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AFJN applauds Condoleezza Rice and the leaders of the United
Nations Security Council for their new resolution forcefully condemning sexual
violence against women. The Resolution, approved unanimously by the UN Security
Council on Thursday, June 20, affirms the role of rape and other acts of sexual
violence “as a tactic of war to humiliate, dominate, instill fear in, disperse
and/or forcibly relocate civilian members of a community or ethnic group” and
calls for a stronger commitment by world leaders to act against the horrific
practice.
Condoleezza Rice, who introduced the resolution to the
Security Council in a special meeting called by the U.S. to focus on the issue,
told the Council, "We affirm that sexual violence profoundly affects not
only the health and safety of women, but the economic and social stability of
their nations." Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon agreed that, “Violence against women has reached unspeakable and pandemic
proportions in some societies attempting to recover from conflict.” AFJN has been
following the issue in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, where the cases of rape are particularly severe.
This resolution urges the use of sanctions against those who
violate the resolution and outlines U.N. procedures to monitor sexual violence
in armed conflicts, including the creation of a U.N. envoy tasked entirely with
advocacy for ending violence against women. Ban has also declared his
commitment to more forceful enforcement of zero-tolerance within U.N.
peacekeeping forces and to including provisions on sexual violence in future
Security Council resolutions and operations.
AFJN applauds the Security Council for their efforts to
“break the silence” surrounding such terrible practices, which are too often
hidden below the surface or treated as an unfortunate side effect of warfare,
rather than a frequent and fundamental component. We continue to be concerned
about the lives of women in several crisis areas in Africa, including the DRC
and Sudan, where the use of rape as a weapon of war and the devastating impact
has been reported too many times, and hope the commitments of the U.N. will
lead to genuine leadership on the issue.
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