GJC In The News
The Security Council is Obligated under Resolution 1325 to Act Now to Stop the Wide-Spread Crimes of Sexual Violence Against the Women of Burma
Women's E-News
By Andi Friedman, WeNews correspondent
September 2007
International
"China...should be reminded that gang rape is not an Olympic sport, but a war crime."
Janet Benshoof, President, Global Justice Center and long time Burma activist
The current violence being employed against the people of Burma by the ruling military junta is not new. Violence has been used as a means to retain control over the people of Burma for decades and the rape and torture of ethnic women has been and still is a central component of this terror. The recent uprising and violent response provides an opportunity for the Security Council to carry out its own mandate under Resolution 1325, providing critical leadership to a resolution which holds great promise for women that has yet to be realized. Resolution 1325 should impose an independent and additional obligation on the Security Council to intervene when acts of sexual violence are being perpetrated against women in a widespread or systematic manner, as a weapon of war or as an instrument of genocide.
Numerous reports by women's groups from Burma have documented the widespread use of rape, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence. It is time that crimes perpetrated by State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) leaders are no longer buried under the rubric of human rights violations, but called what they are: war crimes, crimes against humanity and potentially even genocide. In addition to its obligations to act under its Chapter VII mandate to maintain international peace and security as well as under Resolution 1674 on the Responsibility to Protect, the Security Council has an obligation to act to stop the wide-spread use of sexual violence against the women of Burma under Security Council Resolution 1325.
Resolution 1325 remains today more a promise than a reality due in part to a lack of enforcement and accountability mechanisms, but the use of SCR 1325 in a legal context is undeveloped. The Security Council should take the lead in enforcing what it so progressively took the lead in passing. The Security Council should immediately take all actions necessary to stop the murders of innocent people in Burma and hold the military junta commanders criminally accountable under every means possible, including under Resolution 1325.
For the full article please go here:
http://www.peacewomen.org/news/1325News/Issue93.htm