On the occasion of the Women’s Forum, in Paris, this November 28, Maria Teresa from Luxembourg presented on stage his NGO “Stand Speak Rise Up”, which cares for women raped in conflicts. The Grand Duchess deplores the fact that this subject, which has sadly returned to the news since the deadly Hamas attack against Israel on October 7, is still so little publicized.
From the 20th century to today, sexual violence has been used as a weapon of war in 62 countries, the overwhelming majority against women and girls. Maria Teresa of Luxembourg took up this cause in 2016 to give a voice to these millions of women who suffer war in their hearts, denounce sexual violence in conflict zones and support victims in their reconstruction and their need for justice. Interview.
L’Express: Why did you decide to get involved in the fight against rape as a weapon of war?
Maria Teresa of Luxembourg : I first met the gynecological surgeon Denis Mukwege [Prix Nobel de la Paix 2018], during a conference in Luxembourg in 2016, which explained how serious this humanitarian problem was. I then said to myself that this scourge could not remain unknown to the whole world. When I saw the doctor again the next day, he told me that someone needed to give a voice to the voiceless. With the position I occupy, I wanted to take on this role. These are causes that no one wants to talk about, which are not always well understood or recognized. among senior leaders and politicians.
However, we must imagine that rape, in conflicts, is a real weapon of mass destruction of the affected communities. When rape is perpetrated, it is not just against young women: babies as young as a few months old are raped, up to grandmothers aged 80. It is a destruction of the entire social fabric of a village, for example.
And as Dr. Mukwege explains, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, when rapes have occurred within a community, it disperses and disintegrates, leaving the way clear for attackers to carry out widespread looting of their resources.
With rape used as a weapon of war, which is back in the news with Hamas attack on Israelis the international community becoming more aware of this scourge?
I notice that it is by talking about it that things tend to change. In Ukraine, for example, the use of rape by the Russians as a weapon of war against Ukrainian women was denounced from the start of the conflict. Commissions have been launched at the United Nations on this subject to denounce these barbarities. This is the first time that such a reaction has taken place.
This awareness is linked to the fact that the war in Ukraine is located in the West. The world has, in a way, understood that this scourge is not just that of a few distant countries. The horrors of October 7 in Israel prove this to us once again. At “Stand Speak Rise Up!”, we drew a map which lists all the countries seriously affected by rape as a weapon of war: I hoped, when we organized in 2019 the first international forum against sexual violence in zones of conflicts, that we could remove more and more areas where these terrors are practiced on the world map. But unfortunately, we have added more since 2019.
Map of sexual violence in sensitive areas
© / NGO “Speak Stand Rise Up”
Is rape as a weapon of war now systematic in a conflict?
This is a question that must be asked of geopolitical scientists. With our NGO, what interests us is why war rape still exists in 2023 without us all being aware of it? Why don’t we help all those who suffer from them? How is it that women’s bodies are a battlefield?
Today, the United Nations has classified rape as the cheapest weapon of war. It’s true, and it’s also a very strong trauma that is transmitted from generation to generation.
How do you help these women?
We act in two areas: my mission and that of the board of directors of our association, consists first of all in making this scourge known throughout the world, and in obtaining progress in terms of justice and reparation of these women. But we are also working to develop concrete projects to directly help survivors. Financially, medically, psychologically and socially, we provide them with help so that they can rebuild themselves, and so can their children.
The recognition of children born from rape is another cause for which you are fighting…
In 2019, I highlighted this issue of children born from rape, which no one had cared about before. It’s dramatic to see mothers and their children who are refused to sell anything in their village, and who are even threatened with death. We observe a complete isolation of these women and children who are victims or those born of rape. It revolted and upset me.
Three months after the 2019 forum, resolution 2,467 was adopted at the UN Council on the status of children born of rape, which recognizes the specific risks and harms for these children. These are young people who have no status, no nationality, and who suffer from total non-recognition in the world. It’s as if they don’t exist.
With the NGO, we then try to help these survivors and their children, by finding them a house and financial assistance. And providing their children with education and training.
Which countries are the most difficult to help raped women?
We work a lot in Bosnia-Herzegovina for the recognition of these children born from rape, where we are moving forward as best we can. But in reality, it is very difficult to obtain everywhere.
Doctor Mukwege is operating on the third generation of raped women in Congo. He has operated on grandmothers, mothers, and now little girls. Several years ago, he saved the life of a young woman raped by a group of men, who had a gun placed in her vagina. This shows the extreme barbarity that we face every day.
Since when has rape been used as a weapon of war?
In fact, always. This is why “Stand Speak Rise Up!” we talk a lot about positive masculinity. The crux of the matter is not just caring for survivors: it is also, in all countries, educating all boys to respect women. Only then will things change permanently.
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