Angelina Jolie Opens Summit In London On Sexual Violence In War

At Global Summit, UN Envoy Angelina Jolie Calls For End To Sexual Violence In Conflict -- UN News Center

10 June 2014 – Hollywood actress, activist and United Nations Special Envoy Angelina Jolie today called for concerted action to end once and for all the use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war.

“It is a myth that rape is an inevitable part of conflict,” Ms. Jolie stated in her address to the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, which opened in London and brings together over 900 experts, non-governmental organizations, survivors, faith leaders and international organizations from around the globe.

The three-day summit, co-chaired by Ms. Jolie and Foreign Secretary William Hague of the United Kingdom, aims to create momentum against sexual violence in conflict and practical action that impacts those on the ground.

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More News On Angelina Jolie Opening Today's Summit In London On Sexual Violence In War

Sexual violence in war: Jolie opens summit in London -- BBC
Angelina Jolie addresses sexual violence at summit -- CBS/AP
Angelina Jolie, UK's Hague, vow action against sexual violence in war -- Reuters
Angelina Jolie opens summit conference on war crimes -- UPI
Angelina Jolie: Rape in war is not inevitable, shame is on the aggressor -- CNN
Angelina Jolie Opens Sex Violence Summit With Aim to End War Rape -- ABC News
Angelina Jolie and William Hague launch international anti-rape summit -- The Independent
'It has nothing to do with sex, everything to do with power': Angelina Jolie hosts summit to end rape being used as a weapon of war -- Daily Mail
Rape in wartime: A plan to end it -- Christian Science Monitor editorial
Sexual violence in war: A global problem in 100 seconds -- BBC

Angelina Jolie Urges U.N. Security Council To End Rape In War

Angelina Jolie Urges U.N. Security Council To Act On War Zone Rape -- Reuters

(Reuters) - Actress Angelina Jolie urged the U.N. Security Council on Monday to make dealing with war zone rape a top priority as she shared stories of survivors she has met, including a Congolese mother whose 5-year-old daughter was raped outside a police station.

Oscar-winner Jolie, a special envoy for the U.N. Refugee Agency, told the council that it must shoulder its responsibility and provide leadership "for these crimes happen not because they are inherent to war, but because the global climate allows it."

"Young girls raped and impregnated before their bodies are able to carry a child, causing fistula," she told the debate on sexual violence in conflict which was organized by Britain, the president of the council for June.

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More News On Angelina Jolie Urging The U.N. Security Council To End Rape In War

Angelina Jolie Urges World to End Rape in War -- Military.com/AP
Jolie urges UN Security Council to act on war rapes -- AFP
Angelina Jolie urges an end to rape in war -- CBS
Jolie urges U.N. to halt wartime sex crimes -- USA Today
Jolie Urges End To Rape In War -- Radio Free Europe
Angelina Jolie presses UN on war zone sexual violence -- Newsday
UN Strengthens Fight Against Wartime Rape -- Voice of America

Stories Of Sexual Horror From The UN Representative On Sexual Violence In Conflict Zones

Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zainab Bangura addressiing the G8 Foreign Ministers meeting in London. Photo: UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Babies As Young As Six Months Victims Of Rape In War: U.N. Envoy -- Reuters

(Reuters) - In her first seven months as U.N. envoy on sexual violence in conflict, Zainab Hawa Bangura has visited a Congolese district where rebels raped babies, and Somalia where a woman was paid $150 restitution for the rape of her 4-year-old daughter.

She met a refugee at a camp in Kenya who had been raped at gunpoint when she was eight-months-pregnant while gathering firewood and a Somali father who was fighting for justice for his daughters, aged 4 and 6, who had both been raped.

"The stories are horrific and heartbreaking and when these survivors tell you what they endured, and continue to endure, you know that one person raped in war is one too many," said Bangura, who briefed the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday.

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Update: UN Security Council lists Syrian army and militias as sex predators, along with African rebels -- Washington Post/AP

My Comment: Kudos to Zainab Hawa Bangura for doing this work .... this type of publicity and shaming of military leaders who condone such practices is long overdue.

