Monday, February 1, 2010

Is The UN Getting Serious About Stopping The Crime Of Mass Rape In War Zones?

UN Chief Appoints Envoy To Curb Rape In Wars -- AFP

ADDIS ABABA — UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday said he intended to make Sweden's Margot Wallstrom his special representative tasked with combating sexual violence against women and children in conflicts.

Ban announced he wanted to appoint the 55-year-old outgoing vice-president of the European Commission during a speech at the opening of the African Union's 14th summit in Addis Ababa.

Read more ....

Update: EU politician tapped for UN post against sexual violence -- Deutsche Welle

My Comment: The UN is the perfect institution to start laying the groundwork to confront how rape is used as a weapon of war in conflict zones. Unfortunately, the UN has its own credibility problem on this issue when it was found out a few years ago that their own UN peace keepers have been complicit in this crime .... especially in the Congo.

Having said that, this UN special representative tasked with combating sexual violence against women and children in conflicts will (sadly) be ineffective for the simple reason that she does not have the authority or resources to enforce any laws, resolutions, or criminal counts. The UN is a very good PR machine .... and from where I stand this is all PR that will have zero impact in saving one person from experiencing rape. It is only when this special representative has some teeth from the international community to pursue these monsters .... that is when I know the UN is serious in combating this problem.

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