Celebrating Feminists’ Voices, Inspiring Global Peace

Sexual Violence against Women: The Weapon of Rape

14 March 2013

As you know, on the 8th of March, the whole world was celebrating the International Women’s Day (IWD). On this occasion, WILPF attended a side event of the 22nd session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) on how to involve youth in the struggle to end violence against women and girls. On that same day, we also attended three different discussions organised by the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH), all of them focusing on the daily violence women have to face around the world.

Rape as a weapon of war

The discussions during the FIFDH mainly focused on the issue of rape, which is the major human rights violation women face (300 000 cases of rape are reported each year!).

Photo of the panel on sexual violence at the FIFDHIn the UN Security Council resolution 1820, systematic rape is defined as a weapon of war; it constitutes a massive crime, exacerbated in times of conflict. Indeed, during internal and international conflicts, a woman’s body becomes a battlefield. It is particularly the case in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which is arguably, according to the statistics, the epicentre of sexual violence against women today.

The panellists reminded us that rape and women trafficking are committed not only by military groups and rebel groups, but sometimes also by UN peacekeepers, which is even more appalling! During the various debates, most of the panellists and stakeholders denounced the lack of efficiency of the United Nations and its peacekeepers and their failure to protect women in conflict and post-conflict contexts.

In the very touching and inspiring film Difficult Love, Zanele Muholi, who defines herself as a visual activist, provides a glimpse into her life and reveals the challenges faced by black lesbians in South Africa. Indeed, the film shows that in many African countries, including South Africa, many people keep thinking homosexuality is a “white” thing. Zanele denounces, in particular, corrective rape, which is committed against lesbian women because of their sexual orientation.

Check out her interview where she is talking about her documentary:

YouTube video

The difficulties of accessing justice

The documentary Outlawed in Pakistan, directed by Habiba Nosheen and Hilke Schellmann, showed us that violence against women does not end after the rape, but continues if victims want to seek justice. Outlawed in Pakistan follows Kainat, a young Pakistani woman who was raped by four men at the age of 12, and now wants to prosecute her rapists. Yet, her fight for justice turns out to be a lot more complicated than expected: the Pakistani legal system is far from efficient and is often indifferent, even terribly unfair, to women.

YouTube video

This raises the issue of women’s access to justice: indeed, the film reminded us of the great number of prejudices women have to face in their quest for justice. Kainat and her family have to overcome many obstacles in seeking to obtain justice before a judicial system that is corrupted and favours rapists; they risk their own lives and have to live under the permanent protection of the police, only because they are seeking justice.

Education and awareness-raising

Photo of a side event on violence against womenDuring the discussions, the panellists stressed that women’s situation on the ground is getting worse and worse despite the UN resolutions, the laws, the conventions and so on. Indeed, they insisted on the fact that there was legislative progress, but victims don’t see any changes on the ground, owing to the lack of concrete measures that would complement the laws. It is therefore absolutely essential to educate both girls and boys and to raise awareness about women’s human rights through a holistic approach.

Panellists also underscored that today we have a fantastic communication tool to educate and raise awareness: social media. It provides space for young people to engage, discuss and share. WILPF believes that social media is a way to take activism beyond what is reported in the mainstream news and to informally educate men and women – youth in particular – to human rights.

Also, we should not forget to involve and integrate men and boys in our struggle to end prejudice and violence against women. Yet, it is necessary to be careful to send the right message to men and boys, since most of them are still under the impression that their main role is to play the protectors…

What do you think? Do you have any original ideas on how to involve men and raise awareness about rape? Share your opinion, we would love to hear from you!

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Melissa Torres

VICE-PRESIDENT

Prior to being elected Vice-President, Melissa Torres was the WILPF US International Board Member from 2015 to 2018. Melissa joined WILPF in 2011 when she was selected as a Delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women as part of the WILPF US’ Practicum in Advocacy Programme at the United Nations, which she later led. She holds a PhD in Social Work and is a professor and Global Health Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine and research lead at BCM Anti-Human Trafficking Program. Of Mexican descent and a native of the US/Mexico border, Melissa is mostly concerned with the protection of displaced Latinxs in the Americas. Her work includes training, research, and service provision with the American Red Cross, the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Centre, and refugee resettlement programs in the U.S. Some of her goals as Vice-President are to highlight intersectionality and increase diversity by fostering inclusive spaces for mentorship and leadership. She also contributes to WILPF’s emerging work on the topic of displacement and migration.

Jamila Afghani

VICE-PRESIDENT

Jamila Afghani is the President of WILPF Afghanistan which she started in 2015. She is also an active member and founder of several organisations including the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organisation (NECDO). Elected in 2018 as South Asia Regional Representative to WILPF’s International Board, WILPF benefits from Jamila’s work experience in education, migration, gender, including gender-based violence and democratic governance in post-conflict and transitional countries.

Sylvie Jacqueline Ndongmo

PRESIDENT

Sylvie Jacqueline NDONGMO is a human rights and peace leader with over 27 years experience including ten within WILPF. She has a multi-disciplinary background with a track record of multiple socio-economic development projects implemented to improve policies, practices and peace-oriented actions. Sylvie is the founder of WILPF Cameroon and was the Section’s president until 2022. She co-coordinated the African Working Group before her election as Africa Representative to WILPF’s International Board in 2018. A teacher by profession and an African Union Trainer in peace support operations, Sylvie has extensive experience advocating for the political and social rights of women in Africa and worldwide.

WILPF Afghanistan

In response to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and its targeted attacks on civil society members, WILPF Afghanistan issued several statements calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with Afghan people and ensure that their rights be upheld, including access to aid. The Section also published 100 Untold Stories of War and Peace, a compilation of true stories that highlight the effects of war and militarisation on the region. 

IPB Congress Barcelona

WILPF Germany (+Young WILPF network), WILPF Spain and MENA Regional Representative

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Demilitarisation

WILPF uses feminist analysis to argue that militarisation is a counter-productive and ill-conceived response to establishing security in the world. The more society becomes militarised, the more violence and injustice are likely to grow locally and worldwide.

Sixteen states are believed to have supplied weapons to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020 with the US supplying 74 % of weapons, followed by Russia. Much of this equipment was left behind by the US military and is being used to inflate Taliban’s arsenal. WILPF is calling for better oversight on arms movement, for compensating affected Afghan people and for an end to all militarised systems.

Militarised masculinity

Mobilising men and boys around feminist peace has been one way of deconstructing and redefining masculinities. WILPF shares a feminist analysis on the links between militarism, masculinities, peace and security. We explore opportunities for strengthening activists’ action to build equal partnerships among women and men for gender equality.

WILPF has been working on challenging the prevailing notion of masculinity based on men’s physical and social superiority to, and dominance of, women in Afghanistan. It recognizes that these notions are not representative of all Afghan men, contrary to the publicly prevailing notion.

Feminist peace​

In WILPF’s view, any process towards establishing peace that has not been partly designed by women remains deficient. Beyond bringing perspectives that encapsulate the views of half of the society and unlike the men only designed processes, women’s true and meaningful participation allows the situation to improve.

In Afghanistan, WILPF has been demanding that women occupy the front seats at the negotiating tables. The experience of the past 20 has shown that women’s presence produces more sustainable solutions when they are empowered and enabled to play a role.

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