Angelina Jolie Tells G8 'Wartime Rape Preventable'

'Wartime Rape Preventable', Angelina Jolie Tells G8 Ministers -- Voice of America/Reuters

LONDON — Angelina Jolie said on Thursday that rape in war zones was preventable and urged foreign ministers of some the world's most powerful nations to boost efforts to bring wartime sex offenders to justice.

Speaking in London after a meeting of Group of Eight foreign ministers including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the actress said the world needed to do more to prevent such crimes.

"Hundreds of thousands of women and children have been sexually assaulted, tortured or forced into sexual slavery in the wars of our generation," Jolie said, flanked by eight ministers in suits and Zainab Hawa Bangura, United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflicts.

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More News On Angelina Jolie Joining G-8 Officials To Announce More Funding To Combat Sexual Violence In War

Angelina Jolie praises G8 action against rape in conflict -- The Telegraph
Angelina Jolie joins G-8 officials to announce more funding to combat sexual violence in war -- Washington Post/AP
G8 and Angelina Jolie pledge action on rape as weapon of war -- The Australian/AFP
Angelina Jolie takes lead in war zone violence drive -- Scotsman
Angelina Jolie At G-8: Sex Abuse Survivors 'Forgotten Victims' Of Wars -- Huffington Post/AP
Britain's £10million bid to fight sex attacks in war zones... inspired by Angelina Jolie: William Hague joins Hollywood star to announced new drive against violence -- Daily Mail
G8 nations pledge action to halt sexual violence in war -- CNN
G8 announces initiative to tackle sexual violence in conflict -- BBC

The War Against Women In Syria Is Brutal

Rape Is Shredding Syria's Social Fabric -- CNN

(CNN) -- A woman approached me as I was rushing toward the D.C. Metro after giving a talk on rape in Syria last month. She asked in a low voice if she could share some information. She had DVDs, she said. On them were testimonies of Syrian women who'd been raped; in particular, a mother, a daughter and a sister all in one family.

In a taxi recently en route to Heathrow Airport, I was told another startling story. The driver turned to me and said, "I am Syrian. And I have a story to tell you that I keep wishing is not true."

His eyes welled up as he relayed what his neighbor said happened to a friend. The neighbor described being stopped in his car at a Syrian checkpoint on the road from Zabadani to Damascus. He said army officers told him to leave his daughter with them. My driver said he knew no other details than this, that the man had been given a horrific choice to make: leave his daughter behind, or his wife and other children would be killed in front of his eyes.

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WNU Editor: The 'Women Under Siege' website is here.

Can Rape Be Ended As A Tool Of War?

A woman covers her face as she describes her rape by soldiers to a health worker in 2006 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Can We End Rape As Tool Of War? -- Gloria Steinem and Lauren Wolfe, CNN

(CNN) -- We first thought about starting this piece with the story of Saleha Begum, a survivor of Bangladesh's 1971 war in which, some reports say, as many as 400,000 women were raped. Begum had been tied to a banana tree and repeatedly gang raped and burned with cigarettes for months until she was shot and left for dead in a pile of women. She didn't die, though, and was able to return home, ravaged and five months pregnant. When she got home she was branded a "slut."

We also thought of starting with the story of Ester Abeja, a woman in Uganda who was forcibly held as a "bush wife" by the Lord's Resistance Army. Repeated rape with objects destroyed her insides. Her captors also made her kill her 1-year-old daughter by smashing the baby's head into a tree.

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My Comment: The answer is unfortunately no. The best that we can do is make political and military leaders accountable for the actions of their soldiers, and to punish them accordingly.

Hundreds Of Women Report Being Raped In Libya's Civil War

Iman al-Obeidi told foreign journalists in Libya that she was raped by 15 men from Libya’s strongman Muammar Qaddafi forces. (File Photo)

Hundreds Of Women Raped By Gaddafi Militia -- The Independent

Answers to a doctor's questionnaire reveal the attacks that have left their victims in fear of shame, Aids and abandonment.

