Sexual violence as a war tactic & security council resolution 1888 next steps ...

• Author: Goetz, Anne-marie

At the end of September 2009, two sharply contrasting events coincided: the United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton introduced resolution 1888 at the United Nations Security Council on 30 September which, like resolution 1820 passed the previous year, condemns conflict-related sexual violence and aims to equip the UN with measures to prevent it and to address impunity. Just two days before in Conakry, Guinea, a peaceful opposition demonstration to urge an accelerated elections timetable was violently suppressed in the capital's stadium. An International Commission of Inquiry (ICoI) determined that 156 people were killed or disappeared. A striking feature of this aggression was the use of sexual violence: at least 109 women were raped, according to leaked accounts of the ICoI's report--many publicly in the stadium, some captured on cell phone cameras and circulated to alert the world. The Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations, Gerard Araud, made the connection between the sexual violence in Conakry and resolution 1888 in his comments to the Security Council on the morning of 30 September.

The UN is undergoing a paradigm shift in its approach to the protection of civilians. There is growing recognition that warring parties often explicitly target citizens. However, a significant implementation lag exists between progressive policy and tangible change in the behaviour of armed groups. There is an urgent need to accelerate implementation of the many progressive measures embedded in both resolutions 1820 and 1888. The events in Guinea and the persistently high levels of rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and elsewhere illustrate that extremely brutal sexual violence has become an established part of the repertoire of conflict and coercion.

Sexual violence in conflict is nothing new. It has long been considered an inevitable, if unfortunate, by-product of war, a form of collateral damage beyond the control of military commanders. But like other abuses of civilians, there is nothing inevitable about it. Any command structure that can organize an assault or punish deserters can organize disciplinary action to punish rapists, and thereby deter future abuses. Beyond a failure to prevent, evidence is mounting that in many conflicts of the last century, sexual violence has been orchestrated by political and military leaders. In some cases, such as in the rape camps of Bosnia or ethnically targeted rape in Rwanda...