When U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry took the stage to give the keynote speech at the closing plenary of the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, I expected words that would strike all the correct notes. I was curious to hear what actions he was prepared to promise on behalf of the U.S. government.

Kerry made some important commitments, but the sincerity of U.S. government interest in affecting real change on complex issues like sexual violence has historically been questionable. When money is committed, it’s miserly as a percentage of GDP. When calls for an end to impunity are made, they are subsequently undermined by the United States’ failure to ratify the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court. I cannot but fear another round of empty promises.

In the end, however, Kerry’s words provided a renewed sense of hope by evoking the spirit and voice of a woman who survived the horror of sexual violence as a child. Poverty and racism in the United States removed any chance for justice or reparations, which could have helped her heal. But after six years of silence following her rape, Maya Angelou reclaimed her voice. With her words and actions, she became a powerful champion for equality – equality for women, African Americans, children, and people living in poverty.

It remains to be seen whether the hashtag for the conference, #TimeToAct, will be transformative or will enter the lexicon of empty phrases and broken promises.

But for those of us who will not accept inaction as an option, we can go forth each day heartened by the words of a woman who knew what it was to suffer and found the strength to not merely survive but to prevail.

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Words, words, words. At the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, I spent most of the day listening to words and phrases used by human rights activists to describe sexual violence in conflict – words that are being co-opted by government officials. Activists were the ones who recognized the courage and resilience of survivors. Survivors made the connections between peace and justice. Advocates promoted justice that focused on restoring dignity to victims through meaningful reparations as well as justice that focused on holding the perpetrators to account.

Today, the language of activism, survival, and justice has been smoothly co-opted by government officials who spoke – sometimes movingly – about their commitment to stopping sexual violence in conflict. Unfortunately, their actions so rarely match their words.

As I described my frustration to another participant, she asked me why I found it so troubling. She pointed out that – with time – words can and do lead to action. As I examined my frustration, I realized that I often feel that promises are made, but not truly owned.

The day at the summit was filled with ministerial dialogues. I witnessed lots of ministers, but in the dialogues I attended, there was no actual dialogue. Government officials had carefully prepared speeches filled with words that they didn’t seem to always understand. Even when time was running short and moderators implored the presenters to shorten their remarks, they stuck to the script.

Would it have been so difficult for at least one of them to say, “Let’s stop with the words – it is time to show what our convictions are made of”? Not one of them did.

The morning began with greater promise. At the opening plenary, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague used the language of activists and survivors in a compelling speech. But what differentiated his speech was that he included concrete actions that he and the UK government are taking with regard to committing additional resources to end sexual violence in conflict. There was no jarring disconnect between his words and his actions.

There was another very bright moment that stood in contrast to the speeches by government officials; the words of Leymah Gbowee – a Nobel Laureate from Liberia – were moving, but her actions are even more powerful.

Gbowee, with virtually no resources, organized women in Liberia to demand an end to the country’s civil war. Under her leadership, thousands of women – both Christian and Muslim – mobilized against the war. Their efforts forced Charles Taylor, then president of Liberia, to meet with them and agree to enter into peace negotiations to end the 14-year civil war, which was marked by systematic attacks on civilians, including widespread rape.

But Gbowee was not content with just getting Tayler to the talks; she wanted the talks to conclude with a peace agreement. So when the talks stalled, she and nearly 200 women took over the corridors around the hall where the negotiations were ongoing and refused to leave until an agreement was signed.

The rest is history. Charles Taylor stepped down, went into exile, and was eventually tried and found guilty for aiding and abetting war crimes by the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Ellen Sirleaf Johnson was elected president, becoming the first female head of state in Africa. And in 2011, Gbowee and Johnson were co-winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for their nonviolent efforts in promoting the safety of women and women’s role as peacemakers.

If one determined woman with few resources can literally change the course of history, why do we see so many politicians hiding behind words? A half day of the summit remains. The crucial question remains, will the governments attending the conference get the message that it is #TimeToAct?

Editor's Note: This blog post has been updated to reflect a correction on Kolbassia Haoussou's quote.

In the opening plenary of the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, I listened to speaker after speaker recount the pervasiveness of sexual violence in war and the toll it takes on survivors and communities. It made me wonder: how many rapes does it take before we make the world a place where all people live free – free from the fear of sexual violence?

The stories of the survivors, the calls to action by the advocates, and the promises of the politicians are all too familiar. As Zainab Hawa Bangura, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, said in her keynote address: the measure of the success of this summit will be in the actions taken in its aftermath. To date, in the vast majority of cases of sexual violence, survivors face multiple obstacles when seeking justice, starting with questions as to whether or not her story of violence is true.

