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Resolution 1670 (2009)
Sexual violence against women in armed conflict
1. Sexual violence
against women in armed conflict is a crime against humanity, a war
crime and an absolutely unacceptable weapon of war.
2. Unfortunately, it is also a very effective weapon of war.
Raping, sexually assaulting and mutilating, forcibly impregnating
and infecting with HIV/Aids the wives, daughters and mothers of
the “enemy” not only have terrible physical and psychological effects
on the victims themselves, but are capable of disrupting, if not destroying,
whole communities.
3. Following the devastating effect of chemical munitions in
the First World War – another effective weapon of war – it did not
take long for them to be outlawed. Similarly, following the dreadful
attacks on the civilian population in the Second World War – another
effective weapon of war – it did not take long for the Geneva Conventions
to be drafted to protect the civilian population. It is not the
effectiveness of a weapon that leads to its use being outlawed:
it is its total unacceptability as a violation of human rights,
an attack on human dignity and even on humanity itself.
4. It is thus surprising that it has taken centuries for sexual
violence against women in armed conflict to be outlawed. The inclusion
of rape and sexual slavery as a war crime and a crime against humanity
by the Rome Treaty on the Statute of the International Criminal
Court in 1998 marked a major step forward, but it was not until
2008 that the international community, via United Nations Security
Council Resolution 1820 (2008) on women, peace and security, recognised that rape and
other forms of sexual violence can constitute a war crime, a crime
against humanity and a constitutive act with respect to genocide.
5. The Security Council demanded the “immediate and complete
cessation by all parties to armed conflict of all acts of sexual
violence against civilians” and expressed its deep concern that,
despite repeated condemnation, violence and sexual abuse of women
and children trapped in war zones were not only continuing, but,
in some cases, had become so widespread and systematic as to “reach
appalling levels of brutality”.
6. Today, the main victims of this crime are found in the Democratic
Republic of Congo (especially in Kivu) – where it has been said
that it is more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier – and in
Sudan (especially in Darfur). However, sexual violence against women
was also a characteristic feature of the Balkan wars just over a
decade ago. To this day, the exact figures are disputed, but it
is estimated that upward of 20 000 Bosniac, Croat and Serb women
were raped, often gang raped, and sometimes sexually enslaved and
forcibly impregnated in so-called “rape camps” by armies and paramilitary
groups.
7. Since there have been almost no prosecutions for rape and
other crimes of sexual violence before the domestic courts, for
example in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and even fewer before the international
courts, thousands of victims have been denied access to justice,
reparation and redress. The lives of the victims remain blighted
in many ways while the perpetrators enjoy almost complete impunity
for their crimes.
8. The Council of Europe has a duty to ensure that human rights
are guaranteed on the territory of its member states. Even though
the mass rapes during the Balkan wars are not justiciable before
the European Court of Human Rights now, this does not exclude the
possibility that such crimes may again be committed on European
soil in the future. The Council of Europe must not only be ready
to face such a threat, but should also look into the possibility
of providing assistance – in particular to its member states – in
dealing with the legacy of past sexual violence in armed conflict.
9. The Parliamentary Assembly recalls that stopping sexual violence
against women in armed conflict is intimately linked with empowering
women and changing patriarchal societal models, as well as with
ensuring that justice is done each and every time a woman is raped
in an armed conflict, be it close, on European soil, or far away
on another continent. The key to eradicating sexual violence against
women in armed conflict is gender equality.
10. The Assembly thus calls upon member states to:
10.1. comply with United Nations Security
Council Resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008) on women, peace
and security, and to draw up a national action plan, if they have
not already done so;
10.2. lobby at United Nations level to extend Resolution 1820 (2008) to girls and women who are forced into the army and
who do not fall under the scope of the current resolution;
10.3. recognise sexual violence in armed conflict as a gender-based
form of persecution entitling to asylum in member states;
10.4. ensure that appropriate laws are on the statute books,
and that effective prosecution of crimes of sexual violence in armed
conflicts is possible, should they occur within their jurisdiction;
10.5. consider sanctioning countries that are unwilling to protect
women from sexual violence in armed conflict or unwilling to prosecute
the perpetrators;
10.6. when national troops or international peacekeeping missions
are sent into conflict situations, ensure that they have a clear
mandate to protect the civilian population, in particular women
and girls, from sexual violence and that they are properly trained
in gender equality. Furthermore, women should make up a substantial
proportion of these missions;
10.7. consider sending civilian missions to support and monitor
the rule of law in order to complement the protection provided by
peacekeepers; such missions should ideally be composed of an equal number
of women and men, and their members should be properly trained in
gender equality;
10.8. promote gender equality, including respect for women’s
and girls’ bodily integrity, before, during and in the aftermath
of armed conflict and also through an appropriate participation
of women in peacemaking processes (at least 40%).