At first, the responses to the questionnaire about the trauma of the war in Libya were predictable, if tragic: 10,000 people suffering post-traumatic stress, 4,000 children with psychological problems. Then came the unexpected: 259 women said they had been raped by militiamen loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.

Dr Seham Sergewa had been working with children traumatised by the fighting in Libya, but soon found herself being approached by troubled mothers who felt they could trust her with their dark secret.

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Update #1: Hundreds of women report rapes by Qaddafi forces -- Al Arabiya/AP
Update #2: New Reports of Qaddafi Forces Using Rape As a Weapon of War -- Atlantic Wire

My Comment: Just one more example on why Gaddafi is a war criminal.

Rape As A Weapon Of War On The Rise In DR Congo

A 38-year-old woman cleans her own dishes after her fourth fistula repair surgery in HEAL Africa hospital, Goma February 5, 2009. UNICEF estimates over 1,000 women and girls are raped per month in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Credit: Reuters/Alissa Everett

U.N. Fears Congo Pullout Will Hurt Fight Against Rape -- New York Times/Reuters

KINSHASA, April 19 (Reuter) - Congolese laws against sexual violence are not being implemented and a withdrawal of United Nations peacekeepers from the country would make the struggle against endemic rape "a lot more difficult," the U.N. said.

Margot Wallstrom, the U.N. special representative on sexual violence in conflict, is visiting Congo, where thousands of women are raped every year, as the U.N. tries to persuade the government not to demand a hasty withdrawal of the U.N. force.

Democratic Republic of Congo has advanced legislation in place to outlaw sexual violence but Wallstrom said the country's capacity to implement it was "near zero."

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More News On The Spread Of Sexual Violence In DR Congo

Sexual Violence on the Rise in Congo -- Harvard Crimson
New Report Shows Shocking Pattern Of Rape In Eastern Congo -- Eurasia Review
DR Congo rape crisis 'increasing' despite peacekeepers, Oxfam report says -- The Telegraph
Study: Civilian rape skyrockets in Congo's east -- AP
Congo report shows rape is widespread -- The Guardian
Gang Rape Epidemic Cripples Congo -- Newser
Governor General Of Canada Delivers Plea For African Women -- Gov Monitor
Michaëlle Jean urges Congo to stop rape -- Toronto Star

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.

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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.

U.N. Forces Implicated In Rape

(Click Image To Enlarge)

Peacekeeper Sex Abuse Rampant, UN Says -- Military.com

GENEVA - A United Nations probe collected 217 allegations of abuse of girls and women by peacekeepers in eastern Congo, from sex with teenagers in the back room of a liquor store to threats of "hacking" victims for cooperating with investigators.

The 2006 investigation found many allegations credible and said evidence suggests "frequent and ongoing" sexual exploitation in the region. But it could only establish proof against one of 75 peacekeepers accused of wrongdoing.

Details of alleged incidents dating back to 2004 are summarized in a "strictly confidential" 17-page document.

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Update: Congolese Rape Survivor Shares Nation's Struggles -- NPR

The Weapon of Rape

Darfur Refugee

From The New York Times:

World leaders fight terrorism all the time, with summit meetings and sound bites and security initiatives. But they have studiously ignored one of the most common and brutal varieties of terrorism in the world today.

This is a kind of terrorism that disproportionately targets children. It involves not W.M.D. but simply AK-47s, machetes and pointed sticks. It is mass rape — and it will be elevated, belatedly, to a spot on the international agenda this week.

The United Nations Security Council will hold a special session on sexual violence this Thursday, with Condoleezza Rice coming to New York to lead the debate. This session, sponsored by the United States and backed by a Security Council resolution calling for regular follow-up reports, just may help mass rape graduate from an unmentionable to a serious foreign policy issue.

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My Comment: Nick Kristof's column in The New York Times is well worth the read, but James Taranto writes that Mr. Kristof did not feel that way in 2003 during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.