UN Security General Decries Sexual Violence in Armed Conflicts

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for states, particularly in Asia, Europe, and Africa, to strengthen prevention and protection measures against sexual violence in armed conflicts.

In his report to the Security Council, Mr. Ban wrote:

Sexual violence is deeply dehumanizing, inflicts intense mental and physical trauma, and is often accompanied by fear, shame and stigma. It is a well-established method of torture.

Mr. Ban later refers to International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which, for the first time, in 1994, qualified the crime of rape as a form of genocide.

In so doing, ICTR recognized that sexual violence was a step in the process of group destruction — the “destruction of the spirit, of the will to live, and of life itself”.

I bow my head to Mr. Ban and recognize his heroic efforts to work for peace.