War=Rape

Rape is a weapon of war. Wherever violent conflict rages, women and girls are not only raped, they are raped brutally, repeatedly, mercilessly. Women as old as 80; girls as young as 4.

Perpetrators rape with impunity. They rape to spread fear, along with HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. They rape to impregnate, as a method of ethnic cleansing. And they rape to devalue their victims, demoralize their families and weaken the integrity of the whole community. The trauma any woman suffers not only means lasting devastation for her, but also for her people.

• In Darfur , families face a desperate choice: they must find food and firewood to survive. But venturing out makes them targets of the janjaweed militias, who will kill the men and rape the women. And so each day it is the women who must make this treacherous trip.

• In Colombia , girls as young as five have been kidnapped and raped. Women have been raped by up to six men; while tied up and while their relatives, also tied, were forced to watch. And women face violence committed by all sides - the security forces, army-backed paramilitaries and guerrilla forces

• In Thailand , as Burmese women flee conflict, the threat of sexual and domestic assault follows them. The conditions of displacement breed such violence and camp surveys indicate that well over half the women have suffered abuse at some point in their lives.

• In West Africa , over the past ten years, mass abuse has ravaged villages as hundreds of thousands of women and girls have been mutilated, and forced into sexual slavery and prostitution.

Atrocity. Barbarity. Across the world, crime upon crime upon crime. The staggering numbers and shocking stories add up to one thing only: rape is a weapon of mass destruction.

You=Change

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International Rescue Committee & Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children

IRC’s programs prevent and help survivors to cope with the horrors of sexual violence. We work to promote and protect women and girls’ human rights and empower them to enjoy these rights. Learn more about how IRC helps women around the world.

The Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children works to protect the rights and improve the lives of refugee and displaced women, children and youth around the world through research and advocacy. The Commission, established in 1989, is affiliated with and is legally part of the International Rescue Committee. To learn more visit www.womenscommission.org.