WUNRN
The reason we made this video with a critical perspective is
the focus of the western politicians and hijacking the media attention to rape
in conflict but not creation the conflict as a mean to cause violence. In
fact little attention was paid to the causes of actual conflicts—conflicts
often promoted and perpetuated by the greatest powers on earth. As exiled
Iranian women's rights activists, we could not have a blind eye on such double
standards in the name of feminism.
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Sexual
Violence in Conflict Destroys Lives and Damages Communities.”
This was the
message of the largest gathering ever on the subject of sexual violence in
conflict, though in fact little attention was paid to the causes of actual
conflicts—conflicts often promoted and perpetuated by the greatest powers on
earth.
UK Foreign
Secretary William Hague from the conservative wing and Angelina Jolie, Special
Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, co-chaired the Global Summit
to End Sexual Violence in Conflict on 10-13 June 2014 at ExCel London, with 1,700
delegates from 129 countries in attendance, including 79 ministers. As lawyer
Laila Ali Karami notes in the video, this monumental gathering was meant to
announce, on behalf the governmental organizations, NGOs, and women’s rights
activists behind the event, “Enough talk, now it’s time to act.”
In this
report, Maryam Violet provides some insight into the various reactions to the
summit and its call to action. She interviews several summit attendees,
including leaders of international activists programs, lawyers, authors, and
researchers, paying particular attention to some attendees’ thoughts on the
relationship between world powers and feminist activism when it comes to ending
sexual violence in conflict. For example, summit attendee Rachel Vincent of the
Nobel Women’s Initiative, tells the cameras, “There’s no question that the G7
countries, the most powerful countries on this planet, are certainly
responsible for a great deal of violence through their sale of arms and through
their support of armed conflict. So I think there are some contradictions we
are living with here, right here in this summit.”
Maryam
provides further context with clips from past lectures and speeches on related
subject matter. In one such clip from a recent lecture at the University of
London, Professor Nadje Al-Ali of SOAS is seen explaining her conception of “an
imperialist feminist” as “someone who makes a claim for women’s rights but by
promoting actually the invasion of Afghanistan and the invasion of Iraq.”
Included
throughout this report video are images from those very invasions, as well as
images of other conflicts all over the world.
Maryam also
captures summit attendees’ thoughts on what actions can be taken now to help
end sexual violence in conflict. “Women should be granted the power to take
part in the decision making on a national and international level and to have a
main role in such decision making,” insists attendee and researcher Tahereh
Danesh. With similar forthrightness, a representative from the Mothers of Congo
present at the summit tells the camera, “My advice to every woman is to stand
up and fight for yourself.”
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