1 00:00:00,300 --> 00:00:08,610 So let me introduce Betterness HelpAge and her presentation seeking justice for victims of sexual violence in conflict. 2 00:00:08,610 --> 00:00:14,400 Baroness HelpAge has been a conservative peer in the House of Lords since 2014, 3 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:18,480 where she's a member of the International Relations and Defence Committee. 4 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:23,160 She's a board member of the Trust Fund for Victims of the International Criminal Court 5 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:27,870 and a member of the UN Secretary General's Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters. 6 00:00:27,870 --> 00:00:37,830 She also sits at the Foreign Office Advisory Board for the Prevention of Sexual Violence and Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict initiative. 7 00:00:37,830 --> 00:00:40,010 I think how we know bernholz. How is your high? 8 00:00:40,010 --> 00:00:48,330 I know her most is from her work in Bosnia because she was a senior special advisor to William Hague at 9 00:00:48,330 --> 00:00:52,740 the time when he was the UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth affairs between two dozen, 10 00:00:52,740 --> 00:00:58,290 10 and 14. And she did actually, obviously being originally from Bosnia, 11 00:00:58,290 --> 00:01:07,500 she spearheaded an initiative for sexual violence in that country and with William Hague, travelled to Bosnia quite a few times. 12 00:01:07,500 --> 00:01:15,240 So without further ado, thank you so much for joining us. And I will also, Mark, for you how much time you got left. 13 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:19,560 So I have these cute little papers just to mark and mark the time. 14 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:25,400 All right. Oh, on duty now. And the virtual floor is yours. Thank you very much. 15 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:32,210 I hope everyone can hear me pay my tributes to all those who have spoken before me. 16 00:01:32,210 --> 00:01:37,720 Those who have contributed to creating unity. 17 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:47,810 U.N. Security Council Resolution 30 25. Those who work for decades in defending human rights and women's rights in particular. 18 00:01:47,810 --> 00:01:51,560 And those who have made progress, 19 00:01:51,560 --> 00:02:02,630 as we have heard from previous speakers as about I've been thinking about my remarks this morning and I was wanting to ask myself, 20 00:02:02,630 --> 00:02:10,580 why is it that I have an opportunity to speak here? And in trying to explain it to myself, I thought of three reasons. 21 00:02:10,580 --> 00:02:17,450 The first being that I was born in a country, as Jesse has just said, 22 00:02:17,450 --> 00:02:28,670 in which I witnessed one of the bloodiest conflicts that Europe has seen in the Second World War period, 23 00:02:28,670 --> 00:02:37,820 where thousands and millions of people were displaced, thousands were made refugees and thousands were killed. 24 00:02:37,820 --> 00:02:48,530 And where rape or sexual violence was used and profoundly used to communicate the victims to 25 00:02:48,530 --> 00:02:56,030 destroy the families and to destroy the communities and achieve obviously the wider war aims. 26 00:02:56,030 --> 00:03:09,740 I have seen the terrible human legacy of these crimes that hold survivors today in countries like Bosnia, Kosovo, like Democratic Republic of Congo. 27 00:03:09,740 --> 00:03:18,170 In Syria, refugees that I have met in Zafari come in Turkey, Lebanon, etc. 28 00:03:18,170 --> 00:03:23,730 And so. That is my first season. 29 00:03:23,730 --> 00:03:32,820 I have had. I have seen it in my country of origin, in my country of birth, and I have seen it around the world. 30 00:03:32,820 --> 00:03:39,270 But sexual violence is something that has become an integral part of the weaponry that is used in conflict, 31 00:03:39,270 --> 00:03:45,600 particularly conflict when it's unleashed against civilians. The second reason, as has already been mentioned. 32 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:54,690 So I be sure that the second reason is that I had the honour and privilege of working for Foreign Secretary 33 00:03:54,690 --> 00:04:02,310 William Hague in the lead up to him becoming foreign secretary and also when he was in the Foreign Office. 34 00:04:02,310 --> 00:04:07,410 And there is a lot that I learnt from him on the issue of women's rights. 