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Confronting rape as a weapon of war

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Confronting rape as a weapon of war

Posted by Elisabeth.Roesch on March 8th, 2011

Margot Wallström (center) meets with aid agency representatives in Washington, DC.

Photo: The IRC

Today, International Women’s Day, Elisabeth Roesch writes about Margot Wallström’s recent meeting with aid agencies including the International Rescue Commiitee.  Wallström is the UN’s first ever Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, tasked with leading the UN’s efforts to mobilize the international community to address sexual violence.

Margot Wallström’s open style, hands-on attitude and good sense of humor are refreshing for one of the most powerful women in the United Nations.  Not to mention, critically important tools for someone whose job is to confront one of the toughest and most important challenges of our time: rape in conflict.

Over the last decade, the world has woken up and been moved to action by the horrific violence that women and girls often face on an almost daily basis in countries torn apart by strife and war.  Wallström, a former Swedish politician, media executive and member of the European Commission, is the leader for this action.  Appointed by the U.N. Secretary General as his Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict a little over a year ago, she is tasked with mobilizing the international community to respond to sexual violence with the same seriousness and commitment used to respond to any other threat to our world’s peace and security.  

Wallström is outspoken about her belief that sexual violence is a criminal act – often a war crime – and that perpetrators should not be allowed to walk free.  Proof of her seriousness has been her relentless advocacy to bring some of the worst offenders to justice.  Callixte Mbarushimana, for example, is a leader of one of the main rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).  Accused of raping women and girls, he was recently brought to justice for his crimes. He and other offenders can thank Wallström’s practice of “naming and shaming” for a portion of the international attention they have received.  Yet recently Wallström met with aid agencies including the IRC in Washington, D.C., and she was candid about the challenges she faces in working toward her primary goal of ending impunity.

Wallström’s office, though growing, remains small.  Having recently received generous support from the US government, she now has the ability to expand her team to 9 people.  But her list of priority countries is almost as long as the size of her staff – Colombia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic (CAR), Cote d’Ivoire, Sudan and Liberia.  With less than a year left in her term, she will need to engage where she can have the most impact.  While sexual violence in the DRC receives much attention, it will take fierce determination to shine a spotlight on its neighbor, CAR.   The situation in CAR has long suffered from neglect even though the violence committed against women and girls there is equally grave.  And in Ivory Coast, where a disputed election endangers a fragile peace, Wallström is one of the few voices speaking out to condemn the attacks on women and girls that have been reported in recent months.  There, a critical opportunity to prevent violence is being missed.  Can one person reverse the tide?

On my most optimistic days, I see Wallström as one leader in a growing movement of people that realize women’s security is important for international security or, to quote the famous words of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, recognize that “women’s rights are human rights”.  When a more cynical mood overtakes me, I wonder if world leaders have opened their eyes to the atrocities being committed against women in places like Sudan or Congo only to close them again as the same scenario plays out in other countries.  It is easier to recognize a problem when it is bounded by the borders of a far-off war-torn nation.  Far more difficult is waking up to the fact that violence against women and girls is global in scope, vast in scale and requires not a discrete intervention but a wholesale change in the way we respond to the needs of women and girls affected by conflict.  My hope is that Wallström can leverage her time with the UN to catapult the international community to the next stage in confronting this violence. This would mean not only bringing perpetrators to justice but also changing the widespread practice of allowing the basic human rights of women and girls to be violated in silence. 

Tomorrow I’ll tell you about three goals that I think are critical to this fight.

Confronting rape as a weapon of war (Part 2)

Posted by Elisabeth.Roesch on March 9th, 2011

Over the last decade, the world has woken up and been moved to action by the horrific violence that women and girls often face on an almost daily basis in countries torn apart by strife and war

Photo courtesy Kevin Sites

Yesterday I wrote about Margot Wallström’s recent meeting with aid agencies including the International Rescue Committee. Wallström is the UN’s first ever Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, tasked with leading the UN’s efforts to mobilize the international community to address sexual violence.

