INTERNATIONAL: Impunity on Sexual Violence Must be Ended: UN Official

Sexual violence against women is an internationally-recognized crime and the international community must make joint efforts to stop the impunity on this, said a UN envoy on sexual violence in conflict in a recent interview with Xinhua News Agency.

"It is not collateral damage; it is not inevitable or a byproduct of war -- this is an internationally recognized crime and we have to stop the impunity on this," Margot Wallstrom, the Secretary General's Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, said ahead the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, observed on Nov. 25.

Noting that sexual violence spans history and geography, Wallstrom said it has been used as a weapon or as a tactic of war, despite the changing nature of the war.

Civilians have always borne the brunt of today's conflicts, with women and children paying a particularly heavy toll, she said. "Women have become sort of soldiers on the front line, not as fighting soldiers, but as victims."

Wallstrom stressed the need to make the prevention of sexual violence a top priority, and to end impunity for the scourge.

"If this is a crime with almost total amnesty where the perpetrators feel that they can always walk free, that there is no justice served for these women, then we will continue to see this as an element or a factor in modern warfare," she said.

Calling women "very important partners and players in restoring and building peace," Wallstrom said the UN Security Council has realized that sexual violence against women has been a heavy impediment in peace building -- "that this has to do with the security situation around the world."

"Hopefully we will be able to use this kind of window of political opportunity that exists today in the Security Council and make the findings of my team relevant to the Security Council's discussions," she said.

Talking about her trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after the mass rape in the country's east this summer, Walstrom said she was deeply impressed by the Congolese women's eagerness for peace.

"They want peace...they don't want to wait for peace...They are very, very tired and depressed from being in a situation where one woman said that it is almost normal for a Congolese woman to be raped by many men," she said.

According to the UN statistic, in DRC, approximately 1,100 rapes are being reported each month, with an average of 36 women and girls raped every day. It is believed that over 200,000 women have suffered from sexual violence in that country since armed conflict began.

In September, a UN human rights team confirmed that more than 300 civilians were raped between July 30 and Aug. 2 in the remote and troubled far east of the DRC by members of armed groups.

"We cannot accept this and we just have to change the whole attitude towards this," Wallstrom said.

A Swedish politician with a long history in defending women's rights, Wallstrom was appointed to her current post in February.

She said her ultimate objective during her two-year mandate is to make sure that we can establish the same kind of monitoring and reporting system that are already in place for children in armed conflicts.

"We need to make sure that the Security Council demonstrates that they are willing to use all the tools in their toolbox, including sanctions and listing and what have you, naming and shaming of all the non-state actors that use this as a turbulent weapon of warfare," she said.

As for the final resolution of the issue of sexual violence, Wallstrom said she is optimistic in the sense that the international community has now signaled through the Security Council the issue is seen as a very crucial part of what constitutes security.

"If we can ban land mines, or cluster bombs, then we can ban this (sexual violence), as well, as a weapon," said Wallstrom.

"Then we can make sure that this is rooted out. We have to mobilize both men and women and the political responsibility for this."