William Hague and Angelina Jolie demand end to impunity for warzone rape
11 Jun 2014 04:35 PM
The Foreign Secretary
William Hague and Special Envoy Angelina Jolie launch Protocol to increase
prosecutions for sexual violence in conflict.
The overwhelming majority of
perpetrators of sexual violence in conflict are not held to account for the
crimes they commit. This has led to a global culture of impunity for warzone
rape.
The new International Protocol,
the first of its kind, aims to set an international standard for how to
investigate and document sexual violence, as a way of increasing the number of
prosecutions for these crimes worldwide and ensuring that victims are cared
for.
Mr Hague and Ms Jolie are
calling for governments to announce their support for the Protocol, and pledge
to implement it in full. They want it to become a turning point in how crimes
of sexual violence in conflict are investigated, and ultimately
deterred.
William Hague
said:
This Protocol is the first of
its kind, and we hope it will play a vital role in shattering the culture of
impunity for sexual violence in conflict.
This impunity is a major factor
in why these crimes continue.
Up to 50,000 women were victims
of sexual violence during the war in Bosnia, but only just over sixty people
have been successfully prosecuted for it.
From Central African Republic to
Sudan to Syria, untold thousands of rapes have gone entirely
unpunished.
We know that one of the primary
reasons for the lack of prosecutions for sexual violence in conflict is the
difficulty of gathering evidence that can stand up in court, and the trauma and
the stigma faced by survivors in the process.
This Protocol is designed to
overcome those fundamental barriers.
And we are determined to ensure
that prosecutors, police forces, peacekeepers and civil society on the front
line in this struggle know how best to document and investigate sexual violence
in conflict so that perpetrators can be successfully
prosecuted.
The International
Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in
Conflict
Full text
of Foreign Secretary William Hague and Special Envoy Angelina Jolie’s
remarks
This video was shown during the
launch. It explains what the international protocol is and how it can help
increase prosecutions for crimes of sexual violence under international
law.
Click Here for
Video
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