The United Nations has tried to raise awareness of the need to put an end to conflict-related sexual violence and to honor the victims and survivors of sexual violence around the world. For the UN, "conflict-related sexual violence refers to rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced abortion, and any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity perpetrated against women girls men and boys linked to a conflict. The term also encompasses trafficking in persons when committed in situations of conflict for purposes of sexual violence or exploitation."
There has been a slow growth of awareness building trying to push UN agencies to provide non-discriminatory and comprehensive health services including sexual and reproductive health services as every new wave of warfare brings with it a rising tide of human tragedy.
The Association of World Citizens (AWC) first raised the issue in the UN Commission on Human Rights in March 2001 citing the judgement of the International Court for Former Yugoslavia which maintained that there can be no time limitations on bringing the accused to trial. The AWC again stressed the use of rape as a weapon of war in the Special Session of the Commission on Human Rights on the Democratic Republic of Congo saying "There are numerous types of rape. Rape is committed to boast the soldiers' morale, to feed soldiers' hatred of the enemy, their sense of superiority and to keep them fighting. Rape is a weapon of war used to spread political terror. Rape can destabilize a society and break its resistance. Genocidal rape treats women as 'reproductive vessels ' to make them bear babies of the rapists nationality. Genocidal rape aggrivates women's terror, producing a class of outcast mothers and children."
We are still at the awareness-building stage. Strong awareness-building is needed. An example of the lasting consequences of sexual violence is the situation in the Tigray Province of Ethiopia. There was an armed conflict in Tigray between 2020 and 2022 when a ceasefire agreement was reached. There were some 120,000 reported cases of sexual violence, but many cases are not reported due to social stigma. A lasting conseequence of sexual violence is the spread of AIDS. Some 5 percent of women attacked are now AIDS-positive. However testing has been limited due to the destruction of health services.
Awareness-building on the need to eliminate sexual violence in armed conflict has been growing. There is a need to develop this awareness within the military and those that command them. There is still someways to go.
René Wadlow, Association of World Citizens
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