A Tribute to Womanhood

Welcome to "I Am Woman"...a tribute to all those women who had the courage and perseverance to stand up and fight for their rights. Thanks to those who came before us we enjoy a freedom unknown to women not too long ago. But, sadly, in many parts of the world, women continue to be repressed. In fact, even in this country there are women living today under the threat of violence...completely controlled by a violent spouse. Some may make it; others won't. Hopefully, one day ALL women will be free. May that day come soon.

8/14/2010

United Nations Condemns Mass Rape



In an exchange with reporters outside the United Nations late last week, a high-ranking UN official described sexual violence during war as one of the greatest security risks of our time. Margot Wallstrom, the UN's Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, told reporters that using rape as a tool of war is no more acceptable nor inevitable than committing mass murder.

Rape is being used by armed groups to re-ignite the flames of conflict and to terrorize and humiliate communities in Africa, according to Letitia Anderson, Women's Rights specialist with the United Nation's Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict initiative. She said armed groups have been branding the bodies of women and children with signature patterns, just as cattle are branded, in places such as Congo...leaving scars so that their families and community members know they they have been victims of aggravated sexual violence.  Victims of rape were then often turned into outcasts because of the stigma and humiliation associated with the crime.

4 comments:

  1. this just makes me so sad and disgusted

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  2. so terribly wrong and sad. I haven't heard anything about this on the news. Did I miss it Mary, or is it not talked about openly?

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  3. It's not talked about openly. If I didn't get news clips of the latest news, I wouldn't have known myself.

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  4. I don't know about your area, but there's plenty of information concerning this topic out in the open, and at least German newspapers and magazines continue to report on these issues.

    I did my diploma thesis on the "Comfort women" of the Japanese military during WWII, that was maybe even more disgusting.

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