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Iraq + 2 more

Sexual violence is​ a tool of war, but we have the weapons to end that

By Zainab Hawa Bangura and Melanne Verveer

From Iraq to Bosnia, women are abused in war. We need to implement the laws we already have to protect women and seek justice that empowers survivors

With each passing day, there is another story about the horrific violence Islamic State is perpetrating against women and girls. Isis fighters reportedly raped four women, then stoned them to death in February for “committing adultery”. Iraqi forces recently found a mass grave containing the bodies of women and children believed murdered by Isis. And in 2014, Isis massacred an estimated 5,000 civilians on Mount Sinjar in Iraq, causing hundreds of people to flee and condemning hundreds of Yazidi women to sexual slavery.

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