Sexual violence is a devastating reality in the world’s conflict but women and courts are pushing back‚ winning three major cases in the bid to combat abuse as a weapon of war.
“The landmark cases we have seen this year are proof of the connection between justice for women and women’s direct participation and leadership‚” UN Women‚ the United Nations’ gender wing‚ said on Friday ahead of the first International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict on June 19.
The conviction in February of two former military officers in a court in Guatemala was the first time that a national court anywhere in the world considered charges of sexual slavery during armed conflict. That country’s civil war raged from 1960 to 1996.
“Women’s organisations worked for years with indigenous women to develop their case‚ which was presented in the court by Guatemala’s female attorney general before a female presiding judge‚” said UN Women.
In March‚ the International Criminal Court (ICC) handed down its first conviction for sexual and gender-based crimes. Former Congolese vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba was brought to justice by a female prosecutor in a case presided over by an all-female panel of three judges and “thanks to unprecedented levels of participation of women victims and witnesses from the Central African Republic”.
In May‚ the Extraordinary African Chambers in Senegal convicted the former president of Chad‚ Hissène Habré‚ for war crimes and crimes against humanity‚ including rape and sexual slavery. This was the first universal jurisdiction case to make it to trial in Africa‚ and the first time a former head of state was held personally accountable for committing rape as an international crime
In Guatemala and Senegal‚ UN Women partnered with Justice Rapid Response‚ a not-for-profit organisation runs teams of specialists who operate internationally and focus on mass atrocities‚ including sexual and gender-based crimes.
“It is heartening to see that steps are being taken towards securing accountability for these violent acts” and that the voices of survivors of sexual abuse during conflict are heard in the quest for justice‚” UN Women said.
2016 sees justice in three landmark cases of sexual atrocities in war
Sexual violence is a devastating reality in the world’s conflict but women and courts are pushing back‚ winning three major cases in the bid to combat abuse as a weapon of war.
“The landmark cases we have seen this year are proof of the connection between justice for women and women’s direct participation and leadership‚” UN Women‚ the United Nations’ gender wing‚ said on Friday ahead of the first International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict on June 19.
The conviction in February of two former military officers in a court in Guatemala was the first time that a national court anywhere in the world considered charges of sexual slavery during armed conflict. That country’s civil war raged from 1960 to 1996.
“Women’s organisations worked for years with indigenous women to develop their case‚ which was presented in the court by Guatemala’s female attorney general before a female presiding judge‚” said UN Women.
In March‚ the International Criminal Court (ICC) handed down its first conviction for sexual and gender-based crimes. Former Congolese vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba was brought to justice by a female prosecutor in a case presided over by an all-female panel of three judges and “thanks to unprecedented levels of participation of women victims and witnesses from the Central African Republic”.
In May‚ the Extraordinary African Chambers in Senegal convicted the former president of Chad‚ Hissène Habré‚ for war crimes and crimes against humanity‚ including rape and sexual slavery. This was the first universal jurisdiction case to make it to trial in Africa‚ and the first time a former head of state was held personally accountable for committing rape as an international crime
In Guatemala and Senegal‚ UN Women partnered with Justice Rapid Response‚ a not-for-profit organisation runs teams of specialists who operate internationally and focus on mass atrocities‚ including sexual and gender-based crimes.
“It is heartening to see that steps are being taken towards securing accountability for these violent acts” and that the voices of survivors of sexual abuse during conflict are heard in the quest for justice‚” UN Women said.
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