENCE
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Associated Press
UN NAMES 21 COUNTRIES WITH RAPE IN
CONFLICT
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UN News Centre
UN URGES GREATER ACTION TO COMBAT
SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN 21 CONFLICT COUNTRIES
24 April 2014 – Despite unprecedented
political momentum to fight rape in war zones, sexual violence remains a global
crime affecting women, men and children in more than 20 countries, a senior
United Nations official announced today urging greater action at the regional
and national levels.
“It doesn’t matter whether she comes from
Bosnia, she comes from Colombia or Syria or Central Africa, the pain that a
woman feels who has been raped is the same,” Special Representative on Sexual
Violence in Conflict Zainab Bangura told journalists in New York at the launch
of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s
annual report on the issue.
Documenting information based on cases
recorded by the UN system in 21 countries of concern, the report
identifies 34 armed groups, militia and Government security forces, responsible
for using rape as a tool in conflict zones.
Among its findings, the report also links
sexual violence with local economies. It notes that rape is used to gain
control of territories with natural resources, including minerals, which are
used by groups to further fuel conflict, as well as human trafficking and
illegal drug trade.
Rape has also been documented as a trigger
for mass flight, which further makes women, and especially youth, vulnerable to
abuses. Some parents trying to protect daughters push them to early and forced
marriages, which has led to cases of human trafficking and sexual slavery, Ms.
Bangura noted.
While impunity for sexual violence remains
prevalent, it is particularly acute in these situations. Under-reporting of
sexual assaults is a function of limited capacity to safely monitor and report,
as well as the result of fear of stigmatization and reprisals by the survivors.
Among the report’s recommendations, Mr. Ban
also urges Governments “to work to develop a comprehensive protection and
service response for survivors” of sexual violence, including reproductive
health services, HIV awareness and response services, and assistance in
psychosocial, legal and livelihood aid.
“The UN calls on the countries in question,
and the international community, to ensure that men, women and children who are
victims of sexual violence, and children born of rape get the assistance they
need,” Ms. Bangura underlined echoing the report.
The report also urges building the capacity
of civil society groups to better protect against such crimes at the community
level. At the national level, the report recommends engage with state and
non-state parties to obtain commitments to prevent and respond to
conflict-related sexual violence.
Earlier this month, Ms. Bangura and other
senior UN officials, including human rights chief Navi Pillay, called on the
Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to step up the fight
against impunity for rape and sexual violence, which remain widespread and
largely unpunished. Referring to a report from the UN Joint Human Rights Office
in the DRC (UNJHRO), she noted documented cases of 3,600 people attacked,
nearly half of them in the strife-torn eastern province of North Kivu, and
ranging in age from two years old to 80.
This year’s report also includes a list of
groups credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for patterns of
rape and other forms of sexual violence in situations of armed conflict on the
agenda of the Security Council. These include parties in the Central African
Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, Mali, South Sudan and Syria, among others.
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