Rape in War Is Common, Devastating, and Too Often Ignored 英文参考文献.docVIP

Editorial Rape in War Is Common, Devastating, and Too Often Ignored The PLoS Medicine Editors R ape in war is by no means a new phenomenon, but its escalation as a deliberate, strategic, and million displaced people [8], and 500,000 victims of sexual violence [9] since 1991. Recent escalation of fighting has fuelled international press reports of a country more lawless than perhaps anywhere else on earth and where women are frequently and systematically victimized [10–13]. This “pandemic of sexual violence,” says Stephen Lewis, the former United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, is “obscene,” “insanely savage,” and can only be described as “femicide” [10,14]. Dr. Denis Mukwege, the founder of the Panzi Hospital in eastern Congo that treats ten women survivors of rape every day, calls this war on women “the monstrosity of the century” [15]. Nonetheless, in areas of armed conflict rape is committed mostly with impunity and has been largely ignored by the international community. Health care professionals and humanitarian organizations working in conflict zones have long recognized the use of rape as a weapon of war, providing documentation from the ground that also reveals the absence of an adequate international response. Human Rights Watch reported this year that “women and girls continue to be brutally beaten and raped” by police, militia, and rebel groups in Darfur [21]. No progress has been made five years after the Sudanese government promised to combat sexual violence in the region and the UN–African Union peacekeeping forces were to mobilize security and protection for women. Médecins Sans Frontières has provided emergency care for tens of thousands of victims of sexual violence in conflict zones, and continues to report that most of these attacks are perpetrated with impunity by militia or military personnel [19]. Amnesty International has documented human rights violations occurring in conflict zones where perpetrators are rarely if ever held