Today I’d like to share the three goals that I think are critical to the fight not only to end sexual violence but also to extend basic human rights to women and girls all over the world:  

• Ensure that no survivor of sexual violence goes without lifesaving care and assistance.  Standards for the prevention of and response to gender-based violence in humanitarian settings exist but are ignored.  Wallström could change this by working with UN agencies to strengthen their ability to assist women and girls in conflict zones.
• Give rise to women’s voices.  Women need to have a say in the way that wars are resolved and peace is built.   Women’s conception of justice for crimes of sexual violence often goes beyond the prosecution of individual cases.  Many women want to live without fearing for their safety and have their power and abilities recognized.  Meaningful justice requires embracing a larger vision and supporting women’s leadership across social, economic and political spheres.
• Stop the denial.    Believe it or not, not everyone is convinced that the UN, UN peacekeepers, other international organizations and government ministries have a role in addressing sexual violence.  UN member states routinely ask for “proof” that violence is occurring and drag their feet in responding.  The IRC has supported tens of thousands of survivors of sexual violence over the past decade (40,000 in the DRC alone).  In almost every conflict in which we intervene, women and girls are at risk. And yet the question arises again and again – is this violence really happening? Wallström must call out such comments for what they are: simple denial.  This must be a fundamental part of her campaign to end impunity.  Impunity is more than a perpetrator going free, it is also the inaction of leaders who have the capacity to respond but refuse to believe there is a problem.

United Nations Regional Information Centre Launches Europe-Wide Ad Competition to End Violence against Women | Say NO - UNiTE

United Nations Regional Information Centre Launches Europe-Wide Ad Competition to End Violence against Women | Say NO - UNiTE.

United Nations Regional Information Centre Launches Europe-Wide Ad Competition to End Violence against Women

ShareThis

7 March 2011

On March 8, International Women’s Day, the UN Regional Informational Centre in partnership with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (UN Women), and UN information offices around Europe, is launching an advertisement competition calling for gender equality and an end to all forms of violence against women and girls.

The Europe-wide competition, which is part of the UN Secretary-General’s Campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women, invites Europeans, professionals and non-professionals, to create an ad which states: “No to Violence against Women.”

The first prize is 5000 EUR and the winner will be selected by a jury composed of experts including Jacques Séguéla, Vice President of advertising giant Havas, Omar Vulpinari Creative Director of the Visual Communication Department at Fabrica, Benetton’s communication research centre, and Mieke Gerritzen, Designer and Director of the Graphic Design Museum in Breda.

“Joining in the efforts to stop violence is everybody’s responsibility. Governments, private enterprises,civil society groups, communities and individual citizens can all make essential contributions. Men and boys must be active in encouraging respect for women and zero tolerance for violence,” says Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women.

“We live in a world of violence. Violence against women is all the more intolerable because of the contradiction between love and brutality, the rejection of equality. There will never be enough of us to mobilize against this scourge that neither time nor modernity has managed to defeat”, says Jacques Séguéla, Vice President of advertising giant Havas.

“We were extremely encouraged by the enthusiasm with which European citizens joined the competition on the WeCanEndPoverty campaign last year, and because the subject of this year’s competition is, alas, a real tangible issue for every nation, we can expect the same enthusiasm and creativity to put the spotlight on it”, says Afsané Bassir-Pour, Director of UNRIC. The competition opens for submissions on 8 March 2011, International Women’s Day, and ends at midnight (CET) 31 May 2011. The winners will be announced on 25 November 2011– the International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women.

For more details – including the terms and conditions – and to enter the competition, please visit: www.create4theun.eu


For additional information about the competition please contact:
Ms. Afsane Bassir-Pour, Director UNRIC
E-mail: bassirpour@unric.org
Tel: +32 (0)2 788 8450

Stopping the Selling of Girls in Our Own Backyards

Stopping the Selling of Girls in Our Own Backyards.