35 00:04:07,410 --> 00:04:16,800 He believed that male leaders had to acknowledge the part men play in these crimes overwhelmingly committed against women. 36 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:22,410 And the inescapable link it has to the suppression of women's political, economic and social rights. 37 00:04:22,410 --> 00:04:26,460 He came to understand and I came to learn, as he often said, 38 00:04:26,460 --> 00:04:31,920 that conflict related sexual violence was not just a woman's issue or a human rights issue, 39 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:37,950 but a critical aspect of international peace and security that ought to be central work of foreign ministries worldwide, 40 00:04:37,950 --> 00:04:39,990 not just in the United Kingdom. 41 00:04:39,990 --> 00:04:52,230 And he was determined to use the power and influence that came with being the UK foreign secretary to try and tackle this issue of sexual violence, 42 00:04:52,230 --> 00:04:55,260 particularly in conflict and post-conflict situations. 43 00:04:55,260 --> 00:05:04,350 And as a result, in 2012, he and UNHCR UNHCR special envoy Rajoelina Jolie launched Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative, 44 00:05:04,350 --> 00:05:08,610 which had justice and accountability at its heart, 45 00:05:08,610 --> 00:05:15,590 seeking to address many, many reasons from stigma to taboo and inequality to a lack of resources, 46 00:05:15,590 --> 00:05:22,200 tractors and political will, and in particular, focussing on impunity for these crimes. 47 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:30,990 That is still a norm worldwide. I could say that that the summit produced tangible results. 48 00:05:30,990 --> 00:05:34,650 Hundred fifty six countries endorsed a commitment to end sexual violence. 49 00:05:34,650 --> 00:05:43,620 The first international protocol, all the documentation and investigation of sexual violence was created and has been used to document crimes in help. 50 00:05:43,620 --> 00:05:50,100 Survivors from Syria to Bangladesh was found to have been instrumental in securing some convictions. 51 00:05:50,100 --> 00:05:56,550 And some progress has been made in the formal legal reform in in certain countries, 52 00:05:56,550 --> 00:06:03,870 sometimes leading to prosecutions and compensation rewards, as well as new funding for NGOs and cetera. 53 00:06:03,870 --> 00:06:08,310 And I can speak about probably about the case in Bosnia, places in Bosnia, 54 00:06:08,310 --> 00:06:17,070 where progress has been made in securing prosecutions and ensuring that victims harm is recognised. 55 00:06:17,070 --> 00:06:26,850 However, I would be too optimistic to say and that we have fixed it because it is impossible to fix this 56 00:06:26,850 --> 00:06:35,430 issue with just a short period of time of full focus on it all with one conference or one summit. 57 00:06:35,430 --> 00:06:43,350 And we know from other from other issues that international issues in particular that we try to to address. 58 00:06:43,350 --> 00:06:47,910 And so this brings me to the third reason why I'm here, 59 00:06:47,910 --> 00:06:54,540 and which is that I believe that the times that are the darkest for human rights are also 60 00:06:54,540 --> 00:07:00,030 the ones that offer the biggest opportunity to make a difference and to make a change. 61 00:07:00,030 --> 00:07:11,390 And this is the case that I try to make here in the United Kingdom, both in parliament and in my interactions with the Foreign Office. 62 00:07:11,390 --> 00:07:22,710 As far as I can see it, if we are prepared and if we have capability to establish ad hoc bodies or mechanism or instruments, 63 00:07:22,710 --> 00:07:29,700 I see no reason why we shouldn't use the knowledge and experience that we have, unfortunately, 64 00:07:29,700 --> 00:07:40,740 had the opportunity to attain over the decades to establish something that would be of a permanent nature. 65 00:07:40,740 --> 00:07:47,130 And that is Gooby properly funded, and that is going to be actually established with a clear mandate. 66 00:07:47,130 --> 00:07:59,310 Robust investigative powers and the resourcing and expertise to deploy at high readiness to collect and assess evidence in conflict related areas. 67 00:07:59,310 --> 00:08:14,790 This much of this has been already, and I fully recognise that tried and attempted with the use of through stated NGO sponsored investigative efforts, 68 00:08:14,790 --> 00:08:22,050 frequently duplicated activities, contravening international accepted procedures and even re traumatising victims. 69 00:08:22,050 --> 00:08:31,830 And while I want to hear pay tribute to many engineers that do the absolute best and do a good work on the ground. 