A senior United nations official has called for stronger political will to help eradicate sexual violence in conflict, stating that the issue is one that needs to be treated with greater  concern.

The UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Zainab Bangura, told reporters in Geneva,

“Sexual violence in conflict needs to be treated as the war crime that it is… It can no longer be written off or treated as an unfortunate collateral damage of war or unavoidable byproduct of political strife.”

“As daunting as the road ahead is, I do not think eradicating sexual violence in conflict is a mission impossible”

“We have the tools to combat this scourge, but we need the political will to implement the relevant Security Council resolutions and a commitment from governments to enforce them,”

“This is not only a women’s issue and it is a global issue. It is occurring in Serbia, Cambodia, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Colombia, and Nepal, among others.”

“We must work with national governments. We must allow them and force them to take leadership in this to be able to build a national framework that will be able to ensure that the cases are prosecuted and the victims have their day in court. Let us put the light on the perpetrators not the victims”

Bangura also called for a clear message to be sent to the perpetrators of sexual violence,

“The message for perpetrators must be ‘there is no hiding place in the world. Wherever you are we will get you.’”