Slavery at the Super Bowl

Tell the Super Bowl Host Committee: Don't be a bystander to child trafficking

Every year, children as young as 11 are trafficked involuntarily to Super Bowl cities. There, football fans – usually men, often inebriated – will pay traffickers to have sex with them. 

The Texas Attorney General estimates these kids have a life expectancy of just seven years from the time they're first trafficked.

This year, the Super Bowl Host Committee is charged "to engage in responsible planning . . . to ensure the readiness of North Texas to host the first Super Bowl in the Cowboys’ new stadium."

Local anti-trafficking groups have repeatedly offered to help the Committee use its influence to educate fans and the public about the dangers of child trafficking -- which could help to prevent thousands of rapes and abuses at America's biggest sporting event.

But the Host Committee has refused to take meaningful action. And thousands of children will pay the price.

Tell the 2011 Super Bowl Host Committee to take a stand against child trafficking. 

In Dallas, a terrific local organization called Traffick911 has created the "I'm Not Buying It" campaign. They've offered the Host Committee free PSAs, posters, banners and informational cards to educate the public and protect children from being abused and raped.

But the Host Committee refuses to display the information. 

The Committee is working hard right now to generate good publicity for North Texas and the game, so public pressure at this moment will be especially powerful. 

Tell the Super Bowl Host Committee that they have a responsibility to protect the children who'll be trafficked to Texas for the Super Bowl: 

http://change.org/petitions/view/ask_the_super_bowl_host_committee_to_stand_up_and_protect_children

After you sign, please forward this email to friends and family to let them know about this crisis, and how they can help. 

Thanks for taking action,

- Patrick and the Change.org team

P.S. Once you add your name, click here to share this campaign on Facebook. 

Violence against women: War's overlooked victims | The Economist

V

iolence against women: War's overlooked victims | The Economist.

War's overlooked victims

Rape is horrifyingly widespread in conflicts all around the world

 

 

Christina Taylor Green's slaying has profound impact on Tucson children

EPA/Handout

Christina Taylor Green, 9, was killed during shooting in Tuscon that left five others death and more than a dozen others wounded.

Christina Taylor Green's slaying has profound impact on Tucson children.

Stop sexual violence in Haiti’s camps

"We can be raped at any moment. We are forced to live in misery." - Dina, rape survivor, Haiti Can you donate to help Amnesty stop the onslaught of sexual violence against girls and women in Haiti?

Over the past year, the risk of rape has increased dramatically for women and girls displaced by Haiti's earthquake. Myriam was raped when she was 11. Suzie was gang-raped in front of her children. Guerline's rapists said they would shoot her if she went to the police. A year after a devastating earthquake killed 230,000 people and injured 300,000, more than one million people still live in squalid, unsafe tent cities in the capital Port-au-Prince and in the south of Haiti. Most of those displaced by the quake are women and girls. This dire situation has made girls and women – already struggling to come to terms with losing loved ones, homes and livelihoods in the earthquake – easy targets for violent sexual attack. Armed men and youth gangs prowl the poorly lit camps at night, slicing through tents and raping at will. Women and girls are completely exposed - their makeshift shelters providing no protection against attackers. Abandoned no more. A complete breakdown of law and order in the camps where Haiti's earthquake survivors live has made girls and women easy targets of sexual violence. Your gift today will help Amnesty fight for their protection and human rights. There's simply no security for the women and girls in the camps. Amnesty is calling on the new Haitian government to protect girls and women in the camps and stop the sexual violence now. Help protect at-risk girls and women in Haiti from sexual violence. Make a contribution to Amnesty International today. Sexual violence was widespread in Haiti before January 2010, but the destruction and displacement caused by the earthquake made women and girls even more vulnerable to abuse - separating them from family and community networks and shattering protection mechanisms. According to the Amnesty International report, Aftershocks: Women speak out against sexual violence in Haiti's camps, more than 250 cases of rape – in just several camps – were reported in the first 5 months after January’s earthquake. Victims say few rapes are reported, either because they fear retribution or because they don’t know where to turn. Women who do report rape to the authorities are turned away or asked to pay the police for inquiries. Women and girls in the camps have a right to safety. The government has an obligation to protect them. With your help, we can convince the new government to make ending violence against women a priority. We can't let this stand, and we must not let it spread. Donate today to help Amnesty defend human rights in Haiti.   In peace, Larry Cox Executive Director Amnesty International USA If you have a question or comment, please use our interactive online help system. Subscribe to our RSS feeds. © Copyright 2011 | Amnesty International USA | 5 Penn Plaza | New York, NY 10001 | 212.807.8400

