SGBV

Today we have heard devastating stories of the experiences of women and girls living in situations of armed conflict. They are victims of sexual violence, rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution and sterilization and other forms of sexual abuse. Sexual violence against women represents a denial of their most basic rights, which continue to be abused and violated despite the existence of a framework of international law that should protect them. It is sustained even more by a patriarchal system that takes away women’s control of their own sexuality and reproductive rights. Sexual violence against women is a dreadful expression of a patriarchal system intensified by conflict situations and that, as has been said, tightens its grip when women and children are targeted physically or mentally, deprived of their dignity and used as shields in war or armed conflict, making it impossible to effectively consolidate international peace and security.