(Cairo, April 18, 2011) The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights condemns the inhuman attacks and cases of collective rape of women that have been committed in several Libyan cities by the Qaddafi forces. This may lead to the death of women who live under a tribal system that prefers the killing of raped women, the victims of these massacres. The Qaddafi forces consider these campaigns of collective rape as weapons of war in order to break the will of the rebels.
These incidents bring to mind the crisis of the collective rape of female Muslims in Kosovo in the 1990s.
The Libyan army uses forces against civilians, beginning with women and children. This is considered a crime against humanity according to article 7, paragraph 1, 2 of the statute of the International Criminal Court. The use of force is also considered a crime against the Libyan people and against the Arab World as a whole. The Libyan women, children and families are suffering since the beginning of the Libyan revolution three months ago due to the political failure of all parties concerned.
Therefore ECWR calls upon:
- The international civil society to intervene immediately, and to investigate the unjustified overuse of forces by the Libyan army against the rebels and to investigate the impacts of the cruel and horrifying crime of raping women.
- The Security Council and the Arab League to hold an immediate gathering to discuss the repercussions of the Libyan crisis in order to provide international protection for Libyan civilians.
