The new U.N. Resolution 1820 on sexual violence against civilans in armed conflicts

/3 July 2008/ The Security Concil members on June 19th 2008 unanimously adopted U.N. resolution 1820 demanding halt to all acts of sexual violence against civilians in conflict zones.

The U.N. Resolution 1820 has an historical importance taking into account that the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992 started with sexual violence commited against non-Serbian women that were kidnapped and sistematically violated by Serbian soldiers in Foca, Visegrad and other settlements. Afterwards the sexual violence was widely employed by all parties in the armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina as an instrument and the last data came from testimonies of 40 Albanian women from Kosovo during forced expulsion of Albanian population commited by Serbian army and police in 1999.

Before the war on the territory of the former Yugoslavia there was no one international tribunal` decision on sexual violence in armed conflict, although feminist studies demonstrated that sexual abuse was a part of all armed conflicts. First judgments were passed by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

In the last decenny it was clear that members of the U.N. peacekeeping forces were not trained in such items like sexual violence in the war, neighter instructed that they could not commit any sexual abuse against women in countries where they are sent.

The Resolution 1820 includes points in which it is clearly demanded that all peacekeeping personnel pass the training program on raising awareness to prevent and ensure full accountability in cases of sexual violence in the context of peacekeeping missions as mandated by the U.N. (Source: „Danas“)