70 00:08:31,830 --> 00:08:44,250 It is unfortunate that it often happens that just as there is a particular case in Myanmar that after the crime has been committed, 71 00:08:44,250 --> 00:08:53,640 one and the same individual is going to be interviewed on multiple occasions and not only re traumatised, 72 00:08:53,640 --> 00:09:03,510 but because of the conflicting and different ways in which the gathering of evidence has been done. 73 00:09:03,510 --> 00:09:13,500 That is not going to be admissible in court. And I think that the time has come that we look into this and that we try and assess it what it is, 74 00:09:13,500 --> 00:09:17,460 and establish a body that is going to be not only permanent, 75 00:09:17,460 --> 00:09:22,680 but also fully capable of ensuring that evidence is correct, 76 00:09:22,680 --> 00:09:35,040 collected in a way that is admissible in court and that will eventually provide provide a necessary body of work that can be used in the courts. 77 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:41,060 Let the weather on the local or regional international level to secure prosecutions. 78 00:09:41,060 --> 00:09:52,380 I am a part of this. I would also like to say that, you know, there has been a lot of discussion is what kind of if this body where to put in place, 79 00:09:52,380 --> 00:09:55,080 what kind of shape and form it would take. 80 00:09:55,080 --> 00:10:01,590 And I must say that I have been sort of going through this with in different ways over the last three years. 81 00:10:01,590 --> 00:10:07,710 And there has been quite a lot of good welcoming of the not like this, 82 00:10:07,710 --> 00:10:11,700 but there's also been some resistance from those who think that it is impossible to 83 00:10:11,700 --> 00:10:17,700 achieve anything like this and that one should just try and work on issues like this, 84 00:10:17,700 --> 00:10:24,450 stigmatisation and support for victims, etc., which I absolutely nuts. 85 00:10:24,450 --> 00:10:28,590 If you can talk about stigma, it needs to be a perpetrator, not a known survivor. 86 00:10:28,590 --> 00:10:36,960 If you talk about support, obviously there is no question that that support has not been there for survivors and a 87 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:44,730 need to do absolute best to ensure that in cases where these horrible crimes take place, 88 00:10:44,730 --> 00:10:55,470 survivors are given all the support that they can have. But I reject the idea that it's impossible to to to find a way of addressing 89 00:10:55,470 --> 00:11:03,990 what is the main sort of element of perpetual use of rape as a weapon of war, 90 00:11:03,990 --> 00:11:19,290 and that is property. Fortunately, the gap between accountability and and where the perpetrators say it is becoming bigger and bigger and bigger. 91 00:11:19,290 --> 00:11:27,990 And we need to address that. I have I have tried to in my way and I got the legal expertise. 92 00:11:27,990 --> 00:11:34,950 I have tried to look into what would be the best way of achieving this independent governmental body, 93 00:11:34,950 --> 00:11:39,330 what it should be treated based, what it should be, coalition of the willing, etc. 94 00:11:39,330 --> 00:11:45,270 And I must say that it has also come. I have come across quite a lot of obstacles. 95 00:11:45,270 --> 00:11:56,820 And my best case proposition at the moment is that we should look into the International Committee on Missing Persons and and see 96 00:11:56,820 --> 00:12:07,050 how the coalition of the willing came together there in order to address the issue of missing persons in the Balkans and elsewhere. 97 00:12:07,050 --> 00:12:13,710 And that is for me, a immediate possibility. 98 00:12:13,710 --> 00:12:16,230 And then I just think that in parallel, 99 00:12:16,230 --> 00:12:31,260 we should seek to try and have an independent treaty based organisation or a body that would be tasked with undertaking these investigations. 100 00:12:31,260 --> 00:12:40,830 The second point I would like to make is that the issue that I have been trying to make some progress 101 00:12:40,830 --> 00:12:53,220 on is the issue of allocating fixed and minimum percentage of funds that every Iraqi is the partner. 102 00:12:53,220 --> 00:12:58,560 International development would ring fence and that would be a. 103 00:12:58,560 --> 00:13:05,810 Bailable for addressing issues of violence against women or gender based violence in general, 104 00:13:05,810 --> 00:13:11,660 whether in conflict and post-conflict situations, all humanitarian emergencies. 