Michael Mullins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House to debate a matter which he is deeply committed to improving. I strongly support the motion before the House and it is very appropriate that the motion would have unanimous support because sexual violence in conflict situations has reached epidemic proportions. In many conflict and post-conflict situations, women submit to sexual violence to obtain food and other basic necessities. Rape is used to brutalise and humiliate civilians as a weapon of war and political power, and as a tactic of ethnic cleansing. Violence against women by a partner or even a husband in refugee camps is reportedly quite common. Thankfully in recent years to some extent sexual violence in conflict zones has received much more media attention and the mass rapes in the wars in the former Yugoslavia and during the Rwandan genocide received widespread coverage.

International organisations, such as the UN, the courts and the NGOs, have tried to hold the perpetrators accountable and support the victims of wartime sexual violence. However, many major atrocities take place about which very few people have heard. As Senator Norris said, the Democratic Republic of Congo is a case in point. According to a US-based agency, International Rescue Committee, some 5.4 million people died in the Congo between August 1998 and April 2007 from violence and war-related hunger and illness. One of the defining features of the conflict is the widespread use of rape as a weapon of war. The number of women and girls raped in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo is unknown, but experts say the scale is enormous. As has been mentioned, the former United Nations special representative on sexual violence in conflict, Margot Wallström, has called the Democratic Republic of Congo "the rape capital of the world".

The situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been described as unimaginably brutal with armed groups attacking local communities, looting, raping and kidnapping women and children and forcing them to work as sexual slaves. Militia groups and soldiers attack all ages, including babies and elderly women. Men and boys have also been raped by soldiers and rebels. Although the majority of rapes carried out in the Democratic Republic of Congo are by armed men, an increasing number are carried out by civilians, with a survey showing a seventeenfold increase between 2004 and 2008. The conflict has also been marked by the use of child soldiers, some as young as 12, who are kidnapped and fed a cocktail of drink and drugs. They then carry out the most vile crimes, often against their own communities.

In recent times the former first lady of the Ivory Coast has been accused of committing crimes against humanity during the country's post-election conflict last year. It is alleged she was criminally responsible for murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence, as well as other inhumane acts and persecution. Her husband is awaiting trial on similar charges in The Hague. His refusal to accept defeat in the election triggered the brief war where more than 3,000 people died after violent street protests developed into all-out conflict between soldiers and militia loyal to the former President and fighters supporting the current President, President Ouattara, who were backed by the United Nations and French troops. Human Rights Watch welcomed the international community's efforts to indict the former first lady, but said it must be followed up with action against the opposition supporters also. Matt Wells of Human Rights Watch said: "The continued one-sided justice system domestically and at the ICC ignores many of the conflict's victims and threatens to further divide the country."

The responsibility for addressing the issue of sexual violence in conflict rests with the international community as a whole, but it has been rather ineffective in demanding accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity that are routinely committed in places such as the Democratic Republic of Congo. The United Nations Security Council and Secretary General have been slow to tackle to responsibility of occupying powers for the atrocities taking place in areas under their control. Rwanda, like Uganda, has escaped significant sanctions for its role to date in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The recent statement by the EU Foreign Ministers is very much to be welcome and will hopefully bring a renewed focus to the problems in the DRC and other regions throughout the world.

Ireland has two significant opportunities to make a difference in the area of sexual violence in conflict, and these were referred to. First, we have been elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council where we will have a platform for raising these urgent matters. Second, as we assume the Presidency of the EU in January, we will have an opportunity to influence the foreign affairs agenda of Europe and, hopefully, bring this most important issue to the top of the political agenda, both in Europe and throughout the world.

I strongly support the motion. It is an issue, as has been referred to, that has got little of the type of coverage in the media that it should. It is incumbent on us as politicians to continue to highlight this issue until such time as we see a resolution of such violence.