Quotes on Violence

by Tantra Spirituality on Thursday, December 9, 2010 at 7:30pm

One observes throughout the world there are two fundamental issues, violence and sorrow. That violence and sorrow is not limited to the Orient nor the Occident, to the West nor the East; it is part of the human psychological structure. Violence we have accepted as a way of life - in wars, in our business, in our outward social structure; competition and all the things we know of - how we dislike, hate, get angry, violent. We are familiar with that and have accepted it as a way of life.

 

 

Either we accept the way of life as it is, with violence and all the rest of it; or we say there must be a different way which human intelligence can find, where violence doesn't exist. That's all. And we say this violence will exist so long as comparison, suppression, conformity, the disciplining of oneself according to a pattern is the way of life. In this there is conflict and therefore violence.

 

Talk about love?

So can you see the fact of violence—the fact not only outside of you but also inside you—and not have any time interval between listening and acting? This means by the very act of listening you are free from violence. You are totally free from violence because you have not admitted time, an ideology through which you can get rid of violence. This requires very deep meditation, not just a verbal agreement or disagreement. We never listen to anything; our minds, our brain cells are so conditioned to an ideology about violence that we never look at the fact of violence. We look at the fact of violence through an ideology, and the looking at violence through an ideology creates a time interval. And when you admit time, there is no end to violence; you go on showing violence, preaching non-violence.

 

we can stop this

Do not think by merely wishing for peace, you will have peace, when in your daily life of relationship you are aggressive, acquisitive, seeking psychological security here or in the hereafter. You have to understand the central cause of conflict and sorrow and then dissolve it and not merely look to the outside for peace.

With complete attention, what takes place? When you give complete attention to anything—your learning of history or mathematics, looking at your wife or your husband—what takes place? I do not know if you have gone into it—probably most of us have never given complete attention to anything—but when you do, what takes place?

 

have you ever been a victim

Formally I have condemned violence, I have escaped from it, I have justified it, I have said it is natural. All these things are inattention. But when I give attention to what I have called violence—and in that attention there is care, affection, love—where is there space for violence?

Violence is not merely killing another. It is violence when we use a sharp word, when we make a gesture to brush away a person, when we obey because there is fear. So violence isn’t merely organized butchery in the name of God, in the name of society or country. Violence is much more subtle, much deeper, and we are inquiring into the very depths of violence. When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent.

 

There are so many different kinds of violence. Shall we go into each kind of violence or shall we take the whole structure of violence? Can we look at the whole spectrum of violence, not just at one part of it?…The source of violence is the “me”, the ego, the self, which expresses itself in so many ways—in division, in trying to become or be somebody—which divides itself as the “me” and the “not me”, as the unconscious and the conscious; the “me” that identifies with the family or not with the family, with the community or not with the community and so on. It is like a stone dropped in a lake; the waves spread and spread, at the centre is the “me”. As long as the “me” survives in any form, very subtly or grossly, there must be violence.

 

Man is all the time trying to become non-violent. So there is conflict between “what is”, which is violence, and “what should be”, which is non-violence. There is conflict between the two. That is the very essence of wastage of energy. As long there is duality between “what is” and “what should be”—man trying to become something else, making an effort to achieve “what should be”—that conflict is waste of energy. As long as there is conflict between the opposite, man has not enough energy to change. Why should I have the opposite at all, as non-violence, as the ideal?

