Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Despite the United Nations' "zero tolerance" policy against sexual
violence, there has been a rash of gender-based crimes in several of the
world's conflict zones, including South Sudan, the Democratic Republic
of Congo (DRC), Northern Uganda, Somalia, the Central African Republic -
and, more recently, in politically-troubled Egypt and Syria.
Describing rape as "a weapon of war", Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
told the Security Council last month that sexual violence occurred
wherever conflicts raged, "devastating survivors and destroying the
social fabric of whole communities".
"It was a crime under international human rights law and a threat to international peace and security," he said.
Since most of the heinous crimes are taking place in conflict zones
overseen by U.N. peacekeeping missions, the United Nations is unleashing
an army of Women Protection Advisers (WPAs) to specifically curb sexual
violence in war zones.
For starters, they will be deployed with peacekeeping missions in
South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, DRC, Mali and
Somalia.
Asked if these WPAs will be confined to Africa, Andre-Michel
Essoungou of the Public Affairs Division at the U.N.'s Department of
Peacekeeping Operations and Field Support told IPS, "There is no
restriction to a region of the world in this regard. But the process is
starting with these missions for the time being.
"The recruitment procedures are currently underway," he added.
Marcy Hersh, a senior advocate for women and girls' rights at
Refugees International, told IPS her organisation insists that prior to
the further deployment of WPAs to peacekeeping and political missions,
the United Nations should take urgent action to ensure that WPAs are
trained before their deployment and encouraged to work collaboratively
with already operational humanitarian structures.
Additionally, they should be held accountable to fundamental and
non-negotiable ethical and safety criteria for investigating sexual
violence in conflict, which preserves the safety and dignity of
survivors.
She said the recently unanimously passed Security Council Resolution
2106 includes language that is in accordance with these recommendations
in its calls for the timely deployment of WPAs, their adequate training,
and their coordination across multiple sectors.
Given this strong language, combined with the
statements from multiple member states that WPAs should be deployed to
all peacekeeping and political missions, Hersh said, "I am confident
that the United Nations will work urgently to improve the rollout of
WPAs."
She said she is also hopeful that the United Nations will ensure that
WPAs collect timely, objective, accurate and reliable information as a
basis for prevention and response programming and preserve the safety
and dignity of sexual violence survivors.
The secretary-general said that U.N. Women and the Department of
Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) have developed, on behalf of the U.N.
Action Network, the "first-ever scenario-based training programme for
peacekeepers", some of whom, along with aid workers, have been accused
of sexual violence - specifically in South Sudan, DRC, Cote d'Ivoire and
Haiti.
The United Nations will also set up a team of experts on "the rule of
law and sexual violence in conflict", described as an important tool
for strengthening national justice systems and legal frameworks.
The team has already provided technical advice to governments in the
Central African Republic, Colombia, Cote d'Ivoire, DRC, Guinea, Liberia,
Somalia and South Sudan.
Zainab Hawa Bangura, the U.N.'s special representative on sexual
violence in armed conflict, points out that 20 years ago, the United
Nations had provided "irrefutable evidence" of widespread and systematic
rape in the countries of the former Yugoslavia.
She said that during a recent visit to Bosnia - where an estimated
50,000 women had been raped or been victims of sexual violence - she
discovered that, to date, only a handful of prosecutions had occurred.
"Thus the victims of those crimes continue to walk in shadow and shame, unable to lay the past to rest and move forward."
More recently, in late June, the United Nations described as "unacceptable" several cases of rape of young girls in DRC.
Nine young girls, aged between 18 months and 12 years, were admitted
to a hospital in South Kivu with marks of violence on their bodies and
very serious internal wounds, resulting in the death of two.
"Such violence and abuse is unacceptable and must be brought to an
end," said Roger Meece, head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in DRC
(MONUSCO).
"These abuses are said to be related to harmful traditional practices
perpetrated by individuals who kidnap young children from their
communities," he said.
There have also been widespread reports of 135 women and girls
allegedly raped by government soldiers in Minova in eastern DRC back in
2012.
Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, France's minister for women's rights, told
reporters at a U.N. press briefing last month that condemnation of such
crimes was not enough and that perpetrators should be prosecuted.
"France was very disturbed by such atrocities, whether committed by a rebel group or by government troops," she added.