An interesting post at Change.org’s Humanitarian blog notes the significance of an important new report from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the use of rape in war. The post’s co-authors Jocelyn Kelly and Will Cragin highlighted quotes from civilians living in some of the world’s worst war zones to commend the Secretary-General for “figuring out something that almost everyone in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda already knew – that rape is a form of genocide” and a weapon of war.
The report marks the one year anniversary of Security Council Resolution 1820, which made clear that sexual violence can be defined and punished as a weapon of war. Close attention is paid to the current crisis in eastern Congo, and Secretary General Ban ends the report by emphasizing the need to end impunity in regions suffering from wide spread sexual violence:
It is my strong belief that when it comes to sexual violence, we cannot expect peace without justice, reparation without recognition, and sustainable development without the full empowerment of those who have suffered sexual violence or are at risk.