War Crimes Against Women

March 7, 2006 -(Deutsche Welthungerhilfe) Last year, two out of three women in Liberia became the victims of sexual violence. During the fourteen-year civil war, rape was used systematically as a weapon of war. Although the conflict has ended, violence against women continues unabated because the war has destroyed social values and norms and left a far greater tendency to resort to violence.

In connection with International Women's Day on 8 March, Deutsche Welthungerhilfe (German Agro Action) and medica mondiale are calling for girls and women in post-conflict societies to be protected from rape and sexual torture. Both organisations are also calling for systematic efforts to empower women in post-conflict environments to participate in the peace process and in the reconstruction of society.

As part of a pilot project in Liberia, the two relief organisations are working together to implement emergency aid and development measures offering psychological assistance to women. Deutsche Welthungerhilfe is helping refugees and displaced persons to return to their villages by providing them with seed and agricultural equipment. Roads, schools and wells are being repaired to enable people to make a new start and support themselves.

medica mondiale is building a women's centre and offering traumatised women professional psychological support and job training opportunities. This initiative is part of Germany's programme of financial co-operation aimed at the reconstruction of south-eastern Liberia. Deutsche Welthungerhilfe has been commissioned by the KfW Development Bank to implement this programme, which is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ).

Deutsche Welthungerhilfe and medica mondiale are explicitly calling for a consistent and rigorous approach to the punishment of war crimes against women. "Without an end to impunity there can be no end to violence against women," points out Monika Hauser, founder of medica mondiale. Where the system of law and order has broken down, the perpetrators go unpunished, even if the survivors were helped to overcome their sense of shame and speak out against those perpetrators.

For more information go to: www.welthungerhilfe.de

From: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/dwhhde/114241099133.htm