Before being sent to Westminster I had a career in shipping, and while working in the largest industry in the world, I was still able to make time to volunteer and support the charities and causes that I felt passionate about. From conservation to human rights to preventing sexual violence in conflict, these focusses gave me a strong understanding of the value that the UK can play abroad.
In November this year, the UK held its second Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative conference in London. This initiative was set up in 2012 amid a period of global turbulence. The then-Foreign Secretary, William Hague, along with Angelina Jolie, Arminka Helic and Chloe Dalton, recognised that women and girls in conflict are often the survivors of sexual violence who receive little support and, all too often, no justice.
It is a desperately tragic reality that throughout the ages of conflict, rape and sexual violence are tools of war that cost nothing to the perpetrators. The use of such methods is designed to divide, subjugate and sow terror against civilians. For the survivors, the impact is enormous and long-lasting, and often results in ostracization, depression and suicide. Readers only need to read Christina Lamb’s book Our Bodies, Their Battlefield to see countless examples through the history of conflict to understand its impact and prevalence.
The UK’s leadership in 2012 on this subject led to a UN resolution being supported by 150 other countries and the first global summit in 2014. At that first conference, leaders from around the world came together to recognise these atrocious acts and to call for further action. Countless accounts were given by brave survivors who called on politicians to offer more than just words, but action.
Some eight years on and there have been some achievements, but not nearly enough. New codes of conduct have been passed in the form of the Murad Code, and the military in Canada, UK and Germany have all incorporated preventative training around sexual violence in conflict. The UK has sent inspectors to Ukraine to help document crimes against women and girls. Yet with nineteen conflicts raging around the world, the issue is more acute than ever.
In the aftermath of this second global conference, there is a renewed sense that more must be done. I wholeheartedly agree.
Conferences, resolutions and statements are all well and good but a new international mechanism is required to address this issue. Just as in the wake of the first and second World Wars, new institutions were created to bring order, harmony and justice. However, they are falling short. We should be looking to create a new internationally recognised body that can help document crimes against women and girls, provide support and lead prosecutions.
For those who might point to the International Criminal Court as the answer, they might also look at how many successful rape and sexual violence cases have been prosecuted over the last thirty years. A new specifically focussed body could quickly build on the UN support that we garnered in 2012 on this very subject. It might also help to once again strengthen the bonds of the international community in common cause.
While a mechanism is not just an idea but a necessary step, the second should be an uplift in global funding to tackle this issue. Less than 1% of all global humanitarian funding goes towards gender-based violence. Given its prevalence, it is dramatically out of kilter and underfunded. Increasing funding would send a clear message about our intent and determinations.
Finally, with more evidence pouring out of Ukraine of Russian atrocities against civilians including rape and sexual violence, a war tribunal should be prepared against those perpetrators and justice should be demonstrated as a clear marker that the culture of impunity is at an end.
In my work in Westminster, I am proud to play a role in conservation, land mine clearance and the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative. I have seen first-hand the progressive example we can set on the world stage when we lead on issues that are all too often overlooked. We must be bold in our leadership and prepared to buck the status quo, there are too many that are suffering for us to fail.