UN call: STOP Rape Now!

Last year, The Australian AIDS Fund endorsed a special initiative by a young Melbourne woman to help combat the rising spread of HIV/AIDS in Swaziland.Now based in Canberra, Antonette Gaffney reports:

Antonette Gaffney

Hello again!

This year I’m back with another human rights mission and supporting a campaign by UN Action titled “Stop Rape Now”.

UN Action (a cross-UN initiative partnered by 12 UN entities including: UNAIDS, UNIFEM, UNDP, UNHCR, WFP and WHO) is currently conducting a photo campaign called “Stop Rape Now” which aims to raise public awareness of the sexual abuse of women during war and generate political attention to sexual violence as part of a broader campaign to Stop Rape Now.

Sexual violence in conflict is a serious, present-day atrocity affecting millions of people, primarily women and girls. It is frequently a conscious strategy employed on a large scale by armed groups to humiliate opponents, terrify individuals and destroy societies.

Currently, an average of 40 women are raped every day in South Kivu in the context of the on-going armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In Darfur, women and girls live under the constant threat of rape by Sudanese Government soldiers, members of the Government-backed Janjaweed militia, rebels and ex-rebels. These recent examples of rape being used as a tactic of war reinforce that this is a pressing issue that needs to be addressed immediately.

Furthermore, not only is rape during conflict a serious violation of human rights and humanitarian law, it also perpetuates the spread of HIV/AIDS. This effectively mitigates the efforts of HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness organisations.

Consequently, UN Action is requesting that individuals from all around the world take action and submit their ‘Stop Rape Now pictures’ (the cross-arm ‘X’ gesture – see pictures below) to contribute to their photo campaign. Australia is currently under-represented so please submit your own ‘Stop Rape Now’ photo by 30th July 2009. Submissions can be made directly to the ‘Stop Rape Now’ webpage at: http://www.stoprapenow.org/, or submitted to me at Antonette.gaffney@gmail.com where I will be submitting them collectively.

Thank you all once again for your valuable help and support with my Swaziland AIDS Assistance Project last year, and I hope you will join me once again in helping out with this cause!

Antonette