Sexual violence in conflict – what use is the law?

Through conflict after conflict, sexual violence persists, not just as individual crimes but as a weapon of war, from the Balkans to the Congo, from Liberia and Sierra Leone to present day Iraq. It persists, says Madeleine Rees, the secretary general of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, because it’s effective.

Working to prevent it and cope with its effects is a dauntingly wide-ranging task, which entails tackling deep-seated attitudes at the core of societies, as well as the provision of medical help, emotional support and legal advice to the victims.

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