TEHRAN According to the latest statistics, currently women and children comprise some 90 percent of victims of wars across the globe.
However, during the past century, military forces comprised 90 percent of the war victims. A report recently published by the United Nations indicates that although the entire society suffers from the consequences of wars, women and girls suffer more. The report added that violence against women has turned into a war tactic in recent years. Nevertheless, women should not be considered as the only victims of wars, since they play a pivotal role in guaranteeing the livelihood of family as a whole, the report underlined.
The "Action Plan", the 4th International Conference on Women which was held in Beijing, expressed regret over the negative effects of armed conflicts on women and called on the governments and the international community to take some serious action in this connection. The UN Commission in Charge of Exploring Women's Conditions, in its 42nd meeting in 1998, studied the effects of armed conflicts on women's conditions. It also discussed other subjects including "taking collective measures to guarantee justice for women", "fulfilling the needs of female refugees", "increasing women's participation in preserving peace" and "preventing wars".
Following the Beijing Conference, important measures were taken at the international level to prevent crimes against women during wars. Some of these measures are as follows: Within the framework of the courts commissioned by the UN to investigate cases of crimes against mankind in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, sexual assault was considered as a heinous crime against mankind. Meanwhile, a man was convicted of genocide by a Rwandan court for sexual assault. At the regional level, European and American human rights organizations considered sexual violence in the course of wars as a breach of human rights conventions.
War crimes such as rape and any other form of sexual violence have been viewed as a flagrant breach of Geneva Convention.