Generally, war and conflict damages
societies, town or cities. It spoils the life of women, men and children.
Moreover, it leads to the people’s displacement or refuge. But, most badly it
exposes women to sexual and gender-based violence. Therefore, people should
eliminate sexual and gender-based violence against women.
It is obvious that during conflict women
face sexual violence such as rape or molestation. This violence imposes physical, psychological,
social or sexual harm. Women’s bodies become a battleground over which a
disputed parties struggle. They humiliate women, the helpless innocent victim
of war in apparent absence of the role of law within the conflict zones. Therefore, many resolutions have been mandated
by the UN Security Council to eradicate violence against women such as
1325(2000) and 1820(2008) which recognize that “rape and other forms of sexual
violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive
with respect to genocide”[1] This act obliges us, the advocate of gender
mainstreaming to take stand and support women who are suffering the consequence
of any disputes.
On the other hand, gender based
violence is not only restricted to women.
It refers to the fact that whether being male or female is subjected to
attacks or threats. In other words, a
person gender is addressed according to the societal and relationships between
feminine and masculine within specific group. It is, therefore, our duty to end this status
quo of violence against women.
Finally, tackling the issue of violence
against women and calling for women empowerment is usually confronted with traditions and stereotypes
a matter which hardens the task for the advocates and demands a courageous
stand to fulfill this noble task.
Written by Osman Suliman
[1] -
Cited in the course leaflet of Implementation of Security Council Resolution
1325(2000) in Africa.
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