Today on June 19 we commemorate the victims of sexual violence in conflict. The date marks the adoption on 19 June 2008 of Security Council resolution 1820 (2008), in which the Council condemned sexual violence as a tactic of war and an impediment to peacebuilding.
The U.K. Government has today announced welcome new sanctions against perpetrators. But does this do enough?
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-sanctions-perpetrators-of-conflict-related-sexual-violence
My reflection:
Remarks of Lord Alton of Liverpool
Every year, in this House, I mark the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. And rarely a day passes when I am not made aware of the pain and sorrows of women and girls but also men and boys who are subjected, in so many parts of the world, to this horrific crime.
You might imagine that in 2023, the crime of sexual violence in conflict would have been confined to history books. But sadly, you would be wrong. It is not. Quite the reverse. All the evidence suggests that this crime is on the increase.
Earlier this year, I chaired the Darfur Inquiry which – 20 years after the genocide of 2003 – was asked to look into the new wave of atrocities in Darfur.
As the inquiry proceeded we repeatedly heard evidence of shocking new atrocities in Darfur – stories of rape and sexual violence.
As I was launching the Darfur report, the situation in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, was deteriorating.
Once more, horrific reports of the use of rape and sexual violence have emerged.
The UK’s Combating Violence Against Women and Children Unit documented 49 assaults in the first two weeks of Sudan’s new conflict.
So many more of these crimes remain undocumented.
In Tigray, for instance, due to the shutdown of internet and phone communications and the banning of international journalists from entering the region, we still have no idea of the true scale and nature of the use of rape and sexual violence in the 2 years long war.
This evidence is yet to be collected and preserved for future action.
In November 2022, we all welcomed the ceasefire in Ethiopia with the great hope that this would be the end of the horrific atrocities against the Tigrayans, where the use of rape and sexual violence was a common weapon of war.
Unfortunately, it did not take a day to pass before that hope was replaced by new reports in international media outlets of the use of rape and sexual violence.
Add to this the reports of Putin’s troops subjecting Ukrainians to this crime and reports of similar atrocities by the Burmese Junta against the Rohingyas and other minorities, or what suffering has been inflicted on the Yazidis in Iraq, and you can see the global reach who use sexual violence to terrorise and subjugate.
The ubiquitous crime has become so common, that it no longer causes the outrage which it should.
And there should be outrage.
We are part of the international community and must ask ourselves why we are not doing far more to address a crime that should be consigned to the history books.
If anyone here in Parliament tells you that we are doing all we can – don’t believe them. Demand more action. It is not enough for the UK to throw big conferences where there is no follow-up. It is not enough for the UK to throw big conferences if many victims and survivors are excluded from the event and cannot raise their voices. It is not enough for the UK to throw big conferences if at that event perpetrators are even given a platform while a victim has been excluded.
We need to give ourselves a reality check and admit that the legal mechanisms available to address the issue of rape and sexual violence are wholly inadequate.
We need to admit that we need more comprehensive approaches, and not only focus on ‘implementation.’
Implementation of the currently available weak mechanisms will not bring about the change that is needed. And above all, we need to hear the voices of victims and survivors on this.
Th U.K. Government
