UN official: Rape needn't be consequence of war

The notion that in war, rape is "unavoidable," "inevitable," or euphemized as "collateral damage," is dangerous and false, Margot Wallstrom, the UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict told students and faculty at Adelphi University yesterday.

Such beliefs, she said, have given implied consent to atrocities documented in international conflicts dating back to the time of Homer's Iliad and chronicled in the pages of the Bible.

"All of this can make rape and sexual violence seem unavoidable, as something we have come to accept," she said to an audience of about 100 on the Garden City campus. "We cannot and should not accept these false premises and empty assumptions. Sexual violence in conflict is neither cultural nor sexual - it's criminal and no other human rights violation is routinely dismissed as inevitable."

She called the systematic use of rape in war a cheap, silent and effective "weapon of choice" that has had a chilling and lasting effect on societies, adding that for each rape that is reported, investigators believed there were 10 to 20 that are not.

Wallstrom spoke as images of her most recent trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo flashed in the background: women and children who she met during her travels in the DRC, one of several countries she is focusing on. Others include Timor-Leste, Colombia, Liberia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Nepal.

But the DRC, a war-torn African country choked by conflict among several rebel groups and steeped in land and mineral grabs to fund the wars, is fast gaining a reputation as the "rape capital of the world," she said. Hundreds of rapes were reported to have occurred last July in and around Luvungi, a village located relatively close to a camp where United Nations peacekeeping troops are stationed.

The victims ranged from infants to great-grandmothers, some of whom called the attackers "grandsons" while pleading for mercy. The brazen incident, which occurred over several days, was seen by some as a reflection of the ineffectiveness of UN peacekeeping efforts.

Wallstrom was named the UN's first special representative on sexual violence in conflict by Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon in February.

In October, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton pledged $1.7 million to Wallstrom's office as part of a $44-million package the United States is devoting to assist women around the world. She announced the funding at a Security Council meeting marking the 10th anniversary of the passage of a resolution recognizing women's role in peace-building and peacekeeping.

Wallstrom said she believed existing laws to punish rape, both in civil society and in international tribunals, are adequate. She was encouraged, she said, by the ongoing prosecution in the International Criminal Court in The Hague of Jean Pierre Bemba, a former vice president of the DRC, on war crimes, including murder and rape.But Wallstrom said laws against rape and sexual violence in conflict are not enforced often enough. "Women have no rights if those who violate their rights go unpunished," she said.