Make mass rape a war crime, UN urged - News

Christian Century, April 28, 1993

Several religious groups, led by agencies of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, have begun a drive to make rape a war crime when it is used by an aggressor as a matter of policy. In a petition sent to both President Clinton and United Nations Secretary General Boutros BoutrosGhali, the groups demand that rape be specifically included as a punishable war crime under the Geneva Convention, which sets standards for conduct during war. Reform Jewish officials report that more than 22,600 signatures accompanied the petitions.

"Rape is an integral part of ethnic cleansing, of eradicating areas of ... historic Muslim populations through brutal battery of civilians, expulsions and outright murder," the petition says. Noting that the Geneva Convention does not include a distinct prohibition of rape as a war crime, the petition goes on to declare that "these rapes must not go unpunished."

Meanwhile, some 33 groups, mostly religious organizations and agencies, have called on Congress to hold hearings on proposed resolutions that would strongly condemn mass rapes of women in Bosnia. In letters dated April 5 the groups said, "In the past several months, more than a half dozen investigations have documented the systematic and widespread human rights violations against women and girls in the former Yugoslavia." The letters, which were identical, were sent to Lee Hamilton (D., Ind.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Claiborne Pell (D., R.I.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Expressing "a sense of great urgency," the letters asked the two committees to hold hearings on proposed resolutions to condemn the rapes. In the House the resolutions have been introduced by George Miller and Nancy Pelosi, both Democrats from California. A similar resolution has been introduced in the Senate by Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.) and Bob Dole (R., Kan.). Pointing out that than "an estimated 20,000 women have been raped since the fighting began last April, the religious groups warned that "such atrocities ... will foster the bitterness and revenge which lead to future strife."

A number of recent reports, including ones from the UN and the European Community, have concluded that Serbs in Bosnia are using rape as a "weapon of war" against Muslim women as part of their campaign of "ethnic cleansing." The European Community report, issued in january, contends that the Serbs had raped up to 20,000 women and girls. Other estimates have put the number as high as 30,000 to 50,000.

In the letters advocating congressional hearings, the 33 groups declared that "the moral outrage of the world must be communicated regarding the horrific and uncivilized acts being committed against innocent civilians, and steps must be taken swiftly to provide appropriate relief to the victims of these war crimes."

Among the religious groups signing the letter: the American Jewish Congress, the Anti-Defamation League of B'Nai B'rith, the Washington office of the Church of the Brethren, the Coordinating Center for Women of the United Church of Christ, the governmental affairs office of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, Hadassah, NETWORK, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the United Universalist Association, the United Church Board for World Ministries, the UCC Office for Church in Society, and the YWCA of the U.S.A.