At a United Nations convention on Monday, Israeli officers shared harrowing accounts of sexual violence, rape, mutilation and torture of girls by the hands of Hamas through the terrorist group’s Oct. 7 assault. Now, girls’s rights leaders and elected officers are sending a robust message to the United Nations in regards to the want for motion.
A letter signed by Ms. founding editors Gloria Steinem and Letty Pogrebin, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), Mariska Hargitay, Ashley Judd, New York Lawyer Common Letitia James and a whole bunch of others urges Secretary-Common of the United Nations Antonio Guterres to research the rape, torture and different battle crimes perpetrated on Oct. 7 by the hands of the terrorist group Hamas.
The letter reads:
As girls’s rights activists and leaders, we stand for the proper of each lady and woman, of each nationality, faith, and group, to stay freed from all types of violence, together with rape and sexual assault.
Within the weeks since October seventh, overwhelming proof has emerged that widespread, horrific acts of rape and sexual violence have been systematically perpetrated by Hamas attackers in opposition to Israeli girls and ladies through the October seventh assault. The proof contains forensic examinations of Israeli victims’ our bodies bearing indicators of rape and torture; eyewitness testimony by survivors of the Oct. seventh assaults who noticed girls being raped and mutilated; the testimony of first responders who discovered the our bodies of Israeli girls and ladies of their bedrooms amid unmistakable and nearly unspeakable proof of getting been raped; video footage filmed by Hamas attackers and recovered from their gadgets, which recorded proof of sexual assault, and which has been seen and attested to by American journalists and elected officers; movies which have been made public exhibiting a younger Israeli lady with bloodied pants, being dragged by her hair out and in of a car by Hamas abductors, and one other younger lady stripped to her underwear with Hamas abductors on high of her; and testimony being compiled by an unbiased, nongovernmental fee investigating battle crimes perpetrated in opposition to girls and kids by Hamas on October seventh. …
We denounce the usage of rape as a weapon of battle, which is a criminal offense in opposition to humanity.
We name for an intensive, skillful, and unbiased investigation by worldwide human rights investigators of acts of rape and sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas and different terrorist teams in opposition to Israeli girls and ladies on and after October seventh; we name for perpetrators of battle crimes to be held accountable by all related authorities together with the Worldwide Felony Court docket.
We demand the fast, unconditional launch of all remaining hostages in order that they’ll obtain desperately wanted remedy for trauma and different critical medical situations; we affirm that persevering with to carry these kidnapped hostages captive is an ongoing violation of worldwide legislation; and we are saying to those hostages and their family members: you aren’t alone.
…. To denounce rape as a weapon of battle is to not specific approval or alignment with the governing coalition in Israel, nor does it sign assist for the bombings in Gaza. However as feminists we’re dedicated to the common precept that rape should at all times be condemned; we bear witness to the mountain of proof that Hamas and different terrorist teams used rape as a weapon of battle in opposition to Israeli girls and ladies; and we demand accountability for crimes that mustn’t ever be tolerated by the world group. Most of all, we stand with the victims of gender-based atrocities, with the survivors and with those that didn’t survive, and we elevate our voices in solidarity with them.
Learn the total letter right here.
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