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PLoS Medicine Issue Image | Vol. 6(1) January 2009
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Rape in War Is Common, Devastating, and Too Often Ignored. Top
This month's editorial (PLoS Medicine Editors, e1000021) discusses the unconscionable use of rape as a weapon of war, as documented in recent conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, and the former Yugoslavia among others, to the extent that a UN peacekeeping commander recently reported that "it has probably become more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in an armed conflict." But while the International Criminal Tribunal recognized rape as crime of genocide under international law in 1994, rape continues to be conducted with impunity in many armed conflicts, leaving women and communities devastated. The editorial calls for more pressure from those involved in reporting, researching, and providing medical care to be put on international authorities, to take concerted action, and to make protection from sexual violence a central part of peacekeeping and security efforts.
Image Credit: r.marin at flickr.com.
Citation: (2009) PLoS Medicine Issue Image | Vol. 6(1) January 2009. PLoS Med 6(1): ev06.i01. doi:10.1371/image.pmed.v06.i01
Published: January 27, 2009
Copyright: © 2009 r.marin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Rape in War Is Common, Devastating, and Too Often Ignored.
This month's editorial (PLoS Medicine Editors, e1000021) discusses the unconscionable use of rape as a weapon of war, as documented in recent conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, and the former Yugoslavia among others, to the extent that a UN peacekeeping commander recently reported that "it has probably become more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in an armed conflict." But while the International Criminal Tribunal recognized rape as crime of genocide under international law in 1994, rape continues to be conducted with impunity in many armed conflicts, leaving women and communities devastated. The editorial calls for more pressure from those involved in reporting, researching, and providing medical care to be put on international authorities, to take concerted action, and to make protection from sexual violence a central part of peacekeeping and security efforts.
Image Credit: r.marin at flickr.com.
doi:10.1371/image.pmed.v06.i01.g001
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