Statement by ZAINAB HAWA BANGURA (SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL ON SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN CONFLICT) at the UN Security Council open debate on Women, Peace and Security, 2 June 2016
Statement by Zainab Bangura, June 2, 2016.
Today, as we deliberate here, women are being traded in an open slave bazaar in Raqqa;
Statement by Zainab Bangura, June 2, 2016.
Social media platforms are being used to facilitate trade and trafficking – women and children are offered in the same online forums as rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
Statement by Zainab Bangura, June 2, 2016.
Without exception, the first sign of rising violent extremism has been the restriction on women’s rights. Extremists know that to populate a territory, and control a population, you must first control the bodies of women
Statement by Zainab Bangura, June 2, 2016.
Sexual violence is not merely incidental, but integral, to their ideology and strategic objectives. They are using sexual violence as a means of advancing political, military and economic ends. They have used rape and forced marriage as part of the systems of punishment and reward through which they consolidate power, and to build a so-called ‘state’ cast in their own image and beliefs.
Statement by Zainab Bangura, June 2, 2016.
When we think of terrorism, we think of destruction of property, killing, bombing or hostage-taking. But we cannot deplore the public violence of terrorism, while ignoring the violence terrorists inflict on women and girls in private, behind closed doors.
Statement by Zainab Bangura, June 2, 2016.
Sexual violence is still the only crime that stigmatizes the victim, rather than the perpetrator. We must not only “bring back our girls”; we must bring them back to an environment of support, equality and opportunity. Social and economic reintegration is imperative, and must become a more integral part of our programmatic response and post-conflict development frameworks.
Statement by Zainab Bangura, June 2, 2016.
As the report notes, “counter-terrorism strategies can no longer be decoupled from efforts to protect and empower women and girls and to combat conflict-related sexual violence”
Statement by Zainab Bangura, June 2, 2016.
This year, in the case of Burundi which appears in the Secretary-General’s report for the first time, we received information of the targeting of women and girls on the basis of actual or perceived political affiliation or ethnic identity, with rape employed as a tool of political repression by arms bearers, including members of the national security forces. Sexual crimes used as part of the repertoire of violence during contested elections or public demonstrations, is a long-standing concern of this Council, from Kenya in 2007, to Guinea in 2009, and Cote d’Ivoire in 7 2011. It represents another dimension of this agenda that will require continued vigilance and tailored responses.