Danai Gurira Addresses UN Security Council on Sexual Violence in Conflict

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Published Jun 22, 2024

Zimbabwean American actress Danai Gurira said, “The point is that reversing the upward trajectory of military spending would be a way of reducing the number of victims in need of support in the first place. The point is, working on arms control and ammunition management is also working to prevent conflict-related sexual violence.”

The UN Women Goodwill Ambassador told Council Members, “The issue of impunity, the knowledge that one can rape a mother, a daughter, a son, a child and get away with it, feeds the pathology that keeps this issue dire and growing.”

“We seem to not have found a way to create a deterrent that truly alters its perpetuation, and we know such deterrence exists. But the complicity around sexual violence being a spoil or inevitable consequence of war seems to deter various structures from truly holding parties accountable,” she added.

Gurira said, “I'd like to speak to the governments here today who allow this to occur within their borders with impunity. If you refuse to protect your most vulnerable, yet allow their bodies to be a spoil of your political conflicts, you should be held accountable and should not be in a position of leadership.”