UN to debate sexual violence resolution
By David Clarke

May 30, 2008 - (Reuters) The U.N. Security Council is to debate a new resolution next month that aims to enshrine sexual violence as a security issue for the first time, senior diplomats said.

Backers of the resolution, to be discussed in a session chaired by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on June 19, argue it is needed because sexual violence in conflict zones -- a war crime -- has not often been made a priority.

They argue that if the Security Council defines the issue as a security matter -- as it has done with issues such as climate change and AIDS -- the resolution would fill a "doctrinal gap" and give peacekeepers the high-level, principled support needed.

Rape and war have been linked for millennia. What has shocked many is the use of sexual violence in wars in the Balkans, Sudan, Rwanda, Liberia and Democratic Republic of Congo, as a cheap, effective means to terrorise civilians.

And human rights campaigners say rape has been used as weapon of war for ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur.

"It is one of the areas of the international security response which is woefully, woefully weak," said Anne-Marie Goetz, chief adviser on governance, peace and security at the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

"And it won't be internalised in military doctrine until the Security Council enshrines it as a security threat."

While peacekeeping missions are tasked with protecting civilians, military commanders acknowledge sexual violence is a huge problem in many modern conflicts but the mechanisms to confront it on the ground are often ad hoc.

They say sexual violence tends to be treated as a gender or human rights issue rather than being seen as a weapon of war.

The mandate for the U.N. mission in Democratic Republic of Congo does call on peacekeepers to prevent and report on sexual abuse, but it is a rare inclusion.

NOT ON THE RADAR SCREEN

"The gravity of the problem was perhaps not understood. I think increasingly, Congo is one example and Darfur -- these two stand out very glaringly -- where sexual violence is actually being used as a strategy," said Lieutenant General Jasbir Singh Lidder, who was U.N. force commander in Sudan until last month.

A recent survey of 2,000 women and girls in Liberia showed 91 percent had been subjected to sexual violence and 75 percent had been raped, mostly by groups of men, during the West African country's civil war.

"It's a very good thing that at least we have started to define it as a problem," Lidder told Reuters, saying he would definitely like to see a U.N. resolution passed.

"As of now, sexual violence against women is really not on the radar screen of many missions."

Diplomats working at the U.N. acknowledge the proposed resolution may meet opposition from permanent members Russia and China but say Washington's backing is an important development.

"The crucial difference is that within the last month the Americans have taken it on. So we have moved from two for and three against to three versus two," said a diplomat at the U.N. who has been looking at the draft resolution.

The stumbling block is likely to be the extent to which the resolution calls for upgraded monitoring and reporting of sexual violence -- rather than the link to security in itself -- as that may be seen as a sovereignty issue, he said.

If the resolution fails, peacekeepers say more specific mandates, and more women peacekeepers in post-conflict zones, would still make a big difference.

"The women have seen enough problems with men," said Rakhi Sahi, a woman who commands a force of 125 female police officers for the U.N. mission in Liberia's capital Monrovia.

"What else could hold up their confidence than a woman police officer with arms giving them moral support?"

From:http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN048449.html