Category Archives: Ending sexual violence in conflict

De Klerk seeks accountability. What about his own?

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Apartheid-era South African president calls for justice for female victims of violence in Guardian article but some say his own record needs scrutiny

South Africans don’t give much thought to FW de Klerk these days. Like Mikhail Gorbachev, his fellow Nobel peace laureate, the last apartheid president is more highly regarded outside his own country than in it.

But some South Africans were taken aback to see De Klerk putting himself forward in a Guardian article on 10 March as an advocate of protecting women from violence and asserting that “holding perpetrators accountable, irrespective of how long ago the crime was committed, is essential to stamping out impunity and preventing future atrocities”.

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Britain must spearhead action against sexual violence or relinquish the reins

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Only with senior government backing can the inertia gripping the global fight against sexual abuse in conflict be arrested

Rape and other forms of sexual violence in conflict are deliberate crimes against humanity, employed as a tactic of war and terrorism to systematically brutalise entire populations.

They are entirely preventable, which is why I launched the preventing sexual violence in conflict initiative (PSVI) in 2012 with UNHCR special envoy Angelina Jolie. From the start, we emphasised the crucial importance of addressing impunity. Without a realistic chance of justice being done, potential perpetrators of these crimes are unlikely to be deterred and the cycle of violence will continue.

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Hague and Jolie’s sexual violence scheme ‘letting survivors down’

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MPs blame failure to sustain momentum following William Hague’s departure from Foreign Office for project falling ‘far short’

A high-profile UK government programme to tackle sexual violence in conflict zones – launched by former foreign secretary Lord William Hague and Hollywood actor Angelina Jolie – has been criticised for falling far short of its ambitions and letting survivors down.

A review, published on Thursday by the aid watchdog, found that waning ministerial interest, severe funding cuts and a lack of senior leadership meant the scheme “never had a strategic vision” and as a result “nothing [was] done to translate … pledges into practical action”.

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‘Before I was kidnapped I had friends’: the girl soldiers of South Sudan | Samuel Okiror

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A reintegration programme has helped 360 girls leave armed groups in Yambio county but for many the trauma of sexual violence persists

Late one night in April 2015, 13-year-old Patricia* and her sister, who was 11, were kidnapped from their beds by rebel forces fighting the government in South Sudan.

The girls were taken from their home in a raid on their village by the South Sudan National Liberation Movement in Yambio county, not far from the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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‘Impunity reigns’: six survivors of sexual violence speak out

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From Colombia to Zimbabwe, members of a global network of rape survivors are demanding an end to the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war

All photographs by Raegan Hodge of the Dr Denis Mukwege Foundation

Carmen was raped by armed guerrilla forces in Colombia. Ekhlas was kidnapped by Isis in Iraq and forced into sexual slavery. Grace was taken by rebels from her classroom in Uganda, “given” to a soldier and impregnated twice before finally fleeing to safety.

Today, these women are all members of the Global Network of Victims and Survivors to End Wartime Rape, known as Sema, which translates to “speak out” in Swahili. The network represents roughly 2,000 rape survivors and 90 years’ worth of conflict across 21 countries in Africa, South America, the Middle East and Europe.

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The world over, people in crisis suffer sexual violence – this scourge must end

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Tackling gender violence in crises requires changes of response and focus – as delegates in Oslo for a major summit will be told

Nomtaz Begum had lived all her life in Myanmar. Two years ago, men in uniform came to her village. They killed the men there, including her husband and three small children, boys aged two, five and 11.

She was raped by six of the soldiers, one after the other. They left after setting her house on fire. Badly burned, Begum and her daughter hid in the forest for four days before they were able to flee, making their way to a refugee camp.

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