Women and girls continue to be the victims of violence of all kinds during an...

Women and girls continue to be the victims of violence of all kinds during and after armed conflict, despite all the efforts being made to prevent it. The emergence of new armed groups in old conflicts, such as those in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic, and the emergence of new conflicts, such as those in Mali and Syria, have undoubtedly increased the number of women and girl victims of sexual violence. These armed groups, with their generally undisciplined fighters, engage in countless acts of violence that constitute crimes under international law. We cannot exonerate national armed forces from such human rights violations, since they too harbour so-called rogue elements who commit the same abuses as those committed by armed rebel groups, particularly rape, which has now become a tactic common to all belligerents.