21 02 13 United States Department of State – Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict Remains Huge Challenge
"The
'inconvenient truth' is that despite our efforts, we are still collectively
making too little difference in the struggle to combat sexual abuse, impunity,
and the systematic disengagement of women from peace processes and
post-conflict reconstruction," Steinberg said in his February 16 keynote
address at "The Missing Peace Symposium: Sexual Violence in Conflict and
Post-Conflict Settings."
The
three-day symposium was hosted by the U.S. Institute of Peace; the Human Rights
Center at the University of California, Berkeley; Peace Research Institute
Oslo; and Stockholm International Peace Research Institute North America. It brought
together scholars, policymakers, and military and civil society representatives
to examine the issue of sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict settings
and to explore how to provide effective responses.
"In
too many conflicts," Steinberg said, "rape continues to be used
unabated as a weapon of war. The voices of women are still too often excluded
from peace negotiations, resulting in agreements that ill reflect ground truth,
lack popular support, and are as likely to fail as to succeed. As a result,
issues related to trafficking in persons, reproductive health care, girls'
education, and accountability for past abuses continue to be lost in the
shuffle."
According
to Steinberg, demobilized male combatants are too often prematurely sent back
to their home communities that have learned to live without them over decades
of conflict.
The end
result: waves of alcoholism, domestic violence and rape. Moreover, warring
parties, Steinberg said, "still frequently begin peace processes by
granting amnesties to each other for heinous crimes committed in the fighting –
tantamount to men with guns forgiving other men with guns for crimes committed
against women."
Despite
this gloomy state of affairs, great strides have been made in norms and
attitudes, Steinberg said.
"On
the international stage, it would be unthinkable to pass a U.N. Security Council resolution addressing an
ongoing conflict or to organize a peace-making and peace enforcement mission
without including language about protecting civilians, in general, and women
threatened by sexual violence, in particular," he said, noting this is
possible thanks to Security Council resolutions 1325, 1888 and 1960.
"In
the U.S. government," Steinberg said, "the full-throated
participation of the White House, State Department, Defense Department, USAID
and other agencies in implementing the National Action Plan for Women, Peace
and Security goes far beyond 'checking the box.'"
President
Obama has often spoken, including in his most recent State of the Union
address, about the importance of women's empowerment to U.S. national security interests as well as
reflecting U.S.
values abroad, Steinberg said.
"Just
as important," Steinberg added, "I believe that the American people
'get it.' They want to live in a world that respects human rights and human
dignity, but they also know that countries that respect women, prevent abuse
against them, and involve them as full contributors to peace processes and
national reconciliation don't tend to traffic in persons, arms or drugs;
transmit pandemic diseases; send off large numbers of refugees across borders
and oceans; harbor pirates or terrorists; or, perhaps most importantly, require
American troops on the ground."
Steinberg
noted that new USAID project proposals include the equivalent of a "gender
impact evaluation," and new projects have been launched to create safe
schools for girls, to expand family planning, and to combat violence and
maternal mortality during disasters.
"I
take great encouragement," Steinberg said, "from the fact that people
are standing up – from Sudan
to the Middle East, from Kenya
to Colombia, from Colorado to Guatemala – to protect and empower
women in conflict situations around the world. We owe them our strongest
possible support possible."