The issue on our agenda today is one of the most abhorrent, yet still all too...

The issue on our agenda today is one of the most abhorrent, yet still all too often concealed and under-reported crimes. In a number of armed conflicts sexual violence is used as a “weapon of war”, thus not only destroying its victims but traumatizing societies at large. Widespread and systematic sexual violence ranks among the grave breaches of international law, as reflected in the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the 1949 Geneva Convention and its Additional Protocols.