Sexual violence a threat to security

TODAY is the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, proclaimed three years ago by the United Nations General Assembly.
The day was observed in order to raise awareness of the need to put an end to conflict-related sexual violence, to honour the victims and survivors of sexual violence around the world and to pay tribute to all those who have courageously devoted their lives to and lost their lives in standing up for the eradication of these crimes.
According to the UN, the date was chosen to commemorate the adoption on June 19, 2008, of Security Council resolution 1820 (2008), in which the Council condemned sexual violence as a tactic of war and an impediment to peace building.
Today, the international day is being celebrated under the theme The plight and rights of children born of war.
The effects of conflict-related sexual violence echo across generations, through trauma, stigma, poverty, poor health and unwanted pregnancy.
The children whose existence comes from that violence have been labelled “bad blood” or “children of the enemy” and alienated from their mother’s social group.
Children conceived through rape in wartime often struggle with issues of identity and belonging for decades after the end of war.
They are rarely accepted by society, and unsafe abortion remains a leading cause of maternal mortality in conflict-affected settings.
The stigma associated with sexual violence can have life-long, and sometimes lethal, repercussions for both survivors and children conceived through rape.
On this day, we strive to foster solidarity with survivors who endure multiple, intersecting stigmas in the wake of sexual violence, including the stigma of association with an armed or terrorist group, and of bearing children conceived through rape by the enemy.
Often, these women and children are viewed as affiliates, rather than victims, of armed and violent extremist groups.
The term “conflict-related sexual violence” refers to rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, enforced sterilisation, forced marriage and any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity perpetrated against women, men, girls or boys that is directly or indirectly linked to a conflict.
The term also encompasses trafficking in persons when committed in situations of conflict for the purpose of sexual violence or exploitation.
Sexual violence in conflict is a threat to our collective security and a stain on our common humanity.
Its effects can echo across generations, through trauma, stigma, poverty, poor health and unwanted pregnancy.
On the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, we join everyone increase the voices of these forgotten victims of war, who suffer stigma, shame and exclusion in societies polarised by armed conflict.
PNG is not immune to this conflicts as it happens daily, but mostly go unreported.
Communities may not realise but there is a visible pattern of fighters profiting from sexual violence, while communities suffer increased economic hardship.
Women have been sexually assaulted while conducting livelihood activities that are prescribed on the basis of gender, such as trading at market places, in the gardens, at the river and fetching firewood.
Although it is increasingly clear that self-reliance, economic empowerment and having a political voice are the most effective forms of protection from sexual violence, desperate families are increasingly resorting to harmful and negative coping mechanisms, including child marriage, polygamy, withdrawal from educational and employment opportunities.
PNG, let us join the global community and reaffirm our global commitment to eliminate the scourge of conflict-related sexual violence and to provide justice, services and support to those affected.