These are the words of a rape survivor from the Bosnian conflict, quoted by Haja Zainab Hawa Bangura, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on Sexual Violence in Conflict at a recent meeting in London Bangura spoke about the horrific reality of war for women and girls, where war has been waged not just on the battlefields but on their bodies.
Possibly even more abhorrent to the long-term mental and physical suffering these women and girls endure, is the culture of impunity that surrounds such crimes. How can we expect the restoration of enduring peace when the most basic rights of women and children are dismissed too often as an “unfortunate by-product” of war?
These crimes against women and girls were by no means new when the first International Women’s Day was marked more than one hundred years ago. However it has taken until now for the international community to look seriously at how to eradicate these “unspeakable” crimes.
Last year Foreign Secretary William Hague launched the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI) to shine the full power of the international spotlight on this issue during the UK’s G8 Presidency and beyond and push for collective international action.
Today he renewed his pledge to “use the G8 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in April to push for a clear political statement of our collective determination to make real, tangible progress on combating the use of sexual violence in conflict.”
The UK has established a 73-strong specialist Team of Experts which includes police, lawyers, psychologists, doctors, forensic experts, gender-based violence experts and experts in the care and protection of survivors and witnesses. The Team has already been deployed in several countries. The time is right for all countries to recognise this problem and work together to eradicate the scourge of sexual violence in conflict.
We know that attacks against women have not only ruined lives; they have devastated economies, undermined faith in governments and stifled stability. On International Women’s Day when we celebrate all that women contribute to societies around the world, it seems right to make our focus the despicable actions which lead to such suffering, and acknowledge the need for everyone one of us, man and woman, to demand action.