Originally published on the CGS blog on September 30, 2009.
On September 30, 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton chaired a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on women, peace, and security. The U.N. Security Council immediately passed unanimously U.N. Security Council resolution 1820 strengthening international action against sexual violence. According to the Christian Science Monitor article on the subject, “The resolution calls for the appointment of a special representative to the UN secretary-general who would coordinate and lead efforts to end sexual violence in armed conflict. The resolution also calls for providing services to the victims of sexual violence and prosecuting perpetrators of the crime, US officials say. But its central purpose is to increase the intensity of the international focus on sexual violence in conflict.” In Secretary Clinton’s opening remarks, she stated, “Now, reading the headlines, one might think that the use of rape as a tactic of war only happens occasionally, or in a few places, like the Democratic Republic of the Congo or Sudan. That would be bad enough, but the reality is much worse. We’ve seen rape used as a tactic of war before in Bosnia, Burma, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere. In too many countries and in too many cases, the perpetrators of this violence are not punished, and so this impunity encourages further attacks.
