UN Envoy on sexual violence in conflict meets President Kiir

7 Oct 2014

UN Envoy on sexual violence in conflict meets President Kiir

7 October 2014 - President Salva Kiir had agreed to become a champion in the fight against sexual violence in conflict in South Sudan and around the world, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Sexual Violence in Conflict said in Juba today.

“I hope that at the end of my visit, I will be able to sign an agreement with the President that will help us to be able to deal with specific issues and challenges that have to do with sexual violence in South Sudan,” said SRSG Zainab Bangura after a meeting with the president, which she described as “fruitful”.

She noted they had discussed challenges of rebuilding the state and dealing with sexual violence in the country, especially that with ethnic dimensions.

A report released by UNMISS in May confirmed that civilians were not only caught up in the violence, they were directly targeted, often along ethnic lines.

Ms. Bangura, who arrived on 5 October for a six-day visit to the country, yesterday met community leaders and displaced women in a protection site at the UNMISS base in Juba.

"She said it was more dangerous to be a woman in conflict than to be a soldier, because women were targeted in terms of rape.Their homes are destroyed, their children are killed (and) their husbands are killed,” said the SRSG.

“Women, who hold the fabric of society, become the victim and that breaks the community and breaks the families. When you rape a woman you don’t only rape a woman, you rape a family, you rape a community and you destroy the community.”

During her visit, Ms. Bangura is expected to meet other government leaders and visit the UNMISS protection site in the Unity State capital Bentiu.

According to the May UNMISS report, all parties to the conflict committed acts of rape and other forms of sexual violence against women of different ethnic groups before, during, and after heavy fighting, shelling, looting, and house searches.

“Women of nationalities of neighbouring countries were also targeted,” the report said. “The forms of sexual violence used during the conflict include rape, sometimes with an object (guns or bullets), gang-rape, abduction and sexual slavery, and forced abortion.”