Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict

Survivors of rape or sexual slavery should never again face “the prison of stigma” described by some of them as a “living death”, the acting UN special envoy on sexual violence in conflict, has said.

Adama Dieng, who is also the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, made the appeal to members of the Security Council during an open debate on “Sexual violence in conflict as a tactic of war and terrorism.”

During the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, “rape was as much a tool of genocide as the machete,” the UN special envoy on sexual violence in conflict, Zainab Bangura has said.

Women from the ethnic minority Tutsi group in the African country were “systematically targeted and raped” during that period, investigations by the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda or ICTR uncovered.

Selling of girls in conflict situations today has been compared to the sale of Africans during the Transatlantic slave trade.

Rape and other forms of sexual violence have been used as a weapon in wars across the globe.

The UN General Assembly recently established an international day to remember victims of this scourge and to remind the world that action still needs to be taken to stamp it out.

Dianne Penn’s report begins with the words of Zainab Hawa Bangura, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict.

Sexual violence is being committed in a widespread, systematic and sophisticated manner in Syria and Iraq, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, has warned.

Zainab Bangura, was speaking in New York following a recent mission to the region.

Violence against women has increased in the region following the emergence of the ISIL terrorist organization.

Stephanie Coutrix reports.

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