Translating Promises into Practice

This edition of PeaceWomen ENews features an editorial from United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict Margot Wallström. For the complete text, please click here.

Picture: H.E. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia (center) takes a stand against sexual violence with UNMIL SRSG Ellen Margrethe Løj (right) and SRSG Margot Wallström (left) during their meeting to discuss ways to address sexual violence in Liberia, June 2010.

Ending Sexual Violence: Translating Promises into Practice

A decade since the Security Council first considered the agenda item Women, Peace and Security we are compelled to ask some difficult questions. Have we delivered peace and security for women? If our measure of success is not speeches but sanctions for war crimes against women, then the reign of impunity in places like the DRC and Liberia implies that promises on paper have rarely been translated into practice.

Readers of this newsletter are all too familiar with that reality. Resolution 1820 demands nothing less than the “immediate and complete cessation by all parties to armed conflict of all acts of sexual violence against civilians”. Yet rights and obligations have little impact unless they are known. The PeaceWomen Project is working to translate 1820 into local languages to put this powerful tool into the hands of women everywhere. It is a practical initiative, but one that is emblematic of our broader goal: translating international security policy into terms that are relevant and meaningful to women.

Resolution 1820 requires us to “debunk the myths that fuel sexual violence”. Perhaps the most insidious is the myth that rape is an inevitable corollary of conflict. This is deeply self-serving, allowing everyone from warlords to world leaders to shrug off their responsibility and say nothing can be done. No other human rights violation is routinely dismissed as inevitable.

Last month, I helped to launch an inventory of good practice by peacekeepers to prevent and deter conflict-related sexual violence. This shows that rape can be stopped if we build the skill and the will to respond. Peacekeepers and humanitarians will never have enough resources to meet all needs, but that cannot serve as an alibi for inaction.

In response to these changing dynamics of conflict, I have framed a five point priority agenda. My first point is ending impunity: ensuring that perpetrators do not remain at the helm of security institutions and that amnesty is not an option. Secondly, women must be empowered to seek redress and claim their rights. Women activists should never have to risk their lives to do their work. The third point is to mobilize political leadership so both traditional and non-traditional stakeholders feel accountable for the success of this agenda. Fourth is increasing recognition of rape as a tactic and consequence of conflict used to shred the social fabric and make peace less possible. Finally, I will drive and empower efforts to ensure a coordinated response from the UN system working through the inter-agency network UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict.

To advance this agenda, my first field visit was to the DRC, where the UN estimates that a staggering 200,000 women have been raped during 12 years of conflict. I went there to listen to the survivors and relay their experiences to the Security Council, which I did during a closed session that followed the April open debate. In DRC, I was pleased to note that robust laws and policies are in place. Yet there remains a critical need for these to be backed by political will, resources and real capacity for implementation. I called for practical steps to be taken to establish a reliable payment chain for soldiers, garrisons to avoid commingling with and preying upon the population, as well as human rights training backed with disciplinary measures and military justice.

Similarly, in Liberia, I heard how the use of widespread and brutal sexual violence during the 14-year civil war left a profound imprint on society. Today, rape is the number one reported crime according to monthly police statistics. The aim of my mission was to ask why rape has persisted long after the guns have fallen silent. Among the structural drivers are high unemployment, low national capacity, alcohol and drug abuse, impunity and trauma carried over from the war. It is encouraging that the Government of Liberia has agreed to be the first country to host the new Team of Experts on the rule of law, mandated by Resolution 1888 to help combat impunity for sexual violence.

Both of my recent missions reinforced one critical point: survivors are their own best advocates. I hope to not only champion their cause, but to empower them to create a permanent and globally-networked pressure group. We all need to join forces to maintain the current momentum on 1325, 1820 and related resolutions well beyond the October milestone.