Author: Alice Palmer, Communications & Events Intern

In an era that has seen the emergence of frontline reporting via smartphones, the day-to-day developments of war are now being shared in a groundbreaking way. Flagrant human rights abuses have precipitated displays of courage and defiance that publicly expose the actions of aggressors. Despite this, one significant consequence of conflict, something so often attached to the atrocities of war, remains under-reported. An age-old weapon of war, the crime of sexual violence in conflict persists as a gross injustice to this day. However, its survivors are subdued by a culture of silence, as well as traumatic legal processes that follow the brave decision to speak to authorities. The fight for justice is long, difficult, and emotionally draining. The likelihood of successful prosecution means that further to the devastating shame that is often felt by victims, many never come forward to recount their experiences and bring a case against the criminals, individuals acting with virtual impunity.

Just as rape was used as a weapon of war in Bosnia in the 90s, the UN Commission has reported on a multitude of war crimes and violations of human rights and international humanitarian law happening in Ukraine today. Pramila Patten, UN Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, verified that rape is part of Russia’s “military strategy.” While the Commission has confirmed more than a hundred cases of rape or sexual assault since February – mostly women and girls – she was clear that “reported cases are only the tip of the iceberg.” Conflict-related sexual violence, disproportionately affecting women and girls, has irrevocably changed the lives of victims in Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Myanmar, and Iraq as well, to name but a few examples of more recent times.

A positive change in the handling of victims’ cases was brought about by Nadia Murad, an Iraqi Yazidi who was kidnapped and held by ISIS as a slave in 2014 during the Sinjar massacre. Working tirelessly to ensure survivors receive better treatment, the Murad Code was established in April 2022 at the UN Security Council, in partnership with Lord Ahmad, the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on PSVI, and backed by UK funding. The code puts survivors’ needs at the heart of information-gathering, with an aim for it to be recognised as the “gold standard” globally. In light of the re-traumatisation survivors experience in interview processes, the code outlines proper practice. 

The UK’s contribution to ending conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) is centred around the PSVI Initiative, launched by the government in 2012 to raise awareness of CRSV and initiate action to end it. Since then, the UK has committed over £50 million to preventing sexual violence in conflict globally. However, PSVI funding is currently divided across government budgets and departments, while funding specifically for PSVI has diminished since 2016. It is crucial that the UK government recentres efforts to eliminate this crime with a new sense of urgency given the horrific examples of violations submitted by the Ukraine Commision to the UN Human Rights Council, including the abominable evidence of the rape and torture of children as young as four years old.

Later this month, the UK government will host the International Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI) Conference in London from 28-29th November, ten years after the UK launched its PSVI Initiative. The UK will work with its partners during the event to review progress and agree on further action, concentrating on four key themes: strengthening the global response; prevention; justice and accountability; and support to survivors and children born of conflict-related sexual violence. It is critical that the commitments made in the new international development strategy published earlier this year materialise, including the promise of a new PSVI strategy. The international community must come together to ensure accountability is finally achieved, ending a culture of impunity that has seen victims forced to accept a reality in which justice consistently remains out of reach.