Study Seeks Reparations For Victims Of Wartime Sexual Violence

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
Article Date: 16 Dec 2004 - 10:00 PDT


A new report by Rights & Democracy is calling on the international community to ensure the right to reparations for victims of sexual violence during armed conflict, including a guarantee of access to medications to fight HIV/AIDS contracted through rape.

The Right to Survive: Sexual Violence, Women and HIV/AIDS focuses on the plight of the women in Rwanda, Burundi, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo who have contracted HIV/AIDS as a result of rape during conflict in those countries. The report argues that under international human rights and humanitarian law, these women have the right to reparations for their suffering, including guaranteed access to antiretroviral drugs to fight HIV / AIDS.

"In Rwanda alone, it is estimated more than 250,000 women were systematically raped during the 1994 genocide while the international community stood by and watched," said Jean-Louis Roy, President of Rights & Democracy. "The genocide is still claiming victims in the form of HIV/AIDS and Canada must do its part to ensure these women, and women caught up in all armed conflicts, have access to both justice and health care."

In her latest report on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Yakin Ertürk, the UN's Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, drew attention to the fact HIV/AIDS intersects with many forms of violence against women. Among them, rape and other acts of violence commonly carried out in the scope of armed conflict considerably increase women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS.

The Right to Survive: Sexual Violence, Women and HIV/AIDS is Rights & Democracy's response to the Special Rapporteur's appeal for more research on the subject. The report also acknowledges the need expressed by the Coalition for Women's Human Rights in Conflict Situations, an international women's rights group co-ordinated by Rights & Democracy, to better respond to the unparalleled situation experienced by women who were raped and infected with HIV/AIDS during the Rwandan genocide, and ensure justice and reparations for all.

For more information, or to obtain a copy of the report, contact Steve Smith or Louis Moubarak at 514-283-6073. More information can also be found at http://www.womensrightscoalition.org

Rights & Democracy is a non-partisan organization with an international mandate. It was created by Canada's Parliament in 1988 to encourage and support the universal values of human rights and the promotion of democratic institutions and practices around the world.

1001 de Maisonneuve Blvd. East, Suite 1100, Montreal (Quebec) Canada H2L 4P9
Tel.: (514) 283-6073 | Fax: (514) 283-3792 | dd-rd@dd-rd.ca | http://www.dd-rd.ca

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