U.N. aide cites rising violence against women

UNITED NATIONS – Women are facing increasing violence in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia, especially when they speak out publicly to defend women’s rights, a senior U.N. official told the U.N. Security Council.

Noeleen Heyzer, executive director of the U.N. Development Fund for Women, called for fresh efforts to ensure the safety of women in countries emerging from conflicts, to provide them with jobs and ensure that they receive justice.

Heyzer spoke at a daylong open council meeting on implementation of a 2000 resolution that called for women to be included in decision-making positions at every level of striking and building on peace deals. It also called for the prosecution of crimes against women and increased protection of women and girls during war.

“In Afghanistan, attacks on school establishments put the lives of girls at risk when they attempt to exercise their basic rights to education,” said Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno. “Women and girls are raped when they go out to fetch firewood in Darfur. In Liberia, over 40 percent of women and girls surveyed have been victims of sexual violence. In the eastern Congo, over 12,000 rapes of women and girls have been reported in the last six months alone.”

Assistant Secretary-General Rachel Mayanja, the U.N. special adviser on women’s issues, said that from Congo and Sudan to Somalia and East Timor “women continue to be exposed to violence or targeted by parties to the conflict.”