At
UN, Jody
Williams Slams
Rape in
Conflict,
Cites Mexico,
Ladsous Next?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
7 -- On the UN
subject of
Children and
Armed
Conflict,
there is a lot
of conflict
about just
what armed
conflict is.
Countries like
Colombia,
Mexico,
Pakistan and
India contest
being put
on CAAC lists,
saying their
internal
problems are
not UN
recognized
armed
conflicts.
Nobel
Peace Prize
winner Jody
Williams on
Thursday near
the UN said
that to
bypass this
problem, the
group she
works with
does not
include in its
name the words
war or “armed”
conflict, but
is called the
International
Campaign to
Stop Rape and
Gender
Violence in
Conflict.
She said this
includes, for
example,
Mexico.
But
does it
include the
United
Nations? Not
only sexual
exploitation
and
abuse by the
UN's own
peacekeepers,
but rapes
committed by
army units
which the UN
supports?
Such
support is
supposed to be
prohibited
under the UN's
Human Rights
Due
Diligence
Policy. But
that Policy is
being shown to
be less than
meaningful.
After 126
rapes in
Minova just
between the 20
and 22 of
November,
2012, UN
Peacekeeping
chief Herve
Ladsous
refused to
answer
Press
questions
three times. (November 27, December
7 and December
18, video here).
When
after advocacy
by the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
on February 6
Ladsous did
take Inner
City Press'
question about
the 126 Minova
rapes, he said
that the UN
knows the
identity of
the majority
of the
perpetrators.
But the UN has
not stopped
working with
anyone.
Instead,
the
UN says it is
waiting for
the Congolese
authorities to
finish
their own
investigation.
It has been
three and a
half months;
there
is no
assurance that
the DRC will
complete any
credible
investigation.
So
might the
group with the
long name, the
International
Campaign to
Stop Rape and
Gender
Violence in
Conflict get
involved and
bring some
accountability
to Herve
Ladsous, if French
minister Najat
Belkacem
hasn't?
Watch this
site.
, 
