The London call, structured in two days of debates and workshops, will serve to verify the slow progress made on the issue over the past decade
Fifty victims of rape and other sexual abuse by soldiers, militants, fighters or armed insurgents are taking part in a new international conference in London these days as part of the Initiative for the Prevention of Sexual Violence in Conflict (PSVI, in the English acronym ) . Structured in two days of debates and workshops, the UK Government’s appeal will serve to verify the slow progress made in this area over the last decade.
Angelina Jolie promoted the first international meeting of the PSVI ten years ago, together with the then British Foreign Secretary, William Hague. The actress and UN Ambassador for Refugee Issues this time spoke via audiovisual connection for the international forum, which has brought together official representatives and social agents from some 70 countries at the Elizabeth II Center, as well as dozens of victims aged around 20 and present. war scenarios. “The invaders found more opportunities to humiliate the Ukrainians and, unfortunately, sexual violence and sexual crime are part of their arsenal,” Olena Zelenska, wife of the Ukrainian president, warned, according to the English translation of her speech.
For the first lady of the partly Russian-occupied country, “sexual violence is the cruellest and bestial way to show dominance over another person”, which happens “systematically and openly” in Ukraine. “These war crimes will be committed as long as the soldiers believe they will not be punished and they will be given a chance to get away with it,” he said.
Zelenska agreed with other speakers on the need for a “global response” to sexual assaults in armed conflict. In this sense, Jolie stressed that the international community must be “decisive” in adopting guidelines and action plans to assist victims, facilitate access to justice and deter potential predators. Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad, for her part, stressed the urgency to “turn what we talk about today into actions for tomorrow”. “We need to make a lot more noise,” Murad said in London.
The well-known Iraqi activist, along with her sister and other young women from her Yazidi community, were abducted by Islamic State militants, who sold them into sexual slavery. In 2018, he shared the Nobel Prize with Congolese gynecologist Denis Mukwege for their respective “efforts to end sexual violence as a weapon of conflict”. The so-called ‘Murad Code’ is the guide with the greatest international resonance on the issue, with references to survivors’ rights and methods for analysis, investigation and collection of testimony and evidence admissible in criminal proceedings.
The host of the conference, Secretary of State James Cleverly, urged state representatives to “include the ‘Murad code’ in their programs” because, he warned, “in the decade of this initiative have taught us that the key to success is putting survivors at the center of all our policies.” The minister announced support of approximately EUR 15 million for PSVI programmes, including trials of virtual reality technology to help victims testify via an avatar and thus protect their identity and real ‘look’.
Angelina Joe shared her “pain and frustration” at how little progress has been made since the initiative launched in 2012. “Some progress has been made…but not enough to meet the needs of survivors or deter perpetrators rape as a weapon of war in almost all new conflicts of the last decade According to a UN report, sexual assaults in conflict zones were reported in 18 countries last year, with Ukraine already 19.
Source: La Verdad
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