When reports of sexual violence, both in times of peace and conflict, are denied, the crime is erased by silence – a silence that has been seen throughout the decades. For example, the Nuremburg and Tokyo Trials are the foundation on which the International Criminal Court (ICC) was built. But they did not provide justice for the nearly 200,000 women held in sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II. The silence continues as these victims are passing away without ever seeing justice.

Perhaps the most striking statement made in the opening plenary of the summit was by Kolbassia Haoussou, co-founder of Survivors Speak OUT, who said, “I'm not ashamed. I'm proud to be a survivor of torture to help find solutions. It's possible.” His statement is powerful and courageous and speaks volumes about how silence creates a culture of shame that undermines efforts to ensure justice for victims.

To be clear, there has been progress: both the international tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia successfully investigated and prosecuted crimes of sexual violence. Fatou Bensouda, the prosecutor for the ICC, announced that initiating investigations and prosecutions in cases of sexual violence is a top priority for her office. The Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones at Physicians for Human Rights is working with doctors, police investigators, prosecutors, and judges in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya to ensure the proper collection, analysis, and preservation of crucial evidence of sexual violence, which can then be used to support criminal prosecutions.

Securing evidence and properly documenting crimes are essential steps – particularly with regard to the issue of justice and accountability. But survivors and activists at this summit want more than just breaking the silence and ensuring justice for victims and accountability for the perpetrators. We want to stop such violence from happening in the first place, which brings us back to the fundamental question of what causes sexual violence and how it can be prevented.

There is no dearth of ideas. At one panel, a presenter talked about how many male perpetrators were themselves victims of sexual violence as children. Another speaker discussed the toxic mix of some forms of masculinity and war. At the plenary, another presenter asked how we have been able to explore outer space, but have not yet figured out how to ensure gender equality. Another speaker pointed out that people living in poverty were the mostly likely group to be targeted for sexual violence in conflict.

The issues are clearly complex, but political and military leaders cannot continue justifying inaction with the fact that there is no simple solution. We must all act to stop sexual violence now. The outcome of this summit will be measured by the actions taken not just by international and state-level leadership, but also by each and every one of us.

Government officials, activists, survivors, and members of the media are converging on the outskirts of London by the thousands to attend the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict this week. More than 150 countries are sending representatives – including many government ministers – having accepted the invitation from William Hague, minister of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

High hopes for concrete progress are tempered by the knowledge that when governments assemble to discuss issues perceived to primarily relate to women, there is rarely any agreement to invest financial resources and political capital toward any sustainable solution.

Each person comes to the summit with a story. Survivors of sexual violence in conflict who have experienced the devastating consequences of these crimes – not just for the victim, but also for families and communities – are wondering if this will finally be the moment when apathy and denial are replaced with outrage and justice. The justice system at both national and international levels has persistently failed, sending a message of indifference to those who are victimized.

National and international justice mechanisms have overwhelmingly failed not only to hold perpetrators of sexual violence accountable, but also to provide survivors with reparations, which serve to restore dignity to victims and prevent further violations. Survivors take many risks and face countless obstacles when seeking justice, and in response, we must invest in justice systems that guarantee that sexual violence will never be tolerated as a tactic of war.

UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution 2106, which was adopted in June 2013, called for more consistent and rigorous investigation and prosecution of sexual violence crimes as a central aspect of deterrence and – ultimately – prevention. Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is attending the summit this week in part to tell the story of how more consistent and rigorous investigations can lead to effective prosecutions of crimes of sexual violence.

A central element of the summit will be the launch of a new international protocol on how to document and investigate sexual violence in conflicts. PHR staff members have served as expert advisors to the development of these guidelines that will be discussed in sessions at the summit. While facing many challenges in getting the criminal justice system to take these crimes seriously, PHR’s Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones has adopted a cross-sectoral approach to change, engaging with members of the forensic medical community, police investigators, prosecutors, and judges to share best practices for documenting these crimes and ensuring that the evidence is understood.

Despite the UNSC resolution and PHR’s work, many obstacles remain. Resolution 2106 was the fourth such resolution passed by the Security Council since 2008, indicating that – while the issue is garnering more attention – resolutions alone are having little effect. For PHR, working primarily in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya, the success of the work is fragile and largely dependent on the courage of both survivors willing to demand a functional justice system and a few dedicated members of that system who go the extra mile.

