Sudan-Darfur – UNIFEM to Join Sexual Misconduct Inquiry
Author: Womens UN Report Network
Date: May 15, 2006
UNIFEM to Join African Union Committee of Inquiry on
Allegations of Sexual Misconduct by Forces in Darfur
For immediate release
Date: 4 May 2006
Media Inquiries:
Roselyn Gicira, Partnerships and
Communications Officer, East and Horn of Africa Regional Office,
+254 20-762-4725, roselyn.gircira@unifem.org
Nairobi — The United Nations Development Fund for Women
(UNIFEM) will participate in the African Union’s (AU) newly established
Committee of Inquiry, following recent reports in the news media of alleged
sexual violence, including rape and child abuse, by AU forces in Darfur.
Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe, Head of the AU Mission in Sudan and Special
Representative of the Chairperson of the AU Commission, said that setting up the
Committee was an immediate response to the news reports, which first aired in a
British Television Channel Four documentary. According to Kingibe, the Committee
will examine the contents of the documentary and establish its veracity or
otherwise, identify those responsible for the violations and make
recommendations on appropriate sanctions, in conformity with the
Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the
Rights of Women, which came into force in 2005. The Committee of Inquiry is
headed by Winnie Byanyima, Director for Women, Gender and Development of the AU
Commission, the secretariat and executive body of the 53 African member state
grouping.
Regional Programme Director for UNIFEM in East and Horn of Africa, Nyaradzai
Gumbonzvanda, welcomed the urgency with which the Committee was set up following
the news reports, saying that it gives a ray of hope to African women, children
and survivors of violence that impunity and inaction by authorities is being
seriously dealt with. “It sends immediate warning bells to perpetrators of
sexual and gender based violence that impunity will no longer be the order of
the day in Africa,” she said.
UNIFEM is partnering with the African Union to support Darfurian women’s
participation at the Abuja Peace Talks, and facilitate implementation of UN
Security Council resolution 1325 and the AU Solemn Declaration on Gender
Equality. Protection of women’s rights in Darfur and the traumatic experiences
of violence and displacement have been recurring themes demanding immediate
action by all parties. UNIFEM is urging all parties to the peace talks to
expedite its conclusion and restore security and dignity to the war-affected
women and children of Darfur.
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