Women under the law of the gun

2003-10-30 13:02

New York - Women in the Congo have suffered extensively during the country's five-year civil war, from massive rape and sexual violence that goes unpunished to the breakdown of family life, a UN adviser told a security council meeting.

"The law of the gun has devastated the condition of women," Amy Smythe, the adviser on gender issues to the UN peacekeeping force in Congo, told the council on Wednesday.

The civil war in Congo officially ended this year with the creation of a power-sharing government that includes rebel leaders. The vast central African nation's north and east remain volatile, however, with deadly attacks and ethnic fighting.

The United States organised a Security Council meeting on women, peace and security to mark the third anniversary of a UN resolution that committed governments to include women at peace talks while protecting them from the abuses of war.

"It's important in terms of consciousness-raising to highlight this resolution and the things that can be done," said US Ambassador John Negroponte.

Speakers cited some progress in sensitising governments and UN peacekeepers to the plight of women caught up in conflict and the need to include them in post-war decision-making. But it was clear that much more needs to be done to implement the resolution.

In eastern Congo, for example, Smythe tens of thousands of women and girls, and possibly hundreds of thousands, were sexually assaulted during the civil war.

Complete impunity for perpetrators

"The consequences for women throughout the Congo have been devastating, as they have suffered the most" from the war, she said, citing the breakdown of all institutions starting with the family, widespread displacement, the inability to grow crops, "massive rape and sexual violence and complete impunity for perpetrators of these heinous crimes."

Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno said gender experts have been included not only in the UN mission in Congo but in peacekeeping operations in Sierra Leone, Kosovo, East Timor and Afghanistan - and similar posts have been authorised for Liberia and Ivory Coast.

While these experts "are playing an active role, putting gender issues at the centre of peacekeeping," he said only 4% of UN civilian police are women "and figures are equally low for the military."

He urged member states that contribute police and soldiers to UN peacekeeping operations to provide more women.

In Congo, Smythe said only three of the 69 UN police officers were women at a time when they were dealing with the victims of sexual violence.

"Victims, usually female, have repeatedly intimated that the sight of a male officer in uniform makes them relive the experience of the violation all over again," she said. "Thus there is a serious need for women military and civilian police officers."

- AP