This brings us back to the hope that many participants are bringing to this summit. The solutions are clear, as are the laws. Sexual violence in armed conflict is a war crime. When used systematically as a tool of war, sexual violence is a crime against humanity and a threat to international peace and security.

In conflict, commanders must impress upon their fighters that such behavior is never acceptable and that those who commit these crimes will not be shielded from the law. All sectors of the criminal justice system must work together to ensure that when victims come forward, they are treated with dignity and their claims are investigated with the diligence and rigor they deserve.

Civilians should never be targeted in war. But the awful truth is that civilians are an easy mark and sexual violence is a particularly devastating weapon. This must be stopped, and the moment is now; it is time to act.

PHR’s Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones is a multi-year training and advocacy initiative that aims to forge coalitions among regional medical, law enforcement, and legal experts. PHR’s goal is to dramatically increase local capacity for the collection of court-admissible evidence of sexual violence to support the future prosecution of these crimes. This video provides a glimpse into PHR’s program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya and the medical-legal network that has had positive effects on survivors of sexual violence and methods of accountability.

PHR’s Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones brings together doctors, nurses, social workers, police officers, lawyers, magistrates, and judges with the goal of helping stakeholders to collect, document, and preserve evidence of sexual violence in order to help improve local prosecutions. This video provides a short preview of our program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya and how it works to promote justice and accountability for survivors of sexual violence.

Last week, Human Rights Watch reported that the Iraqi government repeatedly targeted and attacked Fallujah General Hospital in Anbar province. Fallujah is a pivotal city in Sunni-majority Anbar province, which has long accused the Shia-dominated central government of persecution. In January 2014, political tensions that had been simmering for over a year escalated into outright violence between paramilitary groups and Iraqi security forces.

Although the government has denied attacking Fallujah General Hospital, the weapons used in the attacks – mortar shells, direct fire weapons, and barrel bombs – are consistent with Iraqi military equipment. In deliberately attacking the hospital, the government of Iraq has unfortunately followed the nefarious example of its Syrian neighbor.

The conflicts in Syria and Iraq possess unique traits, but they share some underlying factors. Both conflicts began as a series of peaceful protests advocating for reform over legitimate grievances. Both witnessed largely peaceful movements hijacked by extremists. Now, both governments have violated international law by attacking medical facilities, which are specially protected entities under the laws of war. As is often the case, innocent civilians have suffered the highest costs in these conflicts.

Whether a country is run by a brutal dictatorship like the Assad regime or claims to be a nascent democracy as Iraq does, the decision to inflict maximum suffering on a civilian population by decimating the local health care system is inexcusable. Nothing justifies intentional attacks on health care workers who pledge to heal the sick and injured regardless of political affiliation. The international community must uphold international law and not allow this to become the new norm in conflict. Perpetrators must face justice and be held accountable for targeting the health community in Iraq, Syria, and beyond.

Read the report (pdf)

Lisez le rapport en français (pdf)

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) convened a Roundtable on Reparations for Survivors of Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in Washington, D.C. at Georgetown University on February 24, 2014. This report summarizes major points of discussion from this workshop, which was held in collaboration with Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security and the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA).

The aim of the reparations roundtable discussion was to promote an open exchange of ideas and expertise on the challenges that sexual violence survivors face in obtaining reparations in general and particularly in court-ordered instances. Participants included members of the medical, legal, academic, government, and non-government communities, and all expressed interest in exploring meaningful ways to secure reparations for survivors of sexual violence.

This summary report is divided into four parts: (1) an overview of the legal context for awarding reparations to sexual violence survivors in the DRC; (2) a discussion of the barriers to accessing justice and remedies; (3) a detailed account of the barriers to securing reparations; and (4) short- and long-term recommendations raised at the roundtable and potential topics for future discussions.

Prior to the reparations roundtable, PHR had worked with students at SIPA and asked them to evaluate an initiative led by the American Bar Association that helps sexual violence survivors seek justice through their flagship program, Mobile Gender Courts. Mobile Courts conduct military and civilian trials in some of the most remote areas of the DRC. The final SIPA report evaluates reparations awarded by courts in the DRC to survivors of sexual violence, and the extent to which these reparations are being implemented.

Read the report (pdf)

The Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) 2013 Annual Report provides a comprehensive overview of our work between July 2012 and June 2013 (PHR’s fiscal year).

As mass atrocities and serious human rights abuses continue around the world, PHR remains committed to exposing and preventing such violations and ensuring that those responsible are brought to justice. In 2013, PHR gained significant ground on a number of global human rights issues, while also making successful transitions as an organization. You can read the full annual report here.