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- Ελληνικά
Today the world is experiencing a large number of wars, resulting in 117 million people being forced to flee their homes. Disregard for international law and increasing militarization allow the phenomenon of sexual violence to continue with greater frequency and intensity, posing serious threats to the security of civilians.
According to UN data, 3,688 cases of conflict-related sexual violence were recorded in 2023, reflecting a dramatic 50% increase compared to the previous year. In 95% of cases the victims were women or girls and in 5% of cases men or boys. It is important to note here that the report only includes reported cases of violence and does not reflect the true picture, as thousands of cases remain unknown.
In conflicts and wars, women and children experience the consequences disproportionately negatively. They are used as shields of protection, but also as weapons of war. Women and children are raped and/or victimized by traffickers for labour and sexual exploitation. The fact is that wars remain a pernicious form of exercise and display of power with the ultimate goal of absolute domination.
Unfortunately, at the same time as military funding is increasing, resources for victim relief and support are shrinking, with the result that conflicts are increasing and intensifying, crimes of violence are multiplying, the majority of victims remain helpless and the perpetrators remain unpunished.
The above UN figures demonstrate the urgent need for mobilization and coordinated action worldwide, both for the prevention of violence and for the effective management of cases where it occurs.
For our country, which has its own tragic experience of violence as a result of the 1974 Turkish invasion, it is our duty and obligation to contribute to the international effort to eradicate the phenomenon.
For our country, which has its own tragic experience of violence as a result of the 1974 Turkish invasion, it is our duty and obligation to contribute to the international effort to eradicate the phenomenon.
Friends,
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Turkish invasion and the continued occupation of 37% of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus.
Since his first day in office, the President of the Republic has made it his absolute priority to work for the achievement of permanent peace in Cyprus, to break the deadlock and to resume talks aimed at the reunification of our country on the basis of the agreed United Nations (UN) resolutions, the agreed framework and the principles and values of the European Union (EU).
Although half a century has passed, the pain is profound and the anguish indescribable every time memory returns to the events of 1974. To the Turkish invasion, to the catastrophe of 1974, which is the unshakable reference point for every citizen of this land, which 50 years later is still suffering from the traumas caused by the unspeakable tragedy of the Turkish invasion and the ongoing occupation. We must strengthen our voice and our will for freedom and reunification.
Friends,
In incorporating a gender perspective into the 1974 invasion, we must admit that women's stories and testimonies have been silenced by our entire socio-political system. Women were victims of rape and sexual violence, re-victimized by society, which treated them punitively with exclusion and discrimination. Women's testimonies were not easy to come forward - and it is still not an easy process - since the impact would be stigmatisation, social exclusion, as well as exclusion from marriage. Despite the consequences, some had found the strength and testified to the violence they had suffered.
During the invasion, detention camps for women and children had been set up in the villages of Famagusta District of Vitsada, Marathovouno and Gypsum. There, according to testimonies, systematic rapes were committed by the Turkish army. Underage girls, women and elderly women were subjected to sexual and other violence as a well-organised plan from the first day of the Turkish army's invasion. Hundreds of abortions were also massively carried out in the second half of 1974 in Cyprus.
According to doctors' testimonies, which are also recorded in Chrysanthos Chrysanthos' book "The other war of doctors in 1974", hundreds of brutally abused women became pregnant as a result of rape. Special legislation had to be passed in order for them to be able to have an abortion. Many abortions were carried out in private clinics, several at the Nicosia General Hospital, while due to the fullness of that hospital from the war wounded, many abortions were performed by doctors at the British Base hospitals in Dhekelia and Akrotiri. It was decided by the late Zeta Emilianidou to grant an allowance of 1,000 euros per month to women "sufferers of the Turkish invasion", according to the "law on sufferers". Mrs Koukoumas undertook the collection of applications from these women and Zeta Aimylianidou bypassed the bureaucratic procedures in order to avoid the re-victimisation of these women.
Friends and friends,
Cyprus as a victim has an obligation to contribute to the implementation of relevant resolutions such as UN Security Council Resolution 1325 "Women, Peace and Security".
The Office of the Gender Equality Commissioner, on the initiative of the former Equality Commissioner Ms. Antoniou, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the framework of gender mainstreaming in foreign policy, undertook the monitoring and coordination of the implementation of the first National Action Plan for the implementation of Resolution 1325.
The Action Plan has been formulated with the aim of a coherent horizontal policy that creates the basis for cooperation among stakeholders to provide effective protection for girls and women, and towards this goal our Office is working with all relevant Ministries and Authorities.
Indicatively, to mention some of the actions that, with the cooperation of the relevant agencies, have been completed or are about to be implemented:
- A Guide to Conduct for personnel serving in military and civilian missions regarding their obligations to respect the human rights of women and girls, including women serving in the military during conflicts, peace processes and periods of peacebuilding and peacekeeping has been developed.
- A Military Gender Advisory Council was established by the General Staff of the National Guard.
- The Asylum Service introduced a special form to identify vulnerable groups, such as women victims of violence, sexual exploitation, genital mutilation.
- Next month the training of "front line" officers in the context of accommodation procedures for persons in need of protection will begin, with the aim of raising their awareness of how to deal with incidents of violence.
At the international level, the Republic of Cyprus participates in the UN Women donor country team for the implementation of Jordan's National Action Plan in the context of the implementation of Resolution 1325. Cyprus assumed from January 2024 until April the Chairmanship of the Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which addressed, inter alia, the issue of "Women, Peace and Security and Gender Mainstreaming in the Fulfillment of OSCE Civil-Military Commitments and Activities.
Friends, dear ladies of the Zoe Vs War Foundation, congratulations for your action Let me inform you that your request for the implementation of the "Life Again" project is under consideration. Our Office will contact you shortly to arrange a meeting in relation to your request.
In closing, I would like to convey to you the President's assurance that the Government will remain firmly committed to the objective of stamping out the phenomenon of violence in war, as it considers it not only a criminal, traumatic behaviour at the individual level of the victims, but also a nightmare for modern global society.
(EAT/EP)
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Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
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