Kerry signs on to British-led effort to punish wartime rape

“Ministers undertook to work together and with others in a concerted and comprehensive campaign to raise awareness of these crimes, to strengthen international political will at the very highest levels to remove the barriers that prevent the effective monitoring and reporting on situations of sexual violence in armed conflict, to provide better support to victims, and to build both national and international capacities to respond to sexual violence in armed conflict including through investigating the crimes and prosecuting the offenders.”

{mosads}The declaration follows an international campaign to draw attention to widespread rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other war zones. It has been a priority for British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who has called wartime sexual violence this generation’s slave trade.

“My personal priority during the UK’s Presidency of the G-8 this year is to secure new international action against the use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war,” Hague said earlier this year. “Just as it fell to our forebears to eradicate the slave trade, tackling rape in war zones is a challenge for our generation. We have to deter perpetrators, bring people to justice for crimes, and provide long term support to survivors.”