The Red Cross Girl

Boko Haram kills Red Cross staff member in Nigeria after kidnapping three aid workers

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The single most important measure to improve this situation is by making sure that State and non-State parties to armed conflict comply with their legal obligations under international humanitarian law and other applicable norms. In this regard, the Security Council has a significant role to play and ensure that those directly responsible for protecting civilians meet their responsibilities in full.

Every State party to the Geneva Conventions also has an obligation in this connection: Article 1 common to the four Geneva Conventions calls on all States Parties to respect and ensure respect for the Conventions in all circumstances. The Council having chosen today to address the "challenges and needs facing women and girls in armed conflict and post-conflict settings", I would like to highlight the situation of women during armed conflict, with a specific focus on the subject of sexual violence.

All that follows is based on the ICRC's field experience and activities. As a group, women are not inherently vulnerable in armed conflict.

Donut Dolly: An American Red Cross Girl's War in Vietnam | University of North Texas Press

They may be victims or perpetrators, fighters or bystanders; or they may be actors of influence. Armed conflict changes the circumstances of all the people it touches. Women are made vulnerable mainly by the conditions that are imposed on them, not by their sex.

At this point, it is critical to remind ourselves that fighters are also afforded protection by international humanitarian law, particularly after they are hors de combat. This includes protection against sexual violence.

All victims of armed conflict must be treated humanely, without adverse distinction. During armed conflicts, displaced women and girls as well as female heads of households are particularly vulnerable and at risk of certain kinds of violence, including sexual violence.

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Because their husbands are missing, detained or taking part in the fighting, displaced women and female heads of households often have to shoulder the burden of being a single parent. This means providing — by themselves — the family's income, deciding — by themselves — about their children's education, and guaranteeing — by themselves — the safety of their family. While also affecting men and boys during armed conflict, the impact of sexual violence on women and girls is disproportionally greater.

The consequences of such violence — for victims, their families and entire communities — are extremely serious.

Donut Dolly: An American Red Cross Girl's War in Vietnam

Sexual violence causes physical trauma and long-lasting mental health problems, and can be financially ruinous. It can lead to social stigmatization, and ostracism; it may be the cause of reprisals and sometimes it kills. These are only a few consequences of sexual violence that victims have to deal with every day. Sexual violence remains comparatively invisible, and statistically underestimated. Because of cultural constraints and the strong feelings of shame and fear engendered by sexual violence, most victims do not dare come forward to seek help.

This, of course, only adds to the devastating effects on them, their families and communities. Constraints and obstacles notwithstanding, immediate and appropriate action must be taken — on the basis of systematic and thorough assessments — to respond to the multifaceted needs of victims of sexual violence.

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Victims of sexual violence need to be assisted and given immediate, unimpeded and free access to health services, including medical and psychological support, ideally within 72 hours of the assault. They should be treated with humanity and dignity at all times; their privacy must be respected and the strictest confidentiality maintained while responding to their needs. Victims need to be protected against all forms of ostracization or re-victimization and from any further abuse — by making their environment safer and by providing guidance on risk awareness and risk reduction.

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Distributor for UNT Press books. You see the war through the eyes of one of the first women officially allowed in the combat zone as a civilian noncombatant.

Initially a pacifist, Joann Puffer Kotcher transforms into a combat veteran, faced with life or death decisions. All she wanted was to go someplace exciting.

At four duty stations, she set up recreation centers and made mobile visits wherever commanders requested. That included Special Forces Teams in remote combat zone jungles. She brought reminders of home, thoughts of a sister or the girl next door. Officers asked her to take risks because they believed her visits to the front lines were important to the men. Every Vietnam veteran who meets her thinks of her as a brother-at-arms.

It is a faithful representation of the twists and turns of the turbulent, controversial time. While in Vietnam, Kotcher was once abducted; dodged an ambush in the Delta; talked with a true war hero in a hospital who had charged a machine gun; and had a conversation with a prostitute. She found answers to the questions: What is it really like in a war?

What will a soldier say to a girl while sitting in a bunker with shells flying overhead? What did the men think about the war? Why would a man risk his life to save another?

The Red Cross Girl by Richard Harding Davis

The answers will surprise you. God surely had his hand on you that day, Lady Veteran. Kotcher and her colleagues attempted to make life more bearable for the soldiers and airmen engaged in the war, and along the way her insights are fascinating.

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