UN creates international day for ending rape in war

The UN General Assembly on Friday adopted a resolution to decide that for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict will be observed on June 19 each year in a bid to boost the global fight against the horrors faced by women and girls in zones of conflict worldwide.

"This international day is a victory for all the survivors who stay too often silent," Leila Zerrougui, the UN special representative for children and armed conflict, said at a plenary meeting of the 193-member General Assembly.

The new General Assembly resolution was co-sponsored by 113 countries to create the International Day, which now will be observed annually to raise awareness of the need to end conflict- related sexual violence and urge the international community to stand in solidarity with the survivors of sexual violence around the world.

The new initiative, moreover, comes amid an uptick in reports from areas controlled by militant groups aligned with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) of brutal acts of sexual violence against women and girls.

Just last year, ISIL affiliate Boko Haram abducted some 276 girls from their school in Chibok, located in Nigeria's restive north-eastern Borno state, as the militant group ramped up brutal attacks targeting the West African country's children.

"Now on the 19th of June every year, we will have a new opportunity to remind everyone about their engagement to end this scourge and to hold the perpetrators accountable," Zerrougui said. "This is a day for all of us."

"This resolution is an engagement from all member states that commit to fight against sexual violence in conflict," she said.

For his part, Sam Kutesa, the president of the General Assembly, expressed his support for the resolution.

"Rape as a weapon of war must be stopped. We must ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes, and their superiors who condone them, are held accountable," Kutesa said.

Maria Cristina Perceval, the permanent representative of Argentina to the United Nations, told the General Assembly that sexual violence is a crime against humanity.

"This form of extreme violence is exercised in particular against women, girls and boys," Perceval said. "We should not overlook what is a clear violation of human dignity."

Zainab Bangura, the UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict, said that the day should pay homage to survivors.

"This special day is also creating a moment to mention and pay homage to the thousands of survivors of sexual violence, including women, girls, men and boys the grievous harm suffered have shown extreme determination, resolve and unflinching courage to speak out," Bangura said.

The date June 19 commemorates the breakthrough adoption in 2008 of UN Security Council resolution 1820, which recognized sexual violence as a threat to global peace and security, requiring an operational security, justice and service response. It further recognized that rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity and/or constitutive acts of genocide.

The most recent annual UN report Conflict-Related Sexual Violence described disturbing trends in sexual violence against adolescent girls, including incidents of rape, sexual slavery and forced marriage in countries including the Central African Republic, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Syria.

The report said that 2014 "was marked by harrowing accounts of rape, sexual slavery and forced marriage being used by extremist groups, including as a tactic of terror.