Sexual Violence in Conflict

Seema Malhotra Excerpts

Thursday 14th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) (Lab/Co-op)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to speak in this debate. It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for South Derbyshire (Heather Wheeler), my hon. Friend the Member for West Dunbartonshire (Gemma Doyle) and others. This is the year of the UK’s presidency of the G8, and G8 Foreign Ministers will be meeting in London. I am glad to hear the Foreign Secretary’s assurances that the issue will be high on the agenda. I thank the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Nicola Blackwood) for initiating the debate, as well as my hon. Friend the Member for Walthamstow (Stella Creasy) and the V-day One Billion Rising campaign that has called for and set the scene for today’s action.

The V-day campaign, which continues to drive the global movement to end violence against women and girls, has a strong history. In 2009 I joined its campaign to end sexual violence in the Congo and signed a letter urging the G20 to take steps to stop the war and violence. I extend my appreciation to all those who tackle violence against women and girls in our local communities and across the world, often placing themselves at risk. In Feltham and Heston I mention especially the new Hounslow one-stop shop, which last November launched a free advice service for victims of domestic violence and those who have suffered violence in other ways. The project is run jointly by the Met police, Hounslow community safety unit and the Hounslow domestic violence outreach service. Our communities also contain those who have suffered from sexual violence in conflict—I had a constituent who came to see me; the war has stopped, but her suffering, and that of her family, continues.

We know that in war zones, victims of sexual violence do not have their own local support networks or local crime prevention teams. For many, however, there is no protection, which is why the international community must stand together. Sexual violence in conflict is, of course, a moral issue and, as has been discussed, central to foreign policy. I am glad that the issue finds agreement on all sides of the House.

Rape in war is the darkest of military tactics, used to degrade and humiliate victims and undermine their families or the ethnic, religious and political groups to which they belong. Last year’s annual UN report on sexual violence during conflict provided horrific examples of how sexual violence has threatened security and impeded peace building in post-conflict situations such as those in Chad, Sri Lanka and Sierra Leone. In addition to the thousands of women who we know have been raped, it has been estimated that 50,000 women were raped in the war in Croatia and Bosnia Herzegovina, 250,000 in Rwanda, and 64,000 in Sierra Leone. From Syria we see in our newspapers today examples of women being raped in prison and in their homes. We have also seen the rape of men in many conflict zones, and that will be part of the agenda of tackling sexual violence. The major-general at the helm of the UN peace-keeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo stated:

“It has become more dangerous to be a woman fetching water or collecting firewood than to be a fighter on the front line.”

As we move forward with the G8 this year, I am sure we will continue the momentum to secure new international action against the use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war. I hope that action will focus on both investigations and prosecutions, as well as on prevention. Conviction rates of sexual violence in conflict are an international disgrace.

The strategy to end sexual violence must be couched within a strategy of support for women’s rights. Yesterday I welcomed to Parliament some key members of the global women’s rights movements. Activists from Africa and Asia were brought together in London by the charity Womankind to share their experiences and expertise of women’s leadership, tackling gender violence in their own countries, and political participation. Sexual violence is not just a problem in conflict areas. The brutal rape and murder in India at Christmas of a 23-year-old on a bus showed that we must tackle violence against women in all its forms and in all countries of the world so that attitudes of acceptability are not shaped for current or future generations.

This debate, along with our earlier debate, is important and seeks to end the continuing violence against women and ensure that that issue is a priority for us and our partners abroad. In conclusion, this is a challenge of enormous scale and a campaign that must cross nations and cultures. I am pleased it is on the agenda for the Foreign Secretary, and I hope that in his remarks he will answer a few questions. First, what support has he achieved from the international community? It should be not just on the agenda, but high on the agenda. Secondly, how will the strategies that are beginning be sustained by the G8 and other international bodies? How will they be reflected not just in foreign policy, but in our defence and international development policies, so that there is an end to sexual violence in conflicts in our generation?