UN: Babies as young as 6 months victims of rape in war
Source: Agencies |
April 19, 2013, Friday
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IN her first seven months as UN 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 US$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 four and six, 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 UN Security Council on Wednesday.
She told the 15-member council it was still largely "cost-free" to rape a woman, child or man in conflict and that this must be reversed to make it a "massive liability to commit, command or condone sexual violence in conflict."
Any future peace and ceasefire deals in conflicts must include sexual violence prevention, she said. Bangura, a former health minister of Sierra Leone, said she plans to visit Syria, Mali and South Sudan as soon as possible.
"I visited a community where last year 11 babies, between six and 12 months old, were raped by elements of Mai Mai Morgan," she said, referring to a rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo. "It is unimaginable that anyone could have committed such an atrocity."
Bangura also told reporters that in the same community in turbulent eastern Congo on its border with Uganda, 59 children aged between one and three, and 182 children between five and 15 years old were raped last year.
"Under the cold light of strategy and tactics, the rationale and purpose is clear. What more effective way can there be to destroy a community than to target and devastate its children?" she told the Security Council.
Army and police named
A written report to the Security Council from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, based on Bangura's work, named 14 armed groups along with the Congolese army and police that it said used sexual violence in conflict.
The report also lists groups in Central African Republic and groups and government forces in Ivory Coast, Syria and Mali.
Since January 2012, there have been 211 cases of sexual violence reported in Mali, including rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage and gang rape, according to the report.
"The majority of women and girls refused to report for fear of retribution and banishment by their spouses and the community," Ban's report said. "In rebel-controlled zones, rape was used as a tactic of war."
Bangura described sexual violence in conflict as "war's oldest and least condemned crime."
"Sexual violence has been used throughout the ages because it's such a cheap and devastating weapon," she told the Security Council. "The perpetrators must understand that there can be no hiding place, no amnesty, no safe harbor."
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 four and six, 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 UN Security Council on Wednesday.
She told the 15-member council it was still largely "cost-free" to rape a woman, child or man in conflict and that this must be reversed to make it a "massive liability to commit, command or condone sexual violence in conflict."
Any future peace and ceasefire deals in conflicts must include sexual violence prevention, she said. Bangura, a former health minister of Sierra Leone, said she plans to visit Syria, Mali and South Sudan as soon as possible.
"I visited a community where last year 11 babies, between six and 12 months old, were raped by elements of Mai Mai Morgan," she said, referring to a rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo. "It is unimaginable that anyone could have committed such an atrocity."
Bangura also told reporters that in the same community in turbulent eastern Congo on its border with Uganda, 59 children aged between one and three, and 182 children between five and 15 years old were raped last year.
"Under the cold light of strategy and tactics, the rationale and purpose is clear. What more effective way can there be to destroy a community than to target and devastate its children?" she told the Security Council.
Army and police named
A written report to the Security Council from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, based on Bangura's work, named 14 armed groups along with the Congolese army and police that it said used sexual violence in conflict.
The report also lists groups in Central African Republic and groups and government forces in Ivory Coast, Syria and Mali.
Since January 2012, there have been 211 cases of sexual violence reported in Mali, including rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage and gang rape, according to the report.
"The majority of women and girls refused to report for fear of retribution and banishment by their spouses and the community," Ban's report said. "In rebel-controlled zones, rape was used as a tactic of war."
Bangura described sexual violence in conflict as "war's oldest and least condemned crime."
"Sexual violence has been used throughout the ages because it's such a cheap and devastating weapon," she told the Security Council. "The perpetrators must understand that there can be no hiding place, no amnesty, no safe harbor."
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