If there was no ideal at all, you would be left with “what is”. Would that make one complacent? Or would you then have the energy, the interest, the vitality to solve ‘what is’? Is not the ideal of non-violence an escape from the fact of violence? When the mind is not escaping, but is confronted with the fact of violence—that it is violent, not condemning it, not judging it—then surely such a mind has an entirely different quality and there is no longer violence.

Now, suppose I am violent. How do I observe that violence, because I want to understand the nature of that violence. I want to go, explore, discover the extraordinary factors that contribute to violence. So how do I observe? First, is violence - please listen to this - is violence different from me? Right? You understand my question? I am asking, is that violence which I see when I say I am violent, is that violence different from me or I am that violence? When you are angry, you are angry. It is not you are different from anger. You are different from anger only when you want to control it, only when you say I must suppress it, but are you actually different, separate from violence. Please, we must go into this very carefully because most people say I am different from that object which I call violence. Is that so? Is the word 'violence' separated - you understand?

 

When there are two dogmatic beliefs, and each trying to convert the other, oppose each other, it is a form of violence. So are we aware of this factor in our life? And when you become aware of it what are you going to do? Do you say, 'Yes, I am aware of it' but carry on with violence? Therefore it becomes a very serious matter. If one is really to be free of violence, to look at it, to live with it, to understand it, to go into it and see all the multiple forms of violence, totally be acquainted with it - and when you are acquainted with something it flowers and then withers away, you don't have to fight it.

Sir, look: I am violent. I observe it. Because I don't run away from it, I don't suppress it, I don't transform it into something else as non -violence, which is absurd - the transformation of violence into non -violence is stupidity, it has no meaning. So as I am violent, I let it come out - not in action. Let it flower, let it grow, as you watch it, it grows and dies. Haven't you done all this? That is, sir, when you are angry, at that moment of anger you are not aware, you are full out. Then a second later you say, 'I have been angry'. Right? So you have divided yourself as not being angry and that you have been angry. So there is a division between the observer who says, 'I have been angry, and I must not be angry'. Right? So the division brings about conflict, saying, 'I mustn't be angry, how am I to get rid of my anger' - and so on and so on, so on. Whereas if you are aware of anger as it arises and let it come out non-verbally (laughs), non-actively, not say, 'I am going to hit you' - let it flower, let it come out, and you will see it disappears very quickly and withers away. And if you do it properly you are never angry again, finished..

Jiddu Krishnamurti 

War

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=151245261588539

Violence ver Nudity

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=153261541386911

Breaking News Alert The shooting of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords

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Breaking News Alert: Gunman held in shooting of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords identified as Jared Loughner
January 8, 2011 4:56:12 PM
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Gunman held in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona and others has been identified as Jared Laughner, law enforcement officials said. Loughner, 22, is a veteran.



For more information, visit washingtonpost.com

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Breaking News Alert: Rep. Giffords in intensive care; doctor 'optimistic'
January 8, 2011 4:13:11 PM
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The surgeon who operated on Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords said he is "optimistic" about her recovery. Pima County sheriff says six people were killed in the Tucson shooting that wounded Giffords.



For more information, visit washingtonpost.com

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Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Sat, January 08, 2011 -- 1:22 PM ET
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Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona Reportedly Shot in Tucson

A Democratic congresswoman from Arizona was shot along with
several others during a public event at a grocery store in
Tucson, according to news reports. The condition of
Representative Gabrielle Giffords remained unclear. The
Tucson Citizen reported that Ms. Giffords had been shot at
close range in the head.

Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com?emc=na

 

What's New A Significant Increase in Sex Trafficking in Minnesota?

What's New.

A Significant Increase in Sex Trafficking in Minnesota?

The Advocates' Staff Attorney Beatriz Menanteau participated in a panel discussion on sex trafficking in Minnesota hosted by the Sexual Violence Prevention Program on November 5. Along with other panelists, Ms. Menanteau described the issue and the prevention work that is being done. Nearly 100 people participated from throughout the state.

The panel presentation discussed: