In 2016, sexual violence as a tactic of war was employed through “widespread and strategic rapes” committed by parties usually in conjunction with other sprees, like killing, looting and pillaging but also in “urban warfare” — such as house searches and at militia checkpoints. Sexual violence by extremists lands a special place in the report, as it is a big tool for recruitment but also an ideology: controlling women’s reproductive rights and as chattel in slavery markets in ISIS-held territory, for example, in Syria and Iraq.
Women are also used as "wages of war": gifts for in-kind compensation to fighters; as suicide bombers; and as human shields, among other purposes.
Despite the rising use of women and girls as weapons in wars, convictions are rare. A faint light of progress in overcoming the phenomenon is that the “era of silence” by national and international institutions is giving way to urgent diplomacy, the report suggests. Nevertheless, even where laws, policies and codified responses are in place, when hostilities flare or reignite, sexual violence is a cheap, accessible weapon in the battle.
Here are some notable country trends, statistics and new concerns that occurred in 2016:
- Central African Republic: The UN peacekeeping mission, Minusca, recorded 179 cases of conflict-related sexual violence, mostly on ethnic and sectarian lines, by all militias in the country. That number includes 54 gang rapes.
- Colombia: A well-thought-out legal framework on conflict-related sexual violence, instituted as part of the country’s peace negotiations ending its 50-plus years of civil war, enables unprecedented access to justice. Yet only 2 percent of the 634 cases have led to convictions so far.
- Democratic Republic of the Congo: The UN peacekeeping mission, Monusco, whose troop numbers were recently cut on demand by the United States under Ambassador Nikki Haley, verified 514 cases of sexual violence, including 340 women. Most attacks were done by nonstate armed groups and a quarter by state forces, of whom 100 have been convicted.
- Iraq: ISIS continued to commit sexual violence on a “horrific scale,” especially in territory it holds, where 971 Yazidi women and girls have fled the grip of the extremists while almost 2,000 remain in their hands. But even freed victims are not free: they face tremendous stigmatization and difficulty reintegrating into their conservative society.
- Libya: As a transit country for waves of migrants and refugees — about 163,000 people traveled through the lawless country to reach Italy by sea in 2016 — women and girls are exposed to attacks by smuggling rings and in detention centers en route to the Libyan coast. Media have reported that women prefer to risk the almost-deadly conditions of crossing the Mediterranean than to stay too long in Libya and be subjected to pervasive threats of rape.
- South Sudan: It may win the prize for the most incidences of conflict-connected sexual violence in 2016, with the UN reporting 577 cases, including 57 girls, some of whom were under 10 years old and even infants.
- Syria: All parties in the six-year war stand accused of violence against women, done prolifically through house searches, at checkpoints, in jails and in displacement camps and in refugee camps outside the country. Forced marriages of young women and girls are also part of the grisly picture, which has no end in sight.
Direct Link to FULL 33-PAGE 2017 UN Report:
http://edge.passblue.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/N1708433.pdf
http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?e=cc2f9fa8a0&u=5d5693a8f1af2d4b6cb3160e8&id=fdb58ea73f
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