Sexual violence wounds humanity, Nichols tells summit

Cardinal Vincent Nichols has backed efforts to end sexual violence in conflict zones as a government minister condemned faith leaders for not supporting victims.

Cardinal Nichols told a conference hosted by UN special envoy Angelina Jolie and Foreign Secretary William Hague in London last week that “sexual violence is always a crime; it is always an immoral act.”

During a panel discussion chaired by the Minister for Faith and Communities, Baroness (Sayeeda) Warsi, he said: “The Church wholeheartedly backs every initiative to prevent sexual violence being perpetrated against anyone, anywhere and under any circumstances.”

The panel also included the Anglican Primate of Burundi, Bernard Ntahorturi, Sheikh Abdallah Bin Bayyah of Saudi Arabia and representatives from Tearfund South Africa. In her opening speech, Lady Warsi said that faith leaders had been “part of the problem” in some cases and condemned those who had not spoken out against sexual violence in their communities.

“Survivors have been allowed to become victims for a second time, when communities have judged and rejected them. Perpetrators have been permitted to get away with their crimes. None of us has, I think, done enough to fulfil our religious responsibilities to love and to protect the people who have suffered so much,” she said.

But she emphasised that religion was a positive force in society and had to help be part of the drive to end the use of rape as a weapon of war.

“Faith can inspire, drive and motivate good works,” she said. “Faith for those who believe is undeniably a powerful informer of their lives. It gives them hope. It guides their outlook. It commands their good works.”

The conference launched a new international protocol for documenting and investigating sexual violence in conflicts, to encourage countries to strengthen laws to enable prosecutions, and to urge countries to train soldiers and peacekeepers to prevent sexual violence. More than 200 faith leaders took part.