The Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) discussed, on Thursday 13 October, the issue of sexual violence as a weapon of war, including in Ukraine.
MEPs were joined by Katarzyna Kozlowska, founder of Say Stop in Poland, Branka Antic-Stauber, who works with victim support organisations in Bosnia, and Willy Fautré, director of Human Rights Without Frontiers. All denounced the phenomenon of impunity, exacerbated in times of conflict.
Ukraine, scene of sexual violence
“Allegations of sexual violence committed by Russian troops in Ukraine have been mounting dramatically”, said Willy Fautré. However, it is difficult to estimate the extent of the phenomenon. Not only is it difficult to collect testimonies in wartime, but a “huge number of cases will (also) fall through the cracks, as many women have fled to EU countries, have been displaced internally or were deported to Russia”. However, the international community should do more to collect data. “If we wait for statistics, it will be too late”, he warned.
He also stressed the need to punish the perpetrators. “The legal framework exists, the policies based on past experience in other conflict settings also exist, the political will exists(...) and prosecution mechanisms also exist. Impunity cannot and should not prevail, even if it takes years or decades, to identify, hunt and arrest the perpetrators”.
Impunity for the military
Katarzyna Kozlowska, drawing on her experience in Poland, said that the problem was rooted in the military and the uniformed services. In particular, she denounced the lack of training and internal regulations on gender discrimination, harassment and sexual violence. “Without preventive education, no change will take place. At all level of command we need education, as well as, [...] clear procedures”, she said.
She also noted the lack of available and reliable data on violence committed within the services themselves: “There should be constant monitoring and recording of cases”.
Rehabilitating the victims
Branka Antic-Stauber said that the rehabilitation programme based on occupational therapy in Bosnia could be used in Ukraine. She cautioned, however, that “perpetrators were often acquitted because of a lack of evidence. This disrupted the rehabilitation process, because the acquittals re-traumatised the victims”.
She further noted that these acquittals were the result of conflict-related clashes. “Each political group defends the perpetrator from their ethnic group. This influences the judiciary, but also the prosecutor’s office, who wouldn’t take (certain) cases”, she explained.
While the need to act against sexual violence committed in wartime was agreed by the Parliament, for Radka Maxová (S&D, Czech), the draft directive to combat violence against women and domestic violence could be used as a legal weapon, also in wartime. (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)