UN special representative demands action to combat sex abuse in conflict areas

Former EU commissioner Margot Wallström has called on the international community to "do more" to help combat sexual violence in conflict zones.

Speaking in Brussels on Thursday, Wallström, now a UN special representative, specifically called for "better training" for peace-keeping troops in places like the Democratic Republic of Congo.

She said there was "growing evidence" of escalating sexual abuse in areas ridden by conflict, such as the DRC and Libya.

The New York based official cited several harrowing examples to highlight the problem, including a recent case in Libya where two girls, aged 17 and 20, were gang raped by young soldiers.

Wallström said, "These soldiers were ordered to enter the house of these girls where they tied up their parents and shot them in the legs then took the girls upstairs and gang raped them.

"These girls had, apparently, never even had sex before and this was a truly horrific way to introduce them to sexuality."

Wallström said that, in many cases, child soldiers deserve help because they are ordered to commit such acts.

"Our first concern, of course, should be for the victims but these child soldiers, some of them very young, are also left terribly traumatised by what they are forced to do."

Wallström, a former environment commissioner, was in Brussels for meetings with several parliamentary committees and senior Nato officials.

She was also due to take part in a debate following a screening of "Resolution", a new documentary on sexual violence in conflicts.

She admitted that the "full scale" of such sexual abuse was never likely to be known as many cases remain unreported.

"It has become such a way of life in some conflict zones that many victims are simply too afraid to report it and you can understand that," she said.

"The problem is underestimated and the message I am trying to get across as part of my mandate with the UN is that policymakers, including those at EU level, need to take this seriously.

"If such behaviour becomes embedded in society that makes finding sustainable peace in a conflict zone very difficult."

Wallström, who reports directly to the UN secretary general, said, "The current impunity of those responsible must end. I want to go after the perpetrators and put them in jail.

"We need to name and shame places where this is happening and the UN itself has to coordinate its efforts in this area more effectively.

"This includes providing better training for peacekeepers in order to help them deal with the problem."

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