Crisis Prevention and Recovery

A Letter to the Members of the UN Security Council

Eight years ago the UN Security Council took a historic step by passing Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. At that time, on the cusp of the new millennium, Security Council members recognized the startling numbers of rapes during conflict for what they are – not random acts of violence, but military tactics employed to terrorize and humiliate communities.

In taking this unprecedented step, the Council placed women at the heart of peace and security. Today, we can point to a number of positive developments triggered by Resolution 1325. The UN system in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and East Timor has made progress against all odds.  
 

In spite of these pockets of hope, women and girls continue to be raped in alarming numbers. From DRC to Haiti, rape is too often seen as “collateral damage” of conflicts; humanitarians focus on victim support. By doing so, we are missing the point: rape is a crime and must be stopped.  

Violence against women has taken the form of ethnic cleansing, mass rapes, forced prostitution. During more than 20 years with the UN,  I have seen the faces behind these statistics. In Uganda, I remember the faces of the young girls abducted from their dormitory to serve in the Lord’s Resistance Army. Girls who, despite unspeakable suffering, had the courage to escape and rebuild their lives.

And so, to the members of the Security Council, let me pose this question: In the face of the mind-numbing brutality women face in conflict situations, can a viable nation emerge? Can a nation consolidate peace when half its population lives in fear?   

By passing Resolution 1325, the Council signaled that the UN will stand up for women. But eight years later, women are still waiting.  
 
They are waiting for diligent monitoring of how state parties treat civilians in conflict; for the systematic collection and review of data on violence against women; for serious investigations of perpetrators; for an end to impunity.   
  
The Council can require reporting on sexual violence in every country report it receives; it could demand a global report on sexual violence and steps taken to end it.  It can put women at the center of peace and security debates. In doing so, it would make Resolution 1325 real. It would end the waiting.

So, let us remember that peace is not simply the absence of war. It must include freedom from fear and an end to impunity.

Kathleen Cravero, Assistant Secretary-General, UNDP  Director of the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery and Chair of UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict. See a copy of this letter in the 5 March 2008 Issue of the International Herald Tribune.

For further information, please contact:
Jehane Sedky, Tel: (1) 212 906 6711, jehane.sedky@undp.org