Impunity: the global obstacle in the fight against gender violence

When I first heard of the British Government campaign to fight sexual violence in areas of conflict – Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative, I had no idea how big the problem was. The initiative showed me that approximately 50 thousand women were sexually assaulted in the Bosnian war in the 1990s. Same period when between 300 thousand and 500 thousand women were sexually assaulted throughout the 100 days of genocide in Rwanda, Africa. At first, I couldn’t either understand the relationship between the fight against sexual violence during wars and the Brazilian reality, since we fortunately do not have areas of conflict in our territory. Therefore, I was considering that the progress achieved by Maria da Penha Law in Brazil (which has recently criminalised domestic violence against women) did not add up to  the global scenario of fighting against sexual violence. I was looking at the Brazilian situation, where a woman is murdered every one and a half hour victim  of gender violence[1], without seeing the big picture.  

On year after PSVI’s launch, I have reached a better understanding of its international impact.  Having seen actions led by the British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, with actress Angelina Jolie participation to introduce fight against gender violence in the list of priorities of the global humanitarian agenda, I came to understand a crucial element that unites all countries into one single effort: the fight against impunity –which is the fuel to perpetuate these practices. I believe that all countries that acknowledge the basic principles of human rights must join efforts to deal with this issue globally, even if they start off based on local matters.

Convictions for abuses and humiliations suffered by women around the world are less than 5% of the total amount of cases registered (a rough percentual range based on my readings through most updated statistics), which allows me to affirm we are being lenient. The end of impunity, one of the PSVI’s main themes, requires profound cultural and political changes in contemporary societies that naturalise violence against the weaker – it is important to say that boys and young male adults are also victims of rape within and outside areas of conflicts. By criminalising and punishing the culprits, it is possible to establish an ideal environment to prevent these crimes, and perhaps one day, eradicate them from the arsenal of weapons of war.

Brazil and the UK have progressed on this matter. Last year, 38 thousand arrests were made in Brazil to punish gender violence. In the context of PSVI actions, the British Chancellor presented a statement to G8, in which sexual violence is considered a violation of the Geneva Convention, meaning that signatory countries must oblige themselves to search and punish any individual who has committed such crimes. A similar action was promoted during the last UN General Assembly, where 135 countries became signatories.

Next year, when we review this theme on the 16 Days of Activism, I sincerely hope that the list of actions will have increased as well as the number of countries committed to the cause, having more effective actions in place, to transform local realities, contributing to a global change.