British
Foreign Secretary William Hague and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on
Tuesday launched a high level declaration on the need to work towards
eliminating sexual violence in conflict. The ambitious declaration, launched on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, follows on from the G8 declaration in April this year and subsequent words of support from Pope Francis in a letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Writing in the L’Osservatore Romano supplement entitled ‘Women, Church, World’, William Hague says “the Catholic Church has an influential voice” and can help challenge the culture of impunity and silence that surrounds this horrendous crime.
To find out how, Philippa Hitchen spoke with Britain’s Ambassador to the Holy See, Nigel Baker…
There's already real momentum....one of the things we've been looking to achieve before the launch of this declaration is support from as many countries as we can possibly get for the aims of this initiative.....this isn't about creating a legally binding document, it's not legally binding but it is about countries committing themselves to very practical action to tackle sexual violence in conflict and war zone rape....
We're delighted to see that a nun, Sr Angelique Namaika from the DRC was awarded the Nansen Refugee Prize 2013 by the UNHCR for her work in supporting women in the DRC who've been suffering rape and violence from the militias fighting there - I think it's another recognition that this issue is going right to the top of the agenda....
Already a lot is being done, particularly by religious women on the ground, some of whom have been victims themselves, but also I think in terms of national capacities that bishops conferences locally can play an important role in encouraging governments to put more emphasis on this issue....
We know that (the Holy See) is very much in favour of our efforts - Pope Francis made clear in his letter to David Cameron before the G8 that he saw this as another example of support for human dignity at the international level, so that overt support is valuable and it would be wonderful if instructions could go out to bishops and others to support these efforts on the ground...because the Church is where the victims are and the victims need to see the Church supporting practical efforts to get rid of this terrible crime."