Combating Sexual Violence in Iraq And Syria
The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
The American Red Cross held an event in Washington, DC on Nov. 6 to discuss sexual violence in conflict zones. Titled “A Time To Act,” the panel featured a wide range of experts who explored causes and possible solutions to the growing problem of sexual violence as a tool of war.
George Washington University international affairs professor Dr. Aisling Swaine began by explaining that gender and context shape how violent acts are carried out in war zones. “We understand that when there is conflict, the way that violence takes place is performed in highly gendered ways,” she said.
“Men and women experience violence in very different ways, and this is not a new phenomenon.” Sexual violence is also complicated by the nature of the conflict, and can vary in prevalence, in its objective and in its actual manifestation, Swaine noted.
Sunjeev Bery, advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International USA, addressed the issue of sexual violence in Syria and Iraq.
He noted that broader issues, such as the Syrian government’s engagement in widespread crimes against humanity and the Iraqi government’s failure to fulfill its security obligations to the country’s Sunni minority, are compounding the suffering of women who have been sexually assaulted. “You have these broad macro-level challenges within which the double, or triple, levels of victimization happen to survivors of sexual violence, and women who survive gender-based violence in the context of these conflicts,” Bery said.
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) senior program officer Sucharita S.K. Varanasi discussed the challenges her organization faces in documenting sexual violence in conflict zones. First, she noted, it is challenging to properly train first responders when it comes to issues of sexual violence. She emphasized the importance of training the workers who make first contact with sexual assault victims in the various urgencies of sexual assault treatment and investigation. PHR trains doctors of all specialties in forensic medical documentation, she explained, to help advance sexual assault investigations.
Gaining the victim’s trust so that incidents of sexual violence can be properly documented is another challenge, Varanasi noted. “Having first responders understand the sensitivities around sexual violence is really the first step in trying to gain that trust,” she explained, as it helps victims feel comfortable enough to tell their stories.
Jane Stromseth, ambassador-at-large at the State Department’s Office of Global Criminal Justice, concluded by discussing the steps that have been taken to bring an end to sexual violence in conflict zones around the world. This past June, she noted, London hosted the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict. “It was a reflection of the degree in which the political will to address this issue is strong and growing,” Stromseth explained. At the meeting, Secretary of State John Kerry led the U.S. delegation and expressed Washington’s commitment to ending sexual violence in conflict, she noted.
Swaine, meanwhile, stressed that more must be done to comprehend the phenomenon of sexual violence. “We’re gaining a more nuanced understanding of sexual violence,” she said, “and we actually have to develop [that understanding] if we’re going to have a more nuanced approach to address it.”
—Jhostyn Duval