105 00:13:11,660 --> 00:13:18,800 I just want to say, as one example, places there is often a critical shortage of funds for provision of post rape, 106 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:21,770 care and other health care services. 107 00:13:21,770 --> 00:13:29,900 And I remember when the U.N. issued an appeal for four hundred thirty four million dollars for the Rohingya crisis. 108 00:13:29,900 --> 00:13:38,330 A month later, the U.N. Special Representative for Sexual Violence was still reporting a funding shortfall of 10 million. 109 00:13:38,330 --> 00:13:41,960 To deliver urgent gender based violence assistance, the Rohingya women. 110 00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:54,200 So, in short, what I'm hoping that we in the United Kingdom might be in a position to deliver. 111 00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:58,430 And I'm not in government, so I don't know if this is possible, but I know I can fight for it. 112 00:13:58,430 --> 00:14:10,040 Is this if you want a port of fixed funds that are available to fight gender based violence, violence against women, 113 00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:20,570 and also to be a lead country that would work on establishing this international accountability body that would not only collect evidence, 114 00:14:20,570 --> 00:14:24,320 but would also provide training and expertise, 115 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:35,690 etc. in these situations and train local experts so that this work can be done in order to deliver concrete results. 116 00:14:35,690 --> 00:14:41,170 I know that this is a in the in the times that we live in. 117 00:14:41,170 --> 00:14:47,360 It is probably quite an ambitious goal to have. 118 00:14:47,360 --> 00:15:00,260 But I must say, you know, as we can see, the world has changed over the last six to eight, 12 weeks beyond any recognition. 119 00:15:00,260 --> 00:15:09,650 And we have managed to change the ways in which we live, in which we come together to to work together and consult and exchange ideas. 120 00:15:09,650 --> 00:15:14,750 And I hope that if we can find political will, 121 00:15:14,750 --> 00:15:25,640 we will find at least a beginning of better and more effective way in which we tackle rape 122 00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:31,370 used as a weapon of war in conflict and even post-conflict and humanitarian situations. 123 00:15:31,370 --> 00:15:35,060 I don't believe I don't expect miracles. 124 00:15:35,060 --> 00:15:42,200 I don't think there is a vaccine against sexual violence to say, well, there is no vaccine against domestic violence. 125 00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:49,880 There is, however, a possibility of making change if we take small incremental steps. 126 00:15:49,880 --> 00:15:58,040 If every each and every one of us does a little bit in order not only to recognise the enormity of the problem, 127 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:07,220 but to seek solutions to those problems, because otherwise we will be. 128 00:16:07,220 --> 00:16:10,750 Meeting in five, 10, 20 years time, 129 00:16:10,750 --> 00:16:24,260 having exactly the same discussion and marking another anniversary while not being able to say that a real change has been made. 130 00:16:24,260 --> 00:16:30,530 This is not to say the thirteen twenty five doesn't represent a benchmark for all of us. 131 00:16:30,530 --> 00:16:40,730 And the reference point so that we can measure successes and occasionally failures in what we have been doing. 132 00:16:40,730 --> 00:16:52,610 But this is just to urge you in your way to help me make progress on what I have put forward as my own task. 133 00:16:52,610 --> 00:16:58,700 And that is making a little a bit of a difference that will hopefully in years to come be 134 00:16:58,700 --> 00:17:05,750 looked at as a beginning of genuinely addressing what has become a lack of accountability, 135 00:17:05,750 --> 00:17:10,540 endemic lack of accountability when it comes to these particular crimes. 136 00:17:10,540 --> 00:17:16,850 Thank you very much and thank you for also just relating it to the Constitution and to the current crisis, 137 00:17:16,850 --> 00:17:20,060 because I think all of us are slightly worried that because of covered 19, 138 00:17:20,060 --> 00:17:26,990 a lot of issues, including environmental sector reform for basic just is to come off the agenda and funds are going to be relocated. 139 00:17:26,990 --> 00:17:33,988 We already have a few questions. I will address those. Do you or I will give those to you at the end of our panel.