UNIFEM Commends Unanimous Security Council Call to End Sexual Violence
20 Jun 2008
Adoption of UN Security Council resolution 1820 on women, peace and security. United Nations, New York, 19 June 2008
Wartime sexual violence has been one of history’s greatest silences. Yesterday’s unanimously adopted Security Council resolution 1820 ends — once and for all — the debate on whether systematic sexual violence belongs on the Council agenda. In the words of United States Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, who chaired the debate, “today we respond to that lingering question with a resounding yes."
Never before has sexual violence been so explicitly linked with the maintenance of international peace and security. Long dismissed as the collateral damage of war, systematic rape has become a means of achieving political and military ends. Now more than ever — with civilians increasingly under attack — action is needed.
The resolution signals to past and would-be perpetrators that the world's foremost security institution is watching. It urges sanctions for violations and calls for the Secretary-General to report on implementation. To recognize sexual violence as a security issue is to justify a security response. Building upon Security Council resolution 1325 (October 2000) on Women, Peace and Security, resolution 1820 strengthens the focus on prevention, protection and ending impunity.
UNIFEM has helped to shape this agenda from the outset, drawing new attention to the oldest crime of war. In the lead-up to yesterday's debate, UNIFEM brought a women's rights activist from Eastern DRC to address the Council in an informal session. She painfully described how sexual violence holds entire communities hostage: women cannot access markets or water-points; children cannot safely get to school.
Indeed, the Council recognized that there can be neither peace nor security so long as communities live under the shadow of sexual terror “as a tactic of war to humiliate, dominate, instill fear in, disperse and/or forcibly relocate civilian members of a community or ethnic group.” The resolution calls for parties to armed conflict to step-up efforts to protect women and girls from targeted attack.
Read the Entire News...
Source: UNIFEM News
Never before has sexual violence been so explicitly linked with the maintenance of international peace and security. Long dismissed as the collateral damage of war, systematic rape has become a means of achieving political and military ends. Now more than ever — with civilians increasingly under attack — action is needed.
The resolution signals to past and would-be perpetrators that the world's foremost security institution is watching. It urges sanctions for violations and calls for the Secretary-General to report on implementation. To recognize sexual violence as a security issue is to justify a security response. Building upon Security Council resolution 1325 (October 2000) on Women, Peace and Security, resolution 1820 strengthens the focus on prevention, protection and ending impunity.
UNIFEM has helped to shape this agenda from the outset, drawing new attention to the oldest crime of war. In the lead-up to yesterday's debate, UNIFEM brought a women's rights activist from Eastern DRC to address the Council in an informal session. She painfully described how sexual violence holds entire communities hostage: women cannot access markets or water-points; children cannot safely get to school.
Indeed, the Council recognized that there can be neither peace nor security so long as communities live under the shadow of sexual terror “as a tactic of war to humiliate, dominate, instill fear in, disperse and/or forcibly relocate civilian members of a community or ethnic group.” The resolution calls for parties to armed conflict to step-up efforts to protect women and girls from targeted attack.
Read the Entire News...
Source: UNIFEM News
